{Products} Wedding Album Leather Cover

We try to not have too many samples just for the sake of having samples. This is why I like to show off the products on the blog. We have a visual record of the wide variety of options available, but don't have them physically here (besides, these albums are HEAVY and are monsters to haul around!). This fall, I had the rare occasion to have multiple types of covers in all at one time. So I grabbed some beauty shots of them before they were delivered to clients.

Here we have a few of my favorite cover options (from left to right): Canvas panel, Metal panel or Plexiglass panel. There are SOOO many options for the leather spine/back, too!


Here you can see that the leather from the spine wraps all of the way around the back.


These thick photographic pages are luxe!

{Products} Lori + Derek's Wedding Album

Lori and Derek's album is truly a piece of art! It starts off with a beautiful linen spine + case.


Our graphic designer made a beautiful graphic element for the album cover.




The graphic element was continued throughout the album.


A little more! :)


With 100 pages, our graphic designer made some dividing pages. They are simply stunning!


Let's share some of my favorite album pages.


With 100 pages, there were lots of favorites! :)


More graphic loveliness.


Album + case. Really beautiful. This is similar to Andrea + Larry's wedding album. The big difference between the two is Andrea + Larry's album included the album cover printed on the case. Also with Andrea + Larry, the case was black and black only (and no linen spine). With Lori + Derek, there were more color options. :)


The design is "press printed" onto the pages ... and let me just say ... the color reproduction on this album is OUT OF THIS WORLD!!! Really amazing.


Another closeup of the pages.


The sturdy binding.

Lori + Derek's Wedding Album Design

This has been in the works for quite some time, and I'm pleased to finally be sharing Lori and Derek's complete album design! :)


This is a beautiful 100 page album, so we had plenty of space to share a few photos from the rehearsal dinner, as you see above.

To view the entire design, please CLICK HERE.

Sneak Peek — Lori + Derek's Wedding Album Design pt. 2

It's been a few weeks since I posted the first teaser from Lori and Derek's wedding album. It's not quite finished yet because, at a whopping 100 pages, it's getting lots of TLC. But it's SO close!

Sneak Peek — Lori + Derek's Wedding Album Design

A quick peek at what our Amy is working on! Lori and Derek's fabulous album! :)

This album has been "in the works" for quite some time because 1) Lori and Derek took a 3-month world tour and have been settling back into life on the farm. And 2) this will be a monster album (can you say 100 pages?) ... so there will be some extra design time for it ... but from the teasers I've seen, it will be SO worth the wait!

Happy Anniversary, Lori + Derek!

Has it really been a year since Lori and Derek were married????

Mike and I were welcomed so warmly into Windom, Kansas to photograph their wedding. It was one heck of a good time, and we were honored to witness the fusion of two lives and two families.

On a purely selfish note, I'm pleased Lori and Derek have moved from the great north of Chicagoland to live in rural Kansas. They're not exactly neighbors, but I do enjoy stopping by the farm to say hello. :)

Please CLICK HERE to revisit our favorite images from their wedding!

Lori + Derek's Wedding Slideshow

Nearly three weeks ago, Mike and I trekked to a darling little town called Windom, Kansas (yeah, we'd never heard of it until we went their either, faithful blog readers!) for Lori and Derek's wedding.


Their wedding was full of beautiful details such as Kate Spade Shoes, a stunning Lazaro dress, breathtaking arrangements from Absolutely Flowers (side note, Lori and an army of ladies also made their OWN centerpieces! The mix of arrangements from the florist and their DIY — do it yourself — creations are so lovely), an antique truck, a cooked hog (YES, there was even an apple in the mouth!), and of course entertainment by the Gregg Woodall band.


Of course, I love a couple with a great sense of humor. When Mike and I were scouting locations, we found these interesting tools in this old barn. In a tongue-in-cheek manner, I said "I wonder if they're up for a new take on American Gothic?" ... and when we suggested it during their 2-hour romantic portrait session, they were all about it.

Of course, these who have a spectacular sense of humor, so you'll see this serious expression did NOT last long. :)

Lori and Derek, editing down the images to fit them into a slideshow was NO easy task! But we've collected our favorites together to bring you a slideshow of your day. Please CLICK HERE to view your slideshow.

ps-we *LOVE* blog comments!!! ;)

Lori + Derek's "down home" wedding preview

"I've decided it won't rain today" was the greeting I received from Lori when I arrived at her parent's home in rural Windom on Saturday morning.

There was too much planned — tractor rides, outdoor portraits, a petting zoo and fireworks. Even though it was forecast, there was NO room for rain on Saturday.

And to our great pleasure, the rain held off!


Isn't Lori stunning?!??!?!?


Derek looks pretty good, too.


This is Lori and Derek's "first look." Aren't they adorable??!??!?!?

We love it when our couples opt to do a "first look" and see one another before the ceremony. It allows for WAY more time to photograph our signature "romantic portraits" during the day. Because Lori and Derek opted to do a "first look," we had TWO HOURS to make some stunning portraits of the couple!


See? Stunning! :)


After Lori and Derek had their first look, we headed to the house where Lori grew up. The day before, Mike and I scouted this fantastic red barn, and we wanted to use it for some portraits. When we arrived, Lori told us her grandfather (great-grandfather?) built the barn. I love it when the areas we photograph have special meaning to the family!

I also love how breathtaking she looks in Lazaro!


These two are SO SMITTEN ....


This is on the way to the reception ... which we'll post more about with the upcoming slideshow!

The evening was one full of merriment, llamas and s'mores. The Gregg Woodall band provided the soundtrack for the reception.


Lori and Derek, THANK YOU from the bottom of our hearts for inviting us to capture your wedding day. We hope you're doing some serious relaxing in Maui!

We're working on your slideshow, so don't be strangers to the blog! :)

Like old friends ...

One of the most unexpected blessings of being a wedding photojournalist is the people we meet and ultimately get to work with.

You might remember Lori and Derek's engagement preview HERE or their slideshow HERE.

One of the coolest parts about working with Lori is her attention to detail. Check out the awesome wedding invitation that arrived in the mail earlier this week:


With words like "as the crow flies" and "party till the cows come home" on a wedding invitation, I KNOW this is going to be one heck of a fun wedding!

Working with this couple has been so special. I truly consider them friends, so of course they'd send their new photo friends an invitation to their wedding! :) We are honored to be a part of what I know is going to be a very special day.

Oh, and I have to give credit to the designer! Lori worked with uber fabulous graphic designer Andrea Bettinardi to come up with these invites.

Lori + Derek's Engagement Album Design

More kickin' engagement album designs! This is from Lori and Derek's engagement session in Chicago.

After seeing a sample of our engagement books, they decided they wanted one for a keepsake, but "We're NOT planning to use the album as a guest book -- it's too special to let people write on it, in my opinion." Isn't she too cute?!??!?!!


I love, love, love how we found a John Deere tractor in the heart of Chicago. We couldn't have orchestrated it if we'd planned it for MONTHS! There are SO MANY happy surprises on engagement shoots!


We had such a good time in the diner down the street. It was so full of *character* ... and with all of the pedestrians walking by, just made for some fantastic visuals!

To view the entire album design, please CLICK HERE.

Lori + Derek's engagement slideshow

What an awesome, awesome, awesome engagement session! Seriously. One of my most favorite ones to date!

Saturday, I met up with Lori and Derek in Chicago, where the couple lives. These two are planning an April wedding in Kansas, but since they both live in the Chicago area, we decided it would be fun to spend some time in their favorite places.

Being in their presence is SO refreshing. Their love is palpable. Derek just drinks Lori in when she speaks to him ... and Lori is smitten — constantly clowning around with her main man.

Since I don't live in Chicago and am not familiar with all of its charms, I relied heavily on Lori and Derek to come up with some awesome locations for our session ... and they hit it out of the park! Seriously!

We started at the Leigh Gallery, where Derek proposed. I was SO excited to go there because Lori told me all about the proposal and how Derek surprised her with her stunning engagement ring.


For the next few hours, we bounced around the city, doing what Lori called "a Ferris Bueller tour of Chicago." But each location had with special meaning to the couple. A highlight included a trip to the farm at the zoo ... fitting because their wedding reception will be at Lori's family farm (I'm SO looking forward to it! About a month ago, they planted 700 — YES 700 — tulips around the area for the wedding reception). Would you believe we even found not one, but TWO John Deere tractors in the city of Chicago? Fun times!

Our engagement session could not have been more perfect. We chatted, visited special locations, took loads of awesome photos, captured the essence of the love between Lori and Derek, and finished it off with a great meal at the neighborhood diner.

Lori and Derek, THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart for such a lovely afternoon! Mike and I are SO EXCITED for your wedding!


Please CLICK HERE to view a slideshow of my favorite images from their engagement session.

As a little aside note, from time to time, we get asked if we travel for photos. As you can see, the answer is YES! If you're interested in having your engagement session (or even wedding) somewhere special to you, let us know. If it happens to be somewhere that requires a passport, all the better — my passport loves to travel! ;-) Rome, Istanbul, Dublin ... even places closer to home like Maui or Mexico ... just give us a shout.

Also, on occasion I have brides ask if they have to be a wedding client to have a super-fun engagement session with us at Heartland Photography. We'd NEVER turn down a session! If you'd like to have us do an engagement session or even family session, feel free to contact us through our Web site.

Sneak Peek — Lori + Derek

Oh. My. Gosh.

I had such a blast shooting Lori and Derek's engagement session in Chicago today! Here are a few quick favorites (there will be MANY more to come!).


So. Sweet.

Working the Chicago skyline.


Lori ROCKED at finding awesome locations ... and these two commute for their relationship, so the train station seemed *so* appropriate!

More to come this week!