Jackie and Kevin:: Engagement

So you've already seen a preview of the preview... here are the rest of the preview photos!

Let me give you a little background on these two and I. We've been trying to schedule this session since November. Yes, that's right, November. It is now February. It seemed like there was always something- rain, extreme cold, or just SOMETHING that got in the way of us actually meeting to shoot their engagement photos! I think we must have scheduled them 6 or 7 times, and finally decided to wait a week or two for it to warm up before trying again.

Well, guess what? The ONE week we decided to take a break was the week it ended up being nearly 40 degrees! So we planned a last-minute session and the weather was gorgeous. They live on Kevin's family farm along the Wisconsin River near Muscoda, WI. It was most definitely beautiful, and the history was great! There some awesome buildings and fun animals like Panda the cow, Rosie the dog, and few others. When I was doing the post-processing work to these pictures, I tried to give some of them an antique feel, and others I tried to play around with the vibrance a bit. It was such a fun batch of pictures to play with!

Well, enough of me talking... what do you think?

Preview of a Preview!

Yes, that's right... two posts in one day!

As I'm uploading the pictures from Jackie and Kevin's engagement session today, I wanted to share a couple teasers... :D They are getting married this June and wanted some pictures taken on Kevin's family farm. It was such a neat place: right across the road from the Wisconsin River, great views, cool buildings, and of course, it had cows. :) Enjoy!











There will be more coming in a couple days... and they will involve this scene:



And this scene:




Super-cool, huh? Or am I the only one who gets genuinely excited to see hay bales and broken old chairs? Check back for more pictures soon!

A few more pictures...

This post has a few more of my favorite pictures from the year. In the ones above, I love the vibrant colors, and all that fabulous greenery! It was a unique wedding- it had a Celtic theme, so the groom and all his guys (including the ring bearer) wore kilts. The bride wore a crown of flowers, and the ceremony was held in Winona high up on a bluff. It was so pretty!

Stay tuned- in the next day or two I will be posting a preview of Jackie and Kevin's engagement session along the Wisconsin River!

A favorite picture...

Since this is generally a pretty slow time of year for me and I would like to keep this blog updated with fresh posts, I thought I'd try posting a picture every few days that maybe didn't make it into the original slideshow.

Here's three of my favorites. At first, these pictures didn't stand out to me as outstanding, but the more I look at them and their quiet, simple, elegance, the more I like them!

These are from Michele and Jason's wedding at Justin Trails in Sparta. It was such a simple, family-oriented wedding that had so many amazing details, it was easily one of my favorite weddings to photograph last year. Michele and Jason made a commitment to be as "green" as possible with their wedding planning, and that just added to the fun and pleasant atmosphere. She got ready in an old chicken coop that had been remodeled into a room perfect for getting ready, and she even had her mother's wedding dress in the room with her! Isn't she beautiful?

Best of 2008

Now that weddings have slowed down for a few months, I had a chance to go through ALL the pictures from 2008, and compile a few of my favorites in a super-cool remixed video. Thank you to the 30+ couples who allowed me to share their day!

To play the video, click on the arrow:




Also, if you would like to sign up to receive updates when I post, click on the link to the right of this post. It will keep you updated with what I've been doing and shooting throughout the months!

Bridal Expo 2009

Hello Everyone,

It feels like it's been forever since I last posted about Nicole and Johannes' wedding in the Dells. Between our two Christmases with my family and my husband's family, plus our trip to Arkansas, we've been busy. It's good to be back in the swing of things again!

Yesterday was the Bridal Expo in La Crosse, and to those of you who I met for the first time, thanks for stopping by my booth! It's my second year exhibiting there (last year I was under my old business name of Images Of Distinction), and it was even better than last year!

And I would like to point out two things:

1) Yes, the couple was REALLY in the water. I posted an image from a Trash The Dress session I did with Angela and Ben last year. We ended our session by going into Devil's Lake. Yes, it was cold. Yes, we were really in the water. :) That wasn't just post processing- it was real!

2) Yes, that was actually a bride wearing a red dress. I had a lot of questions about that picture, too. The bride, Heather, was wearing Maggie Sottero's "Scarlet" dress. I'll admit that I had doubts when Heather told me her dress was going to be red. But as soon as I saw the dress, and more especially her IN the dress, I knew she made a stunning choice. Wow- that red really made the pictures pop!

Be sure to stay tuned for my "Best Of" 2008 video coming soon!

Nicole and Johannes' Christmas Wedding

My last wedding of the year was so great! I was lucky enough to spend it with Nicole and Johannes who are one of the nicest couples I've worked with all year. And I've met some really great couples, so that's a huge compliment. :)

Anyway, the morning of their wedding I headed over to Wisconsin Dells. We did some formal pictures of the guys and girls separately at Great Wolf Lodge, then headed over to Spring Brook for their ceremony. Since the ceremony and dinner were family and just a few close friends, it was a small, intimate group. They were all very fun and easy to work with, that's for sure!

Because of the snow storm that day (err, blizzard) we weren't able to head over to the River Walk for their couple's session.  But we did get some nice pictures outside their venue.  

Anyway, here are my favorite two pictures of the day.

And the preview:  (the rest are coming next week!)

2009 Update and Bridal Expo

Hello everyone! I haven't posted in a few days, so I just wanted to give you all the updates on Studio Noveau!

January 11th is the Bridal Expo in La Crosse, so feel free to stop by my booth if you'll be there. Also, if any of you need tickets, just email me your address and I'll drop some in the mail for you. I have LOTS of tickets to give away!

Right now I am about 50% booked for weddings in 2009. May, June, and August are completely full, with many other months pretty close to booked. So don't wait long to contact me about your date if you haven't already done so! If last year is any indication, the rest of my open dates will probably fill pretty quickly. :)

I'll be posting the preview for Nicole and Johannes' wedding next week, so make sure to stop by for that!

Stacey and Greg's fabulous fall wedding

Recently I headed up to La Crosse for the wedding of Stacey and Greg. They were married in La Crosse with their reception at the Midway Best Western along the Mississippi River. They had some gorgeous fall details in their wedding!

Some of my favorites:






Stacey and Greg, congratulations! Thanks for letting me be there on your wedding day. It was great getting to know you and your families. Oh, and speaking of family... from what I hear, Greg's youngest brother, Geoff, is single, employed, and looking for a nice young woman. :) If anybody reading this is interested... let me know and I'll see what I can do! This is Geoff:



Lastly, Stacey and Greg, here is your official preview. When the rest of your images are finished and posted in your proofing gallery, I'll let you know right away!

Fun tool for wedding plannning

Hi Everyone,

I thought I'd share a fun website I found a few days ago. It sure would have been nice to know about this when I was trying to figure out how to wear my hair for my wedding! If you have a few minutes, try giving yourself a makeover! They allow you to change hair color, style, apply makeup, whiten teeth, and more. They even have sample updos! :) Cool, huh?

The last couple weeks I've been debating making the change from blonde to brunette, and cutting my hair shorter. So here's my before and after, courtesy of ivillage.com:



Check back soon for Stacey and Greg's wedding preview!