Saturday Steal…..Again from Martha because she’s that awesome!

This is super cute!  Why just have the “Just Married” sign on the back of your car and why not post one at your reception?  Download the template here….

I love this advice about the ties!!!  Read more.

Find out how to make this frame!!!  So cute! Read More.

Ring Bearer book………I think YES!!!  Read More.

You know we could totally create these for you!  Let me know if you are interested before we start your engagement shoot and we can work this into the design!!! Read more.

This would be a post my mom would be proud of (she’s an environmental engineer)…..BIODEGRADABLE CONFETTI!!!!  Awesome!  No mess to clean up! Read More.

If there’s anything you’d like to see featured please let us know!  We write these things for you guys anyways!  :)  I’d love to hear from you…..(AKA please leave comments!!!)  :)

Enjoy!

-erika

Let’s start with all the BEAUTIFUL details!

The flowers were created by a local florist that is just starting out in the area her name is Lauren Frost.  She’s super stylish and adorable!  If you are planning a wedding and would like her info please contact me.

For some reason I love this photo!  Guys just have no idea how much work it can take to get that beautiful gown on do they?

Isn’t she a beauty?

This image along with the next few pretty much sum up a “First Look”.  I just LOVE LOVE LOVE when my clients decide to do a First Look!  You still get ready as usual without seeing each other beforehand.  We set up in a pretty location with good lighting before the ceremony begins.  A First Look allows you to relax and send a little time with your future spouse before the ceremony, you can talk, touch, kiss, laugh, hold, hug, etc. all of which are things you usually aren’t doing at the altar.  It also allows for more time for creative portraits as well as getting all those family portraits out of the way so you can move right on to the reception without leaving your guests waiting!

She’s so happy and relieved to be able to see her groom before the ceremony!

And then you get yummy pictures like this!!!!!  LOVE!

Meet Mr. and Mrs. Herod!  :)  Ashton that has a nice ring to it!

Don’t they look so happy together!?!?!

I just love these purple bridesmaid dresses!

What a gorgeous dress!

Ashton’s smile as she sees her groom……

Along with Adam’s smile!  :)

Love this shot I was able to capture!  Some dad love!

What a beautiful day and location for a wedding day!

These two little girls were adorable!

They look a weee bit happy to finally be married…..  :)

Now on to the reception……..just a few more detail shots for ya!

I’m telling you this Lauren Frost girl did an amazing job on the florals!

What a beautiful wedding cake too!

Some more cake cutting…………..

The whole crowd called the Hogs while they cut their cake!  Too cute!

Awww and a cute Hog kiss to seal the deal!

Perfect toss Ashton!

And yes Adam you did well too!

What a beautiful happy couple!

Congratulations you two!

Enjoy!

-erika

Let’s start with some getting ready shots……

I just love her cute little shoes!  She even had her brother (the lucky guy that walked her down the aisle) put a penny in her shoe just before the ceremony started!

Her dress was stunning!  The entire gown was made of lace!  Gorgeous!

(Just a little tip to all my brides out there……remember a cute hanger for your dress shot!)

I loved the color of these bridesmaid dresses!  I think green was a pretty popular color this year!

This is one of my favorite images of the day!  Seems silly I know, but just take a minute to look into the photo.  This image tells a story.  You’ve got the bride making last minute preparations before her finally gets her dress on, while mom and maid of honor are carefully getting her dress ready for it’s big debut.  This is a beautiful photograph!!!!

This is just too cute!

This image is so timeless to me!

A little attention for Seth as well…..lookin sharp.

A little brotherly love….

To be followed by sisterly love!  I’ve got some more lovely lit photos for you!

First let’s finally met the lovely couple……Alyssa and Seth Pitts…..Congratulations!

LOVE.

What a stunning bride!

Gorgeous couple + gorgeous light = wedding perfection!

Their wedding was held at the beautiful Pratt Place Inn.

Anticipation.

What a gorgeous ceremony inside the barn.

They seem a little excited!

Let’s move on to some detail shots!!!!!!…………….

Alyssa chose to use a local florist from Prairie Grove.  Their flowers turned out beautifully.

At their reception Alyssa and Seth set up this beautiful little table to make Father’s Day cards.  It was such an original and cute idea!  Pictured above is Seth’s father on the left and Alyssa’s father on the right.

I started thinking which led to this idea!  I just love when my wedding clients add personal touches to their wedding because it allows me to capture meaningful memories for them to truly bring out their character in their photos!

As soon as I saw those stamps I knew what my ring shot was going to be for the day!  I think it’s perfect!

What an amazing wedding cake!  Love it!  It was quite tasty too!  Thanks guys!

They had these cute little tins with candy surrounding the cake.  Too sweet!

These are just too cute!  I loved all the little details that Alyssa and Seth incorporated!

We can’t leave out the groom’s cake!  I’m pretty sure Seth is a pretty big razorback fan!  (He should be excited to know that Baby Dotson’s room will be Razorback themed then!!!)

Alyssa seems to be a pretty hardcore fan herself!

Alyssa was all grins as they shared their first dance together!

The Best Man whipped out his speech from his phone……I just love how technology is changing the wedding scene too!  He gave a great tear jerking speech!  Way to go!

I love how Alyssa’s looking back at all her single friends.

And Seth with all his single friends!  I just love this shot!

Seth’s facial expression here is just great!

They had a live band that really rocked out their reception!

I love how much fun they are having together!

Looks like this guy surprised everyone with his awesome dance moves!

What a fun grand exit!

It was wonderful to work with you two!  I hope you have many happy years together!

Enjoy!

-erika

We started with a day of portraits the day before their sealing since we were worried about weather and if we would have enough time!  I’m so so so glad that Cristy asked me if we could do this!

For now I’m just going to share those portraits…….another day shortly we’ll share their wedding day portraits and all the details!

Isn’t she just gorgeous!?!?!?  When I took this shot John whispered to me….”I am a lucky guy to get to marry her”!  —now doesn’t that make your heart melt?

They found this beautiful barn that had the perfect backdrop for some amazing images like this one.

LOVE.

The wind is so graciously blowing her hair here and it is so dreamy!

I think this might be my favorite image of the day!  I loved these white trees that were everywhere out there!  I also love the look of excitement on John’s face!

John worked at this golf course that served as our gorgeous backdrop for these pretty pictures!  I love this one too!

John wasn’t too happy about this picture because Cristy’s high heels were ruining the green…..I’m not a golfer but who cares about a few little bumps?

This picture cracks me up and it was totally their idea!  It’s so funny how she’s attempting to pull him away from the game!

Another gorgeous kissing shot, I’m loving that tree!

This is a favorite too!  For anyone thinking about seeing their groom before the ceremony I totally recommend it!  You can get more creative fun shots like these that you would otherwise miss!  We could also do a day after session too!

Enjoy!

-erika

Ending with my favorite shot of the day!

Enjoy!

-erika

Enjoy!

erika

Find these adorable dresses at Forever 21 for your bridesmaids!

What an adorable idea!!!!!  Love love love lining the walkway with lemons!!!

I thought these shoes from Payless would look cute with the girls’ dresses.

Oh you gotta have lemonade to make the wedding complete!!!

Lemonade
From Martha Stewart

3 cups lemon or lime juice, about 20 lemons or 25 limes freshly squeezed
2 cups superfine sugar
4 cups cold water
4 cups ice
2 lemons or limes, thinly sliced for garnish

1. Into a large serving container, strain the citrus juice, mix it with sugar, and stir until the sugar is dissolved.

2. Add 4 cups cold water and stir again until well combined. Add ice to fill and a few lemon or lime slices.

Makes 10 cups.

And these would be wonderful shoes for the bride!!!!

What a cute bouquet!!!!

What a great bridesmaid gift from Etsy!

Cute socks!  What a great idea for a fun shot!

And of course you gotta have a yellow tie to coordinate!

I’m thinking the tie would look best with a grey tux!

Instead of one big wedding cake you could offer cute little pies or cakes displayed at various heights to add interest!

These would be a good addition to the church doors.

Learn how to make these DIY napkin folds yourself!

What an adorable boutonniere!

Enjoy!

-erika

Congratulations you two and we wish you the best!

Meet totally HOTT Kelly!  :)

Meet the handsome groom Adam.

This beautiful shot was captured by Tanja.

Totally laid on the ground below them to get this shot!  Awesome.

Aren’t they just adorable?

I’m pretty sure this is my favorite image from the entire day!

Told you Jules Design was amazing…..  :)

This is another favorite!  So hard to decide.

I’m not sure if there’s a more beautiful place in the world to get married……

Doesn’t “THE” kiss make it all official?

She seems pleased.  :)

Enjoy!

-erika

Then part two of my day consisted of editing the wedding from the weekend, which I am already finished with!    That makes me super happy!  I hate the feeling of being behind, especially with editing because you feel like you’ll never ever EVER…………..finish!  So whew that’s done!  And I’ve got an engagement shoot in Dallas this weekend so I’ll be ahead of schedule!  Hopefully I can knock those out in a few days too!

Part three involved the doctors office, the doctor, myself, and finally the most important part…..the baby’s heartbeat!!!  :)  I never thought I would be the mushy excited mom (wow I just called myself mom)….anyways it is pretty exciting to actually hear that heartbeat truckin away!  It makes it all seem so much more real, which is good because every time I have an appointment I always have this lingering thought in the back of my mind that they are about to search for that heartbeat and they can’t find it, then the doctor tells me that she’s sorry but there’s no more baby….. I know morbid and horrible to think about but just being honest.  But no worries whatever it is boy or girl it’s very much active in there and getting big and strong with a heart rate of 143.

And finally to my picture for today.  I decided that since it was so beautiful I would spend some more time with Ellie outside.  Soon she won’t be the princess around here anymore and I hope she doesn’t get jealous and still gets all the attention she needs.  (If you haven’t figured it out yet Ellie is basically my un-human child).  Anyways so I thought I would be a little kid for a while and lay on the grass with her, I think she liked it.

Enjoy!

-erika

If you had a chance to do something outside today I’d like to hear what you did.  Leave a comment below where it says comments in really small print……thanks.

These ice lanterns are a total do it yourself project for anyone planning a winter wedding!  How cute!!!

You need two buckets, one smaller then the other.

Some greens, I love to use olive branches.

Fill the biggest bucket half full with water.

Place the smaller bucket inside it and place some rocks or something heavy to keep in in place.

Add more water, the water level should be to the top.

Add your branches to the sides of the bucket.

Use some tape to keep the small bucket in the middle of the big one.

Now set the whole thing outside to freeze.

Once its frozen, remove the small bucket first and then the large one.

You now have a beautiful ice lantern.

Place a votive candle inside and voila, the party can start.

What a cute idea!  And just for all you brides, details like this make your wedding rock that much harder!!!  Photographers love little details!

I love how they pulled these centerpieces together!  I usually get stuck in that rut that these centerpieces things have to be super fancy, but these are totally cute and another DIY!!!!

Steps for a Full Wrap Treatment
Step 1:Measure paper around the vase. Leave about 1″ on the neck for a ribbon treatment.
Step 2:Cut the paper. Adhere one edge of the paper to the glass with glue dots. Wrap the other side around and secure with more glue dots.
Step 3:Cover the top rough edges with a grosgrain ribbon.

Steps for a Middle Band Treatment
Step 1:Measure paper around the vase.
Step 2:Cut first band to measure 5″, second to measure 3.5″.
Step 3:Stick first wrap to the vessel with glue dots. Layer on the 3″ band,again using glue dots.
Step 4:Top it off with ribbon treatment.

Anything personalized is super cute but these are adorable.  If you planned on a wedding in the summer and thought of these fans think how much your guests would love to have this keepsake!!!

I saw these at Forever 21 and instantly thought they would be perfect for a stylish bride!!!

This idea struck me as an important one for all couples planning a wedding.  I like to ask “what is your photography budget”, and I usually get this response “well we really haven’t thought about it” or “we don’t really have one”.  My first piece of advice for you is make one!!!  It will be the most important thing you do to keep your wedding costs down and be able to get what you actually want.  Wedding expenditures add up and quickly but if you are prepared with a budget that will help.  Also it’s a great idea to start budgeting together as a couple, since now you’ll probably have some sort of a joint account.  This website isn’t just geared toward weddings either but it’s a great way to keep track of what you are saving!  Be sure to check it out smartypig.com

Enjoy!

-erika