Amelia got the best of both worlds this summer – she had some time in our home studio and got to go outdoors too. It made for a great variety of finished photos. I was super excited that Amelia brought her cute little raspberry hat to the session, just as our raspberries patch happened to peaking. So we plopped her down near the patch and proceeded with our usual high-pitched attention-getting banter behind the camera. We might have had a few neighbors peek their heads out their back doors to figure out what all the commotion was in our yard. But really, after our giant pumpkins, electric car, and 12 foot snowmen, I don’t think anything would surprise our neighbors any more…
Pat and Jeff : Minneapolis Engagement Photographs
Pat was actually the MoH of a wedding I did in ’09. You may remember Anna and Mark’s killer farm wedding photographs and photostation. Yeah, that’s when I first met Pat. I remembered her from then so I was super pumped when she decided to contact me about their June wedding at the Varsity in on the U of MN’s campus next year.
Anyway, their session was pretty memorable for reasons other than the photographs (though the photos are pretty sweet too, if I do say so myself) — not only did I leave one of my cameras inside Butler square while we were at Target Plaza (yeah, I’m not very smart sometimes) but we also ran across the Weinermobile as it sped through downtown Minneapolis. It is real, it actually exists… sadly, it’s exhaust did not make downtown smell of pork. 🙂
Carrie and Curt : Minneapolis Wedding Photographs
♪ In the Navy… ♫ In the Navy… ♪ Okay, I wanted to do that ever since I saw Curt in his whites. Feels good to get that off my chest.
For table assignment cards, Carrie and Curt hand-wrote personalized letters to each and every guest at their wedding. And not ‘personalized’ in mass produced way where all you change is one sentence… but truly personal comments, thank you’s, and insight for and about every single guest. This amazingly thoughtful gesture says so much about type of people they are. It was apparent that both Carrie and Curt have touched many people’s lives in positive ways as a large number of their guests went up to the microphone to tell both touching and silly storys about them during dinner (I would like to take this time to appologize to the people at our dinner table – we were horrible dinner guest having to get up every 30 seconds!) As it was, this wedding was filled with crack-up-style laughter and also lots of happy, sentimental tears. Gotta love that combo!
Congratulations to you two love-birds and best wishes as you begin your married life together in Japan! Hopefully we’ll see you back here sooner rather than later…
On a technical note — blog upgrade!! Back in the day, I started with 500 pixel wide images… Then I thought I was all fancy when I moved to 750. Boy, the 2007 version of me would be so embarrassed compared to the 920 pixels we’re going to be throwing out from here on forward. Onward and upward! (oh, and being wider means being taller too — so, uhm, this blog post is like 20,000 pixels long… hahah!!)
p.s. I also do not know why that kid isn’t wearing a shirt. 😉
Kat and Scott : St. Paul Engagement Photographs
Scott is the brother of Mark – of “Mark and Alyssa” fame from last year. Scott and Kat are going a little further away and are getting married in Chicago next year; I got the call last spring and we met to finalize having me document the upcoming shindig roughly a month ago; I was super happy (though, of course, I tried to play it cool…) — I remembered them from the previous wedding and they seemed cool; and more importantly, they seemed to know how to have a great time. (though, apparently I don’t stand out enough at weddings because, other than the resulting photographs, they didn’t remember me being there… *tear*… hehe, actually, I take people not noticing me day-of as a sign of “job well done”.)
Anyway, I’m really looking forward to heading to the ‘Windy City’ for the big event… Appropriately, the day we scheduled their engagement session was one of the windiest days in the Twin Cities that I’ve seen in a long time – massive gusts and sustained winds of 22+mph and threatening rain. I inkled that it might be a good idea to postpone, but Scott and Kat were gung-ho, so we pulled up our bootstraps, grabbed their dog Gia, and fought the wind… and we won. (unlike when we fought the law, and the law won… 😉 )
Missy and Matt : Photostation
Oh photostation… how I love thee… From the touching moments and messages to the crazy cast of characters showing the world how to party… it’s always a good time.
This one was especially fun for Colleen because she finally got to use all of the props she bought a few years ago when we first started this photostation concept (it’s NOT A PHOTOBOOTH!!)… yet, ironically, the photo that stole the show involved nothing but (pun!) a sharpie. (warning – it was a full moon that night!!!)
Matt and Missy — I hope you have an amazing time on your honeymoon at the Outer Banks… Do the Mulligan name proud!
Molly and Nic : Wedding Photographs
One month ago today Molly and Nic tied the knot in a beautiful ceremony in Panola Gardens, just north of White Bear Lake. It was a billion degrees during the middle of the heatwave that swept Minnesota back earlier this summer, but Molly kept her cool the entire time — and Nic’s jacket didn’t spend much time on his shoulders.
If I write much more, it will no longer be one-month ago and will instead be one-month-and-one-day … so I’ll be cutting the text short… (lets be honest, no one really cares what I write, do they??) 🙂
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Erin and David: St. Paul Engagement Photographs
Erin, David and I met at Mickey’s diner in Downtown St. Paul – I’d never been before which is almost sacrilegious given I was born and raised in the Twin Cities and watched more than my share of the Mighty Ducks movies. Had a shake, chatted… it was a diner, just like you’d expect. Yep.
As we walked through downtown to Rice Park, The St. Paul Library, down along Kellogg and back to Mickey’s we ran into a lot of kids all dressed up for prom… but it clearly was not prom season. So we asked (and took a photo). Apparently another Minnesota thing I never knew about is “Finale” — basically it seems like prom, but later in the year and a bit ritzier. Huh.
Anyway, Erin and David were awesome — you can clearly tell he is her superman and he is totally head over heels for her. Good thing, given they are getting married soon… 🙂
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Slug Bug, No Backs!!!!
This past weekend I decided to finally get around to taking the first step on my next big project. From growing a 1000 pound pumpkin, to building a client meeting space with my bare hands (complete with taps to serve my homebrew)… I tend to like to grab a new ‘project’ or hobby every year or so. Colleen just calls them my yearly “midlife crisis” as she sighs. 🙂
Given we were in Asia this past year during pumpkin planting time, and that I’d already hit my goal weight after only two years, I thought this would be the perfect year to start something new – a bit crazy, fun, useful, etc. Cue me totaling my super-duper lovely and ever-forgiving wife’s first-ever car which she had a very strong emotional attachment to. (RIP, Blue)
Electric car it is! …and what’s one of the hardest things about building an electric car? Making all the ‘powered accessory’ items work — power steering, vacuum assisted brakes, air conditioning, power windows/locks, etc, etc…
Guess what kind of car doesn’t have any of those features? Yep — old-school VW Bugs! Shoot – even the windsheild fluid squirters are powered by the pressure of the spare tire!
Luckily I happen to have always wanted one as well. Additionally, they are super-light, cheap, way-cool, and relatively easy to work on. So, after a month of searching I bought a 1970 model this past Sunday. The whole 1.5 hour drive home I had a grin ear-to-ear — I simply couldn’t wipe it off my face! What a blast!
I’ll probably get to converting it sometime soon (need to learn how first! heh) so for now I’m enjoying simply driving it around and causing all the teenagers to get sore shoulders. The first time I drove past a park and heard a half-dozen screams of “SLUG BUG, NO BACKS!!” I litteraly busted out laughing — brought back so many memories of smacking my brothers/friends on road trips when I was younger. I’m glad I can be the guy that causes those memories to start for others…
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