sand & cousins

It is easy to be deceived on the shore of Lake Michigan...to think that you are at the ocean's edge when, really, half the continent still stretches between you and the pacific. Midwesterners, we are not landlocked!

I just spent four fabulous days on the beach at brother and sister (-in-law) Geoffrey & Julie's house in Muskegon, Michigan, taking breezy walks with my children, nieces, and sister Julie, boat rides aboard "Hoot", roasting marshmallows at sunset (and oh! what a sunset!), and eating oodles of ice cream. Watching Sophie & Elliot soak up every possible moment with their cousins, I just MARVEL at that unique combination of deep friendship & siblinghood that goes with "being cousins." Love you guys!
























Time spent on the beach has me even more excited to photograph Niki & J.P.'s wedding on a to-be-determined beach in San Diego this August...check out our blog in mid-august for images from that upcoming wedding. ~kim

setting the tone...

Received the following e-mail message from the recently-married Denise Gardnier Brown:

"Thanks for the email and update-- whooduh thunk it stormed that day given the beautiful coloring in those photos!!! We greatly appreciate the living history of this special day...



...we are even happier now, but it sure is reassuring to see those unforced smiles and reflexive hand-holding. I think we set the tone in March when we decided the song to best prepare us for wedding planning was "For My Wedding" by Don Henley. If you haven't listened to it, it does a nice job of emphasizing what is important (does anyone honestly care that monogrammed matches or mints were available???)."

Her words made me laugh & smile at the same time. It is something that so many couples who contract us to document their weddings share: an interest in the real and the authentic. It's a matter of priorities, really. How you spend your day, your time, and ultimately, your dollars.

Well I HADN'T heard Don Henley's wedding song. In fact, I didn't even realize that he has recent solo work out there. But he does. And it's good. You can hear a snippet as you see a few of the highlights of Denise & Dave's wedding day.

Ode to being Real....the best state of being, indeed. Enjoy ~ amy

wedding day wildflowers

Whew! Blazed through editing Corrie & Mark's wedding in RECORD time. Wanted to design & post their wedding album to the blog so that Corrie & Mark can enjoy it while I take a week's vacation between weddings. David, Elliot, Sophie and I are driving to Michigan tomorrow (hey, whadya know it's past midnight...so it's actually today...) to visit cousins in Muskegon, take walks along Lake Michigan, dig our heels in the sand.

Boy, do I love Sacred Heart! One of the most beautiful churches in Columbia. And June in Missouri is lovely. The daylillies, daisies, purple coneflowers are blooming at Shelter Gardens where we stopped with the wedding party pre-ceremony. Those big bright swatches of wildflowers seemed just the right setting for Corrie and Mark. What a couple! Corrie & Mark's tenderness toward one another, their lighthearted spirits, were inspiring.

Enjoy this album! It was hard to stop; but stop I did. David (my sweet, intrepid husband) is loading the snacks, books-on-tape and Show Me barbecue sauce (a gift for the MI relatives) in the car as we speak. Happy honeymooning to you, Corrie & Mark. Oh, and Jack Johnson, the musician whose song you chose for your first dance is one of my (and Amy's!) new favorite singer/songwriters, so i had to use that song in your album slideshow. And here it is:

Corrie & Mark's Album

~kim

Engagement shoots are the BEST

Love those DATING years. Oh, how I wish there was a picture of Paul & I together during thd Dating Phase of our relationship. I guess the time that you're engaged is MUCH beyond the "dating phase", really. It's dating phase with the knowledge/glow of THIS is THE one! Right here. With ME!!

An engagement shoot is part of each SilverBox Wedding package. We LOVE shooting them. Really lets us get to know our couples PLUS we're creating images that conveys how you feel about each other. It's not true photojournalism since we're creating an "event" that brings us together...but there is this fabulous lifestyle portraiture element that keeps Kim & I are our toes and in love with our jobs. All our our e-shoots are on-location. We ask couples to identify places that have meaning to them and to their relationship so that the images are in context.

Katie & Gunther were quite upfront in that they cared less about the WHERE to take engagement photos and more about the WITH WHOM. They each had Dog in their life before they found each other. Thus, a blended family is in the works.

Confession: my motivation for putting this slideshow together came in part because I think this is SUCH a fun song. BONUS: vocals mention LAKE [see setting], the "LET'S GET MARRIED" declaration, and even, of course, HOTEL. Which, in a fun way, is part of the Katie-Gunther Story. BUT history revealed on an engagement shoot, STAYS at the shoot. So, though I'll refrain from giving any more Katie-Gunther-early-dating details, I can let you look at KATIE and GUNTHER's SLIDESHOW. Getting their four-legged friends in position, whew....Yet spending an hour with the two of them: fabulous! Can't wait till the wedding. ~ amy

Garrett & Chris...their wedding, their way

and now the third of three...
LAST, but by no means, the least....
Getting back to those "3 weddings in 7 days" ~ whew, it's official, it's a wrap!!
And ohhh, aaahhh, some of these images are AMAZING.

The background: My photographer-friend STACIE POTTINGER [click her name; see one of my favorite Pottinger pieces] called toward the end of last summer saying, "Amy, we want to hire you to document our nephew's wedding BUT the couple is thinking June". I remember replying: "Stace, this could only work IF they're wedding is on a Sunday." And I feel SO LUCKY that the couple [AKA Chris & Garrett] said, "then Sunday it is!"

Oh, how I LOVED spending the day with them!! Stacie shot, too -- so she was wedding-photographer AND teary-eyed-aunt AND mom of small children in attendance. Chris & Garrett planned a late-Sunday-afternoon outdoor ceremony with family & the closest of friends, but guess how they spent their day? Oh hey, you need not guess...you can SEE THEIR SLIDESHOW [ooh, except it's only a partial slideshow...it's just their "first meeting" part...with some of Stacie's shots as well as mine.]

They had their "quiet moment/first meeting" at the Governor's Garden. A perfect spot! Then they ventured toward the old [but still operating] train depot before setting off to the local ice-cream counter. Central Dairy in Jeff City MAKES the ice cream and serves it up in their original store. It's really quite the Jefferson City tradition. So much so that if passing through or even near, folks tend make a "Central Dairy stop". Seeing 2005 SilverBox bride Christie Losapio [or is it Everett? now?? -- she and sister Jennie will forever be the Losapio sisters to Kim & me. We've shot both their weddings. LOVE those Losapios...would that be Losapii??]....back on the (side)track now...Christie & Tom spent the weekend camping and were, sure enough, dropping by for a Central Dairy fix. Former clients feel so much like friends! [Kim, how lucky are we to do this AS A JOB?]

Next stop for Chris & Garrett was their ceremony at a charming church campground at which Garrett's brother Taylor played the MARIMBA. Have you ever heard a marimba?? Oh my, oh my. Breathtaking. It's as if you're hearing nature sing. There's an organic and rich quality to the sound...and LOOK BELOW at Stacie's amazing marimba picture!

and then BUBBLES...the longest, most successful bubble path I've ever documented. It seemed a perfect day. Keep checking Pictage, once they're back from their honeymoon and have a chance to see and "release" their online event you can share in the fun.

Phil & Cody, Mark & Ashley, and Garrett & Chris -- each of your weddings were as wonderfully unique as you are. I so appreciate having had the chance to document your celebrations. Thanks to each of you. For entrusting me, yes, but also for the extra patience I seem to require this time of year.

and now for me, it's back to work ~ amy

"how we roll"

...and so I did this crazy thing. Kicked off wedding season by shooting 3 weddings in 7 days. Craziness. But here's the thing: I would have been sad, sad, sad, had I NOT spent their wedding day with any one of these couples. Have just finished editing & posting on Pictage the middle of the 3: Mark & Ashley married Saturday, June 3rd in St. Charles. CLICK HERE FOR THE SLIDESHOW to see how they roll & especially to see WHERE.

Ashley & Mark left the church [ a BEAUTIFUL church - St. Joseph's in St. Charles ] en route to old Main but made a spontaneous stop. I'm taggin' along, smiling... remembering how great it is to be surrounded by the company of friends & thinking "right on you crazy kids" when in the parking lot, a groomsman caught my eye and said to me "you never know what to expect... this is how we roll." That phrase "this is how we roll" has been in my head ever since.

Mark & Ashley had a big wedding party. For all the right reasons. They have Friends. The kind of friends who fly-across-the-country to hang with you. The kind of friends who go way back. High school friends. College friends. Ashley first called me nearly two years ago to book their wedding date. Her sister, whom I'd met as a maid-of-honor at Becky & Justin's [2003?] wedding told me she would. "I know you're what she's looking for" Wendy assured me hours after we met. Wendy rocks.

Though we have a day's full of quiet authentic documentary shots ~ see the Nagel/Mattes Pictage event if you get a chance; event key: Ashley; THEIR SLIDESHOW is a quick collection of the more unconventional [ same link as above, am just so proud to be figuring out these codes. ] An afternoon wedding, an evening reception....what's better than spending an hour in your afternoon soaking up wedding memories with the best of friends!

Though FIRST I hope you look at pictures from Ashley & Mark's celebration; just gotta give a little background. Forgive the trip down memory lane. Was it like 4 years ago ( ? ) at a wedding show that I saw this guy across the expo center & thought "man, there's a groom who's wedding I'd LOVE to document." Something about his artistic & slightly unconventional presence perhaps. Maybe it was his hair, or his shoes, or a glimpse of that never-met-a-stranger interaction...but...anyway: Long Shot, I thought. (Ever been to a wedding show? They can have the buzz of a Vegas casino. Bing-bing bing-bing...there's crowding & everyone's tired. Complete over-stimulation. Every DJ playing a different yet oh-so-familiar slightly-annoying song. Oh, and of course their lights are on, too. Combines so nicely with the overhead fluorescents. Cosmetics people might be spraying perfume at those who walk by -- just to make sure we have ALL the senses on overdrive. And those doing the walking-by are frazzled. Hundreds of people can be there. Midly put, it's hectic & there's a good chance that couples coming in have already booked a photographer and are simply on site to sample cake.)

BUT that time, that day, it all worked out. That artsy-looking guy was indeed an artist: Justin Farmer, graphic designer. He & Becky were indeed photographer-shopping & decided that day that my alternative-to-the-traditional approach might just be the right fit. Of all the couples whose weddings I've documented, none have had more influence on the growth of my photography-as-business than Becky & Justin.

Proof: it was thru Justin & Becky's wedding that I eventually met, not only Ashley Nagel, but also Tracy & Mike [wow! CAN'T WAIT to tell you about Tracy & Mike!!] AND then thru them, Kelly & Jason....and soon I'll be shooting Jessica & Jamey. It's an amazing roots-in-Boonville bunch and it would be hard to imagine a better group of people. OK, but back to Justin & Becky whose maid-of-honor Wendy is Ashley's big sister. WELL...Justin isn't just creative in his presence, he's one of those people who gets a flash of inspiration & seizes it. A few days before his 1st wedding anniversary, he called upon a large format print shop his company had worked with in KC. Wanted to make some canvas prints from his BW wedding pictures to hang on the wall & surpise Becky wih. How great is that?! The printer whose service he sought had quite recently become engaged herself. She too was a graphic artist planning a far-beyond-ordinary wedding AND the man she was about to marry designed websites that are second to none [hint: you see his work at www.silverboxphotographers.com). In order to "close it up" [another key Mark Mattes & co. phrase] I'll go straight to the punch: what WONDERFUL [and talented!] people we've met thanks to Becky & Justin Farmer -- not only the Boonville group but every single day Kim & I are GRATEFUL for the work and talents of Jen & Dan Eckart. Web designers extraordinaire!

It's feasible to say that without Jusin & Becky, SilverBox Photographers would have been little more than a concept conversation that never made it off the drawing board. Justin & Becky, if you're out there, thank you, THANK YOU! You provided moments-a-plenty, many-a-connection to folks we now consider friends AND most of all, momentum.
Sure do love how you roll. ~amy

P.S. Mark & Ashley, loved your celebation, LOVED your friends, but your USHERS...they totally rock.

It's not a zamboni, it's an . . . Olympia!

Ok, what does a zamboni and kleenex have in common? According to Gary (the groom)...a zomboni is a brand name for those really big ice hockey machine thingamajigees, just like kleenex is a brand name for...tissues! So what does this mean? It means that not all ice hockey machine thingamajigees are called zambonis. And this is important stuff for Kerri and Gary, who first met while working at the Jefferson City ice arena and visited their old stomping (or skating..hee hee) grounds on their wedding day for a private spin on the zamb...I mean...the Olympia!

We stopped at a few other spots too, including date spot Paddy Malone's where, as often happens, some of the best shots of the day were unplanned (yet another reason why Amy and I thrive on a photojournalistic approach to weddings). It would be hard to explain (so I won't try) how I missed the very large Missouri state capitol behind me while making pictures of Kerri and Gary in the opposite direction toward Paddy Malone's. But Becca, who was assisting me, spotted it; we turned and wow! Love those shots.
To see what an Olympia looks like, to see some great views of our state capitol (where Amy's husband Paul works), and to enjoy the song that Kerri & Gary chose for their first dance, check out their album:

Kerry & Gary's Album

Loving summer & wedding season! ~kim

aaaHA! FIXED

I feel I've outsmarted the bug...ok, it took like 48 hours to troubleshoot, but YIPPEEEE:

You can click here now [REALLY] for Philip & Cody's S L I D E S H O W

Please note that the song title is listed incorrectly once the show starts...this track is actually DON'T LET GO. Hear & compare Parker's bass playing on all of the Sometimes Three songs at

www.sometimesthree.com

Theoretically, I should be able to go back into the slideshow and make a simple change to correct the title...but honestly, I'm not going to dare touch it now that it's running. Going with the leave-well-enough-alone mantra. Aaah, exhale. What a great wedding! What a great song!!

It's June...
Kim and I are crazy busy, [stress on the crazy] BUT very very happy. And our web genius/master Dan Eckert even had a chance to make a few changes to the SilverBox site. Especially note the new entry under ALBUMS -- the Museum GiftBook is HOT off the presses and we're loving it.

Thanks for your patience everyone. Enjoy ~ amy

oops, the Cody & Philip slideshow IS coming...but

am getting an error message I just don't understand...
crazy technology.
Please check back.
The Carrie & Bill slideshow is, however, working just fine...

S L I D E S H O W - r i f f i c

hmmm....doesn't seem like I've done anything differently
Posted these eggs benedict shots in case you're wondering if I've made this whole Cody & Phillip thing up. ~a befuddled amy

a slideshow worth waiting for

Thanks Philip & Cody, for the opportunity to document your celebration. Honestly, there's no other way I would have wanted to spend my anniversary. Now let's see if this link is up & working:

Click & enjoy Philip & Cody's S L I D E S H O W

An extra-special thanks goes out to Sometimes Three for use of their original music. Featured song: Don't Let Go. Hear it, and MORE at www.sometimesthree.com.~amy

memories from Memorial Days gone by

Paul & I are one of many couples married Memorial Day weekend. For us that weekend [see above; photo by Ray Jagger] was in 1993, but the reasons we selected that particular 3-day weekend remain salient today: an extra 24 hrs for out-of-state friends to travel; spring semesters have come to a close; and [fingers-crossed] great weather. It's the "opening" weekend for area outdoor pools & the kick-off-the-summer cook-outs. Guess it's no suprise that Memorial Day weekend marks our big wedding-season kick-off, too.

When I became a wedding photographer, I faced a family decision. Would I be willing to work holiday weekends? Bottom line: if it's something our kids look forward to celebrating, I'd rather be hanging with them. Their birthdays? Christmas? ~ I'm officially unavailable to document anything other than well, their faces. Find the five of us off playing at a park or eating ronzas somewhere [more info on that Enderle-Wagner treat later]. BUT...Paul's birthday, my birthday, our anniversary...since our kids aren't exactly counting down the days to these "milestones", sure, let's talk weddings.

Over the past few years, I've developed an extra special fondness for each of the couples whose weddings I've shot on my own wedding anniversary. Just as moments of my wedding flashbacked throughout Philip & Cody's Memorial Day Weekend wedding, [often at the most sneaky times], I also found myself remembering:

~ Melissa & Roland's Shelter Gardens Memorial Weekend wedding 2002, complete with fern palm trees and flower-filled troughs lining the outdoor aisle. The look on Roland's face when he first saw Melissa is one I'll never forget.


~ Anne & Andy in 2004 with their love for all things historical [they WANTED those Winston Churchill statues in the background] & the sheer delight they felt for each other. Ohh, mmm, AND that incredible in-lieu-of-wedding-cake dessert SOUP?!. How could I forget that?! [Andy's a White House chef...there's probably an official name for such a dish...will keep you posted on that.]
~ Last year: Liz & Jon. How cute Liz was ironing her honeymoon dress w/ a fresh bridal up-do & Jon taking a pre-ceremony sprint around his apartment complex that ended with him DIVING, clothes & all, into the pool.
Know what else I remember from each of these weddings? LAUGHTER. Lots of laughter. Roland's gracious groomsmen asking grandmothers & great aunts for a dance and their giggling replies. Annie's maid-of-honor's toast when she spoke of what a pleasure it had been to spend the last few days with the Rollers, specifically, well, CAROL. And Liz & Jon realizing during their outdoor ceremony that there was no way the wind would allow that candle to light.

And now there's another great couple to add to this Memorial Day Memories list. Cody Robertson & Philip Batson. What an honor it was to document their day. And once again, laughter did abound. Reminded me of just how fun it is to fall, and to be, in love.

KEEP CHECKING, soon, very soon a slide show of Philip & Cody's day will be posted...some technical snafus with the uploading, but have no fear, and NO, I'm not kidding about the eggs benedict...just wait, you'll see.~amy

[S3]: winners!

The S3 debut concert [a.k.a amy's brother-in-law's band] was actually a part of a Club Wars battle-of-the-bands competition. No wind, no rain could stop sometimes three fans, baby. [hee-hee...that's the name of their band, not number of fans... perhaps the media will have to be careful with that trickey wording soon?!] . . . Anyway, it was GREAT to be at the Grand Emporium and to witness first-hand their fans' affection & to overhear 21st-century introductions that went something like: "HI! I'm so-&-so from My Space".
Wow. Totally tickled by this technology? More Silver Lining: Tuesday's rain made for this color-dripping street scene. Band-battling Round II is on the horizon. Stay tuned. Even sooner: check back here for the next slideshow, featuring yet another S3 song. You'll see images from Philip & Cody's weekend wedding. Reception theme: "Breakfast at Tiffany's" at which the most scrumptous eggs benedict was served. Yep, that was their MAIN course. What a hoot! Better yet, it came with with mimosas! i'll be sure to incorporate a few food & beverage images in the slideshow for any non-believers out there. Be happy ~ amy