Newly engaged? Have you seen the Valentine special?

Sure hope everyone had a nice Valentine’s Day yesterday. I received a phone call from a very excited friend last night sharing the news that she was engaged. Such an exciting time for them! I told her to be and sure to savor each moment for the rest of the evening and to of course take some photos!

I imagine she isn’t the only newly engaged girl out there and that’s the reason for this post. I wanted to be sure and share some great resources for wedding planning and also extend a special Valentine special.

First up, let me share some wonderful sources of wedding day inspiration. These are the sites that I wish were around when I was planning my wedding 6 years ago. They make me want to get married all over again with all their unique ideas.

There are so many ways to truly make your wedding day a true representation of you and your fiance. These sites showcase many ideas that help you accomplish that goal.

• The Wedding Chicks – “Real Weddings”, beautiful photography, and my favorite, the DIY  section. You can get lost on this site.
• 100 Layer Cake – More unique wedding ideas and you have scroll down and check out their logo. Very fun!
• Style Me Pretty - If their title “The Ultimate Wedding Blog” doesn’t grab you and make you want to visit, I don’t know what will.

And one last thing before I end this post . . . cb Yates Photography is running a Valentine special for all recently engaged couples planning their wedding in 2010. It’s definitely a “sweet” deal so don’t miss out! Click on the “email me” link above and let’s get in touch before this offer is no more on February 27, 2010.

Offer applies to new clients only please.

A little inspiration

Trying something a little different today so thanks in advance for being understanding. Last year I realized I wanted to enrich my blog with a more personalized experience. I’d like to encourage my readers to *want* to come and read and look forward to new postings. Well one aspect of that goal is more frequent posts! And I’m working on that. But I also wanted to share more of myself, what inspires me, who I am, and how much I whole-heartedly enjoy my job! I quickly signed up for the “Blogging Your Way” class when I saw it offered on the Decor8 blog. I am really enjoying the introspective weekly homework assignments Holly and Leslie have given us.

I’d like to share this past week’s assignment with you. Holly asked us to create an inspiration board that best defines our style and what we personally love. I quickly set out to take inspiring pieces from around my home that enliven me daily. I have these images, artifacts, colors, and textures in my studio and living space as they are things that make me happy and therefore inspire me creatively.

I love how it all looks together but I realize there’s a lot going on here. Let me focus on a few details:

• The image on the top left was pulled from a KC Weddings magazine. Photography credit goes to Lemon Lime Photography. I instantly fell in love with the way these images are displayed at the wedding. I want to incorporate this into my own family photos somehow. Lemon Lime did an amazing job capturing this distinctive detail of the day.

• The top right image incorporates a couple things. The vintage wooden type stamps showcase my love of design. And the small scrapbook off to the side is something I put together using images from my brother’s wedding. I purchased the kit from Karen Russel and unfortunately I don’t think she is selling them anymore. Please visit her blog though! I am floored by her amazing, intimate family photos. She allows the viewer a pass into her everyday life through her images and writings.  A blogger that writes from the heart. She makes me excited to become a mama myself someday. I’m left with ideas of how I want to photograph my own kids everyday lives and leave them a beautiful day to day “yearbook” of their childhood.

• Like that vintage camera in the middle row? My good friend Jamie recently took out some of the “guts” to it and converted it into a pencil holder for my desk. Brilliant! I often glance at it and wonder how it would be to use a camera like that instead of my digital one. How far photography has come is amazing to me. It’s something I definitely want to try this summer. What do you think Jamie? Are you game? Guess we’ll have to go antiquing again, darn.

• I bought that film proofer a year ago while antiquing with another friend of mine, Amanda. I’m going to use it to frame a favorite image in the new studio. I always enjoy finding new ways to display photos.

• Another image from the same wedding that Lemon Lime Photography captured. I love everything about it, the lighting, the wording, and most definitely the mood. Makes me want to plan my own wedding all over again to incorporate this unique and heartfelt touch. To all my 2010 brides, who wants to try something like this using wording that is different and unique to you?

• My favorite Beth Quinn necklace that my mother-in-law gave me as a Christmas gift. The saying is a mantra for me. At times when life gets hectic it’s also one I forget but the minute I put on this necklace I am reminded. It’s also the reason I do what I do. Photography allows you the one opportunity to go back and visit those “moments”.

• Some favorite images of my best friend and I together. These were taken in a photo booth at a wedding I was photographing and she was helping at. Ironically we have photo booth images from middle school too. This is us being us. It inspires me to capture that same unabashed silliness in my clients. No need for fancy, stiff, posed portraits. You want to remember the authentic smiles that graced your face everyday of your life. I feel it’s not only my job to capture them but to remind you that those are the images you’ll love most many years down the road. You being you . . .

Well I hope you enjoyed seeing what inspires and brings me to life. Maybe you gained a better understanding of who I am? I sure hope so.

Now I’d like to know . . . what inspires you?

2009 Fall Wedding Faves

The latter part of 2009 was quite a busy one for cb Yates Photography. So busy in fact that I didn’t get to post images of the beautiful autumn weddings I attended. It just wouldn’t feel right not displaying these images and giving the couples their time in the limelight that they so rightly deserve. Don’t you agree? Each of these husband and wife relationships is gorgeous and as always I feel blessed to be part of their life-changing day. I went through and pulled my favorite newlywed images from each day. They aren’t posed, they aren’t even looking directly at my camera, they’re just being themselves *together* and those are always my favorite images of the day.

As I chose my fall faves for this post I couldn’t help but feel excited as I look ahead to 2010. I am working with some incredible couples that are planning detailed, beautiful events for this year. How do I get so lucky to work with these people? I don’t know but I’m already looking forward to sharing images from their days with you.

And one last note, BIG thanks to the photographers that graciously allow me to second-shoot with them this year. Some of the weddings are pictured above. As you all know I love what I do, but when I get to do it alongside another photographer it’s even more delightful. How fun to share the excitement when walking in and seeing the bride dressed in an amazing gown with an even more amazing smile on her face to match. Or overcoming an obstacle such as pouring rain during outdoor photos and walking away with images that we’re very proud of! And my favorite, sitting down together at the end of the night and celebrating the closing of one wedding season with a big slice of decadent wedding cake.

Here’s to an exciting 2010!

Beth + Jared, Oct. 17, 2009

Very excited to share this wedding on the blog. I’ve been wanting to share it since the day I photographed it! There are a hundred and one reasons why I enjoyed this day. I couldn’t possibly name them all! So I’ll try to narrow it down to a couple reasons. Let’s start with the fact that my good pal Becky Novacek was the mother of the groom. So was I nervous photographing another photographer’s family wedding? Well let’s just say a little bit . . . I was more excited that Becky and I were going to photograph together for part of the day. Also, I was glad that I could document the day and allow her to sit back and relax and take it all in. When you’re photographing such an event you don’t always get to partake in the activities in the same way. It felt amazing to know Becky trusted me to capture such an occasion.

Alright, enough with the typing, you came to see some images! This first one was from the “first glance” series. I love the look on both of their faces despite the cold weather. Such great smiles!

Becky and I met for lunch earlier in the week and scouted out some great locations. I love that we share this passion for unique photo spots. We hit the jackpot. And I love that Beth and Jared were game for getting in the car and going with us. Thank you!

One of the hard parts about blogging this one was choosing which photos to share. There are just too many. I created a couple smaller collage photos to condense more photos together so this didn’t turn into the world’s longest blog post.

Here are some of the *many* beautiful details that were a part of this unique wedding day.

Beth and Jared had the great DJ ever, TeeRoy from Unique Pros. I’m lucky enough to have worked with TeeRoy twice this wedding season and I’m always happy to see him when I show up at the reception. Love this photo of Beth’s entrance into the reception! The music was rockin’!

I just had to share this next picture on the blog. Whenever the guests started clinking their drink glasses indicating a kiss from the couple Jared would choose a couple from the crowd. He would then ask them to demonstrate a kiss and he and Beth would kiss each other exactly the same way. What a perfect expression on their faces while watching Beth’s parents smooch!

Again, here’s a second collage of shots taken throughout the day. Wanted to make sure and post images from the parent’s dance. I always end up crying behind my camera at that point in the evening.

I’ll have to split this blog post up into two parts because I haven’t shared any images from the photobooth yet! Stay tuned.

2009 Custom Holiday Photo Cards

After overcoming some computer issues last week I am proud to say I have the 2009 Holiday Custom Card collection posted! October and November is the perfect time to get your Holiday cards ordered. That way they’re done early and you can enjoy that much more of the Holidays. Isn’t that what the season is about? Spending time with friends and family is more fun than rushing around worrying about getting cards made, signed, and in the mail. Trust me, it’s way easier to pick out your design and have it customized from the comfort of your own computer desk. You can even do it in your pajamas at midnight once the kids have gone to bed. Once customized your Custom Holiday cards are shipped out directly to your home leaving you with one less stop to make during the busy shopping season.

Below are this year’s examples:

Another way to view these is by going to the proofing section of my website. This is also where you can place your holiday card order. As soon as your session is proofed and loaded to your private gallery I’ll send you an email with the link and password. From there you can choose which card you’d like and which photos you want to include. We can also customize the greeting, family names, date, etc. Also, I know that some of the designs seem specific to the type of shoot, example: wedding or newborn photography. Please feel free to look closer and know that even though those are the images shown doesn’t mean we can’t customize that card design with images from your family  photo shoot. I wanted to show a diverse sample of the many reasons to have custom cards printed.

Most of my clients have gotten a sneak peak at the card examples but in case you didn’t here are the specifics:

• Press Printed Cards are not photographs, but are produced on state of the art digital printing presses. The printing facility uses real liquid ink, not toner like a color copier as some other printers use, to give the cards the look and feel of a very high quality printed piece.
• Cards are double sided (more room to show off your gorgeous photos!)
• Size is 5″x 7″
• Ordered in increments of 25
• Pricing includes envelopes
• There are multiple paper finishes available (matte, glossy, watercolor paper, and pearlescent)
• Custom cards are $50 per box of 25 cards.

I am always excited to place orders for the Holiday cards. I love designing/customizing the cards with images we’ve taken in the past year and waiting to see the end product. Everyone loves receiving them since they’re such a personalized item. And the other good thing about these cards is all you have to do is address the envelopes and you’re ready to mail. No need to sign the card since we’ve already customized them with you family’s name.

Holiday cards are available for all clients that have had a session or Wedding within the past year. If your session was earlier this year and you’d like to order cards please drop me an email and I’ll be happy to reinstate your gallery for you.