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!

Josh & Amy’s Engagement Photos

We met Josh and Amy at a park near Amy’s house because we wanted to get some photos of the couple and their adorable dogs, Kota and Dante.  I think Dante is one of the most adorable dogs I have ever met in my life!  I would totally take him home with me but I think Amy is kind of attached!  LOL  I loved that Amy and Josh were dressed in one of our favorite attires… UK gear and even the dogs had their own UK shirts!

We are so excited that Dante and Kota will be a part of Amy and Josh’s wedding this summer.  It should be tons of fun capturing these special members of the family as they join the group for the wedding.  This year must have been the year of the DOG in the Chinese calendar because we certainly have met many special fur babies in 2010 and look forward to seeing them again in 2011 at their parents’ weddings!

After Amy was thoroughly exhausted from chasing the dogs around the park, we headed out to Waveland State Historic park for some more intimate couple pictures.  It was a beautiful fall day for engagement photos and here is what we came up with!

We are excited to photograph their wedding this summer and know that it is going to be a fabulous day!

Alyssa & Chris’ Engagement Photos

Alyssa and Chris will be getting married this summer at Keeneland and we are very much looking forward to their wedding!  For their engagement session we ventured out to Waveland State Historic Site, in Lexington.  It was a beautiful fall day.  In Lexington it is tricky to catch the fall color because our peak color comes at the end of October which is generally rainy.  Also, this year, we had a VERY DRY summer so our fall was not extremely colorful and the leaves fell early.  Fortunately enough for us, Waveland was still beautiful and we thoroughly enjoyed roaming their grounds for our shoot.

Alyssa and Chris even allowed us to bring along a videographer friend who is making a promotional video for us!  (shhh… the cat’s out of the bag now!  Look for our promo video coming SOON!)  They were such great sports and we know that their wedding is going to be TONS of fun!

I have to say that Alyssa and Chris’ engagement pics are some of my VERY FAVORITES from this year!!!

Without further ado Alyssa and Chris:

A few fabulous black and white images from our session:

Then the fun part.  Sometimes we will ask our couples to do fun things like dance in the middle of a field or jump on each other’s shoulders.  We asked Alyssa and Chris if he would pick her up and swing her around… while kissing!  I guess its kind of like trying to chew gum and walk… here is what happened…

It started beautifully, all nice and romantic, great color… nice action shot… and no sooner than I said “looks great guys!” did this happen….

And like any good photographer… I did NOT stop to help them … I really was most concerned about getting the shot!  LOL  Bad… right?  I did however, stop to laugh with them after it was all over.  You have to laugh at yourself every now and then right?

(NOTE: No brides or grooms were harmed in the making of these photographs…( although I cannot speak for the grass … it was pretty dry and crunchy…..)

But I guess all is well that ends well right?

Randa & James Engagement

Randa and James were the winners of our Free Wedding Giveaway.  Each year we like to find a way to give back so we host a contest and give away a completely free wedding photography package with all the perks.  Randa and James have a pretty amazing story (they are so humble that I am sure they would debate that their “amazingness” but I can say it just the same!). We had SO much fun shooting their engagement pics, from Keeneland to Train Tracks to Commonwealth Stadium and back again.  I always “plan” to shoot an engagement session in under an hour but somehow that seems to get blown out of the water!  We get started and just cannot stop… LOL.

They will be getting married in Wilmore at the Estes Chapel on Asbury’s campus in August.  We are SO very excited to spend their big day with them!!

I give you Randa and James Engagement:

Kim & Jeff

We will be photographing Kim & Jeff’s wedding on July 26th. I have actually known Kim since HIGH SCHOOL… which seems oh so long ago now… yikes. We are officially getting OLD I believe! It has been great to come back into contact with Kim and to meet and get to know Jeff. I know that these two are just beginning a beautiful life together and we are excited to be a part of their big day!

Kim & Jeff’s Engagement photos at Waveland….