Steve & Katie :: Wedding

ROAD TRIP!

Who doesn't love a good road trip with your best friend?!

Todd and I love to travel! We are big fans of going to places we've never been and seeing things we've never seen. Todd is especially great at finding fun and healthy restuarants that he knows I'll enjoy. He's so thoughtful! We just wish Maddox enjoyed car rides because we would love to bring him more often. He's such a weirdo when it comes to car rides... he doesn't even like the windows rolled down. Strange... yes, we know! Haha!

The only thing that I wish was easier, was if we had teleport powers. Wouldn't that be incredible?! I can be pretty impatient and feel like I'm one of those kids who is constantly saying or thinking, "Are we there yet?". Haha! But once we get there, the trip is totally worth it!

It seems our June weddings have been great road trips and very much perfect in timing, considering were not sure when it'll just be the two of us traveling together for a while.

But earlier this month we headed over to the lovely city of St. Charles, Illinios, which is just past Chicago for a beautiful couple's wedding, and I'm talking BEAUTIFUL!!!

I met Steve & Katie a few years back as they were planning a fall wedding, but felt it was better timing to swap to a summertime celebration, and what a celebration it was! I was so excited for this wedding because both of them are super sweet, super fun, and sooo much in LOVE! They are adorable together, and that was just a given considering we spent a few hours around Chicago doing their engagement session. What a fun time that was!

Todd and I were so thrilled to be able to have an excuse to travel, along with being a part of such a beautiful day of theirs. It was a WIN-WIN situation for us, as the weather was perfect, couple was perfect, venue was perfect... and one we've never been to before... I LOVE LOVE LOVE photographing in new locations... such a huge BONUS! Plus if anything were to have happened to anyone during the wedding both Steve & Katie, and half of their bridal party were nurses so I think they would've been covered. Haha!

Congratulations you two... we were so grateful to be a part of such a PERFECT day! We wish you the absolute best!

Check out some of my favorites and a slideshow with more from their day...

Dress: David's Bridal
Venue: Hotel Baker
DJ: Friend of the couple
All decorations were handcrafted by the Bride and her helpers (SO fun!)

Katie was SO BEAUTIFUL...



All of her girls were not only gorgeous, but super sweet!!!! LOVE THEM ALL!!!



And Steve looked so handsome... and check out his guys shoes... (LOVE THEM!)



Super fun guys...



I love how excited they were to get married... so sweet!



One of my absolute favorite shots!!!



Love this...



Rarrr...



Adorable!!!



Check out WAY more from their beautiful day...

John & Jennifer :: Wedding

I LOVE projects... who doesn't right?

I think I drive Todd crazy with all the things I want him to do and there is a possibility that it is a little worse than normal since this whole "nesting" thing has kicked in. But since Todd is working so much lately I've recruited a new worker... my FATHER-IN-LAW. Happy Father's Day, right?! Hehe!

We recently have been fixing one of the bedrooms upstairs for a nursery, but who can have just one thing going on at a time? NOT ME! I decided that in the meantime, since our little guy is not even here yet, that I wanted to get some work done in my office. But with projects come messes, and I'm not a fan of messes. I feel all out of sorts, remember our big kitchen project last year- oh my!!!, and not put together. The good news is my office is ALMOST finished and I can get back to my normal blogging after this week and I'm so excited that I was able to sneak in a few minutes to get together one of the recent weddings we photographed...

John & Jennifer!

Two of the sweetest people I have ever met. Plus, two of the most laughable couples together I have ever met. If you remember their engagement session, it was a pure laugh session! One of my favorites for that reason... I love a good laugh and I love getting shots of people in their element, and that is their element! It made me so excited for their wedding because I KNEW it would be so fun and it totally was!

It's always great to be a part of a couples day that just love to make each other smile and laugh. Plus, Mother Nature gave them a SUPER nice day, as it was suppose to be rainy and it wasn't, all up until we arrived at the reception. Pheww... close call!

Todd and I had sooo MUCH fun... Thanks guys for being so sweet! We wish you the best in all your future endeavors!

Check out some of our favorites and a slideshow with lots more beauty's from their day...

Dress: Bella Bridal
Church: Academy of the Sacred Heart
Hair: Jamie Nanney (Contact me for Contact Info)
Make Up: Kristin Daubenmeyer (Contact me for Contact Info)
Venue: Petruzzello's
Flowers: English Gardens - Kay Kiekbusch
DJ: JD Entertainment
Wine Co.: Filipo Marc Winery

Could Jennifer be any more gorgeous... AMAZING!



And her girls were SOOO sweet... LOVED the short dresses!



John was so handsome and I love it when grooms choose to wear bow ties... so fun!



His guys were hilarious too...



LOVED everyone... they were so much fun! Haha!!!





Especially the couple... adorable!!!



They make each other laugh so much... it's so cute! (They did this all on their own... so funny!)



LOVE IT!



Check out a slideshow from more of their day...

First Father's Day!!!!

Yesterday was a first for us...

I think it was more of a special day for Todd, for obvious reasons, but I was pretty happy to partake in this "first" as well.

As I was thinking about yesterday and how much it can be overlooked, I thought how sad that was... even though us mom's do a lot of work, and I'm not really one to know how much work it entails as of YET, but I do HEAR there is a lot of "work" to be a part of so we'll just go with the majority, but I thought to myself that dad's are important too, especially the love of my life, who is going to be a dad here soon! YAY!

I know for me, having Todd around is SO much fun and makes life SO much fun! We find it easy to make each other laugh, we joke a lot, we find humor in so many things, along with him being the sweetest guy in the world, he has proven and earned his "BEST HUSBAND IN THE WORLD" award, especially the last few months with these lovely pregnancy side effects. Just knowing how great he is to me, has my confidence full that he is going to be the BEST DAD IN THE WORLD award pretty quickly after our guy is born, especially since he's already offering to do night feedings... YES, PLEASE! I'm totally going to hold him to that when the time comes because sleep is something that is getting harder and harder to come by these days and I know it's only going to get worse before it gets better! But we'll try not to think about that yet... one thing at a time right! Ha!

But most importantly, our first "Father's Day Celebration" was a success, and Todd felt so LOVED! I'm so happy to be sharing life with someone like him...

Todd, we couldn't imagine life without you in it and LOVE YOU SOOOO MUCH!!! XOXOXOXO!



And to all you dad's out there, I hope you had a great Father's Day and felt so much LOVE that it lasts them all year long!!!

Fun Times Friday

TGIF!!!!

Wooo hoooo....

I did remember what today was because we have something special planned for today. Anyone guess what that may be?

Drumroll....

MATERNITY PHOTOS!

I'm actually feeling a bit out of my element because I'm so used to being BEHIND the camera that this is truly going to be a challenge. I might bring a photo of myself and make Todd pose with it so I can be IN my element! I kind of doubt he would go for that, but maybe I should mention that to him. If he declines, I could pull the "Pregnancy Card" and shed a few tears... that is bound to work. Haha!

No, but we are so excited to see our dear friend Jenn Anibal as we had set this up quite a while ago and it's pretty crazy that it's finally here. Oh the milestones we keep on crossing!

Last week, I mentioned to Todd that I really wanted to take more photos for ourselves. I need to get better at it because I want our kid to not only be photographed, but video'ed as well. I want to remember him when he's a baby and as he grows. As I mentioned that to him and we had family in town, I thought might as well practice up some, and who better to practice on then our niece, along with our dog! They play so well together and it's actually pretty cute how gentle he is with her. It gives us a lot of confidence that he's going to be a great big brother!

Here is one of the videos that I took that brought a huge smile to my face... (the other dog is our friend's dog that we were dog sitting... she loves kids as well!)




Happy Friday!!!

Whirlwind Weekend...

Talk about a whirlwind of a weekend...

I'm not exactly sure what day of the week it is, but that's ok because I'm enjoying not knowing. It's one of times where I'm fully enjoying "living in the moment"!

We have a short break in our schedule from weddings, but have filled those weekends with quite the entertainment.

Let's just call this past weekend, the 'Weekend of the Bellies!' You'll know why here in a second...

Friday evening one of my oldest and dearest friends, Jennifer, came into town to visit her family. Lucky me, I live near them and got to share her for a night. I was so grateful that I had the opportunity to have that time with her because in all reality, I'm not sure when the next time will be as we are both expecting babies in the coming weeks. We had such a great time and I even got just a few shots of her and her adorable little belly! (XOXOX!)





The next two days were filled with even more excitement. My mom, sister, brother-in-law, niece, and niece-to-be all made the five hour trip up to Michigan for a quick visit, along with attending one of Todd and I's baby showers. I can't tell you how wonderful it was to have them around for the 28 hours that they were here. Yes, you read that right... they made the long haul up and then turned around the next day to head back home. Crazy? YES! Worth it? YES! Do it again? I'm pretty sure they would, but I'd have to ask! Haha!

As the time comes closer to the time that Todd and I will be adding to our family, it is also the time that my sister will be adding to hers as well, since she has a due date of a few days behind me. I was able to get just a few shots of her little belly and little family as well while they were here, but not as many as I would have liked since the weather decided to be freezing cold Sunday... I'm not sure what happened with that, but brrrr...





My FAVORITE... it's adorable!!!



Sooo cute!!!





Izzy was a little cold... Ok, she was REALLY cold!!!





She's still pretty cute even if she was really cold...











Happy Whatever Day it is Today!!!!

FUN TIMES FRIDAY - Mike & Angela :: Wedding

It's FRIDAY...

And what a great FRIDAY it is, even despite this rain!

I have a friend coming in town tonight and then tomorrow my mom, sister, brother-in-law, and niece will be coming in tomorrow for a quick two day visit... such fun times are about to be happening... and don't worry I'll be able to have more time to share them this coming week.

I should mention our trip to Chicago was AMAZING! I have no proof that Todd and I had a great time because I forgot my point & shoot camera at home. I couldn't believe it! I even said to him, "I really need to take more photos for us and it's so hard to remember when you have a huge camera that you can't easily hand over to people to take a photo of the two of us!" and then walked out of the house without it. Bummer... but luckily I didn't back up the driveway into our other car as we were leaving... YES, that happened a few weeks back when we were going to Indiana. I may be "partially" losing it! We did, however, get some awesome photos of a beautiful couple and their wedding, so I guess that proof will come when they are done. Haha!

Right now, I have proof that we had fun a few FRIDAY'S ago with a super sweet couple, Mike & Angela.

I was so excited for this particular wedding because I have known Angela for awhile now, and being a part of this special day was a huge honor. I met up with her and her girls for some pre-wedding fun, but unfortunately, there was a 'slight mishap' that caused that fun to not be as fun as it should have been... the wedding dress shop had not done the alterations to allow Angela's dress to fit properly. (Note to all future brides: Make sure that your bridal shop DOES the alterations that they say they are going to do.) But luckily, we adjusted our schedule and they headed over to the bridal shop to get those alterations done! Phewww...

The show must go on right? And everything from there went smoothly and PERFECT! Their ceremony was so sweet and oddly funny. I have never been to a ceremony where the priest had goody bags for the couple, including starbursts and gummy candy (I almost dropped my camera just to swipe these from them... Haha! Just kidding!), along with a zebra printed bag, bottled water, a bottle of beer, and a watch. How funny!

After the ceremony, we headed over to Sycamore Hills Country Club for the rest of the evening. I was in awe of how beautiful their room was from their ice sculpture, to their cupcakes, to their table settings... everything was amazing! I could barely take my eyes off of the rows and rows of cupcakes that Angela's mom had made. What an amazing job she did!

Todd and I had a BLAST and felt so blessed to be a part of such a sweet and special day!

Congratulations you two... we had so much fun and we wish you NOTHING but the BEST!

Here are a few of my favorites along with a slideshow from more of their day...

Church: St. Louis Catholic Church
Cake & Cupcakes: Mother of the Bride
Flowers: Aunt of the Bride
DJ: TBA

Isn't Angela STUNNING?! Wow!



And her girls were absolutely gorgeous...



Mike is a lucky 'handsome' guy... can't you tell as well?!



And his guys were awesome...



I LOVED their ceremony... such a sweet time that was...










What a FUN bridal party they both had...



and I LOVE them together... they are so real and natural with each other...



And so stinkin' cute!


LOVE those shoes...




LOVE IT!




Check out their slideshow with more photos from their day...

Happy Anniversary Ol' Kitchen!

It has been a year since we tore you up and put you back good as new!

Haha!

Last summer was probably the most intense summers yet. We not only had tons going on outside of the home, but tons going on inside of the home. Including a mess that looked something like this...







Try living like this for a couple months... it's not easy! BELIEVE ME!

But I am proud to say that we all survived and are now able to enjoy all the hard work we put into that once HUGE MESS! We are still working on a few decoration stuff, but for the most part our hard work is able to be enjoyed!!!







Happy Anniversary Ol' Kitchen... We love you now more than EVER!!!