I woke up the other morning to my Facebook feed blowing up with this Dove commercial.  To be honest, I’m not much of a YouTube person, I rarely watch the funny videos floating around. But when some of my female photographer friends that share my enthusiasm for helping women feel beautiful, comment about bawling over this video… I had to watch it.

I feel strongly that every woman should watch this…

I’ve watched this video over and over. Like many, the most impactful part for me, was revealing the visual differences between a woman’s own perception of herself and the perception of others.  What I love most about being a wedding photographer is the ability to show women the beauty I see. When I look at my clients, I see a beautiful, amazing woman.  It is incredibly fulfilling and powerful for me to get to show women what I see in them.

MUCH LOVE!

Tomorrow my thoughts on Feeling Beautiful post to my personal blog Rewired Life.

Do you dream about showing your wedding album to your family and friends?  Reminiscing about all the wonderful stories and memories of your wedding day.

I believe my clients hire me for who I am and how I see the world.  Signature albums are one of a kind, designed to show your wedding day with all the best images. Simple and sophisticated.

I believe style is in the details. The decoration and objects you choose are what make your day unique.  Whether your style is elegant and sophisticated, country vintage, or old Hollywood glamour, I love photographing the details, you put so much time and energy into the selection. And when designing your album I love pairing those objects with special moments.

My signature album is a large format signature piece. It has an elegant linen cover with thick lay-flat pages.

Giving my clients the experience of sharing their wedding day with family and friends is so important to me. Sharing stories and reminiscing about their day is the best gift I can give my clients.

MUCH LOVE!

I am obsessed with wedding details! If you’ve read my “About Audrey” section, you know I believe style is in the details. I studied and worked as an interior designer before becoming a photographer, and have a love of beautiful things and beautiful imagery. It’s the little things you choose to make your day unique. But for me, it’s deeper than that. I believe in honoring the history an object holds. I want to know why you chose one object over another. Is the broach on your Bouquet your grandmothers? Are your diamond earrings your mothers? I want to know the history of the objects… they mean something to you, and that means something to me. I get so excited when a couple tells me the watch the groom will be wearing this his best friend’s. I cannot miss him putting on his watch. What a sentimental moment!

When your “Something Borrowed” has deep meaning for you, it has to be photographed, and it has to be in your album. As you look through your wedding album with family and friends, I want these meaningful items get part of your story.

MUCH LOVE!

I am all about  being as organized as possible, and making your wedding day run as smoothly as possible. I require a list of family portraits including family member’s names.  Why you ask? First of all, family portrait time can easily be the most chaotic part of my day, and I like to have a plan.  A list of family portraits helps me manage a lot of people and their expectations. I like to have an answer when (for example) the Mother of the Groom asks if there is time for a picture with her sisters that flew in for the wedding. I like to be able to say “Yes, that group is up next” instead of, “…uh, yeah, just remind me when we are finished…”

I create an order for the portraits that flows, and minimizes potential shuffling. I think it is important to get images with kiddos over quickly, so they aren’t held captive…and are free go play. Second, I want Grandparent images taken care of early in the order, especially if we have mobility issues. The rest of the family can fill in around Great-Grandma, right?!

Here is my suggested list as a starting point…Bride and Groom with:

Brides extended family 

Brides immediate family

Brides siblings

Brides parents

Both sets of parents

Grooms parents

Grooms siblings

Grooms immediate family

Grooms extended family

I suggest between 10-15 groupings. The way I work a wedding is to let the action unfold in front of me. I do not spend a whole lot of time on posed family portraits.  It is important to me to finish up Family Portrait time in about 20 minutes, then your family can head to cocktail hour, and continue the celebration.

As I mentioned above, I ask for family member’s names. Here is why… First, it helps me understand how many people we are photographing. Does “extended family” mean 6 people or 30 people? I’ll want to schedule the appropriate amount of time, and select the appropriate location. Having specific names also helps my second photographer and I locate people if necessary. Finding Katie Smith is easier than “all the brides cousins”.

Lastly, for Family Portrait time, I find it important to know any relational issues.  Family dynamics are very interesting.  Divorces within the family are always tricky. I want to be informed so I don’t accidentally create an awkward situation.  During my first wedding season I wasn’t asking about family dynamics…I just assumed my clients would tell me if I needed to know. At a particular wedding, I was taking family portraits and I started arranging the brides extended family. I put Grandpa and Grandma next to Mom, and Great-Auntie next to Grandma. The family got really squirmy and weird. I look at the bride, and she is 5 shades of red.  One of the aunts grabbed Grandma and put her on the other side of the group. Ok, that’s cool, I thought…took the picture and moved on. The Aunt came up to me later and explained, “Grandpa just divorced Grandma, and brought his new girlfriend” OMG! I was so embarrassed. I apologized about 300 times it felt like.  Had I known, I wouldn’t have assumed that all the elders were together. Very embarrassing for everyone involved.

I want your family portrait experience to be quick, painless, and ORGANIZED…and creating a comprehensive list is the first step in getting us there.

Fluffy white dress, Four Seasons Hotel ballroom, the Presidential suite, and Hyde Park diamond accessories. Can you say all things indulgent for your wedding day? It was so fun to to a part of Mike and Breanne’s day.  Yes, they had all the fabulous settings and details that I love to photograph, but more importantly, they are the sweetest couple with hearts of gold.

Breannes dress took quite a while to get into, and the photography schedule started running behind. So when I got to photograph the guys I had a matter of minutes. I quickly explained to the groomsmen my plan for busting out numerous photos in a matter of minutes, and then turned to Mike and apologized for the hurried experience. I’ll never forget, Mike says, “No problem.” And asks, “Was Breanne having fun?” I said,  ”Yes, she looks absolutely beautiful!” “Did she gets all the pictures she wanted?” “We did.” He smiled and said, “That’s what’s important.” He was genuinely concerned, and pleased that his fiance was enjoying her wedding day. So sweet!

As with many of my couples, the best part of my day was our couples portrait time. I got to see Mike and Breanne relax and just have fun together.  Is it possible for you two to be ANY CUTER!?!

MUCH LOVE!

Ceremony: St. Elizabeth’s of Hungary

Reception: Four Seasons Hotel Denver

Wedding Planner: Wedding Sophisticate

DJ: Elite DJ

I am a 17 year chronic pain survivor. I am currently living symptom free of endometriosis. During my teenage years and as I was becoming a woman I endured intense pain and crazy hormone treatments. I despised the idea that because I am a woman, I had to endure the intense pain and a horror movie of emotions during monthly cycles. I lost my voice as a woman. I lost loving my body. I lost feeling beautiful. I lost loving and celebrating life in lieu of surviving.

It wasn’t until recently that I discovered WHY I love being a Wedding Photographer.  At a wedding, I get to celebrate life and be surrounded by incredible love.  And as I photograph a beautiful bride glowing from within, I get to feel beautiful right along with her. So when I say, “It makes me cry to think, I get to make a beautiful girl FEEL beautiful”, it really does. It makes me cry because I get to feel beautiful too.

Today my blog, Rewired Life, launches. I couldn’t be more excited to share about my journey to wellness, and to love, heal, and celebrate. Part 2 of this post Love. Heal. Celebrate. goes live on Rewired Life on Wednesday. I am excited to share my perspective, and how my past shapes the artist I am today.

MUCH LOVE,

How do you begin to describe a wedding day that’s been years in the making? Friends and family have been anxiously anticipating this day. Emotions were high and tears were flowing…including mine.  Whit and Le’a are so in love, beautiful people inside and out.

I was in owe of their sophistication and ease throughout the day. Their private estate wedding was so personal. They had personally designed every detail of the day, included friends in the production of the day including the beautiful Littleton estate, catering, coordination, the celebrant, and yes, the photographer.

Whit and I met while I was working as a designer for the architecture firm.  I always admired his intense attention to detail, and love of simplification. As Steve Jobs says, “Simplicity is the ultimate Sophistication”.  And it showed on their wedding day.  They didn’t have an abundance of decoration, but what they had was well placed, well thought out, and simply stunning.

Whit and Le’a, thank you for the gift of your wedding day.  Your friends and family are truly special people. I will forever cherish photographing your day.

MUCH LOVE!

For several years now I have photographed the event Design After Dark (DAD). It is the main fund raising event for the Design Council for the Denver Art Museum.  The Design Council supports architecture and design in the Denver’s area…so not only do I get to photograph a cool event, I get to see some of my old friends from the architecture and design community! Win/Win!

Every year DAD is at a different up and coming location. This year they chose the McNicoles building off of Civic Center Park. The third floor has a great raw open space, perfect for the 600+ person guest list, but offers several smaller spaces so the event felt more intimate.

This year’s theme was Cirque…think old circus… so all of the art objects for auction had to be created around that central theme.  Here are a couple of my favorites: first Contortion (because of the steam warped wood) I loved the shadow created, I could totally see this in someone’s house. Hang it in a niche and spotlight it…very artistic accent.

And second: Illusion. I’m swooning over succulents right now, they are totally fashionable in the wedding industry. I loved the dainty balancing act of this piece.

Thank you Design Council for allowing me to be a part of this fabulous event. I love the energy of the evening, and the opportunity to be around so many artistic people!

MUCH LOVE!

I first met Robyn and Diana of Bare Root Flora over a bride’s bouquet.  I commented that I LOVED the  large and inventive bouquet Robyn was holding, and nothing makes me happier as a photographer to see a beautiful bride holding an amazing bouquet. Big, beautiful flowers really make photographs pop!

Bare Root Flora and I connected over our love of all things FABULOUS! Ladies, I look forward to the opportunity to work with you again! It was a pleasure to photograph your beautiful artistry.

Check out Bare Root Flora’s recent blog post about our day together.

MUCH LOVE!

This fall Aaron and I had our pictures taken…yes, the photographer had her portraits done! A big thank you to my photog bestie, miss Shelley Coar for seeing and helping create my vision.

The last few months for my business have been dedicated to rolling out my new messaging as a wedding photographer.

I am a spirited photographer for indulgent and sophisticated brides.

So with the help of Shelley, and Kori Schell of AK Studio doing my hair and makeup, we setup an indulgent and sophisticated night out.

We shot at Bistro Vendome, a French restaurant in Larimer square.  Their patio has an adorable European charm where we could sit with a glass of wine…which we LOVE.  After the sunset we went for a walk along Larimer, the street is vibrant and full of high end shops and restaurants, I am super excited about how it photographed, very urban! Next we had dinner. Bistro Vendome was really helpful , they gave us a spot next to the window where Shelley could shoot through the glass. PERFECT!

I love the idea of ending a photoshoot with a date.  Why not? I’ve got my hair and make up done, my hubby is all dressed up… might as well have somewhere to go!

Thanks again to Shelley Coar, Kori Schell, and Bistro Vendome for hosting our Date Night Photoshoot!

MUCH LOVE!