{Products} Serena + Luke's Engagement Album

Serena and Luke's engagement album arrived last week and it is simply stunning!


They're using it as their guest book, so we worked in their graphic, too. :)


Serena wanted to do something a little different with their e-album. She wanted to use a few quotes/notes they wrote to each other over the course of their courtship and engagement. It's a fantastic way to personalize the album, and I think it looks amazing!

{Personal} Pre-wedding Week

As we get ready to kick off our 2011 wedding season, wedding bells are literally EVERYWHERE.

Oh yes, I'm going to talk about THAT wedding. It's a little affair involving two people named William + Kate. Perhaps you've heard of them?


These photos are by Mario Testino. His work is simply insane. I love it.

Ok, ok, ok, why the heck am I talking about this HERE? This isn't some supermarket gossip rag.

I guess I can't help but think back to the week before my own wedding. There was some stress and a bit of chaos about an item being shipped to me from Italy and hoping it arrived in time (it did; my blood pressure normalized; all was right in the world).

There's chaos. There's ALWAYS chaos.

But, add this on top of your wedding week:


A televised marathon of wedding/royal-wedding related previews.

And heap on the knowledge that there is an anticipated crowd of 2 billion (yes, BILLION) viewers worldwide for this blessed nuptial (as well as a live broadcast in Time's Square).

Girls, I know things are chaotic and busy before your wedding, but we all have it easier than our girl Kate. Seriously.

Pour yourselves a glass of champagne, find some sumptuous bubble bath and take a minimum of 30 minutes to relax. Give yourself the princess treatment, because even if your name isn't Kate, you are still goddess on your wedding day.

{Personal} Introducing Thomas Aaron

Stop me if you've heard this one before ...

Most wedding photographers base their calendar around their wedding season. For me, a self-proclaimed "seamhead," (and this is Mike talking, to be clear. Not Karen) I base my calendar around the baseball season, which, for the most part, coincides with wedding season. Spring training starts in February but Opening Day is in late March/early April as is, usually, our first wedding of the year. When the final out of the World Series is made, we're usually wrapping up with weddings for the year, though we will have one or two around the holidays.

So, what's a wedding photographer to do during the off-season, be it baseball or weddings?

Design albums? Try to develop a passing interest in college hoops? Nah, we have babies!

I'm proud to introduce Thomas Aaron, aka Tommy Boy, who just turned a month old this week. He joins his sister, Maddie, 2, and brother, Nate, 1, in making our house feel like a 24-hour day care center! But we love them all and wouldn't trade any one of them although that's not to say that we won't farm one of them out to grandma's house every now and then which she just hates, let me tell ya! -Mike

{Kansas City Engagement Photography} Emily + Joe

Aaaah, spring. It made for the most perfect day for Emily and Joe's engagement photos in Kansas City.


Even though they're a little shy snuggling and canoodling in public, Emily and Joe were super sports. I very much wanted to make some photos in this red phone booth, and even though there was a full patio's worth of audience, they did a sensational job!


In and around Westport, there are endless visual options. :)

I could go on all day about the photos, but I'll just let you CLICK HERE to see a slideshow of my favorites!

{Personal} Karen's music consultant

Not all of what Mike and I do involves taking photographs. Our activities revolve around it, but there are things such as e-mailing, invoicing and consulting that doesn't really fit into the "taking pictures" realm. It's a bit outside. Another task in that line is selecting music for our engagement and wedding slideshows.

Mike has a more developed musical ear/opinions than I do (in the car, I listen to NPR, so I'm more likely to know the world news than who the newest musical sensation is ... i.e. Justin WHO???? really, don't know about him). Fortunately for me, I have a secret weapon: my husband.


Erik is behind the scenes around here. I talk with him constantly about what's going on, what could be different, what could be improved and other such stuff. When it comes to musical selection, however, his genius shines. Take, for example, Emily and Joe's engagement session. I edited the photos and have a slideshow woven together, but it lacked music.

I know the genre and an artist they like, but we use "royalty free" music (so the big bad music people don't slam us for using copyrighted music without proper consent/legal permission). I will nose around some of our music sites and come up with a handful of options, then send a slideshow link (sans music) and music options to my hubby. He's got an excellent ear and he's always spot on with his suggestions. His commentaries can be pretty amusing, too. :)

My songs to him, and his responses:
Option A) Too flat and monotone. Perhaps better for a Cohen brothers movie.
Option B) No. 3 choice. Also a little on the flat side, but with some melody.
Option C) No. 2 choice. Excellent song, but maybe too rocking for an e-session. Actually, the more I listen to it, the more I like it. Choice 1A.
Option D) Again too rocking, I think.
Option E) this i think would be my No. 1 choice.
Option F) sounds like an extremely tense movie scene, perhaps with Jake Gyllenhall in it.

Ahhh, I always appreciate a good laugh. Anyhow, to hear the No. 1 song and see the slideshow, check back on Monday. :)

{Salina Family Portraits} Amber + John's Family

Amber and John have such a fun bunch of kids! We headed out Monday evening to take some portraits of their entire crew. Amber really wanted portraits that "looked like spring" and I was thankful the flowering trees hung on to their flowers so we could have them as a backdrop. I'm a big fan!

Our regular blog readers might recognize Amber and John from the photos I took for their salon, Thiessen-Elise Salon.


Their daughter is just too cute for words.


Mom and the boys. I gotta say, these fellas are feisty. I imagine the boys have A LOT of fun.


Amber really knocked it out of the park coordinating everyone's attire for the portrait session. I give her two enthusiastic thumbs up! I love that blue and orange are the base colors, with a few colorful flares added in to spice things up. :)

{Kansas City Engagement Photography} Emily + Joe's Sneak Peek

Yesterday I was in Kansas City photographing Emily and Joe's engagement. While these two lookers told me they're "not photogenic," the images I'm currently editing through beg to differ. A lot. This was one of the first two photos I took of Emily and Joe, and they're simply stunning!


The evening was perfect, and the light was amazing as ever. Seriously, I want to bottle it up and take it with me everywhere.

There are certainly more photos coming, but I know Emily's mom (Hi, Eileen!!!) is itching to see a preview, so here we are. :)

{Products} Serena + Luke's Engagement Gallery Wrap

A lot of our couples lately have been opting to go from a signature print to a canvas gallery wrap. It's a sensational choice, and here's a VERY quick photo of Serena and Luke's. (I say "very quick" because my husband was out walking our 60-pound "puppy" who loves to stick her nose in everything. I wanted to check the product quality, grab a photo and package it all up for shipping before they arrived home and I had enthusiastic, but unwelcome assistance!). ;)

Serena sent a quick note once it arrived: "The gallery wrap looks BEAUTIFUL!!!! I can just picture it in the house we're closing on!!! I'm sooo excited!!"

I'm headed to KC for an engagement session this weekend, so stay tuned next week for some awesome photos! :)

{Products} Jessica + Ryan's Engagement Album

I am LOVING our new album boutique bags for our albums. They're fantastic! :)


I'm also digging the design from Jessica and Ryan's engagement album.


The album integrates this beautiful graphical element the pair used on their Christmas Cards. Around here, we're dorks for visual continuity. (Also in this photo, you can see the beautiful texture of the watercolor paper).


Even a little nod to it on the edges of some of the pages.

I had the joy of delivering this to Jessica in person last week, and it was a pleasure to watch one of our blushing brides open up their album. :)

{Personal} Faceoff: Karen v. Audrey

It's March Madness!!!! With a sports editor of a husband, I usually end up being sucked into a bracket pool at his office.

The first year, I finished dead last in the pool. DEAD LAST. Erik claims I didn't embarrass him, but I felt embarrassed. Marrying a sports dude gives me sports knowledge by osmosis, right?

Last year, I redeemed myself slightly by finishing in the middle of the pack. With this finish, I felt secure and that I should stop while I was ahead.

And then this year came along. On a whim, I filled out a bracket. And got lucky (only it didn't feel lucky when my selected champ, Purdue, choked in the first round). Let's ignore Purdue, though. Things on the left side of my bracket have been rockin and rollin. So much that I'm in the final two of the pool.

Ironically, I'm battling with for the No. 1 spot in the pool with a client.


No, this photograph is not an error. It's Audrey. Yes, Audrey, the 2-year-old (although she's 1 in this photo).


She's so adorable, it's rough to get my competitive edge on! (But part of me wonders if it will speak poorly of me to get 2nd place to a 2-year-old?).

So, good luck to Audrey, because there's no one cuter I would rather be No. 2 to. :)