| Ashley + Nathan | Chicago Lake Michigan Wedding | Mystic Blue Cruise |

Today I get to show off Ashley and Nathan’s wedding with you guys! You might remember their gorgeous engagement session with Huck (their dog) stealing a bit of the spotlight. We actually waited (me as patiently as possible) to show off their engagement session until after the big day which I think is super romantic. They kept the ceremony intimate with their closest friends and family (and us – YAY) joining them in Chicago for a lunchtime cruise.

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There were a lot of firsts for me on this wedding which is always so so much fun after 14 years… First, believe it or not, I’ve never been to Chicago. I know, I know we live so close to it now but we are a St. Louis family and tend to go west more than we venture north. So I can now check that off the list though I will definitely need to go back to actually hang out and see some sights!

Next, I’ve never been on a cruise ship so this one made me a little nervous… I mean, what if I climbed on for their big day and was sea sick the whole time?!!? Not an option folks! I did learn that looking through the lens continuously can make balance a bit trippy but with some extra stabilization techniques to ensure perfectly sharp images and me staying upright everything was perfect.

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These guys had the most beautiful day for their wedding and with really only one other group sharing in the cruise they pretty much had the place to themselves which let us create some beautiful images as we ventured around the ship.

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I mean what’s more perfect than this ^^^! That skyline, their style, the ship! They’re basically movie stars.

Thank you both for sharing your lovely wedding day with us, it was perfect!

| McCoy Family Annual Portraits | Just the Kids | Decatur IL

I’m so excited to show off this year’s annual portraits of the McCoy Family kiddos! Doing annual family portraits is seriously no joke (trust me, I know we do them too). Every year it feels like you JUST did these and it’s time again to plan for new outfits (that don’t look too much like the past ones but are still your style). Do that for 3-5 years in a row and it just gets exponentially tougher to keep things looking new and fresh.

But is it worth it? YES!!! I absolutely think so but why? For one, your kiddos do change quite a bit from year to year and it’s hard to know just when those big changes will hit and annual family portraits make sure we don’t miss a thing. We’ll catch the year your kiddo hits that big growth spurt. The year the boys finally catch up in height to the girls. The year he lost both front teeth. The awkward haircut year. The year they all of a sudden go from looking like little kids to little adults still doing Squadcopters activities (seriously it happens all of a sudden!).

I’ve been lucky enough to photograph this beautiful family annually for the past few years since Cruz was just a baby and it’s AMAZING to see how much they’ve grown. And I have to give a major shout out to Lori their momma who always makes sure to make time for this session and never fails to come up with the BEST outfit combinations.

Take a look at some of their past sessions:

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2016: http://blog.sjanephotography.com/?p=18265

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Chloe even got her own moment in the spotlight a couple years ago HERE.

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More from their Fall 2014 Family Session HERE. 

In 2013 we actually did two sessions since Cruz was so little and changing so fast. And ironically the first session was in the spring and freakishly freezing cold and their second session was in the fall and crazy warm but these guys did great despite their wardrobe and weather clashing.

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See more from their 2013 Family Sessions HERE. 

One thing that keeps me on my toes with annual sessions is the constant effort to create dynamic poses since you don’t want your portraits each year to look exactly the same. It’s fun to try to challenge myself to create new and interesting poses for these families every year.

This year, with busy schedule of very active kiddos we decided to have just the kids (plus Maverick) in the session to make things easier on mom and dad.

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| Kaylee | Eisenhower High School Senior Model Portraits | Class of 2018 |

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I’m so excited to show off Kaylee with you all today. I’ve had a blast working with her as one of our Class of 2018 Senior Models she’s so fun and full of energy! We’ve had a few sessions over the past few months starting with our group model session …

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Then we got some nature in with her first senior session at Rock Springs…

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And I love the Kaylee also wanted to have some images at her high school which was the perfect way to show off her cheerleading too.

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And we got to finish out that session at the Decatur lake (a little nice warm sunshine for you guys on this cold cloudy week!!).

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Be sure to check us out on Instagram (@sjanephotography) and Facebook to see even MORE favorites from her session.

| Jamie + Mike | Married! |

Today, I get to share Jamie & Mike’s wedding (album) with you all! I cannot tell you how much I loved working with these two. You might remember their super fun SNOW engagement/family session… well their wedding day was quite the opposite weather-wise but still full of even more fun and love. These two got the perfect sunny spring day (which was good since their ceremony was outside at the beautiful Fletcher Park Pavilion.

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____

Ceremony: Fletcher Park Pavillion

Reception: Mt. Zion Convention Center

 

 

| Willa | One Year Old Portraits | Decatur IL |

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There’s SO much cuteness on the blog for you today. This little angel belongs to one of my past wedding couples, Myra & Tyler. I was beyond excited to meet her and be able to create her portraits in celebration of a very big day, her first birthday! She’s absolutely the sweetest and with the biggest grin, complete with adorable nose scrunch. Hope you’ll join me in wishing her a very happy birthday!

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