The last time I was in Cleveland, Georgia was on a trip to Babyland General, aka the birthplace of the Cabbage Patch doll, when I was eight years old. Not too many people know that up in the North Georgia mountains Cabbage Patch dolls are born from cabbage and sold all over the world. So when Brooke and I met to talk about her wedding it was exciting to hear that Cleveland not only is awesome because of my favorite childhood doll but also because of Kellum Valley Farm. This wedding venue is amazing... a huge house on a hill with a view of the mountains surrounded by rustic barns, farmhouses, and every kind of farm antique you could imagine. Ryan and Brooke began dating at North Georgia College so it's fitting that their wedding was in a mountain setting. Brooke did a great job adding personal details to the wedding and giving really special gifts to the bridal party and her family- she made every bridesmaid a hanger with their names on it (meaning she actually figured out how to twist wire to spell out each girl's name and then fix it into the wooden hanger- insert craft admiration here). I'll have to post a picture of one of them. If you are a Pinterest lover like me, you will definitely recognize some of these details from wedding inspiration boards! Brooke and Ryan are an incredibly sincere and loving couple not only with each other but also with family and friends. I love being a part of weddings to see not only the love between 2 people but among all the people who come to the wedding to support them. Ryan was really thoughtful in wanting people to feel included whether in pictures or having fun at the reception, and Brooke had thought through every aspect of how to make sure her mom and dad knew how much she loved and appreciated them. I love that. I can't get enough of kind people. Earlier that day it had rained, no, POURED at the farm and Brooke told me she had rain boots ready and that they would just go with it. I love that, too (not the rain part but her attitude). It didn't rain and even after the ceremony when we thought the sky was going to open up, it didn't and we got all the pictures in. (Just a side note about outdoor weddings: I have never seen rain totally ruin a wedding day. ever.) So much thanks to Ryan and Brooke for asking me to be a part of their day and for having such a beautiful wedding ceremony and fun reception- I had a blast and learned some Wobble dance moves... you guys are great. And if you haven't seen the stop motion video I made, check it out here
here is one of the hangers that Brooke made (this one was for her sister, Kaydee)... that's craft magic right there.
this is an awesome "something old, something borrowed, something blue" - It is Brooke's mother's garter worn at her wedding with her grandparents wedding bands sewn on to it. Brooke lost her grandmother just months before the wedding date so it was especially meaningful to have this on her.
apparently Ryan had some videographer duties on his wedding day, too:) man of many talents
Giveaway Winner!!
My first blog giveaway winner is Kim McNaron!!! This is ironic seeing as I am photographing her son's wedding tomorrow (can't wait for Alan and Lauren's big day!) so I am actually going to be able to give her this fun book tomorrow! I have never done a blog giveaway before and didn't know how to randomly pick a winner except by cutting up pieces of paper and drawing a name from the scraps. I think there are really modern 21st century ways of doing this but that's all I came up with and I picked Kim. Fun times:) But I do have to say Caroline Norris' quote about no one ever dying from awkwardness really made me laugh. I think my next blog giveaway people will have to name their favorite book so I can get good ideas of what to read this summer. And since every post needs some pictures, here is a shot I just took of my friend Elisha's little girl, Amelia. I love this for so many reasons and will have to share more pictures from this but her face and missing teeth are just priceless. Love love.
Mr. + Mrs. Gurley//Stop Motion Wedding Fun
So my awesome photographer intern (Kathryn Torbett aka K Torb) has been so fun to shoot with this past year. Kathryn is part of the photography program in the art school at UGA and has technically been "interning" with me, but really I have learned so much from her. She is getting married in August (and her wedding is going to be killer, i.e. amazing details, awesome lighting because she arranged the day around it, and the whole feel of the day is straight out of Style Me Pretty) so she also has awesome ideas for wedding photography. K Torb recently shared a stop motion wedding video that was made by a photographer in Savannah, and thought it was a pretty fun concept. Stop motion is an animation technique used to create the appearance of motion by taking incremental photographs and then you play those frames as a continuous sequence to create a movie. Actually, fun fact, my brother Dan (the cinematographer in LA) is working on a stop motion music video for a rapper out in LA (it's a big project and his is obviously the real deal- not so much like my iMovie creation). So this past weekend at Ryan and Brooke Gurley's wedding, Kathryn did the continuous shooting of stills so that we could make this stop motion video of their wedding day. I came home, went through the pictures and had so much fun in iMovie (I know, so standard but I'm not a video person so this was all new for me!) and figured out how to make the stop motion video. I really had fun thinking through the music selection, and since I think the Wobble is the most fun part of the wedding day I had to include that song! So here it is... it might make some people a little motion sick with all quick movements from one photograph to the next but just remember the days of Gumby, how everything was stop motion. Thanks to Kathryn for the awesome inspiration and thanks to Ryan and Brooke for such a beautiful wedding day!