katie + michael ~ they're getting MARRIED!!!!

ok, no beating around the bush here.

i LOVE this slideshow.

i LOVE this couple!

i LOVE this song!!!

katie was one of those soon-to-be brides i just knew i liked before i'd even finished reading her first email.

if personality + sass + fun can jump out of an email message for goodness sakes, whew, good things must be in store!

so yay, yay, yay this song (to some) may seem...um more like a break-up song (?) than an i-love-you-lets-get-married song (perhaps, BUT)

okay, follow along:

so i was smitten with katie before i even met her + flattered that she thought SilverBox would be a good fit.

THEN we met in person (with her mom, too! - hooray!!) to peek at portfolios + sample albums + talk weddings and by the end of that meeting, oh i loved her even MORE . . . and THEN last week i came face to face with her TOO CUTE FOR WORDS HOUSE, her fun, fabulous pet people who share her place . . .


. . . AND her A-d-o-r-a-b-l-e man:

"Michael" I joked "wow how could you NOT marry this girl?" -- "I Know" says Michael "she is PERFECT!"

THEN, with the two of them touching, smiling + giggling and me thinking "whoa, can it get any better than this?" we walk into katie's dining room, find the MOST charming dining room set i've EVER seen (katie's grandparents table + chairs) AND find fresh-from-the-oven cupcakes sitting there. no kidding . . . made from scratch, by KATIE. (you'd think she was a LOSAPIO if you didn't know any better...)

so have you clicked on the link and seen this show yet?? -- that line: "a guy that says goodbye to you would be out of his mind" - that's Micahel's line; see??!!!!

and that "come to my defense" part well THAT makes me think of them, too -- Michael just graduated from law school and is preparing to take the bar....he's the defense attorney type yet "SO SWEET + POLITE"

You don't need to change a thing about you baby ~ from where I sit you're one of kind.

Thank you for being so one-of-a-kind, michael + katie. And thanks calling SilverBox. And thanks for having such fabulous day-in-our-life ideas for your engagement shoot and BIG THANKS for sending me home with all those cupcakes. love, love, LOVE it all!

~ amy enderle

PS kim and i have so many more pictures and slideshows coming up it's not even funny. We've been sooo busy, but oh, it's our most favorite time of the year. so keep checking back, new stuff to see pretty much everyday.

PPS and if you haven't done it yet, CLICK HERE, SEE KATIE + MICHAEL'S SLIDESHOW and drop us a note telling us you totally get how this song fits ~ or just make that part up; come on, humor me here. :)

Memorial Day Weekend ~ Alphonse + Katie's WEDDING!

We've got another AWESOME couple to say "Happy Anniversary" to next Memorial Day weekend: Katie + Alphonse! These two had so many GREAT ideas that made their wedding special (and EXTRA fun to shoot)! Here's what I mean:

~Great Idea #1: Getting Ready at Home
Katie got ready at her folks' home, which just seemed to make all that prep time more comfortable and meaningful (and I HAD to include this photo because the woman helping Katie with make-up is Jenny Lovegreen, whose wedding I photographed nearly two years ago...in fact, Katie came up to me at Jenny + Adam's wedding and said: "We might be getting engaged, so I'll call you!" (they did! and she did!):



~Great Idea #2: BOOTS!
Katie and Alphonse love horses (in fact, their engagement pictures were on horseback), so Katie and flower girls wore boots:



~Great Idea #3: Outdoor Ceremony in Folks' Backyard
This backdrop, beautiful weather, simple white chairs....LOVELY! Here's Alphonse overseeing setup (or just working through some pre-wedding nerves :')
and here he is a wee bit later:




~Great Idea #4: BUBBLE GIRLS!
Katie had so many little girls she wanted to share her day with, that she decided to ask them to be Bubble Girls! They handed bubble juice and wands to guests before the ceremony and then came up the aisle to hand bubble wands to the wedding party too so that everyone could blow bubbles as katie and alphonse walked back down the aisle.



~Great Idea #5: Have GREAT Friends!


Great Idea #6: A Slideshow of the wedding at the reception!
This was SilverBox's first time to present a "same-day" slideshow...and thanks to great shooting by Karen and great editing by Jennifer, we did it! Click here to see the slideshow that guests saw at Katie + Alphonse's reception. By the way, the reception was in Quincy at The Ambiance, a lovely space with wonderful service from Patti.



Congrats, Katie + Alphonse! (And can I just say how much i LOVE working with that Palmyra, Bowling Green, Hannibal crowd?!!!...Jenny + Adam, Amy + Mark, Lacy + Brian, and Jessica + Andrew, whose engagement photos I JUST shot...check back in a few days for those!)
~kim

Memorial Day Weekend ~ meet natalie + ryan!

it's memorial day weekend.

whoo-hooo!

summer's kick-off!!
which means
that a year ago 

the Crowe family looked like THIS
AND that

happy

anniversary

wishes

go out TO

Paul + me

(happy anniversary, honey...15 years...whew!)
melissa + roland
anne + andy
liz + jon
and . . . stop the presses,

cody + phillip (celebrating TWO years this weekend!)

and THAT MEANS it was almost exactly TWO years ago that i first met natalie

and look at her now:

WHAT FUN!
i LOVE getting calls from former SilverBox bridesmaids!
and i loved EVEN MORE that when i caught up with nat + ryan on the old family farm that they'd brought THIS SPARKLEY BLUE TRUCK:

love it, love it, love it!!
no one has lived here for many years ~ LOVE that weathered wood (but just you wait)

there was an old fence, thick with wildflowers at the edge of the yard:

lush green fields, sprouting pastures and yep, Golden Hour stuff . . . who could ever tire of it!?!




and LOOK at this great old barn!!!
oh, but i haven't even shown you THE POND yet . . .
this is a slideshow you've just got to see (with a song i remember my mom listening to in the kitchen since i'm in a happy trip-down-memory-lane type of mood.)
what a fun shoot, huh!
GREAT ideas, natalie + ryan!
can't WAIT to see all that's in store at your wedding. enjoy the rest of the weekend all!!!

keep checking back; we've been shooting LOTS and lovin' every minute of it!!!!

~amy enderle

barry + jana | busch stadium and beyond

jana + barry knew just where they wanted to start their engagement session.
any guesses where we might be?


ta-da:
and hey, it's not called "the golden hour" for nothing.
don't you just want to drink in that quality of light!:

oh when i see the emotion, the FEELING found in images like the one above and below (and below that, and below that LOL), it's sure makes a static (i.e. stand here, look at camera) shot seem um, not-so-exciting.

the following might embody drinking-in-the-light to the point of an ice-cream head-freeze. but OH! it's so fun to find the flair thru the lens!

a change of clothes/a change of scenery.
QUICK name THIS St. Louis landmark:

oh wait, you can see "city hall" above the door, can't you . . .
the evening's palette seemed to call out for a bit of texture when processing.
honestly for me the verdict is still out on this as a technique to embrace, but texture sure is fun to play with when you have the right image to work with....um, like THIS one:


no texture applied to the following, but wow, love what we (meaning annika and i along with a FANTASTIC couple-in-love, jana + barry) were able to do with our new video light:


have we mentioned how much annika ROCKS! --
wow look at her capture HERE:
a lovely, lovely evening with a most wonderful couple!
hey, you can CLICK RIGHT HERE and see the whole show!

thanks jana + barry!
can't wait till the wedding!!!

amy