Here’s some of the things we’ve been working on!

Yep you should recognize that gal in the red scarf…Donnally…..and her gorgeous family!  Had the pleasure to visit my hometown for a few hours as I drove down to Mena for their family portrait session!  They have such a beautiful home with lovely surroundings, what a treat it was to shoot there!

This is Craig, we went out for part two of his senior portraits to Lake Fayetteville.  I love that spot!  He’s a Springdale Senior, in case you missed it the first time around!  Congratulations….again!  :)

Here’s Mr. Jack with his mommy and daddy.   I traded out some babysitting time with this family!  What a great plan and we’re both happy with what we got!  :)  Dusty and Stephanie have been my hubby’s friends for years so I adopted them too…..I’ll admit they are good company!  :)  Thanks guys!

Then the Crees siblings!  This is Sam.  We know each other from high school.  Sam and his sisters wanted to give their parents a meaningful gift this year so they booked us for a sibling session!   I love that their parents have no idea!  What a GREAT gift idea!!!

Well that’s what we’ve been working on!  :)

Enjoy!

-erika

Meet London and Darron who will be getting married May 14th.  (I can’t wait!) They have a super cute style!

So let me break down why this works…..

First of all she wore the most adorable cowgirl boots ever with cute little rosettes on the side along with a cut flowy navy blue dress that screams country chic.  And secondly she matched him up with dark wash jeans and a blue plaid button up (which you can’t see here) that was cowboy style – complete with pearl snaps!

This outfit works so well with the location they chose!  I love how they thought about how everything would coordinate together!  Great job guys!

Enjoy!

-erika

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

First we’ll start with all the pretty details!

Sally had a cute little cabin for her and all her girls to get ready in just beside the ceremony location.

By the looks of it they loved the guestbook!  :)

They were married at Gaston’s White River Resort and had a BEAUTIFUL location for their ceremony just off the river bank!

Tanja captured this great shot of Sally and her Father waiting to walk her down the aisle.

And shortly after I was able to capture this one.

This little guy was so worried about walking down the aisle, good thing he had his big sister to hang on to!!!  He did a great job!!!

Cole called me earlier that day and let me in on his secret!  I was so excited to know he had something so special up his sleeve!  It was a big surprise to everyone (well except us photographers!) and there was so much emotion in the air!  It was major bonus points in Cole’s favor!!!

I think this is my favorite image from the whole day!  I told you there was a lot of emotions!  This picture captures all of them!  Way to go Tanja!

Now for some pretty couple pictures!

Images like this are a result of choosing to do a “First Look”!!!!  So personal and intimate!!!  Once again, I just love the emotion in this image!!!!  :)  If I’m not mistaken this is a Tanja shot too!

Meet Mr. and Mrs. Ezell!!!

A nice kissing shot after the cake cutting!  I love when my couples do this and I get to catch it on film (well digital film that is!)

I love how Sally is looking back to see who’s going to catch it!  And you can bet that little girl did everything she could to be the winner!

What a great way to end the evening!

Enjoy!

-erika

(PS for those of you wondering I will have Sally and Cole’s wedding galleries up on the website tomorrow well technically later today since it is 2am!)

Keep posted for their wedding images soon!

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

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.