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.

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.

Gift Certificates now available

So how many of you are ready for Mother’s day coming up on May 10th? If you need a great gift idea, give the gift of a portrait session and prints from cb Yates Photography! Know a new mom-to-be having a baby shower? Be the hit of the party when you surprise her with a newborn photography session.

What about the weddings you’ve got on your social calendar this summer? Give them something they’ll be really grateful for . . . a gift certificate to use towards their wedding photos! Be unique, be fresh, be creative… be a part of the bride’s first family heirloom. Gift certificates may be used toward the purchase of prints, wedding albums, and gallery wrapped canvases. Help them decorate their new home with beautiful images from their day.

I’ve had requests for these so I’m very proud to be offering them. There are two types of certificates available so you can customize your gift for the recipient. One geared towards engagements/weddings and another aimed at family/children/newborn photography.  Each one comes in a nice petal envelope with ribbon enclosure. All you have to do is hand it to the recipient, no wrapping involved!

We all know the second most important thing to rescue from a fire (after our loved ones & pets) is the pictures. Pictures are the way to capture moments now to create memories for later.

If you are interested in giving the gift of memories please go to the proofing section of our website. You’ll need to login (if you’re a previous customer) or create an account (if you’re a new customer). From there you’ll be able to place your order online and your gift certificate will be shipped to you complimentary!

Spring Newborns

Well spring is finally here and with it brings lots of newborn babies!  Always excited to photograph newborns. Is it bad that one of the many reasons I want to have a baby of my own is that I’m thrilled by the idea of all the photography time I’ll get with it? Who cares! Here is just a sample of three recent newborn babes I was lucky to get to work with.

Baby “K” sportin’ her ladybug outfit. A person could stare into those eyes all afternoon.

Baby “C” with his adorable red hair. I was lucky enough to photograph his parent’s wedding so I was thrilled to get to document another new step in their lives.

Check out his little smile!

Baby “S” was so good and very easy to photograph. Her mama taught me a thing or two about swaddling. She’s definitely a pro.

So happy to see this cute one grow up.

Also, wanted to share with you something else I’m excited about. My new prop! See the vintage high chair pictured below? Well I have big plans for it. I’ve used it once already and I’ll have to share pictures from that session later this week. Next time I use it I’m picturing a chubby little 6 month old seated in the high chair in a field of wildflowers. We’ll have to let the weather warm up and give the plants time to grow but I’m ready. So who wants to sign up for that session? Drop me an email if your baby will be around that age this summer!

Also pictured are baby K’s birth announcements. Mama and baby are dropping by today to pick them up. Love how they turned out. Check out this post for more info on custom cards.

I’ll be back later this week with more updates. I apologize for letting so much time lapse in between blog posts. I’ve been busy!

More to come about where I’ve been which includes a wonderful workshop in Dallas taught by JVS Pictures.

What a difference a year makes | maternity photos & birth announcements

I’m really happy to share these maternity images I took in December. The couple is beautiful inside and out! I was happy to take them back to the same brick wall that we used in December 2007 for their holiday card images. How cool to look at the images below taken a year apart and reflect on how their lives are changing. I’d love to go this next December when their little girl is just starting to walk. Can’t you just picture the same brick wall scene but with a cute little dark haired girl holding on to mama and daddy’s hands?

Well we all know what comes next . . . newborn pictures! I always enjoy taking picture of brand new babies and creating birth announcements so the new parents can show off their little bundle of love. You can’t help but smile and say “ahhhhh, how cute” out loud when you receive one of these in the mail. So I’ve updated my baby announcement designs and put up samples on the cb Yates Photography proofing site.

Custom birth announcements are printed the same way as the custom Holiday cards. Here are more specifics:

• Custom birth announcements 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 sweet little one!)
• Size is 5″x7″
• Ordered in increments of 25 (Each box of 25 cards is $45.00)
• Pricing includes envelopes
• There are multiple paper finishes available (matte, glossy, watercolor paper, and pearlescent)
• Announcements are completely customized so all the “busy new mama” has to do is address and stamp the envelopes and they’re ready to mail. (allowing much more time for cuddling, feeding, and probably the most important thing on a new mom’s mind . . . sleep)