I just realized I missed a blog post!!! Well as they say “better late than never”!
McKinzie and Alex were married at the beautiful outdoor reception location also known as the Botanical Gardens. They had such a gorgeous elegant wedding!!! I just loved all their colors!!!
These guys planned their wedding to end during the sunset so they opted to do a first look. I can’t stress enough how excited I get when my clients go this route!!! Honestly it just makes for a much smoother day! You get everything done and over with (except family portraits usually those are after), you can get to your guests more quickly, you don’t feel pressed for time, as well as you get yummy lighting.
Did I mention how beautiful Botanical Gardens is yet?!?!?!
What about how gorgeous McKinzie and Alex are? Did I mention that yet!?!?!?!?
I think this is my favorite image from their wedding!!! It’s so sunny and fun!
Mostly showing this image for the result……
I LOVE it!!!! :) He’s super stoked to get that garter!!!
I love how unscripted this image is!!! They were really into that “get low” song. I’m pretty sure McKinzie’s reaction is that of surprise that Alex could “get low”!!!!
What a precious moment. I love his grin!!!! I love the motion! I love the black and white! LOVE IT!
And finally how could you have an Arkansas wedding without callin those hogs?!?!!? Woooo Pig Suey!!!! Thanks to MS SoundWorks for keeping the party alive! Another must have at a wedding if you plan on having dancing is a DJ or even a live band, but they sure to make your reception run much more smoothly!!!
We had a Halloween party this morning for my seminary kids. We had a couple guests too so I was super happy!!! I took a group photo and I was so excited to show you all of their lovely costumes, but somehow (which I still haven’t figured this out) they aren’t on my memory card? Not so sure. I even took images of my outfit once I got home and those are the only ones I can see. So unfortunately I can’t post that image since apparently it doesn’t exist, but I do still want to show you what my Halloween costume was!
I’m not much of a Halloween fan. I love the part of creating a costume and all that creative side but I don’t much care for the extreme scariness of it. I don’t like being scared anymore, I used to love it! In fact my best friend Jessica and I used to watch horror movies at my house all the time. We really never got that scared though, we mostly watched them for laughs, ok so maybe we’re a bit morbid but that’s why I love her!
Enjoy!
-erika
(Keep an eye out later today for a post with pretty pictures from my wedding last weekend!!! Congrats Natalie and Brad!!!)
I am so greatful someone thought of an automatic postal center!!! After the post office is closed I can still mail all my packages, that’s awesome!!! I think these should be required at every post office. I think they should actually be everywhere…walmart, college campuses, high schools, the mall! How easy would that be?
I am a true American. I get lazier and lazier as the years progress! I enjoy elevators, anything automated (except when I am trying to call someone), I like not having to walk on the stairs when I can just ride up them, I love getting to stand in Denver and not walk through the airport but be brought through by their speed walking devices!
Jamie and Miller will be getting married on December 31st! I had the pleasure of shooting their engagement session last week! They are so cute together and we had a blast noticing anything that had to do with a heart! They really were up for anything and it was so fun to watch them interact and embark on a new step in their relationship. Jamie definitely finds comfort in Miller’s arms….which makes for some great photos!!! We met up at a little gas station in Goshen and then sorta wandered around town and hopped in the car to stop off at an old tree farm to finish up the session with some awesome fall foliage!
I can’t take credit for this shot, but Jamie’s idea was awesome! Check her ring out….isn’t it gorgeous!
I love how Miller always makes her laugh! They seriously are so cute! Oh and the jackets! I had to post this one for you Miller! You look so awesome in your coat! ;)
Jamie said she’s always wanted a field picture! Well here ya go! This was behind a gas station believe it or not. I think she’s such a beautiful gal!
I am in love with this spot! It’s so mystical! I loved the lighting and the colors! It’s perfect.
These two were married on Oct. 8th in the Nauvoo Illinois Temple. Here’s a few for them! Maybe tomorrow I will get around to posting some from Jamie and Millers Esession.
Amanda and Josh Ivie:
One of her bridesmaids flew in from Utah for her wedding…..BONUS…..she’s a hairdresser!
They opted for a “first look” so we could get these great couple shots before their marriage ceremony.
It was super exciting to go back up there for Josh and Amanda’s sealing since that is also where TW and I were sealed! What a gorgeous building right?
Although it was rainy the entire day (which so they say is good luck) these two were troopers. I just loved this sign and couldn’t leave Nauvoo without that shot!!!
Hey guys I’ve had some concerns about the contest raised here recently. I’m going to address a few of them real quickly before I get to photos! :) For everyone wondering about the difference in voting and the results, I heavily stressed that the voting had nothing to do with my final decision as to who would win. The voting moved these girls forward through the entire contest while the final meeting I had with the two of them was where I finalized my decision. They both put great effort and creativity into this contest and are such awesome girls!!! Before each round began the girls were all emailed very specific rules and expectations so they knew all the rules ahead of time before they chose to continue. With that said I had a super duper hard time choosing who I wanted to win this contest but after meeting with both of them I learned some things that made me choose one over the other, I did however offer Meredith a discounted package for being a trooper and working so hard and getting so much involvement going with her fan base. So in my opinion they are both winners!
Now back to pictures!!! I shot three engagement sessions this weekend of which I am going to post one from each session tonight, but then I will give each guy and gal a personal post over the next three days so no one feels gipped out of a blog post! :) These are just eye candy for now! More to come so keep looking!
Hey everyone thank you so much for taking the time to vote and support your friends here on our blog! I know there has been a lot of hard work going on behind the scenes for this contest so thank you! I want to give you some results, but remember the final say so will be announced on Friday so stay tuned…..
Total votes cast 854
226 of them came in for Alyssa
while 627 of them for Meredith
Once again the final winner will be announced on Friday. I want to meet with each contestant and get a personal feel for them before I start handing out offers to come shoot weddings for free! :) I hope you understand….
Great job girls. Both of you had very creative submissions. Thank you for putting so much effort and talent into this contest to make it fun for everyone who participated! I enjoyed reading all the comments that were sent my way and learned so much about you girls through all your friends!
I know there have been way too many posts without photos so I’ve got some for you! These girls are the last of the contestants left and I had them incorporate their images with Erika Dotson Photography somehow and this is what they came up with. I love them and think they are both super cute! Please vote on the one you think is the most original. Voting will end on Tuesday at 8pm.
Thanks for your participation!
Erika
This submission is from Alyssa A. Kilgore:
This submission is from Meredith Ehrhard:
“I hope this is sufficient! Thanks for working with our circumstances and making this fun! Since we started dating a year ago, we have typically been apart about 3 months at time, (a total of about 8 months now) as Sean travels to college campuses across the US speaking to college students for his job. This is the reason we are getting married in December even though we only got engaged a month ago: we can’t stand to be apart any longer and we are ready to hit the road and travel together! We really didn’t want to back out of round 2 even though I am in Arkansas and he is in Georgia right now. So, because we are always up for a challenge, we decided to get real creative and take two separate photos and place them together as one! Hope you enjoy!!”
I had the true pleasure of being in Natalie and Brad’s company tonight! They are both pretty busy so as luck would have it today was one of the very few days we could get them in before they got hitched on Oct. 24th! They drove up all the way from Poteau today! Go you guys, oh and that got me thinking congrats to Brad for recently quitting smoking! I’ve heard that’s pretty tough so I thought everyone should know and congratulate you! Also Natalie is working on kicking a nail biting habit to the curb! Go you guys, way to better yourselves!! ha ha Anyways just a bit of random info I learned about you two tonight! On to the the real reason we got together today…. I had such a blast with you guys and I can’t wait for you to get married! Here’s some images to enjoy!
Oh and real quick I think Brad is super lucky…….just look how gorgeous this gal is! I love her curls!
Hey everyone if you didn’t win we are still offering 15% off our original packages from now until Oct. 28th 2009! All you’ve gotta do is call us or email us and book a free consultation so we can meet up and discuss what you need photography wise! Your wedding date doesn’t have to be before that date but you’ve gotta book us before that date for the 15% off (that means retainer fee and contract signed so we will hold your date for you).
For the Round One Winners……………..
Hey guys you will be voted on by our staff (which would be Tanja, my momma, my stepdad, my husband, Ellie (my puppy that really can’t read so I’m just including her as part of the family) and myself.
But you will also be voted on by how many comments you can get on your story. So if I were you I would get all your friends to go and vote once they are published!!! Send out the word via twitter, facebook, emails, phone calls, snail mail, myspace, skype, whatever you’ve gotta do to get people to comment on your story!
Please remember just because you had the “most” comments doesn’t necessarily mean you win automatically! The judgement call is still up to us and we’re looking for creativity! The votes will just weigh in percentage wise and help boost your score a little bit!
