Your Wedding Memories | Why You Should Have An Unplugged Wedding

I recently just started working on my best friend's wedding, and something happened when I got to the ceremony on their wedding day, I started to tear up! Just the simple act of scrolling through the images I took that day and remembering all of the wonderful moments made me cry. I have been fortunate enough to photograph several of my friends weddings and during the ceremony I often have to remind myself "don't get caught up, shoot!!" because otherwise I would probably cry every time. I texted Jen (the bride) and told her how "omg! I didn't cry on your wedding day but just going through the images is making me tear up!"

What does this all mean? Be there and be present during every wedding you get to attend! Have an unplugged wedding ceremony!! This means guests are not allowed to use their cameras and smart phones during the ceremony. You can actually take in, and be a part of all of the wonderful moments happening in front of you instead of digging through your clutch for your phone and checking Facebook quick after you snap a pic.

Please, let the photographer do their job and capture all of the memories with their cameras, and just sit back and watch two awesome people make a wonderful commitment to each other. Take lots of fun photos throughout the rest of the day, but for the ceremony, just be present.

Sienna + Dan | A Beautiful Purple + White Summer Wedding | Lake Windsor Country Club, Windsor, Wisconsin.

An outdoor wedding at a country club is guaranteed lots of images with beautiful greens, but Sienna and Dan incorporated purples and soft whites to really make this wedding pop. The touches of gold and fun pink accents in her bouquet not only made this wedding bright and colorful, but also a classy summer event.

Sienna and Dan made sure their guests were well taken care of and having a great time with a whole room devoted to games! This day was truly a celebration of their love, but also a testament to how much this sweet couple cares for their family and friends and wanting to make sure everyone had a fantastic time at their wedding.

Venue: Lake Windsor Golf Club  Dress: Mori Lee  Bridesmaids Dresses: B2 by Jasmine  Groom's Suit: Nedrebo's  Florist: Daffodil Parker Stationery: The Bride!  Hair and MUA: Texture Salon      DJ: Juke Box Bandstand  Videographer: Speed of Light Videography  

A Personal Post | Difficulties Being a Photographer

This is a difficult post for me to write, first because it is something personal which I have never been good with sharing details of my life with the general public, and second because it is about something that I am extremely self-conscious about, my shaking hands.

I have a genetic condition called Essential or Familial Tremors (thanks, Dad!) that causes my hands to shake no matter what I am doing. No, I do not have Parkinson's Disease and I am not nervous all of the time (haha you'd be shocked how often I get asked that) but it is something that impacts my daily life and as a photographer makes this passion that I get to call my job even more challenging.

How can I be a photographer with shaky hands you ask? Well, I know my limits with how slow of a shutter speed I can use and I just have to brace my arms against my body more than the average photographer might. Why am I just talking about this now? I realized recently that I never address this when I photograph anyone. Sure, people bring it up ALL the time when I'm shooting and I have no problem talking about it, but because it's something I try to minimize every day, it's something that I forget to just bring up and reassure my clients that it's OK! You'll have sharp, beautiful images and I'm not nervous because this is my first time shooting :)

So when I turn down that martini because I can't drink it without spilling, or I hand your phone or small camera to someone else to take a picture for you it's not because I don't want to, it's just because I don't want to spill something on your shoes or have lots of blurry images on your phone!

Liz + Brian | A romantic spring wedding at the Monona Terrace in Madison, WI.

I figured since we are now heading in to fall it was time to catch up and start blogging again! And what better way to start than with Liz and Brian's spring wedding! This gorgeous Chicago couple planned a celebration here in Madison that took advantage of all of the best places like the UW-Arboretum, Memorial Union Terrace, and a fabulous party at the Monona Terrace. Please scroll through and remember what a beautiful spring we had!

Ceremony: Our Lady Queen of Peach Parish Reception: Monona Terrace Wedding Planner: Piece of Cake Consulting Dress: Vera Wang Bridesmaids Dresses: Donna Morgan Florist: Daffodil Parker Props/Rentals: A La Crate Stationery: Stercale Press DJ: Midwest Sound Hair/MUA: Be Inspired Salon Videographer: Just Hitched Wedding Films

Yelp's Madison Made

Hello blog! I'm sorry, I know it's been a while. I've been working hard behind the scenes on continually making improvements on the experience you will have, and as if all of the exciting updates and changes I've been doing lately are enough, there are still a couple new things coming :)

As a small business owner, I think it is super important to always be looking for ways to serve my customers better and so they do have a wonderful experience. I am always looking for ways of supporting other small businesses and one way I can do that is through Yelp! I've had the pleasure of working with Corey on an amazing event series he created, Madison Made. Corey and his team will partner with local businesses that are doing cool or interesting things and give people a behind the scenes look at what they do, but also just to get to know the great people behind these businesses. You get to see what they do, but you also get to hear why they are so passionate about what they do and bringing a quality product to our area.

I am so happy to be part of Yelp and all that they do to promote local businesses and getting people out and involved with their community. If you haven't yet, please go check it out http://www.yelp.com/events/madison. And if you don't live in Madison don't worry, the Madison Made series was such huge success that other Yelp communities around the country have started to do their own local events just like this!

Get out and go explore your local community! Get to know the awesome people that are so passionate about what they do and support small businesses in your area. One of my goals in starting this blog was to feature and promote other businesses, keep an eye out for that coming soon :)