May, 2011

san luis obispo wedding photographer

One of the things that’s sometimes difficult about being a wedding and engagement photographer is that my creativity is scheduled. I show up for a shoot and need to be creative. There’s no waiting for creativity to come and THEN starting to shoot. It has to be on demand.

Well, honestly I was having kind of a rough day before Jineanne and Michael’s engagement session and was sort of operating in robot mode at the beginning, redoing things that had worked in the past because my creativity just wasn’t there.

Then things changed, because I DARE you to spend time with Jineanne and Michael and not feel their sunshine in an extraordinary way. These are just two…awesome…people. I had a great time with them and they turned my day around.

Thanks, you two. If my experience with you is any indicator, you make the world a better place every second you’re together.

san luis obispo wedding photographer

Hey Ken! I’m guessing you’re booked already for April 23, 2011… but if not, and you’re interested in shooting a wedding in West Virginia, I want to book you. ASAP. -Emily

That email showed up in my inbox in September of last year. Emily Porter is a wedding photographer in West Virgina, one whose work I’d admired for awhile. She just won first place in the 2010 Q4 WPJA awards too. So yeah, she’s awesome.

This was such an incredible day to be a part of. Emily and Bobby are two of the kindest people I know, and the thought they put into making sure their family, friends, and even hired vendors were taken care of was totally above and beyond the call.

Emily and Bobby sourced a TON of really unique stuff from some great Etsy shops and other places, and I’ve included that info at the bottom of this post.

Hand-painted shoes by Figgie Shoes.

Emily writing a card for Bobby. She gave him Pokemon games for their Nintendo DS, and a gift certificate to get tattooed.

This is their apartment – I love that they wanted to take a few photos in front of their home.

Their officiant and his wife were basically the coolest people ever.

Here they are trying to change their facebook relationship statuses to “married”, but apparently you can’t do that on the iPhone app.

Here’s a copy of their newspaper on the day that it did a write-up of Emily and her work:

Ok. A chandelier made of records and a bicycle wheel. So epic.

Most amazing dessert table ever:

Right at the beginning of the reception, there was a huge easter egg hunt for the kids since Easter was the next day. And this little girl was so stinkin cute:

Instead of her bouquet, Emily threw ANGRY BIRDS!! One red one, one blue one, and one yellow.

Venue: Woman’s Club of Charleston, WV

Emily’s accessories:
Wedding Dress: Legends by Romona Keveza from J Majors Bridal
Shoes: gold Kate Spades (worn for maybe 10 minutes, ha) and pink wedges from zappos custom painted by Figgie Shoes: http://www.figgieshoes.com
Hairband – Velvet Owl: http://www.etsy.com/shop/velvetowl
Earrings – Mari Design: http://www.etsy.com/shop/maridesign
Sash – Portobello: http://www.etsy.com/shop/portobello
Necklace – great-grandmother’s pearls, then Love necklace from Bella Jewels Inc on etsy: http://www.etsy.com/shop/BellaJewelsInc

Bobby’s accessories:
Groom’s suit: H&M
Groom’s shoes: Vanishing Elephant
Groom’s tie: Bacon Handmade Neckwear http://www.etsy.com/shop/baconneckwear,
Brooch – local antique store Stray Dog Antiques: http://straydogantiques.com

Food:
Cocktail hour catering: Tastefully Dun
Pizza at Dinner: Pies and Pints http://www.piesandpints.net and Graziano’s
Cupcakes & lemon bars: http://www.frutcake.net
Ellen’s Homemade Ice Cream

Event Design / Floral Design / Custom paintings – Every Last Detail Event Design
Wholesale Flowers purchased through Fiftyflowers.com
Photobooth – Mandi White: http://www.photosbymandi.com/blog
Dessert table design – Chelsea | Events: http://www.chelseaevents.com