Mary + Tom's wedding slideshow

Mary and Tom were married last weekend during a lovely ceremony at the Church of the Resurrection in Wichita. Following a brief portrait session afterward, the newlyweds took a limo to their reception at the Petroleum Club. I don't know what it is about the Petroleum Club, but some of our best couples choose to have their reception there! It's an elegant location on the top floor of the Westar Energy building at Douglas and Broadway in downtown Wichita. Karen and I were both very excited when we learned Mary and Tom would be partying there with their friends and we weren't disappointed! Thanks again, Mary and Tom, for inviting us to photograph your wedding. We had a great time!

Please CLICK HERE to see your slideshow! -Mike

Christmas deadline fast approaches!

A quick reminder: To guarantee Christmas delivery, it is IMPERATIVE you place all orders by SUNDAY!

As you can see, our Christmas Cards can be tweaked to your own liking — color, word, fonts and even some small design elements can be tweaked.

You can view all of our active proofing galleries by CLICKING HERE.

Many of our portrait galleries will go offline after Sunday. If you would like to extend the gallery, the associated cost is $25/month (but we won't be able to promise prints/products will be delivered by Christmas).


We'll be taking some much needed time off in December. I to take a honeymoon with my new husband, and Mike and his beautiful wife are preparing to welcome their first child into their family.

Mary + Tom's wedding preview

Karen and I wrapped up our 2008 wedding season with Mary and Tom's wedding on Saturday at the Church of the Resurrection in Wichita. It was a cold and breezy fall day in Kansas but you'd never be able to tell from the warmth of this portrait.


Tom, a leading cancer research physician in the state, has a great sense of humor. He surrounded himself with a great group of groomsmen.


And Mary. What a stunning bride so full of spunk and energy! During the ceremony she repeated her vows with more passion than any bride I've ever seen. Later, at the reception, she serenaded her new husband with Frank Sinatra's "Come Rain or Come Shine." The newlyweds are honeymooning in New York City this week. I hope to have their wedding slideshow finished by the time they return so check back soon! -Mike

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!

Erin + Shane's engagement slideshow

I photographed Erin and Shane's engagement photos last Saturday at Sedgwick County Park. Typically I'd shy away from parks but since they enjoy fishing we spent a couple of hours at a few locations overlooking the fishing areas. And wouldn't you know? My favorite image from the shoot wasn't even near the lake but in a field of wild prairie grass.

Erin and Shane are so happy together and were a blast to photograph. I can't wait for their spring wedding in Lawrence. Until then, CLICK HERE to see a brief slideshow containing a few of my other favorites from their engagement session. -Mike

Karen + Erik's wedding slideshow

It's been a long time in the making but Karen and Erik's wedding slideshow is finally finished. Please CLICK HERE to see it.

You might notice that this project is somewhat different than our past efforts mainly because Karen set aside three hours on her wedding day for romantic portraits! After zipping through the formals and the ceremony, we headed off to a nice pasture just outside of town and then to a downtown alley near my favorite Wichita reception site: The Petroleum Club. As we neared the time for the grand entrance, Karen agreed to be just a few minutes late so that we could continue the portrait shoot. The lengthy photo shoot was possible because Karen and Erik agreed to see each other before the ceremony.

As we tell all of our brides, you have to set priorities for your wedding day. For some, it may be the dress, a particular wedding location, a certain caterer or any of the things that go into throwing the biggest party of your life. For Karen, it was definitely photography. But, as the founder of Heartland Photography, would you expect anything less? -Mike