Happy Wedding Day Sarah & Ben!!!

Well we made it!!  We are here in Bradenton, Florida for Sarah and Ben’s destination wedding on Anna Maria Island!!!  This is actually our first destination wedding for a Lexington couple!  We are so super excited for them and know it’s going to be an AMAZING day!  Happy Wedding Day Sarah and Ben… while you are waiting for their wedding sneak peek, her are a few of their engagement photos. (sorry for the blatant overuse of exclamation points in those sentences…LOL)

Joe & Helen’s Lexington, Kentucky Firehouse Engagement

I know that every couple likes to have “pretty” engagement photos but I am always 100% honest in saying that your photos, will be SO much “prettier” if we create them at a place that is meaningful to YOU as a couple.  The place you got engaged.  The place you went to when you dated.  The place you first met.  When Helen asked me if they could get some pics at the fire station I could have jumped for joy!  Seriously… new places, locations, ideas… they send my brain into a whole new level of creativity!

If you are a friend of Helen and Joe’s who has stopped by… be sure to leave a comment below this post for them!

The session started off at Keeneland:

Yes… we dared walk on the track!  It’s the off season…

Then we packed up and headed downtown to the Firehouse!  I almost giggled with excitement!!   And let me tell you… Helen is a MASTER at changing in the car.  She popped out of that car ready to shoot!

We just couldn’t resist playing with the rings… I mean we had the helmet there… it was just BEGGING for this photo!!!  So… Helen’s ring got it’s own little mini session… yes… we un-apologetically like to display the engagement ring!!!!!

And then Helen asked if we could get a few pics on the front porch swing.  Yes… this fire station has a front PORCH!  It is one of the oldest in Lexington, if not the oldest, so it is full of all kinds of cool history (I am a history buff so this is right up my alley!).  Helen and Joe have spent many nights enjoying the view from that front porch and it is where their love started, has grown and blossomed into the thing of beauty that it is now.  So sweet that they will get to keep this memory even long after Joe leaves the station

Yep.  It was a pretty fabulous day!  We ended it with a trip to Mi Pequena Hacienda for Mexican food!  I mean really… does it get any better than that?  And either I was REALLY hungry or that was some of the best Mexican food that I have EVER eaten!  LOL

Helen and Joe… we are SO looking forward to your wedding day and know that it is going to be an amazing good time!  See you again VERY soon (probably at Orange Leaf… again… LOL).

Kristin’s Bridal Session

Kristin and Ben were married at Asbury’s Estes Chapel last weekend.  I have been waiting many weeks to post her fabulous bridal images and I am SO excited for everyone to get to see them!  Kristin looked stunning in her Maggie Sottero gown and she chose ballet flats as she is exactly, to the inch, the same height as her husband to be!    We started out at Waveland then headed over to Keeneland to finish up.  So many times people will compliment our work and my response is always the same : “It’s easy when you have great subjects!”  And that really IS true!  I have the best clients in the entire world!

Bethany & Drew’s Engagement Session (Keeneland, Waveland, Baseball Field and my FAVORITE field!)

So normally I can plan the light REALLY well and it seems that spring is going to impose it’s own set of challenges as far as lighting. Not to fear, this year Schmidt Studio is equipped with some AWESOME new lighting plans and equipment!  Look out world… he we come… off camera lighting and all!  I am really excited for our brides’ receptions this year:)  Stay tuned later in the post for photos with our new lighting… !!!

We met up with Bethany and Drew at Keeneland for their engagement session and started our session there.  WHY?  Is it ALWAYS so windy at Keeneland?  I will never know!   Right now in the middle of changing seasons it can be nice and warm elsewhere and on top of Keeneland’s hill it is 30!  Poor Bethany’s teeth were chattering at one point!

Lucky enough for me Bethany and Drew were good sports.  She fabulously chose some AWESOMELY coordinated outfits for this session.  I think that maybe my next “What to wear” post for engagement will be based on Bethany and Drew!  They rocked it!

I was totally smitten with her HOT boots and AMAZING necklace!

And then we happened upon Bethany’s “drop dead gorgeous, model / amazing” look…

See what I am talking about?!!

At any rate we wandered around collecting some stunning images at Keeneland but my favorite has to be THIS one:

To die for?  I think so! (New lighting should be dually noted here… )

After Keeneland we decided to change scenery and went over to Waveland (another of our favorite haunts!)  Although there was lots of MUD and it was getting dark QUITE fast… we still managed to get some stunning images.

Somewhere along the way Drew sprung it on me that he wanted Baseball pics!  Which we were totally up for, but this threw a curve ball at me (TOTAL pun intended) to be hearing it first during the session.  So I wracked my brain and quickly realized that we could stop off at a field on our way to my favorite field. I think these are by far my favorite images of the entire session!  I am so OCD… I like to have a plan and a backup and a backup of my backup but somehow I notice that my FAVORITE images of all time were not planned at all!  Maybe God is trying to tell me something!

I mean really it’s like “Real Housewives of Kentucky”!  I LOVE this!  Makes me want to get a group of my brides together and do an imitation shot!  (wheels turning… any brides interested shoot me a Facebook message!  .. must be a former or current SS&G bride… ps… I am TOTALLY being serious here! )

PS… Thanks Dunbar for lending us your field for a few photos!  (and here… new lighting again!)

Looks he’s multi-talented!  He can toss a baseball and look at his beautiful bride at the same time!!!!!!!!!  (took us a minute to figure out the logistics of this one!  LOL!)

Have you ever seen a dugout look so HOT!??  I think not … until now!  (definitely some smokin hot new lighting techniques here!)

And there was LIGHT!  Night time?  No problem for the old SS&G… new equipment = new ideas= more hours of fun photographing! (and OMWord… what about this?  Yes… it was pitch black outside and still… amazing pics… right!?)

The session was totally fun!  Bethany is of course the absolute CUTEST ever (Drew isn’t bad himself lol) and we cannot wait until their wedding day!  We know that it is going to be a truly amazing day and we are honored to be chosen to capture their wedding day memories!

Jill & Aaron’s Keeneland Engagement Photos

Jill and Aaron will be getting married this coming October and we will have the honor of photographing their wedding day!! YAY   I know it is going to be beautiful and we are always proud to be a part of our couples’ special days.

We met up with Jill and Aaron at Keeneland to start off their fabulous and fun engagement session!  Although it was quite cold outside (as evidenced by the snow on the ground…) Jill and Aaron were tough and it made them all the more likely to be caught snuggling One of my favorite things about Keeneland is that it has so many different “looks” and no matter what season you in it is beautiful in a different way each season.  I know that there are plenty of photographers in Lexington who shoot at Keeneland but I like to think I SEE Keeneland in a different way!  Yes, the paddock is awesome but I am always drawn to nooks and crannies like the old black barns and the stone building (that used to be covered in poision ivy!!! eeeek).

One of my favorite things is this gate that stands, alone, at the top of the hill.  The sunlight always  streams in just a certain way, filtered by the tree that shades it.  Something about that spot just takes my breath every time.

And then a funny thing happened… I was taking a standard couple shot on the other side of this vehicle and had a good sized lens on my camera so I was only seeing a tightly cropped image.  Troy, however, was standing over my shoulder and off to the side a bit and THIS is what he saw:

I mean really… that should be on a commercial.  Sorry guys… just couldn’t resist posting it!  I vote we enter the pic in some contests and if we win a car we will share it   How about that?!  LOL  Or maybe we can win multiples cars and then we each get one!!!  Yeah… I like that even better!

After Keeneland we headed out to my favorite field.. where the grass is always golden and so is the light!  I mean I really could not be any more in love with this field if God attached a little note to it that said :  “To Amber … from God… have fun and take great pics!” … sigh…

My favorite thing about Jill and Aaron… they are fabulous TOGETHER!  There is no oddness.  They fit together perfectly and are so comfortable together that it makes my job easy!

It’s funny to me when people say “You have such amazing photos!”.  I always respond, “It’s easy when you have great subjects!”.  That statement could not be any more true than with these two! 

Happy Valentine’s Day you love birds you!

Maureen & Chad’s Southland Christian Church Wedding

Maureen and Chad were blessed with an AMAZINGLY warm January day.  It seems that my couples are lucky like that!  ( I like to call that blessed! )  We had plenty of time to run off to Keeneland for some beautiful photos with the couple before their candlelit ceremony.

There were so many unique and special touches to their wedding… It was like a photographer’s playground!  Maureen and Chad’s intimate wedding culminated in dinner at Malone’s, a fabulous cake by Brenda of the Sugar Forest and post wedding drinks at the Bigg Blue Martini!  Pretty perfect wedding day if you ask me!  Here’s the sneak peek!

Brittany’s Snowy Bridal Session at Keeneland

Brittany’s wedding was at the beginning of November and even though it flurried, it did not snow on her wedding day.  BUT one weekend in December when there WAS snow I hinted that we might go out and shoot her bridal images that day and she jumped at the opportunity!  Of course CATCHING the snow in Lexington is not always easy… our meteorologists must need a raise or something!  We headed out to Keeneland and despite the cold managed to end up with some GORGEOUS images!

When this image came up in the download I knew that this was just “it” for me.  Lots of times couples will ask me how long with a session take to shoot and I always say “Until I get the money shot”… and that is the God’s honest truth.  When I look into that camera and see that one shining moment, which usually happens toward the end of the session, I know that we will not be able to top that for the rest of our and generally that is when I say “done!”.  All of my couples, I am sure will agree, that each of us can pick that ONE photo out of the crowd… this was it for Brittany’s session… Something about it made me say WOW!

Brittany, came prepared for our snowy adventure!  I always want my brides to know that I will never ask you to do anything that I would not do myself.  All the photos that you see on my site of people in water, snow, etc… I am generally in up to my waist with them!  I am not a sissy and I am also very careful to be gentle with my brides!  For that reason, when shooting in the snow, I do NOT wear a coat.  I have my mitten with no fingertips, but I try to dress in similar fashion to my brides and that gives me the ability to know when enough is enough.  I can gage how cold they are because I AM THAT COLD TOO!!!

After her session was posted on Facebook Brit gave me a compliment that brings tears to my eyes!  Brittany said:  “I thought it was the sweetest thing ever that my thoughtful photographer said that she didn’t wear a coat on the sessions so that she could tell how could it was and wouldn’t freeze her brides.  That is the nicest, most thoughtful thing I had ever heard!  Not only is she talented but she has a heart of gold!!!”

So yes, I do care too much sometimes! Sometimes that equals fevers, chills and a friggin cold after my snow sessions but its all worth to know that my clients have these amazing memories to treasure forever!

Wedding “ish” session at Keeneland

We were unable to photograph this beautiful couple due to a conflict in our schedules but we were able to spend a little time with them at Keeneland for an impromptu session. Keeneland happened to be one of the ONLY locations in Lexington that actually had fall color this year and God smiled on us and gave us an absolutely stunning evening with blue sky and unbelievably warn light.

Yes… I broke out the fisheye… gotta love the modern look it bring to the photos as well as the wide angle!  Our favorite fisheye happens to be a 10mm so I always have to be careful to not catch my feet in the pic!  LOL

Having a Winter Wedding? Ask about our FREE Package upgrade for Off-season weddings!

Yes… we admit it.. we LOVE winter weddings!  I am a cold weather person and there is very little that scares me!  Bring on the snow BABY!  There is so much that is magical about the holiday season and snow on the ground.  We LOVE sharing time with our family and friends but we also love photographing some amazing Winter Weddings!

SOOOOO… 2011-2012 Brides… Are you planning an Off Season Wedding?

(January 1 – April 30)

If so we would like to give you a little incentive:

For every bride who books their “Off Season” Wedding at normal Studio Rates we will DOUBLE the number of images in your wedding package for FREE!!!

Yes, you heard me correctly!  FREE IMAGES for you just because we love the snow… and brides… and brides IN THE SNOW!!!!

Email or Call Amber Schmidt for more details!!

Amber Schmidt

studio@kentuckystudio.com

859.312.5361

Kristen & Alan’s Lexington Keeneland Engagement Session

Kristen and Alan were married August 7th at the same church in which Alan was ordained.  This very chic couple met while working at Barnes and Noble thus the B&N pics at the end of the session.  Although it was brutally hot outside we braved the sweat and managed to create some fabulous images!