Rain, Rain, Go Away

  Heidi and Steve are the type of people don't don't let a rainy day get them down! When we met Heidi and Steve outside of Tahitian Noni the storm clouds were already rolling in. By the time we got to the gardens its was trickling and soon it was pouring. We were able to get a few shots in before we had to run for cover for fear of ruining Heidi's gorgeous hair and dress.

This awesome couple decided to not let the storm scare them away and decided to wait for it to blow over. While we waited for the storm to pass we stayed busy photographing detail shots and getting to know the couple better. It turns out that the intern, Abby, knew Steve from their home state! (Don't make me start singing "its a small world".) Eventually the rain let up and we got some amazing photographs!!! But don't take my word for granted - check them out for yourselves!!

  

It's awesome how Heidi's shorter hair works with the high collar.  So cute!!!

  

I love the Morinda Gardens... they pack a lot of variety and gorgeous landscaping into a relatively small area.

Heidi and Steve were married yesterday; it was such an awesome day, and a beautiful reception.  We did the second half of the formals shoot at the Sleepy Ridge Golf Course in Orem, where their reception was to be.  I'll post those photos on Monday!

Georgette and Gordon- Formals @ Provo Temple and Tahitian Noni Gardens

Whitney Lewis has decided that Provo is indeed one of the best temples for wedding photography.  And the verdict remains true for the Tahitian Noni Gardens ("Morinda Gardens")-  still one of my favorites.  I was introduced to the gardens back in June for Abbey and Taylor's formal shoot, and I was concerned that this mid-November shoot might look dreary and dead.  But low and behold, IT IS STILL FALL!  The photo gods smiled upon us.

Katie and Chris- Explosions of cuteness and color

About a year ago, I took an entrepreneurship class at BYU. I take a class every now and then with the intention of graduating one day. Working 60 hours a week on weddings doesn't leave a ton of time for homework. ;) In the class we got divided up into groups, and a large majority of our grade involved starting a brand new business and generating a specific amount of revenue by the end of the semester.

Given my existing business, I saw this as a wonderful way to kill two birds with one stone. We started up an advertising business for our first (and primary) client- Whitney Lewis Photography LLC. It was fun, successful, and we found some very effective ways to increase my market exposure at the time. Another happy side effect of this class was that several of the class members were able to find a superbly talented, creative, and outstandingly attractive photographer for their own weddings!

Erin and Cole booked me to shoot their wedding in Newport Beach, CA, which we did just a couple weeks ago. Katie and Chris were looking to book me for their wedding in October in Oakland, CA, but unfortunately I was already scheduled on their wedding day (headed back out to my hometown Austin, TX though! oh yeah!). So we ended up booking an engagement session, and might be doing a formal bride and groom session before the wedding. I love formals, and think that every bride and groom should do them. They frequently produce the best photos from the entire wedding package, they are low stress, and a great trial run before the wedding. Plus, we get to pick the perfect time of day to shoot and lots of fun locations. But I'm getting distracted.

We started Katie and Chris' engagements at the Tahitian Noni Gardens (officially the "Morinda Gardens"), and finished up at the Riverwoods Mall nearby. They were both so cute during the shoot; I loved how their personalities really came through and that how happy they were was able to just pop in every photo. It seems to jump out at you, sprinkling happiness all over your monitor screen. As an additional bonus, Katie used to be a dancer; I love working with dancers because they are often so easy to pose and natural in front of the camera. Katie was simultaneously elegantly graceful and stinking cute. It was great!

"Scooch on over closer, dear...." :)

But my favorite part of this shoot was how cute and colorful Katie's outfits were. I suggested that they bring a few different outfits with different colors, and she showed up to the shoot with this enormous duffel bag. I'm pretty sure it contained her whole closet. It kind of made me feel like I was ten years old again, playing dress up. So fun!

See Katie and Chris' complete engagement gallery here.

Abbey and Taylor's Bridals/Groomals

I seem to say it very frequently these days, but I just had so much fun with this couple. I easily had the most fun shooting this couple that I have ever had. They are happy, super stylish people, and are great in front of a camera. Abbey's mom is a photographer, and so Abbey and her siblings pretty much came out of the womb knowing how to smile and pose for photos. I was also super impressed with how poised Abbey and Taylor were under all the stress surrounding the wedding preparations. We had to postpone the first bride and groom session because the alterations place LOST ABBEY'S DRESS (like, gone-no-more-to-be-found lost), so they had to get an identical dress (which happened to be 2 or 3 sizes too big) and alter it to fit her. Then the day we were supposed to shoot it snowed (late May in Utah? par for the course I guess), necessitating another delay. By now it was the week before the wedding, and my week was almost completely booked. We shifted some things around, got it scheduled and showed up for the shoot. Of course, right as we start, Taylor's tuxedo jacket button pops off. It was just one thing after another, and you would not know it to look at these photos.

We shot at the Tahitian Noni Gardens, aka'd as the Morinda Gardens, and I tell you- if I could go back in time and redo my wedding, I would want a dress and veil like Abbey's. They were both stunning, and so was she.

I love how the colors in this one turned out.

I could have shot in these gardens all day...

After the gardens though, we headed over to a private property owned by a friend of Abbey's family. It was a beautiful location.

We got some really lovely colors in the sky when the sun set.

And then the moon rose... life was good.

To see more of Abbey and Taylor's photos, click here.