**BONUS: First attempt at online slideshow! This was the slideshow I showed at their reception. Let me know what you think!

Dawn + Doug were married on Saturday, September 26 in Pontiac, with a reception following in Streator. Dawn was a referral from my friend Becky, whose wedding I photographed last July. Becky did Dawn’s flowers and they were gorgeous! I loved the color scheme… a lot of royal blue with some other bright, primary colors thrown in. I thought for sure before the wedding that their colors would be red and white based on their engagement photos!

The whole day went very smoothly, except for the fact that the rain thwarted some of our photo plans for after the ceremony. Luckily though, I was able to get shots of both the guys and the ladies before the ceremony while the weather was still cooperative.




I told Dawn that this drawing in the Sunday school room we were in was her new rules for marriage.




This is one of my absolute favorites from the day:

Here’s my favorite shot of the cake taken by my assistant for the day, Kimmy.

And this is how the cake ended up!

Lastly, here’s a group shot of some of the bridesmaids, family and Dawn checking out a slideshow of my images from the day. So far this year, I’ve done this at every all-day wedding I’ve photographed. It is always a huge hit!

I have very few session spots left for the remainder of 2009, so if you’re really wanting some portraits done before the holidays and before the wintery weather starts, call or email me soon! I only have 1 day left in October and a few days in November.

Also, due to my wedding and football schedule I have NO Saturdays free until December. Thanks so much to all the great clients I have worked with so far this year–I truly appreciate your business! Book early for 2010 if you’re interested in spring/summer portraits!

Haley + George are the first couple I booked for a 2010 wedding several months ago. They have such a cute story and will have a cute outdoor wedding that I am very much looking forward to! Haley and George met in college at Indiana University and they got engaged in Italy. How sweet is that? Haley was born and raised in Urbana so it has been very important to her to use mostly Urbana vendors for the wedding, which I think is a very cool idea. So keeping with that theme, I picked 3 Urbana locations for their engagement session.

Illinois beat Illinois State 45-17 on Saturday, September 12, 2009 in the home opener at Memorial Stadium. Above, Doug Pilcher makes a tackle. Below, Corey Liuget sacks the ISU QB.

Eddie McGee played quarterback for Illinois for most of the game and scored a TD here:

Alexa’s mom contacted me months ago about doing Alexa’s senior photos. Neither of them was very sure of where they wanted to take their photos, but I had some great ideas in mind as always! These pictures are not in chronological order though, so the first picture is from Meadowbrook Park in Urbana. The light near this bench was perfect and was the very last spot we picked! So lucky! That shot is nearly straight out of the camera with the contrast punched up a bit. I told her it was my “Forrest Gump” pose.

She was getting tired of smiling at one point, but we were still able to get a genuine one here.

One of the reasons I love shooting at Meadowbrook is the dark wood of the playground there. I also love this photo for Alexa’s look and expression, which she did without any prodding (although I may have had her re-do it a couple times!).


So serious!

This was a little more lens flare than I was going for, but I still like the way it turned out. The sun was still a tad too high in the sky!

Ahh, that’s a little better!

I love the way her hair fell in the jumping shots we took:

I had been dying to shoot at the sky blue wall for ages. Alexa was the perfect opportunity!

All dressed up and no where to go but this blue wall.

We started the session at West Side Park in Champaign where they have some neat-o trees.


Last one! And one of my favorites due to the mischievous look Alexa has!

I have a few more dates left this fall for senior sessions if anyone is interested!

I’ve mentioned to several people lately that I’m participating in the News-Gazette‘s wedding expo on Sunday, September 13 at the Hilton Garden Inn. So Aaron asked “Why don’t you put it on your blog?” Why didn’t I think of that first?

You can see the details on www.c-uwed.com. There’s no entry fee for brides, grooms and their guests, so I hope to see a bunch of my future couples there!

I will be booking unsigned wedding dates that day, so anything not officially booked (with contract and deposit) will be up for grabs. So anyone thinking about signing with me, please send me your contract ASAP or come to the wedding expo!

Rosanne and Carl were married at the First Christian Church of Bement on Aug. 29. They have a really sweet love story that Carl told over toasts at Jim Gould’s in Champaign following the ceremony.

I’ve always wanted to do the ring pictures on an old timey piano. This one was perfect! And not to mention their gorgeous rings…


I was only with the family for 2.5 short hours, but it was great to be a part of their special afternoon!