sometimes sun, sometimes rain

If a little rain brings good luck on your wedding day, Natalie + Scott may win the lottery!

Seven days earlier it was over 90 degrees and felt like August, yet on this their wedding day, we were wearing jackets and dodging downpours. But those rain showers didn't dampen Natalie or Scott's day in the least. The above oh-la-la image: taken UNDER an umbrella ~ a SilverBox umbrella actually. Kim and I both carry over-sized black and white umbrellas no matter the weather... And those umbrellas came in handy October 13th....
Here's Natalie underneath one as she arrives at the church:

This wedding was a bit of a reunion!

Here's SilverBox bride Corrie (of Corrie + Mark, 2006) carrying in the flowers:
And this is Jeanna! ~ Scott's baby sister. Maid of Honor on this day; SilverBox bride herself four years ago. Kim and I documented Jeana's marriage to Troy (today's best man) in '04 (??) and fell in love with the Ratliff family. Jeanna is the sole sister in the sibling group with 3 devilishly handsome older, wise-cracking brothers. [Brothers who assured all at Jeanna + Troy's celebration that they certainly had no wedding plans in the near future.]
Seems perhaps that those big brothers just hadn't yet met the right girl.
Exhibit A: NATALIE:
Don't you love this "Mom reaction" shot!

SilverBox loves to "see the love" and oh, we certainly see it in the picture of Natalie and her mom above.

More "See-the-Love" ramblings
We often meet clients for the first time out on the town ~ at a coffee shop or a bookstore (our latest, greatest local favorite: Upper Crust Dowtown...mmmm.) But how to FIND each other?...how to pick out from the crowd a couple you've never met??
Here's the crazy thing: if both bride-to-be and groom-to-be are in the building together, we most always can.
Scan the room, see the sparks. The way engaged couples talk, laugh, sit, interact.... Yeah, we can usually just tell who's getting married soon. With Scott and Natalie, you not only see sparks, I swear you can FEEL 'em, too.

The above image: inside the church facing tripod, umbrella, two photographers and firing light stand yet.....oh my, look at that chemistry....
Every once in awhile however, we were able to sneak outside and take advantage of this c-u-u-u-u-t-e country church:
Like in the next picture....
Though it was still raining (thus why we lined up the guys in the doorway) Annika and I were out in the yard under the (yep, big b&W SilverBox) umbrella. Granted, this looks a whole l lot like Kim's group-of-guys image from the 90+ degree Saturday the week before, but I swear we hadn't seen her images from Brooke + Aaron's wedding till seeing the blog entry this weekend ~ just like you.

Kim and I have learned this wedding photography trade (craft? passion?? -- all of the above!) side-by-side. Same workshops; shared books; lots of joint trial-and-error in our backyards and well, when she sees an image in a magazine she loves she passes it on to me & vice-versa. The result is that sometimes we can't tell who shot what. We love that! But she was in St. Louis October 13th dodging her own rainstorms.....and anyway, here's my interpretation of guys lined up near weathered wood:
What handsome men, eh? (Jeanna's husband Troy is on Scott's right side ~ best man, the "right hand man" ~ I always get a kick out of that!) This little guy may be the cutest of them all....look at those eyes!
Not yet two and he did an awesome job down the aisle. It was a bit of deju-vu: he looks JUST LIKE Jeanna and Troy's ring bearer from four years ago. See why:
Yep, big brother looked JUST LIKE THIS back then:
Scott + Natalie's ceremony was terrific. And the music -- wow!!!

After the "I-do's" the skies cleared...well, at least periodically (for seconds at a time).
One such post-receiving-line outdoor moment:
This picture of Scott and his grandparents make me miss my own grandparents so very much.
If you're lucky enough for your grandparents to still be with you, hey drop them a note; or if close by, go give them a hug? ~ just because they're HERE and you can. Aren't grandparents just the best!!

Families grow and change, that's for sure.

Not long ago the Arthur Ratliff clan was mom and dad and their 4 kids (okay, plus Troy). But look at their numbers today! Seems Scott wasn't the only brother to meet the right girl :) AND Jeanna and Troy are expecting the first Ratliff grandbaby in February! Whoo-hoo!!
I can't say enough about what a joy it is to work with Annika. Here's yet another fun example of the "oomph" that having a second shooter on hand brings.

1st: My shot of the girls leaving the church.
...the women look FAB! though I'm not loving the placement of that flagpole...but the grass was wet (really wet -- this is after what, the 22nd downpour ?!) and the sidewalk narrow....but time is fleeting and the expressions are GREAT.
now: Annika's image of the girls leaving the church.
Look what Annika was able to do a split second later....she found a different angle ~ and that flagpole; no longer an issue.

When I've taught photo classes, I've talked about moving until the composition is right....the example: you can even move the SUN (though sadly not on a day like this...) It throws us at first....move the sun?! But yeah, when you're holding the camera, the sun's position changes if you take a few steps to the right or the left, or in this case, as Annika demostrates BEAUTIFULLY, dropping down. Flagpole....what flagpole? Brilliant, Annika!!! Great work!
There's so much more to tell...and this wedding produced a load of lovely dance shots....

....but I'm going to sign off and let you watch Scott + Natalie's wedding slideshow to see more.

enjoy!
amy enderle, SilverBox Photographers