Julia's Photo Blog

After Kara and Joe’s beautiful outdoor ceremony in the Japanese Gardens at the Missouri Botanical Gardens, we only had a short time for portraits before sunset.  Luckily the gorgeous grounds provided amazing backdrops for our sweet little portrait session, and the couple were so totally into each other, cuddling and laughing and kissing as they let it sink in that they were finally married, that we had no problem getting a lot of great shots in the time that we had!  Then we headed over to Hendri’s, a cool venue with a checkerboard tile floor and lovely wooden fireplace and bar, for the reception.  A live band and some great food kicked off the reception, and it was a lot of fun to watch the couple and their family and friends dancing the night away (especially Kara’s super cute grandparents!).  Here are a few of my favorite pictures from the reception….. Once again, thank you so much to Kara and Joe for including me in their beautiful day!  I hope that your life together will be filled with many more days as happy as this one!

I met Kara waaaaayyyy back when she was a young teen and I was an old teen, and she was my camper in my first-ever cabin in my first-ever summer as a counselor at Camp Lakewood, in Potosi, Missouri.  We later went on to work together when she became a camp counselor herself.  I was SO excited when she called me last year about photographing her wedding, even though it made me feel kind of super old to think of little Kara getting married. But knowing what a fun and awesome person she is, I knew that her wedding would be a blast!  I met up with her at her parents’ house the morning of the wedding, and she got dressed there with her girls, her mom, her flower girl, and a few other family members helping her.  SHE. LOOKED. GORGEOUS.  We were a little worried about storms raining on the outdoor ceremony at the Japanese Gardens section of the Missouri Botanical Gardens, but it cleared up just in time for a really perfect evening in a breathtaking setting.  Kara and Joe were so cute throughout the ceremony, with both of them tearing up as Kara walked up the aisle, and again as they were exchanging their vows. But the tears were accompanied by huge smiles and a lot of joy! Here are a few of my favorites from Part I of the very special day of one of my favorite campers ever and her handsome husband, Joe! Congratulations you two!   

After Ashley and Erik said their “I Do’s” (to the tune of much applause and celebration), we headed to historic St. Charles to capture some fun pictures of the wedding party and beautiful portraits of the newlyweds!  This was a quirky and fun group, and we had a great time working with them!  The reception was held at the St. Peters Community Arts Center, which is a cool venue with gorgeous and quirky artwork decking out the walls, and Ashley and Erik added their own touches of decor with lovely purple accents and lighting everywhere.  The wedding toasts were even more touching than usual, with a surprise video toast from Erik’s brother in Iraq, which I just loved! The food was delicious and the guests had an awesome time goofing off at the Fish Eye Fun photobooth and dancing the night away!  Here are a few of my favorites from the second part of the day.  Once again- congratulations to the newlyweds- HUGE hugs and big thanks for asking me to be a part of your special day!!!

On 9-10-11 (an easy to remember wedding date for future anniversaries… no excuses Erik!), high school sweethearts Ashley and Erik finally tied the knot! The day was gorgeous, love and laughter was thick in the air, and I so enjoyed sharing in the excitement of this awesome couple’s big day!  Ashley is truly a sweet, caring, and beautiful soul… so much so that as she was getting ready on the morning of her wedding, she kept running around the room asking me and each of her bridesmaids in turn if she could get us anything or help us in any way.  I told her that on her wedding day she needed to let everyone take care of her for a change, which her bridesmaids were all too happy to do! Ashley looked gorgeous, as did her girls, and Erik and his guys looked both handsome and super stylish sporting their Vans shoes. The ceremony took place at Boulevard Park in Lake St. Louis.  It was very lovely and had a lot of special touches.  The best man, Jordan, was Erik’s 4-year-old nephew (standing in for his dad, who is serving in Iraq).  The couple read very sweet and personal vows to each other, which made both of them get a little misty eyed, and I just loved the way Erik couldn’t take his adoring eyes off of his bride throughout the ceremony!  Equally endearing was the way that Ashley triumphantly raised her bouquet in the air after they were declared husband and wife!  Here are a few of my favorites from the first part of their day. Look for portraits and reception pictures in a blog post coming your way soon!

I love the idea of giving family memories in the form of portraits as a gift to someone for a special occasion.  The Seagraves family wanted to do something special for grandma, and so they scheduled a family portrait session in historic St. Charles with the idea that we would get some great family pictures as well as pictures of the two grandkids “to replace their senior pictures,” which are quite outdated!  I had a great time working with this family- there was a lot of joking and affectionate teasing, and (I could tell) a lot of love.  Here are a few of my favorites from their session!

I’m very excited to have my work from Christine and Nick’s gorgeous June wedding featured on the Today’s Wedding Belles blog! Take a look!  www.todaysweddingbelles.com

Last week I had an awesome senior portrait session with Miss Shavaela- who likes to be called Sha (pronounced Shay).  This gorgeous young lady, a senior at Parkway North High School, is the total modely package- tall, long legs, striking eyes, and a beautiful smile!  Not only is she a knock-out, but she was also sweet and fun to work with, working her poses and outfits and occasionally bursting into laughter (some of my favorite shots!).  To add to the feeling of being on a fashion shoot rather than a senior portrait session, I had two great photo assistants in Sha’s mom Tasha and her sister Kaylen, and a great “fashion accessory” in her cute Silky Terrier, fittingly named Gucci. Here are a few of my many favorites from Sha’s session!