Susan & Ryan – married!

Somewhere in the rush that was Thanksgiving to Christmas, I neglected to blog one of my favorite weddings of last year. Forgive me for such tardiness! Susan & Ryan were married last November at the lovely Chandler Hill Winery in Defiance, MO. First, some lovely details…..

Gorgeous flowers by Belli Fiori. By the way, if you ever, ever need flowers, call Lisa at Belli Fiori. I’ve worked with her on several weddings and have always enjoyed the experience. And obviously, her work is beautiful. And I have another wedding with her this year, yay me!

Speaking of gorgeous, meet Susan….

And Ryan, he’s not too bad either.

Great setting, great light, fabulous couple. (sigh)

And great friends.

I love, love, love this shot. My favorite, hands down.

Their ceremony was officiated by Carolyn Burke (the Wedding Liaison).

Who doesn’t love peacock feathers? Seriously. Beautiful.

And her purse! Fabulous!

Their rings are hanging by a ribbon from a chandelier for this one. Fun, huh?

Susan & Ryan! Thank you so much for sharing your day with me! I can’t wait to show you your album! Best, Beckie

1886th

Today I photographed the deployment ceremony for the 1886th Neurosurgery Medical Team. This Army Reserve team is going to Iraq. I learned about their deployment through one of my bridal clients (he’s in the unit). Every time I hear about soldiers returning home injured (or worse) my first thought is always “I hope they got family photos before he / she left.” So when I heard Wayne was going to be deployed, I offered to photograph the deployment and family photos for all of the soldiers. Here are a few photos from the day. 

I like their Unit’s insignia.

Each solider was given an award. The colonial on the left is Colonel Wisdom – great last name.

And then we did family photos. Here are (really) just a few….

When the Captain of the Unit came in for his family photos, he brought me a certificate of appreciation because they give certificates to anybody who helps / supports the Unit. AYMK? I feel like I should give every soldier I meet a certificate of appreciation! I’ve never served in the military (and believe me, you don’t want me handling a gun) but I’ve always wanted to support soldiers in some way. I’m so happy I’ve found a meaningful way to do just that! And I hope to photograph other deployments from this area in the future. Thanks to 2Lt. Janell Averbeck for allowing me to photograph the event. And HUGE thanks to Diversified Lab (www.divlab.com) for printing this order so quickly AND donating the prints. The soldiers will be deployed for 9 – 18 months, please pray for them and their families. Best, ie

AFQ wedding

A few weeks ago I photographed a wedding reception catered by my brother (Chef Andrew, from Andrew’s French Quarter). The reception was in Farmington at a banquet facility called Alexander’s which is part of the Farmington Factory. The building use to be a school, it’s huge and has a wide variety of retail space as well as the banquet facility and an art gallery. I only have photos of the banquet center, but you can learn more about the whole building at www.farmingtonfactory.com.

Enjoy these photos.

The term “banquet facility” is really misleading in this case.

Flowers by Connie Schwent, and they were fabulous!

Andy with the bride groom. As always, it’s a pleasure to work with you Andy!

New AFQ Food!

I spent most of Monday at my brother’s restaurant (Andrew’s French Quarter, yep, Andrew is my brother) shooting food for his new website. Below is a small portion of what I shot. We had so much to shoot that we did not stop to eat, we didn’t even eat our “model” food. Trust me, it was painful.

Of course, we started with spring rolls.

And shrimp & crab cake. 

I think I really like this shrimp shot.

Fish with gnocchi and vegetables.

Chicken and vegetable risotto. I think this is the most beautiful piece of chicken I’ve ever seen. And the colors, perfect.

We shot the steak with asparagus and green beans… we couldn’t decide which shade of green we prefer. 

Then we moved on to wine. This is the first frame I shot. I didn’t expect to like it but I think I do.

Later this week I hope to post more wine photos and several portraits of the chef! Andy, thanks for your time, shooting with you is always fun and funny!! But I think I’m going to write a “must be fed” clause into our next contract! Best, ie