A Missouri Wedding at Porto Cima: Christie and Dan

When I spoke with Christie on the phone and asked her what her wedding colors were going to be, she said something along the lines of "charcoal, silver, ivory, and bling." I mention this because the combination of the colors (bling included) is something I hadn't seen before and had no idea what to expect. Well, it turned out absolutely beautiful. As soon as I met Christie, with her bright, sparkly smile, I found that the "bling" part was just an extension of her great personality. From her silver wedding dress that coordinated with the ivory table cloths, to the shiny, silvery cake and studded floral arrangements, Christie did a fabulous job planning the wedding and making all her guests feel welcome (and her vendors -- thank you Christie:))

We did some shots after she put her dress on -- we were a little rushed for time, but Christie was a total natural and made my job very easy. I can't get enough of her dress -- it was stunning. There is something about silver wedding dresses that is unbelievably beautiful and sexy.
(I don't usually post so many bridal shots, but I'm excited about them, what can I say?)

Gorgeous!

Dan, who was such a kind and truly wonderful guy, and his "real" best man. (Sorry Gary, that's what I heard). Yes, that is Christie's ring around his blingy ribbon collar :)

The ceremony was held inside the clubhouse at Porto Cima, the evening after Heidi and Andy's wedding (check out the previous post). This venue is really spectacular and I was excited about the wedding taking place under such a unique and artistic canopy.

Shots with the newlyweds after the ceremony.

I really wanted to get this shot of Christie before I left at the end of the night. She told me that ever since she first had dinner at Porto Cima, she had envisioned herself walking down these stairs in her wedding dress... sooo... I HAD to get a great shot of her, in her dress, in front of the stairs (even though we already took some earlier... I wasn't 100% satisfied). I had to eliminate a 500 million pound plant stand to get the shot, but I'm happy about the damage to my hands because I think this one really shows off Christie's playful, lovely, statuesque form and spirit.


Again, I have to give a huge thank you to Dionne for helping with this one, and a massive thank you to Christie and Dan for being so kind and wonderful to work with! True story: I sat and had dinner with them at their head table while everyone was eating... they insisted! You can't imagine how inappropriate I felt about it all, and how much coercing it took them to get me to sit down and eat, but it illustrates the thoughtfulness and big hearts of these guys. Thanks Christie and Dan -- I am honored you chose us to do your wedding photography and had a great time!

Peace and Love, Katie

A Fall Wedding at the Lake -- Heidi & Andy

Heidi and Andy were married at the Porto Cima Yacht Club which is nestled along the coast of the Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri. This was the first time we've had the opportunity to shoot in this incredible location, so going into the day, I was excited and feeling that creative buzz.

The morning of the wedding was warm, with blue skies and leaves starting to change color. Heidi's family welcomed me into their condo to begin shooting the girls getting ready, and Heidi putting her dress on. She wore a stunning strapless gown with some really unique fabric accents. And her shoes were so beautiful! They were peep-toed with just the tiniest amount of bling right under the toe. Gorgeous.

Heidi's cake was created to match her dress -- usually not my favorite choice (because the execution is, 90% of the time, terrible) -- but this one was amazing! Perfectly executed. Oh, and this little beauty was Andy's niece, who really and truly looked this adorable all day long, every second of the day.

The ceremony was right in front of the water, with those incredible Missouri trees all around, and the three white reception tents to the side. Heidi and Andy had large green and purple lanterns floating from the ceiling of the tents with tall arrangements of flowers.
The atmosphere was lovely.

I love this one of the guys.

And this of the girls. I wish I had room to post a photo of the bridesmaid's shoes, they were so great! I might have to do a whole blog post on wedding day shoes.

Okay, so one of the most memorable parts of the day was when Andy's dad, who had been the nicest, happiest, grandpa-like-guy all day, suddenly took off his jacket and donned an electric guitar. He was so good! He sang and played and totally kicked ass.

Aren't these tents fabulous?

This last shot is of Heidi's side of the family, her sisters, friends, Mom Michelle and other Mom Kerri, at the end of the night. These guys were so friendly and welcoming -- I appreciate their warmth so much!

I have to give a shout out to Dionne for assisting me throughout the day. She was AMAZING to work with and I couldn't have done this one without her. Thanks Dionne!

Peace and Love, Katie

Natalie & Brad - A Las Vegas Wedding - Oct. 2, 2010

When I asked Natalie what her thoughts/feelings were about bridals she mentioned that they love architectural photography, which I do too, so I was pretty stoked to say the least and knew exactly where I wanted to go. City Center, right in front of Aria hotel on the Strip. If you've never been there, it's some of the coolest architecture/design anywhere. Natalie looked beautiful in her dress and was trusting and open to any of the ideas I threw out. I had a lot of help from the coolest bridesmaid ever, Jooyyce who was all smiles and lightened the mood for everyone.
It was kinda stormy and kept raining off and on, but we never got wet. The lighting was Perfect. I was a little concerned about the location being a brand new hotel, a fancy one at that, that we might come into some problems with the photography being.....ok'd. But I thought about the number of tourists with cameras in and out of there every day and the fact that of all the places I've shot, Mexico, Paris, Vegas numerous times, Bars & Restaurants around the country, etc... that we'd be fine. Especially if we just set it up, shot and go out. I always like to shoot first and then take the heat later, I mean, if you get the shot and they kick you out, you've got the shot. So we did fine actually for a while shooting outside the main entrance with the amazing waterfall/fountain...thing, that they have out there, walked around and set up OUTSIDE next to this restaurant, and here comes a dude in a suit, telling us we can't shoot there. ? We were outside next to the builiding...so ya know, we just walked around the corner and shot some more. Honestly, I was pretty pleased, if you go to all the normal places, try stuff all the other photographers have tried, what are you gonna get? The same stuff.

These turned out to be some of my favorite bridals ever. Lighting, location, bride, perfect. I really fought posting a lot more. Less is more.

We showed up around noon and started shooting getting ready shots. Big shout out to Bronson of Bronson Bailey Photography, he's a good friend of mine and was a ton of help with this wedding, assisting, giving advice. It was nice having another professional photographer there just to talk things out with, lighting, set up, etc. Also, he pretty much won over the girls who kept calling him Bronson Bailey (full name, like James Bond), man of mystery.

I don't usually do the groomsmen jumping into the air shot, cause it's done a lot, but they requested it and I love it! Wish it had been my idea...
Brad's a chef and when he showed up he had his suitcase of knives. When I asked, "Hey, why do you have a suitcase full of knives?" He said,"For the photos." Holy crap, I was in Heaven. The groom brought knives. I had a few ideas, but I had seen this photo of tiger woods and his caddie swapping their clubs in the air and the photographer caught it at just the right moment, a really cool shot. So I asked if Brad and his best man would mind throwing them to each other. And Brad said, that might not be a great idea, cause if we miss they'll just go right through us, they're pretty sharp. But after a little bit of talking into, they agreed, I just told them they'd probably be ok and it would make a really cool shot.
Also I want to point out that this group of guys was one of the easiest groups I've shot, totally into the ideas I had and all into the art of it. The bridals went pretty awesome too. Really overall, just a fun group of people who were so laid back and easy to work with.

The wedding was held in a great little spot at Silverstone Golf Club. It started to rain a bit and was super windy. But if you've been following this blog at all, it never rains for a wedding I shoot, it just doesn't. So after letting them know that, they were fine, the rain stopped and the wedding and post wedding shots on the course had a perfect amount of clouds and wind, along with a beautiful sunset.



Speaking of photos I don't usually post, are set up shots like this one, but I thought it turned out pretty cool, we had to hurry to get all these done before the light disappeared. And the wedding party was up for anything fun, which is always the coolest.

The reception was a blast, Natalie & Brad, their family and friends, were some of the nicest, coolest people I've ever had at a wedding. It's another one of those that when you leave you just think, man I freakin love my job. I loved this wedding, the couple, I'm so glad I got the opportuinity to work with them. Another couple, I think, I'll be close to forever.

K2