Here are a few quick pics from my latest newborn session.

Svea was a little bit older than most of the newborns I generally photograph, but we were able to get some winners! It was somewhat of a chore to get her to relax and fall asleep but actually, I love the ones with her eyes open. She gave up eventually!

John and Claudine

This week I'm playing catch up from the weekend. I went back to Rochester for my (dare I say it....?) 20 YEAR reunion. My parents moved to Wisconsin shortly after I graduated from college, and not only had I not been there since, but also, I really have done a terrible job at keeping in touch with most high school friends and classmates.

To be honest, since I hadn't attended any previous reunions, I wasn't quite sure what to expect. I sort of thought I'd end up hanging out with a small group most of the time, and maybe even skip out early to head someplace more fun. I realized not long after I walked through the door that I had spent too much time worrying about how it was going to go; because I ended up having a PHENOMENAL time! My face hurt the next day from all the smiling and laughing I did the first night. It was just really comfortable and great to catch up with everyone, and I'm so glad I went.

I have heard mixed reviews about 5 or 10 year high school reunions, but I would recommend the 20 year to anyone! Some of my old friends (old meaning: I've known them for a long time!) and I have already decided to plan a yearly get together, and I can't wait!

So now on to John and Claudine: I photographed these two last Wednesday evening. It was such a gorgeous night at the Como Park Pavilion--there happened to be a beautiful sky, and we were serenaded with live big band music during our shoot!

They are such a cute couple. They share a love of music and they are both just so laid back and even keel. I think they just look so incredibly happy together. Even after weeding through these, I ended up with around 100 images that I can't seem to bring myself to delete. I decided I would let Claudine to make the final call since she and John plan on using one of the images as an underlay to their wedding invitations.

Claudine and I were both enrolled in the Interior Design program at Stout years back. (I guess now that I've told you about my reunion it's no big secret how many!) I had lost touch with her, but she heard through friends that I was now a photographer. I remembered that she has great taste and I'm so flattered that she and John picked ME to photograph their wedding this fall. It's going to be on a beautiful golf course in Stillwater and she has Mick Sterling and his band playing at the reception. It will be a fun one, for sure!

John had his guitar in the car and he decided to bring it out to play near the end of our session. One little boy there must have thought John was famous. He kept asking his dad, "Who is that guy?" :)

Claudine is half owner of an Edible Arrangements franchise in Roseville.

http://www.ediblearrangements.com/

She brought me an arrangement of chocolate covered fruit! How nice was that?! (I tried eating it on the way home, and it was no easy task!) It was beautiful and delicious--Thanks, Claudine!

More Tiffany and Jeff...

One more by the shed...

walking back to the church...

Tiffany's mom and aunt own New Prague Floral and beautiful flowers were in ALL the details.

(I loved how the bridesmaid's bouquets weren't all matchy-matchy with the bride's, but the orchids tied it all together!)

Preparing to walk down the aisle...

The newly-wed Heaths passed out these candy bars to their guests at their reception !

Jeff and Tiffany

I just spent the morning going through all of my images from the wedding Paul and I photographed just outside of New Prague this weekend. We were pretty much in the middle of nowhere, so we asked a farmer near the church if we could take some photographs near these very cool old sheds he had on his property. He was more than happy to let us use his land, and although it was VERY hot and sunny, Tiffany and Jeff were entirely willing to go along with all of our outdoor ideas.

Here are some of my first shots of just the two of them. I'll post more from their day later in the week!

On a side note: I had been asking Paul to take some new warm weather head shots of me for awhile now, so we used the time we had before we met up with the bride and groom to kill two birds with one stone: I was the model for our "light check" by this shed.

Paul; I just wanted to thank you, my friend, for my website's new profile pic! (I thank you and the dynamic skin softener!!) :) www.blackbirdportraits.com

Cousins

Funny Story:

Last time I photographed these two cousins, I found out only after I posted the gallery images that poor Avery's dad (who brought her to her appointment due to a last minute meeting her mom had to attend) had put her dress on backwards for the shoot! Fortunately, when Avery's mom saw the gallery images, she was able to find humor in the situation...She told me the dress had a really cute kimono front and was supposed to button up the back. I went back to check the photos and saw what she was talking about. (See March blog post; pink and white dress!) It WAS pretty funny and but she looked so cute anyway! To Avery's dad's defense, his sister-in-law and I were both there that day, too, and neither of us noticed anything wrong! You've gotta give a guy credit for trying!!

This week, Avery was back here with her cousin Natalie, and there were no wardrobe malfunctions to speak of!! This time, there was a lot of crawling going on, and once again, these girls did not disappoint!