Erika and Johnny were married August 21st at Creekwood Gardens.  We were all super worried I was going to pop before their wedding date.  I hired extra help as well as kept everyone involved super updated after every doctors visit.  I hung in there as a super large preggo lady and shot their wedding with grace and style, ok I’m totally kidding on the last part, but it was a whole lot easier to shoot weddings that late in my pregnancy than I thought it was going to be!!!

I’m so excited for Erika and Johnny!  I met Erika when I started working at Forever 21 in the mall over last summer.  It was a pretty fun job.  I’ll be honest in saying I was scared to death of Erika the first time I met her.  Soon that all changed, she was in charge of changing out mannequins in the front window while I worked vigorously trying to organize the jewelry room.  We started to chat weddings quite frequently (could you really imagine me chatting wedding stuff?!?!! jk), and then I came into work early the day after Christmas to find out she got engaged on Christmas!!!!  I was so excited for her!  Of course we immediately talked up a storm about everything she had to do and things to think about etc.  Soon she found that they would be relocating to Texas.  Just before they moved off she booked with us to make sure we were going to be able to photograph her wedding.  During early spring we met up in Dallas to shoot their engagement pictures!  Which was such a great trip (a trip to IKEA, shopping at the big mall, and eats at Cheesecake Factory!) and we got some really awesome shots!  Does anyone remember my favorite with the pigeons?  Oh and FYI that day was the random freak day mother nature decided to let 12 inches of snow fall!!!!  -which made for a fun trip driving back!

Congratulations Erika and Johnny!  I hope you enjoyed your honeymoon and are settling nicely into married life!!!

Oh yea and a side note!!!!!  Be sure to look for us at the Bridal Fair this Sunday at the Creekwood Gardens Booth in the back corner!!!  :)

Here’s an example of a first look!  Once again you all know how much I LOVE it when my couples decide to go this route!  What’s a first look?  Fair question……   Basically here’s the gist, you two get ready separately all day just as tradition would have it, we set up a nice spot for the look and we’ll escort the bride to the groom while he looks away.  This allows to relieve all the pre wedding stress, for emotional pictures, time to shoot couple portraits before the wedding, we can actually get all the traditional family shots out of the way if you’d like, making your arrival to the reception much quicker.  Lot’s of pros to this option and I’ve honestly had several times where this saved the day just because the bride and groom were so much less stressed out!  I’ve had a couple say their personal vows at this time to make it extra special!!!  LOVE!  Customize it anyway you like!

And a sparkler send off!!!!  I love the time we get at the end of the day for these shots!  Just a word of advice, save the petals and the bubbles for the daytime weddings or shoot even for after you leave the ceremony, but definitely bring out the fireworks for those night time receptions!  :)

Enjoy!

-erika