Brody + Nikki | Engaged

Ohhhhhh, these two!It's so funny in life how two worlds can collide. Brody is an old friend of my husbands. Nikki grew up in my hometown and went to school with my younger sisters. But, independent of anything that Nick and I did, their two worlds collided, and they are planning a beautiful farm wedding for next month! And I couldn't be more thrilled to be a part of their day!We met up together two Saturdays ago at the absolutely beautiful Allerton Park in Monticello...also known as one of my favorite places ever! We wandered the grounds. We laughed. We talked weddings. We talked family. It was a perfect Saturday morning.Brody and Nikki, thank you SOOO much for the beautiful people that you are! I am ecstatic about your wedding and seeing your two worlds 'collide'! Have a beautiful Friday...and we'll see you tomorrow night! ;)KellyHere are just a few of my faves from their engagement session! Thanks for checking in!!

Nick + Alayna | Engaged

In wedding photography, for myself personally, there is no greater honor than when a friend or sibling of a former client asks me to photography their own wedding.  There are so many talented creatives out  there that I am in awe of day in and day out, and yet these wonderful people looked at my own work and saw some trace of what I see in others'...and I am so thankful for that!Nick and Alayna were one of these couples.  Alayna was a bridesmaid at the lovely Delayne and Brittany's wedding two years ago, and she remembered me and called me!  And I cannot wait for their wedding!  If they're engagement session is any indicator on how their wedding day will be, it will be full of wit and laughter!Here are a few of my favorites from their recent e-session!I start every single engagement session with what I call 'the grandparents' picture'...you know, the pose where both are looking at the camera, the engagement ring is easily seen, and it ends up as a 5x7 on the grandparents' buffet or desk, right?!!!  We laugh about it so much at the engagement session, but on the wedding day all I have to do is say 'grandparents picture' and they go right into this pose because they KNOW it's a pleaser with the grandparent crowd!  :)I think this is where I accidentally started calling Nick "Jake"...because Jake is his older brother who went to college with MY Nick!Sooooo, while editing these engagement pictures I perhaps became a bit obsessed with Alayna's hair...as it reminds me so much of Kate Middleton's hair!  Alayna, has anyone ever told you before that you have princess hair???

I love laughing pictures!

I love these two images so much!!!  You both are simply stunning!

So Nick is probably not going to be happy with me for telling this story, but I love it!  I always tease the groom at an engagement session about how I just KNOW that they were looking forward to this ALL week long.  Alayna started joking that Nick was not a 'PDA person'.  Nick replied "Unlike her family...where there's a LOT of feelings."  I'm still smiling about that...but Nick, I have to say, I LOVE the PDA in these two images!!!!  Probably my favorites from your entire shoot!!!

Yep, #1 FAVE right here...PDA and all!!

There's Alayna again with her perfectly wind-blown Kate Middleton hair.

Alayna and Nick!  Thank you so much for being relaxed, fun, and witty that morning!  I cannot wait for your wedding and all that you have planned!  Blessings to you both!Kelly

Clay + Stacey | Effingham IL Engagement Pictures

A few months back I sat with Stacey and her mom.  It was such a cold, nasty winter day.  We talked weddings and flowers and the Keller Center and all things right and lovely in the world.  A couple of weeks ago, I got to meet Clay, her fiance….and everything somehow because even more right and lovely in the world when I saw how these two were together.Clay and Stacey, I am so excited for your 4th of July weekend wedding!  You are both sooooo lovely and wonderful!  It cannot be anything but a perfectly lovely celebratory weekend for you, your family, and loved ones!Cheers to you both!KellyI tell all of my couples that they’ll probably love the images from the end of their engagement session, when they’re more relaxed and understand my cues to them, more so than the images from the beginning of the session.  And then this is literally my second image from their session, and I love it, and they prove me wrong!  :)

I cannot tell you how much I love this image.  I absolutely love images that make the viewer feel like they're peeking in on an intimate moment!!

I also love images that feel like a landscape portrait where the couple just happen to be in the midst.  I want this one to be a great big canvas in their dining or living room!!!

Stacey and Clay!  These images make me SOOO excited for your portrait session in a couple of weeks AND for your beautiful wedding!  Have a fabulous day and God bless!

Kelly

Chris + Alex | Engaged

I am tied to these two in so many ways.I grew up going every year to the handsome Chris’s family’s Christmas tree farm to pick out our tree for the holiday season…one that was large and full and that held the handmade ornaments from five childrens’ grade school projects.  If we were really lucky, we got a homemade Christmas wreath as well!And Alex…it was as if I was meeting her for the first time, but really I just had not seen her since she was two or three years old.  Her father was my jr. high school science teacher and on occasion I babysat for Alex when she was a toddler…I even remember the one time she walked to her crib and ASKED to be put to bed!  I look back on that memory and hope that it was because I was THAT much fun instead of I was THAT boring that she’d rather have been asleep!In any case, these two beautiful people have been a couple since JR. HIGH!!!  And this coming March I get the wonderful honor of capturing their wedding day!  And I cannot wait!Alex and Chris, it was such a pleasure walking with you around Chris’s family farm and chatting with you…about our hometown, people we know in common, and just life in general!  You are a beautiful couple…inside and out…and I’m so honored to capture this exciting time in your life!Blessings to you!Kelly

I always start each engagement session with the more formal poses…the poses I call the “Grandparent pictures”…they go in a 5x7 on the shelf or in the dining room!

From there it’s a pretty short time before we start getting more casual with our poses…really working towards reflecting the true personality of their relationship, and Chris and Alex did not disappoint!  It was such a short time before they were at ease with the camera and laughing!

You want us to do what, Kelly?

These two were up to try anything with me!

 I love, love, love, this image so much!!  Behind them is the pond where Chris asked Alex to marry him.

This is the one spot where Chris was like, “You want to take a picture HERE?”  What you can’t see is that in the background and back behind the tree is a bunch of farm equipment.

It ended up one of my favorites from the evening!!

And then Chris suggested we head over to the old pump house, where during the spring rain family members will take turns staying up all night monitoring the water levels of the lake nearby making sure that they fields and homes don’t get flooded.  It was EVERYTHING that I love in a spot, great windows letting in just a bit of light!  And then despite all of the images from earlier that I knew I would love, I instantly knew that this series from the pump house would take the cake and be my favorites!

Justin + Julie | Engaged!

He was out with friends.  And so was she.Justin noticed the beautiful Julie, but while he was working up the nerve to approach her and start a chat, she headed out with friends.But, luckily, his friends knew her group of friends, and they did meet, started that chat, and fell in love.This coming May, this beautiful couple will get married at St. Anthony’s in Effingham, and I could not be more thrilled for their wedding!Julie, Justin, and I met a few weeks ago at his farm for their engagement session, and it was everything that I love in a session…golden sunlight, an old barn, and plenty of beautiful laughter!Here are a few of my favorites below!Blessings to you all!Kelly  

 We started Justin and Julie’s session in the fields back behind his house where the sun was streaming in behind them.

It was the end of fall…which as much I enjoy the oranges and red’s of October,  I do love the yellows, creams, and browns of a November session!  I think it just makes for a beautiful backdrop!  Don’t you agree?!!

I love this image SOO much.  You can just tell how Justin feels about Julie!

After heading in from the field, we hung out in Justin’s old barn for awhile, which I loved!

 A bit of a story:  I photographed Justin’s sister’s wedding a few years ago, the lovely Adam and Jenna!  I remembered Justin from the wedding and when Julie sent me an email inquiring if I was available the date of her wedding, she mentioned Justin’s full name, and my immediate reply was asking if she was marrying into the wonderful Heiden family (one of my favorites!!)..to which she replied, “Yes!  I am!”

LOVE!!!

 I’ll end on this image….which is maybe my favorite from the entire shoot. One that I hope you look back on for the next 50 years remembering this exciting time in your life!

Blessings to you both!

Kelly