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 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.

Engaged: Katie & Evan

I’ve been dying to share this engagement session because it was such a unique one! Katie and Evan put lots of thought into the setting for their images. I know these picture mean so much to them.

We started off the night at the Nebraska Wesleyan campus which is where Katie and Evan met. I enjoyed having them give me a tour of the campus while we scouted out special areas to photograph. They told me all about the business classes they took together and showed me the building their dorm rooms were in. I have great images of all these places but I didn’t want to make this blog post too long so you’ll just have to imagine! Meanwhile, I have plenty of other great shots to share.

One of the sentimental spots we visited was the campus library. I walked in and right away the smell of old books hit me. Without thinking I blurted out, “I love the smell of libraries.” I had to giggle to myself as I know that sounded tremendously dorky. Immediately Katie agreed with me by saying she loved the smell too. She told me about childhood memories of visiting her Grandma that worked in the Gretna library. I smiled because I loved that library as a child too.

So I imagined Katie and Evan studying late into the night in this library. I wanted to capture their relationship now in the area where their relationship first formed. I had no problems talking them into this shot.

After our trip through the campus at Wesleyan we made our way out of town to find a sunlit cornfield. A couple weeks prior to our session Katie called me and asked if we could get some sunset images using an old church pew. Of course I instantly said yes! It’s even cooler to know that this church pew came from the same church they’re getting married in next July.

I know I always say it, but I had the best time photographing this couple! I feel so lucky to have clients that care about creating unique, meaningful images. I was ecstatic when they hired me as their wedding photographer because I felt an instant connection to them. Katie and Evan, you made my job easy because you’re so *in love* with each other. Thanks for such a fun autumn evening. I’m looking forward to doing it again next summer at your wedding!

Engaged: JJ and Shane

I’m so far behind on blogging it’s not even funny. So, when I was trying to decide which session I’d blog first this fun couple popped up in my mind. Their October wedding is fast approaching and of course I’m looking forward to it. With images like this from the engagement shoot I know the wedding photos will be fab!

JJ was spot on in the wardrobe department. I love the looks she picked out for the sunset nature/downtown photoshoot we decided on. I have to say though, nothing looks better than real, genuine expression and these two definitely had plenty of that going on. Amazing smiles, sweet laughter, a protective embrace, these are the things that make up beautiful images.

This last photo was JJ’s idea and I’m pleased with the way it turned out. It’s great to hear the couple’s ideas while we’re photographing. Makes me happy to coordinate my imagery with their thoughts and plans to produce an image like the one above.

JJ and Shane, I’m looking forward to our next session together on your big day in October!