Julia's Photo Blog

I have been photographing little Noelle since she was a newborn, and it’s been awesome to see her growing up to the adorable precocious 18 month old she is now. She is the most beautiful little girl, with dark hair and enormous eyes and so much expressiveness!  Each of the four sessions I did with her and her family made me fall more in love with her; she’s absolutely darling and I swear she gets cuter every time I see her. :) I was very happy for the Miller family when I learned that they are expecting their second baby, and Noelle is going to be a big sister!  Sadly for me, this happy new blessing to their family also means they are looking to move back closer to grandparents out of state, which means this is my last session with them! It was a great, classic summer session, with flowers, pinwheels, bubbles, a tricycle and a wagon… everything about it said childhood summer memories to me. :)  I started to tear up when I gave Noelle a last hug goodbye. I’m going to miss her and her beautiful family, but I wish them many blessings as they go forward into this exciting new chapter in their lives!

Kourtnie and Dan contacted me sometime last Fall to set up an engagement session for the winter months. She wanted a snowy wonderland engagement session, and I love snow as a backdrop, so we planned to do it the first real snowfall that we got….  but if you were in St. Louis last year, you know we didn’t get a real snowfall!  So months later, we had to rework the plan for a nice spring session. I was so happy with the adorable pictures we got on this beautiful spring day (before it had gotten too hot to stand being outside for more than 20 minutes :), that I’m glad the snow plans fell through!!  These two have a natural warmth and playful, teasing back and forth between them that I just loved, and it was a lot of fun working with them!  Here are just a few of my favorites from their session. Enjoy!

Little Stephen is BEYOND adorable, with his big blue eyes, his spikey blonde hair, and his super cute expressions.  Not only did we get precious smiles and sweet soft expressions (always my favorites :), but we also got a few choice comic moments, including SURPRISED BABY! and Happy, drunken baby.  (You will know them when you see them). I love that Stephen’s mom loved the funny pictures as much as I did!  Here are a few of my favorites. I can’t wait for future sessions with this little guy; I have a feeling he is going to grow up to be quite the heartbreaker! :) 

Funny….. :)

Jessica and John’s wedding ceremony at St. Cecilia’s church was beautiful. The church itself is gorgeous, but of course the true beauty of the ceremony was in the warmth and love shared between the couple and by all of their family and friends! Then we headed to Norwood Hills Country Club for the reception. I had never shot at Norwood before, but I loved it! It was so elegant, and the grounds were beautiful.  The room looked amazing between the gorgeous table linens and place settings and the beautiful flowers by Zuzu’s Petals.  I had time with the couple for some quick portraits out on the grounds before the reception really got rolling. The reception was SO much fun- I swear within minutes of shooting the dancing I had a hundred great shots of the couple’s closest family and friends having a great time on the dance floor, and they didn’t slow down until sometime after I left!  I loved every minute of Jessica and John’s beautiful day! 

Jessica and John’s wedding day was truly a beautiful day, and I loved every single part of it, from the girls getting ready at Jessica’s parents’ home to the guys getting ready and the first look, which took place at the Renaissance Grand downtown, to the portraits, the ceremony, the reception, and everything in between!  The first look couldn’t have been more perfect. John actually helped pick out the spot in the hotel (we originally we were going to have it in the hotel’s beautiful bar area, where my second shooter, Josh, got some killer pictures of the guys earlier, but John asked for the ballroom, preferring the marble flooring and bright light pouring in through the tall, romantically draped windows.)  I’m glad he chimed in with his opinion, the spot was perfect! The two of them were grinning ear to ear from the second they saw each other! And since they are a very good looking couple, I can’t say that I blame them (but I can say that they are a lot of fun to photograph!!!). We did some pictures with them around the hotel and in a few other downtown spots before heading to the Arch grounds, where I got one of my favorite pictures of the season so far when a gust of wind came suddenly and dramatically lifted Jessica’s train and veil into the air!  I was laying on the ground at the time, shooting up, and I pretty much yelled at John to get out of the way so I could capture an amazing bridal portrait of his stunning bride! :)  The wedding party was a lot of fun to work with, and we got so many great shots during the getting ready and portrait part of the day that it was really hard to limit it down for a blog post! So here is a generous helping of faves from the first part of the day. :) Enjoy!  Look for more to come soon from their ceremony and gorgeous reception!

I always enjoy a good engagement story (what girl doesn’t?). And I LOVE the way Eric popped the question to Melissa. First of all, the way they MET is pretty cute.  Melissa was the tennis coach of Eric’s teenage sisters, and the sisters took it upon themselves to set them up (well done, sisters!). To pop the question, Eric took Melissa ice skating in Forest Park last winter.  When they got to the rink, he pulled out a surprise- he’d gotten her a pair of her own ice skates.  When she sat down to put them on and went to pull the skates out of the box, she noticed something on the blades… upon closer inspection, she saw the words “Will you marry me?” and the date cut into the blades of the skates.  He pulled out a ring, she said yes, and the rest is history! :)  You get mad points for creativity, Eric!!! I like the playfulness of the proposal because it fits these two perfectly. They are all laughter and smiles when they are together, which of course makes my job a lot of fun. :)  I’m so excited for their wedding day next month!  In the meantime, enjoy a little cuteness from their engagement session. :)