Sarah & Pat: Ripe Belly

I fall in love with my clients all the time. Sometimes I meet a couple, and within minutes, I feel like they have been lifelong friends of mine. Sarah and Pat are one of those couples.

I do not know what there is not to love about these two:

1.They are "ridiculously good looking".

2.They are incredibly in love. Like seriously in love. The kind of love that makes me know it exists. He looked at her like she was his world, and she looked at him like no one else could ever compare. I could feel their love by simply being in their presence.

3. They are FUNNY. Make sure to check out the outtake collage at the end of the blog. We did not stop making jokes. "Pat, EYES ON THE GROUND!" :)

4. Girl has style. Seriously. I religiously read In Style and Glamour, so I always appreciate someone with a sense of fashion. I love love love pairing outfits together. It's always an adventure looking through my closets (Yes, I have two of them), and pairing together something I hadn't thought about piecing together before. They have an entire room in their home dedicated to "Sarah's Getting Ready Room." An entire room. Accessories, shoes for days, clothes, jewelry, a vanity for hair/makeup.......I need this. :) Sarah really needs it though....she owns the FABULOUS Cha Boutique in Ladue. If you haven't been there, you need to go there. :)

5. And these two are every photographers dream. I think they may have been supermodels in a past life. She rocked out the poses the entire time, and Pat gave the "GQ look" like nobody's business!!! I could not STOP capturing these two.......

I LOVEEEEEEE This one......

Another fave.....

Seriously!?!? Sarah!!!! WORK it!!!!

I need to get a hat like that......

Pure Beauty.

And a shoot is never complete with out a little behind the scenes fun.......

This is how gracefully Pat moves from one pose into the next...... :)

The dog whisperer.....

Sarah & Pat- thank you guys for all of the JM advice. :) I'll be sure to use it next week when I'm in New York. Love you both and can not wait to capture the rest of your BirthStory. :)

Kirkwood Ripe Belly: Ryan ♥ Kristi

I am going to keep it real here. This blog is in need of a little TLC. I have been so busy with shoots and album designs, that I have been slacking on my writing! I also have been feeling a little case of writer's block. That ends today. The only cure for writer's block is to write on. Write through the block, which is not a problem with Kristi and Ryan. As soon as the couple informed me they live in Kirkwood, the ideas started flowing. I am very familiar with Kirkwood. Kirkwood has this quaint/every knows everyone feel to it. The town comes complete with a train station, tons of cute little knick-knack shops, families who have no need for cars, because they walk everywhere, and a feeling. A feeling of being home. A feeling of having neighbors who care about you. Kirkwood is a pretty big part of my past, and I have walked through just about every street in Kirkwood, I have shopped the oh-so-fabulous Blush Boutique (which is where I find so many of my fav. fashion finds), picked out pumpkins in the farmer's market, spent Christmas Eve after Christmas Eve at my Aunt's on Jefferson Avenue, and have seen The Nutcracker for the past 4 years at the Civic Center. All of these afternoon and evening Kirkwood strolls, I do what I often do no matter where I am.....I think to myself, "If I did a shoot here, what would I do...." I location scout. I look at every doorway, building, shop, and everything in between and imagine the art in my head. When Kristi and Ryan mentioned they lived in Kirkwood, I immediately requested that we shoot downtown. They were up for anything, which made me love them, and I hadn't even met them.

The past couple weeks in St. Louis have been pretty icky. Snow, frigidly cold winds, and the booty warmers on the seats in my car were on full blast. We all know how St. Louis can be, booty warmers one day, open moon roof the next. This Friday happened to be a moonroof day. The weather was perfection....kinda windy, but you better believe I use that wind to my full advantage! :) As I walked up the porch Kristi opened the door with a big smile on her face, and I immediately felt her welcoming presence. She has this polite demeanor and aura to her, almost reminding me of a southern belle. Her beauty radiates. Then came Ryan....despite their dog was so excited to see me it was having an accident on the hardwood floor, he was as chill as can be, and I immediately could see how their personalities meshed together so well. As we chatted about how they met, compared our trips to Italy, and watched the secret camera footage from his proposal....I instantly felt like I was around lifelong friends. Thank you guys for being so open to all of my ideas and going along with me. I can not wait to get the phone call that your sweet baby girl has arrived. :)

My favorite of the day.

My favorite of Kristi...... (Who says a windy day is a bad thing!?!?)

Okay....they make it really hard to choose. This American Gothic painting inspired pic is def. going in my top 3 list.

The Sugar Shack is this candy shop in the heart of downtown Kirkwood. Since the day they opened, I have always found it absolutely adorable, and have wanted check it out. As we snapped a couple pics by the store front, I could hear some John Mayer tunes emerging from the open front door... I knew I liked this place for a reason....

Then, we stopped back by the store for Kristi and Ryan to change......and to my amuse and delight, MORE JOHN MAYER TUNES. Okay, seriously....now I knew this was fate. They had to have known what hearing "Slow Dancing in a Burning Room" does to me. We had to shoot in this store. Thank you Sugar Shack for being so sweet (No pun intended. Seriously, but once I re-read that.....it was pretty funny). ☺

Top 3 fav of the day. No doubt. ♥♥♥

I can only hope to look this good preggo one day!! :)