c0NgRaTULaTi0Ns Jake & Jenny !

What a fun FUN wedding. Just look at these girls! Jenny Cheever is as creative and fabulous as they come.
Here's just the tip of the iceburg --
Setting: the old Missouri Theatre.
Bridesmaids attire: vintage candy-colored prom dresses.
Wooo-Whooo!!!!
I'm having such fun working with these images and can't wait for you to meet JAKE and his friends, too.
Happy New Year to all!!
~amy enderle

Amy & Grady....and 80s music

I met Amy and Grady just a day or two before Christmas and we shot engagement images the day after. They live and work in New York, but grew up here in Columbia and the timing just couldn't have been better.

It slipped in conversation early on that Amy Keller digs 80s music...a trait that always endears one to my heart, so I couldn't resist setting a few of these images to the first 80s song with New York referencing lyrics that popped into my head. CLICK HERE FOR THE QUICK SLIDESHOW and long live Erasure! Confession: I listened to this (cassette tape, mind you) to and from high school nearly everyday for the better part of my senior year.

I LOVE this band. Erasure fans, unite! (Am I Right? - insider's joke; come on A LIttle Respect, if you please)
Oh l'Amour, I loved meeting and working with this couple. Amy and Grady are interesting and insightful and how lucky I feel to have the chance to document their celebration.

hmmm....the chance , makes me sing Take a Chance as I sign off....

amy enderle

PS Kim and I have been sort of slow getting stuff to the blog of late, but will be back with a vengence after all these little people are back in school. Hope everyone had a most fabulous Christmas. Ours was, well....SWEET:

songs from memory, songs from heart

Lynn & Tim go back to Africa after the holidays, so I've been working hard to make sure their images are printed and delivered to Brooke & Allen to create their Originals Box Set before Tim & Lynn leave the continent. Everyone reading: please send a big THANKS-SO-MUCH, YOU'RE THE BEST thoughts Brooke & Allen's way, Kim and I are handing off quite a few stacks of prints this week with fingers crossed for Christmas delivery. Still can't believe how lucky we are to know these two and know that our proofs are handled in such an artistic and hand-crafted way.

In spending time with Lynn & Tim's 4x6es after putting kids to bed last night, I found myself humming a song that rests deep within my memory. It's a song my grandma used to play on the piano and one that was requested nearly every week in the little church I grew up in. Finally I could resist no longer and knew I had to just set a few of these images to the music. I'm pretty sure this song was a part of Lynn & Tim's wedding as well....perhaps the song that Tim's sister Biz played? Love it! and LOVE thiose Windmeyers!

Take a look and a listen at the start of the Vessell-Windmeyer wedding by CLICKING HERE.
Does this song bring back some memories for you, too? Would love to hear from you.
More soon
~amy enderle

We're H O M E

What a week!
Kim and I spent the week outside of Bend, Oregon and the cutest little ranch you ever did see learning more in a week than we'd even dreamed possible.
First things first: it's a Guest Ranch (not Dude Ranch, dude) and I loved it so much, I'm ready to pack Paul and the kids up for a week there this summer. So take a look at Rock Springs Guest Ranch (www.rocksprings.com) if you get a chance. The cabins come complete with a fireplace & comfy beds & hot showers. Not a kitchen though, but with GOURMET CHEFS on staff, heck, why would would you want one? Gotta love that. Take a look at the Rock Springs Ranch website and no kidding, call if you're looking for a wonderful retreat. And hey, ask for Katie! She's TERRIFIC!
There's a lot at Rock Springs we didn't get a chance to take advantage of b/c of all the learning squeezed in (so no horseback riding, tennis, poker-playing or massages for us THIS time. The pond was frozen and the pool closed for the winter; the boot shaped hot tub though - that's where Kim and I held our sunrise SilverBox meetings.).

As the two of us had researched various photography and photoshop seminars (across the country and beyond) in hopes of becoming more efficient & impressive with our "computer time" and always being drawn to professional development opportunities, one instructor's offereings seemed to us head-and-shoulders above the rest: Kevin Kubota's Week Long Digital Bootcamp was everything EVERYTHING it's cracked up to be.

Here's the gang:

Kim's in white beside Sandra Leung from Vancouver, BC who is sort of behind the kind, crazy and uber-impressive Kevin Kubota.
You can find me in the back between Jon Nickson who has a studio in Turks & Caicos and Beth Pulito who has agreed to be our studio manager and business guru if ever she re-locates to Missouri (and believe me after spending just a few hours with her, we were ready to help her find her a place to stay.) Plus she's a fabulous 8-ball partner. If Beth and I weren't undefeated, well we should have been :D

And hey, I learned a little about Kim Wade this week. Get this: Kim Wade rocks at PING PONG. She and Dave Russell (back row, black jacket, far right; hailing from Denver) ruled the table.
It wasn't all fun and games. OK, it wasn't all just games.
All fun - absolutely.There aren't many things that can top a week of learning - esp. if surrounded by interesting and talented people from around the world and with chefs who just insist on feeding you every 3-4 hours. Toss in a mountain view and a guy as funny as Karl Maasdam and you've gotta week that's pretty tough to beat.
We'll share more as we get caught up here in the offices.
Am missing those photo guys... but truth be told, was missing my kids even more.

It's good to be home.
Thanks to all for your patience with us while we were gone.
~amy enderle

Lynn & Tim ~ and their guests from around the world

The first words the woman sitting next to me today on the plane (Jane from Charlottesville en route to San Franciso, glancing over mid-flight) said:
Those dresses are absolutely a beautiful – gorgeous!
which completely enticed me to share that Lynn Vessell, the bride, designed them herself, and they're each completely INDIVIDUAL. Lynn is amazing. She lives in Nairobi, Kenya, and works for a non-profit organization called Amani ya Juu (a sewing and reconciliation project for marginalized women of Africa) see: www.AmaniAfrica.org You could stop reading right there and in my book Lynn qualifies as one of the most interesting people I've ever met but get this....

From Africa she had written to her girlfriends and asked each of them about their all-time favorite dresses and what feature they loved. Lynn then used their reponses to individually craft each bridesmaid dress. So no two were alike - yet they were all beautifully complementary. Here, maybe this image gives a closer look at each:

The bridesmaid dresses are sewn from sari fabric, and Lynn layered the material in the design. When these women walked, it was an absolute swirl of color. Breathtaking. AND she'd brought their jewelry (again, each individual) back from Africa, too. In fact, unique African details abound. Look at this version of the flower girl baskets.
And staying true to the autumn color palette, it wasn't actually flowers her charming neices sprinkled down the aisle, but LEAVES. And she designed/created/sewed HER dress, too. AND she is so so very calm and poised and good and positive.
Are you thinking, geez, what a lucky man to marry this woman - equally creative and giving and kind, and yes, Tim would agree. But whoa, what till you hear about HIM. I met Tim about a year a half ago when he flew in from Africa (he's a missionary with Samaritan's Purse) to be part of John & Liz Horn's wedding. I remembered him in part because of his...car. A vintage mustang that he restored and rebuilt. Maybe that's why I so adore this picture. Tim, stepping out of his car and toward the church on his wedding day. He'd just arrived, tie in hand.

His friends are such a great group of guys. See below for just how fun they are. Jon Horn (of the Jon and Liz wedding) is the tallest and the other guys said, "hey Horn, you should stand in this broken part of the wall" - pretty funny. And look at the height his best man has reached (Roger, far right)


Here the groomsmen are walking up the side aisle in the Tim & Lynn's processional. And here to the left are many of these same guys are last year at Liz and Jon's wedding the very moment Jon saw Liz: But truth be told, it wasn't just the car that helped me remember exactly which of Jon's groomsmen Tim Windmeyer was. (a) he's the cutest thing and (b) as are his parents!! I sat with them for a bit at Liz and Jon's reception and just fell in love. They are the kind of parents I hope Paul and I can be. And look how cute:


If only one word was being used to describe the life perspective of Tim and his parents, and Lynn, too, it might just be "grateful." Because they are so truly grateful for each other and the blessings of their lives being near them is palpably uplifting. Their friends came from around the world to share their wedding with them. The first person I talked with at rehearsal Friday night was Tim's usher Ivan who is Canadian by birth and now lives in Quatar. Have you ever met anyone living in Quatar? Whoa. At dinner that evening I met two wedding guests who'd flown in from Australia. Tim and Lynn's wedding was joyous. Absolutely joyous!
I promise to post the online album as soon as it's complete...there is so much to share! And speaking of JOY, Liz shared the most joyous news of all. She and Jon are expecting their first baby this summer. Whoo-hoo!!
Kim and I are settling into our cabin at a fabulous photo seminar we can't wait to till you more about, but...soon....

from Oregon,
amy enderle