Archive for the ‘Couples’ Category

Hey, Donnally here! I’m a new intern for Erika Dotson Photography, find out more about me here.

Meet Elizabeth and Andrew, a ridiculously cute couple! Erika threw me a camera, and I started snapping pictures… a great way to learn the ropes! Erika gave me a ideas for themes, I chose a first date theme for the couple because I thought it would be perfect for them. It was a fun shoot, complete with cupcakes from Bliss Cupcake Cafe, balloons, and lots of laughter. We shot the mini-session with them in downtown Fayetteville. Elizabeth and Andrew, recently engaged, were great to work with!

NW Arkansas Engagement Photography

Bliss was a cute place to begin the shoot, owner Shelley Cassar, was happy to have Bliss as the set for the first date theme.

NW Arkansas Engagement Photography

To set up the first date theme, Elizabeth and Andrew picked out their cupcakes.  Their taste of choice was chocolate milkshake and carrot cake. Yum!!!

NW Arkansas Engagement Photography

*Erika here –  It was such a treat to be able to teach Donnally what I knew about photography this day.  I’m super excited to have her on board as an intern here!  Can’t wait for what is to come!  Be sure to check out her about page.

NW Arkansas Engagement Photography

Yes, old fashion Coca-Cola was a must for the shoot!

NW Arkansas Engagement Photography

I’ve got nothing for you… but meet the cupcakes.

NW Arkansas Engagement Photography

Andrew kept blowing bubbles in the Coca-Cola, making Elizabeth all smiles.

NW Arkansas Engagement Photography

*We thought it may be a bit awkward if Donnally wrote about herself, so here I am again.  I loved how she just jumped onto this table to shoot!  She’s learning already one of the most important factors on a shoot…..not worrying about your surroundings and how silly you look propped up on the table!  I love it!  :)

NW Arkansas Engagement Photography

Gorgeous lighting.

NW Arkansas Engagement Photography

I love the way Andrew looks at her.  So sweet.

NW Arkansas Engagement Photography

And forehead kisses… bonus!!!

NW Arkansas Engagement Photographer

This picture sums up the couple.  Perfect.

Enjoy!

-Donnally

Hey there everyone!  Several of you ladies contacted me at the beginning of the week regarding your wedding CD’s and I mentioned that I would be sending them out that day……then you all received an email shortly afterwards that said nevermind bc I have a little surprise for you!!!  Well guess what I’m a horrible secret keeper (at least when it involves something so awesome like this!) and I’m just going to share it with you here, then you can be surprised when you actually get them in the mail!!!  :)

I recently ran out of my traditional old labeled CD’s that I give to clients……you know the ones with my logo and name plastered all over them, which gave me an excuse to go order more…….   Well that’s when it hit me!  I’m going to make custom CD’s for all my clients!!!  Yea be excited!  :)

And without making you wait any longer for a picture……….

Erika Dotson Arkansas Wedding Photographer

I’m so excited to get these out to you guys tomorrow!

Enjoy!

-erika

Tanja and David, where in the world do I start?  Well right here in my backyard in fact!  Tanja has been out to my house many times and knew this was the area she wanted to have her engagements done.  David is such a sport and does pretty much whatever Tanja musters around in her head!  I love it!  David adores her and I think it’s beautiful.  I was actually there the day that he proposed to her hiding behind a rock ledge trying to capture some photos of the whole thing!

Tanja wanted a vintage style to her engagements and I just love these travel inspired ones we started out with!  It was a BIG deal to keep track of David’s passport (as he’s visiting from England)!!!!

Arkansas Engagement Portraits Tanja and David 1

I have wanted to photograph someone on this bridge for a very long time!  I’m so glad that Tanja was able to see the same thing I did as she drove over it for the first time to my house!!!

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We then headed to another place that I’ve been dying to shoot at!!!  Every weekend when we go to visit TW’s parents we pass this vineyard and I always put in a mental note: I’ve got to take someone out here!!!!  Now I can put that note aside thanks to Tanja!  She’s so stinkin beautiful……doesn’t she just look famous with that beautiful hair?!?!?!!?

Arkansas Engagement Portraits Tanja and David 2

This next set has a bit of a funny background story to it.  We first tried to set up our picnic in the middle of the dirt road.  But between getting the blanket down, the typewriter, the soda, and not to mention the couple a car would come then we’d do it all over again and another car would come!!!  We got a bit frustrated but headed to a beautiful field instead.  But the story doesn’t stop there, while we were taking these Tanja noticed some cows getting closer and closer…….well apparently we were in the middle of two fields of cows that were headed towards one another as if they were going to battle!  Needless to say we got our stuff quickly and hopped over on the other side of the fence into the “safe” zone!!!  :)  Then afterwards they followed us to the gate and we tried to touch them.  I didn’t realize they hadn’t ever seen a cow that close before!  If I would have known that I would have stuck them out in our field and let our little cow come say hi!!!

Arkansas Engagement Portraits Tanja and David 6

Arkansas Engagement Portraits Tanja and David 5

Tanja and David I can’t wait to fly out to Europe next summer for your wedding day!!!  You two are such a beautiful couple!  It’s been such a blast being able to work alongside you two and see you grow!

Much Love

-erika

Danielle and Justin are such a sweet and in love couple!  I have known Danielle for a few years, we attended the U of A together and graduated from the Dietetics program together in 2008.  A few years back I offered to shoot Danielle and her friend McKinzie just for fun, and we did just that, had lots of fun!  We came out with some great shots of the both of them.  Since then we were able to shoot McKinzie’s wedding last summer at the Botanical Gardens and are super excited that she’s having a baby boy too!!!  :)  But we’re more excited that we’re lucky enough to have the opportunity to shoot Danielle’s wedding in Conway this October!!!  I can’t wait.  She is so beautiful!  This girl is truly amazing!  She works with kids on a daily basis and loves every second of it.  And thank you Justin for supporting her in life, because we all know she probably comes home sometimes wiped out and completely exhausted  from sharing that love all day!  We need more people in the world just like them!  Oh and a big congrats to Justin who just graduated from UCA in Kinesiology!

We shot these lovely engagements out at the Botanical Gardens on Friday!

Botanical Gardens Outdoor Engagements

Are they not just the most adorable couple ever?

Botanical Gardens Engagements

I just love the way she looks at him!

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This is just too lovely!

Ozark Botanical Gardens Engagements

Love love love love it!

Botanical Garden of the Ozarks Engagements

She’s gorgeous…….I told ya so!

Botanical Gardens Engagements

I just love this yummy light!

Botanical Garden Engagements

Love.

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Thanks you guys you were wonderful!

Enjoy!

-erika

Amber and Alan.  They will be getting married September 18th this year!  I’m super excited since now as of this weekend wedding season has officially kicked off for me!  I’m ready for nights upon nights of editing as well as sore feet from shooting all weekend……..not really but I am ready to spend the day with my couples and their most important day as a newly married pair!   I just love weddings and being surrounded by such happy loving families.  I am grateful for all my loving clients, they keep my business thriving as well as welcome me in to document the most beautiful day of their lives together!

Amber and Alan mentioned to me that they wanted to shoot their engagements on the square in Fayetteville.  It wasn’t until a little later that I learned Alan had this really sweet special proposal planned in December for Amber.  He planned on taking her to the square to ride in the horse carriages, check out the beautiful light display, and have a nice dinner afterwards only to walk into their apartment and Amber was in her PJ’s!!!  Obviously the night Alan had planned still went spectacular but they didn’t ride carriages or stroll around the square, rather they enjoyed their new life together in PJ’s in their apartment.  I love it!  Sometimes it’s funny how we realize these perfectly planned engagements turn out to be even better when they don’t go exactly as planned!

Amber and Alan met in Accounting class at the U of A.  Apparently Alan facebooked her after class asking for help with the homework.  Well Amber kept acting like she didn’t know how to do it and little did she know Alan really didn’t need her help at all (he already had his work done and totally understood it!)  How cute.  Their first date was the movies followed by dinner at Denny’s!

I told Alan I would put this on the blog……..  As I first met with them I asked how many more days until the wedding.  Immediately Amber told me she didn’t know days just months.  No problem just wondering right?  Sometimes my couples know exactly to the day how much longer!  Well Alan promptly stated there were 142 days left!  He had to double check to make sure he was right, I mentioned that he had studied before their shoot since he knew his photographer would ask a question like that!  ;)  I’m impressed Alan and I’m granting bragging rights to you!  It’s was so sweet to watch Amber and Alan together and how much Alan adores her.  She really is a lucky girl and I’m sure he’ll take good care of her through their life together.

Ok enough about them let’s see their pictures!!!!!

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Meet Amber.  She’s getting married September 18th to……

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Alan.  Amber’s future husband!

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Isn’t she just beautiful.  I can’t tell Alan thinks so!  :)

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I love the way Alan looks at Amber!  He’s too adorable.  I know he’ll take good care of her!

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I love the expression on Alan’s face here, he looks so happy and in love!

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Amber told Alan she wanted a princess cut diamond and he designed the rest at a local jewelry shop!  That’s a gorgeous ring!

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There’s a tradition for all U of A graduates here in Arkansas.  They imprint years on the sidewalks and your name is etched into the cement according to the year you graduated along with your degree for everyone to admire forever!

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And my favorite shot of the day comes from a quick random idea.  I love how those ideas always turn out to be your best shots, which just so you know I’m pretty sure this idea of the lawn shot was Ambers!!!  Way to go!

Congratulations to you two!  It was great to go about town shooting and getting to know you!  I look forward to September!

Enjoy!

-erika

Ashley and Jim drove up to Fayetteville for the weekend.  They are such a fun and laid back couple!  I enjoyed walking all over Springdale and through all the briars with them today!  They will be getting married in Little Rock on July 17th this year.  I’m pretty excited!!!!

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I just love how happy they are in this one!  Of and I love the wind blowing her hair!!!

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Jim’s a lucky guy!  Isn’t she just gorgeous, look at those eyes!

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Love Love Love Love Love Love Love Love Love Love Love. This may just be my favorite image of the day.

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Cute shot in downtown Springdale.

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Don’t they look so happy to be together!  I just love shooting engagement pictures!

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This was Ashley’s one request……field shots!  I am in love with sunflare and fields!

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Love the warmth and closeness!

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Oh wait I forgot about this one…….totally hands down my favorite for the day!

Enjoy!

-erika

I know you all remember the images I posted a few days ago of Tanja and David’s engagement….. they haven’t even been engaged a week yet (technically they will tomorrow) and we’re already shot some engagement pictures!!!  I have a feeling knowing Tanja that there will be some more!  I told her no matter what if it snows while he’s here we’re shooting!  Sure enough it snowed like the very next day!  I love Tanja to death, she’s one of those girls that can brighten a room just with her presence!  Honestly there have been moments at work where everyone there was like “where’s Tanja?, I can’t wait till she gets here”.  That should speak volumes about how amazing this girl truly is.  I am fortunate enough that she actually wants to hang out with me at weddings all day!  And of course we can’t forget about that boy….. David.   He’s pretty cool too.  Actually anyone from Europe that’s hanging around here is cool, I think it’s the accent.  But in all seriousness, David really genuinely cares and loves my dear Tanja so he’s got to be an amazing man himself.  He always can make you laugh too!  Oh and I love to learn all the new words I’ve never heard before when I’m around him!!!

Congratulations you two!  I am so excited and honored to share all these special memories with you guys!  Best wishes and good luck.

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This ring is a beauty!  David told me he could be a jeweler with as many rings as he had to look through to find the perfect one!!!

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I seriously thought this one was adorable!  Like a magazine ad!!!

And like I promised…………something BIG happened last night!!!!!!!

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He set everything up prior and went all out with flower petals, tons of candles, and a cabin at Devil’s Den!!!

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Then blindfolded her the entire way there!!!  Perfect!

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SHE SAID YES!!!!!!!  SHE SAID YES!!!!!!  (She also said “Oh my G, Oh my G, Oh my G about 20 times!!!)  Well she said the full word but I’m editing it for my blog post!  :)  Congratulations you two!!!!

TANJA IS ENGAGED!!!!  TO AN ENGLISH BOY!!!!  (if you didn’t know Tanja is our associate photographer!!!!)

I’m super excited for them!!!!  I hid with a friend who was video taping and I was shooting.  It was super super super dark and not the best conditions but I’m sure she’ll be excited to have something!

I am about to go hit the showers but just before I do I want to share this image from Jamie and Miller’s New Years Eve Wedding!

Absolutely gorgeous if you ask me!!!

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They were married at the First Christian Church in Fayetteville.

Enjoy

-erika

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