Alison and Dave

August 19, 2006

Bayfield Wisconsin

Wedding: The shores of Lake Superior

Reception: Bayfield Inn

When you travel 7 hours to shoot a wedding on the beach and an outdoor ceremony you really REALLY hope the weather is good. It wasn’t only good, it was spectacular. Perfect puffy clouds and streaming sun for the wedding, mild August temperatures for the fun boat ride around Lake Superior, and a picture perfect Wisconsin evening.

Guests came from all over to attend Alison and Dave’s wedding, and they were all charmed by the city of Bayfield. If you haven’t been there it’s just a beautiful little town right on the shores of Lake Superior. And let’s not forget the fudge! I recommend the fudge in “The Candy Shoppe”.

And LOTS of kids at this wedding! Alison really made sure this wedding was fun for them and her daughter Maia by having “kids hors dourves” PB&J sandwiches, chicken strips, pudding, sloppy joes! I did notice a few of the adults “sneaking” the kids food.

It was a great wedding and just what Alison and Dave wanted…close friends and family and their familes all having a great time in a beautiful setting. Congratulations!

Click here to see a slideshow of Alison and Dave's wedding!

Chasing the Big White Dress in the Great White North and other weirdness

“Chasing the big white dress” comes from when my oldest son told someone that’s what I did for a living when he was 5. It was career day at school and I walked in prepared to talk to kindergarteners about photography in the most basic terms. Outside the door, each child had written what their parents did for a living. Next to my name my son wrote “My mom chases the big white dress for the Home Depot”. At that time, I worked for a studio called “Portrait Depot” and shot weddings for them. How he came up with the big white dress theory, I have no idea. But it has become my standard, and all my friends and family have adopted it.

Kim’s friend: “Whatcha doing on Saturday?”

Kim: “Whatcha think I am doing, it’s June.”

Kim’s friend: “Chasing the big white dress”

Kim” “Duh”

Kim’s Stepmother: “Honey, we are thinking of having a cook out on Saturday. Can you and the boys come?”

Kim” “Uh, it’s Saturday. You know, SATURDAY, in the summer. If it were February, maybe”

Kim’s Stepmother “Ohhhhh. Right. Big white dress”

Kim: “Duh”

So in that spirit, I am going to be out of the studio from tomorrow, August 18 where I will travel to Bayfield Wisconsin. Don’t know where that is? Please take your right hand and face it towards you palm up. Hence, you have your “hand map of Wisconsin” (if you didn’t learn this as a child then shame on your school system). At the very tippy top of your middle finger is Bayfield. A beautiful place nestled on the shores of Lake Superior, where I will photograph Alison and Dave’s wedding. The following week-end, I will be in Hayward Wisconsin (top knuckle on your right ring finger) to photograph Vana and Aaron’s wedding. I’m very excited about these weddings because it will give me a mini-vacation up north and because both of them are above the “Fudge line”. It’s just my personal hang up, but no good fudge comes from below Stevens Point. It’s the air up there or something, all good fudge comes from “up north”.

Also, I am so PSYCHED because I get to add to my collection of photos in front the weird landmarks in Wisconsin…oooh, that’s gonna be a good blog addition for the slow months. You cannot believe how many odd Plexiglas faux animal replicas there are in Wisconsin. In Hayward, I am totally looking forward to the “World’s Largest Musky” display. Seriously. You can’t make this stuff up.

So, I will be OUT of the studio August 18-28^th. They haven’t heard much of that newfangled thing called CELL SERVICE or the INTERNET up in them thair parts. I’ll do my best to check in, but if I am MIA it’s because I can’t get a signal. Likely I’ll be totally on a fudge high, anyway.

Patrick and Becky

August 12, 2006

Wedding: St Albert the Great, Sun Prairie Wisconsin

Reception: Overture Center of the Arts, Madison, WI

Let’s just say I knew this was going to be a wild wedding when one of Becky’s bridesmaids’ looked at her in her gown and said to her: “Yeah Beck. You’re bringing Sexy Back”. Then there was the moment when Patrick realized 30 minutes before the ceremony that the rings were at the hotel room…20 minutes away. At first he said some things that I am pretty sure are not allowed in a Catholic Church, but then they handled it just like Becky and Patrick handle things…with humor, a shrug of the shoulders and the optimistic attitude that it would all work out. And it did. The rings were there for the ceremony, I didn’t ask how.

The reception. Here is my true confession. I know all of you go to a few weddings a year, tops. All that fun, kinda retro music is great for getting people out on the dance floor. Stuff you might LOVE I am so desensitized to that I barely hear the music since I hear it all the time, I just react to how people are dancing. So then chicken dance comes on and WHOOOO-HOOOOOOO…the chicken dance!!!! SO. MUCH. FUN….right? Now just imagine you are a wedding photographer. And 35 out of 52 Saturdays of your life every year you get to hear the chicken dance. Suddenly not so charming, is it? This is the one time I can confess…when the UW Marching Band comes in surprising all the guests and plays the chicken dance and 375 people go WILD and start doing it, it’s BIG FUN. Thanks to Patrick and Becky, I’ve gotten over my cynicism about the chicken dance.

Now I just have to work on liking “We Are Family” again. Who’s gonna help me out with that one?!!

Click here to view a wedding slideshow of Becky and Patrick's wedding!

Hey Kim, what's with the lame-ass music on your slideshows now?

Yeah, yeah, I know. The first couple slideshows I started out with this year I had cool music. Cool songs that I painstakingly picked the right song that matched what I knew about the couple, the theme of the day, etc. But...there's this thing called copyright, see. And I was under the assumption that as long as I was not SELLING the slideshows, rather just posting them on my blog and giving my clients a copy for their personal use it was cool. I was wrong, and when I discovered this, I switched to royalty free music in deference to the artists who created the songs and for respect for their copyright. I still hate it, though. Royalty free music is pretty darn lame. Right now a few professional photographer organizations I am involved with are lobbying to purchase "one time usage" rights from the biggie music companies like BMI and RCA. So hopefully someday I'll be able to have cool music again. Until then, crank up your itunes selection.

Lori and Chris

August 5, 2006

Wedding: Galilee Lutheran, Pewaukee

Outdoor Photos: Frame Park, Waukesha

Reception: Country Springs, Pewaukee

Who knew people who majored in math could be so fun?! I’d met Lori and Chris a few times and found them to be really sweet and charming and just a really NICE couple. What I did not count on was their razor sharp wit underneath all that NICE-ness. A few times during the wedding reception I caught myself cracking up because of all of the unexpected funny moments.

I loved this idea…instead of kissing when the guests “dinged” the glasses, Lori and Chris had on each table a series of obscure questions about themselves. Things that were not easily guessed like “What gift from Lori’s mom is on top of the toilet in the bathroom?” And each table had different questions. I have to say, I think Lori and Chris ended up kissing MORE than the norm, though . The guests were RABID to find out the answers and they traveled from table to table to ask if anyone knew the answer to their questions.

They also had M&M’s on the table and would kiss when people brought up 5 orange M&M’s. There was a whole lotta kissing going on during dinner .

Before the wedding started, Lori found herself suddenly very nervous, a little light-headed and nauseous from the excitement. So we moved her into a cooler room, and within a few minutes she was okay. When I asked her if she was doing alright before her brother walked her down the aisle she said “I’m much better. I found that if you just burp when you get nervous, it really helps. And you can put that on your blog!”

Just a little tip from someone who’s been there to any of my upcoming clients Burp. I had not idea this blog thing would turn into such a wealth of wedding information!

Congratulations!!

Click here to see a wedding slideshow of Lori and Chris' wedding!

Monica and Jason

July 22, 2006

Wedding: Wauwatosa United Methodist Church

Reception: Elm Grove Women’s Club

Ever hear the theory of six degrees of separation? See if you can follow this. My friend Tracey nannies for my friend Angie. Monica and Angie are friends. Tracey’s sister Julie worked with Jason, and knew he was single and told Angie she had someone perfect for Monica. So Angie and Julie introduced Monica and Jason. And the rest, as they say, is history. So Angie called me a few months ago and said “I know there’s NO chance you’re open on July 22, my friend Monica is getting married.” But I was. Karma, fate? When things like that happen you know there’s a reason for everything.

Because they are just so cute, I had to include a few of their engagement photos in the slideshow. We took the photos at the place where they met and took their first walk together. And one year later to the day, they married.

Congratulations!

Click here to see a slideshow of Monica and Jason's wedding!