family portraits – Page 9

January 6, 2017January 5, 2017

| Beery Family Portraits | Christmas 2016 | Decatur IL |

holiday card, christmas card design, family photos, families, family portraits, sarah jane photography, sjp, sjp families, decatur il, central illinois, outdoor portraits

BONUS Friday blog post, whoop whoop! Ya’ll kept me BUSY the last quarter of 2016 and I wouldn’t have it any other way… but that means I have so many sessions waiting in the wings for their moment in the sun here on the blog. Doing our usual 2 a week features we’d be still posting fall photos come summer (seriously I have them scheduled out to APRIL already)…. so it’s time to amp up the blog with some bonus post Fridays (and heck we might get real crazy for a few weeks with a Monday or two).

And I can’t think of a better way to end your week than with this adorable family! How cute is Mila?!?!? She is just a year or so older that our very own BabyB and I see my future in this gal who is 100% energy and giggles (with maybe a dash of sas). I had a blast photographing, playing (and chasing) her around for their fall Limited Edition Session.

This was part of our Christmas Limited Edition event so we, of course, created some curated holiday images but with such beautiful fall color on the ground we couldn’t pass up the chance to create a few more timeless images for them.

I’m in love with the card design we created for this family too. It’s fun classy with just a little love and whimsy! PLUS check out these custom address labels to add a really unique touch:

Our Limited Edition Sessions are a bit different than our full boutique sessions especially in that we do not begin with our design consultation (where we customize/design/plan your session and discuss the final destination for where we want these portraits to land: on the wall, in an album, gifts, card, etc etc). So though we hadn’t pre-planned to create some custom artwork for the Beery’s homes, Lindsay fell in love with the image below (on the left) which is just such a clear depiction of life with a toddler. I love that it shows her and her husband, Robert, walking together and looking lovingly at their beautiful daughter as she runs unbridled through the park (that’s about what our life looks like with a toddler!).

Don’t forget we have already announced and opened out Limited Edition sessions for 2017. These filled very quickly last year and we want to give you plenty of time to plan ahead. These sessions are NOT themed (though we’ll have a Christmas set available in November) but we’ve positioned them to allow for Holiday portraits coinciding with Easter in April and of course our November date is in time for Christmas. May is a great time for some spring color outside and will be PROM time for you high schoolers and our goal for August is to fit in all those extended family portrait sessions ESPECIALLY for any college students who will head back to school.

January 5, 2017January 5, 2017

| Amanda + Tom | Oreana IL Wedding |

Since it’s Decatur Bridal Expo week I thought we better squeeze a wedding feature onto the blog. My newsfeed has been filled with proposals and engagements over the last weeks and that’s SO exciting. So many of your friends/family (maybe even YOU) are headed into this brand new year with BIG things on the horizon… fun things like cake tastings and dress shopping and stressful things like selecting a date, getting invitations out and choosing every vendor from florists to photographers, that will help make the vision of your big day a reality.

Well this weekend (January 6th & 7th) you will have a ton of local vendors to meet and greet at the Decatur Conference Center and Hotel. I hope you stop by our booth (we’ll have a number of fun gifts and giveaways) and say hello!

But before we get to planning next year’s weddings it’s time to check out Amanda & Tom’s big day. We lucked out for their mid-November wedding and not only had beautiful, mild weather but also still had gorgeous color on the leaves outside the church! It was PERFECT.

We started their day at their home which let us add some personal touches including heading out to Tom’s garage to include his other loves (the wheels and engine kind!).

See what I mean about the color. Can you believe we had all this beauty left?!?! And all right outside their church.

A special request of Amanda’s was to create a portrait with everyone of their guests. We don’t do this at every wedding but it’s always fun when we do.

And another fun perk with a late November wedding date is beautiful Christmas lights downtown. We had fun playing around in the park to create these (yes I even made them dance a bit, hahaha).

These two had such a fun party and the details at Infusion Bar and Banquet Center made the reception extra entertaining.

Pop over to our Facebook Page soon to give them some love with your likes!

January 4, 2017January 4, 2017

| Miller Annual Fall Family Portraits | Decatur IL |

Oh my goodness! This week is my first week back in the office and I don’t know about you but after a few weeks off it’s taking me a bit to get settled back into the flow of things SO our usual Tuesday blog is coming to you today, on Wednesday, because I forgot what day it was! I hope you all had a wonderful break and are getting settled into the new year as we are… bear with me as I attempt to get back on schedule and let’s pretend it’s Tuesday. Don’t worry our Thursday blog with be back as usual and maybe even a bonus post or two to show off all the beautiful people we were working with this fall. And NOW, it’s time to check out the Miller family:

I’ve had the chance to photograph this beautiful family nearly every year since Grant was a baby with their first session being one of the first in our home studio on the west side of Decatur! This year these troopers hung in there for a cold snap and super windy evening so we could get their annual portraits updated for their Christmas cards.

I’m hoping we treat these kiddos to warm weather for their next session!

If you’re considering a Limited Edition session in 2017 we’ve now opened these 4 dates: April 8 (in time for Easter), May 6, August 5 and November 4 (in time for Christmas). These are short 15 or 30 minute sessions at a preselected location. You can find out more details and book online HERE! These sessions are first come, first serve and when they’re full, they’re full.

December 27, 2016December 15, 2016

| Tiffany + Damien & Family | Christmas Portraits 2017 |

One of my favorite parts of the Holiday season is that we start to think about our families, making efforts to travel to be near to each other, buy gifts that bring our kids and friends joy, share what we have with those that have less, etc. It’s also the time of year that families reflect on how much has changed over the past year and with it being our busiest time of year for family portraits I know it’s also the time of year that mommas (and some daddies too) think about capturing the memory of who our families and kids are RIGHT NOW.

On of my favorite additions to the SJP product line this year is our Limited Edition sessions. In years past I’ve offered similar short sessions JUST for the holidays but this year was the first time I offered a few other dates throughout the year and it’s been so much fun that we are absolutely going to offer them again this year. These sessions are SHORT 15 or 30 minutes and give us the chance to update your annual family images or celebrate a milestone (like birthday or holiday) in a quick and easy way.

It’s so easy to forget to update these portraits with the hussle and bussle of our daily lives so we already have our 2017 dates open for booking NOW. You can plan ahead, to block out just 15-30 minutes of your year to create a little piece of your family legacy. Booking available here for April 8, May 6, August 5 and November 4!

Tiffany & Damien are a couple of my clients who know how much their kiddos change each year (just look at how little they look at our last session on Facebook)!

Despite the crazy wind and cold we were able to not only create family portraits for these four but some individuals with the boys and a few updated ‘brotherly love’ photos with these guys together. I just LOVE the personallity of these two little guys who are always so much fun in front of the camera.

And if you know these guys you may have seen this in your mailbox recently. I love the rustic/glitz combination we put together for their design!

December 23, 2016December 27, 2017

| Liz + Justin | Family Portraits Decatur IL | Christmas Cards |

BONUS extra blog post this week! With all the sessions this fall I have our typical Tuesday/Thursday blog posts scheduled out until MARCH so it was time to throw in some bonus Friday blog posts to be able to fit everyone in for their little minute in the spotlight.

Elizabeth and Justin are getting married this May and I’m thrilled to be a part of their big day. We needed just a few images of these guys pre-wedding for Christmas cards so we were able to get them set for our Limited Edition session date down in Macon. I have been in love with this pine tree lane since Rebekah’s senior session and after we had her family session there I knew I wanted to host a portrait date there and the Nash family was on board and so welcoming.

The wind was a tad crazy that day (if you follow us on IG @sjanephotography you may remember seeing all our presents blow away!) but these four were rock stars and did a great job pretending it wasn’t freezing. Here’s hoping for MUCH warmer weather the next time I photograph these beautiful family.

Some of you guys may have seen this gem in your mailbox this Christmas. I LOVE the design they chose for the card!

Be sure to head over to our Facebook Page to give them some love with your likes/comments.