Why do wedding photographers only share a handful of images from each wedding on their blog?

Because they are the best of the best. They are the photographer’s favorite images from the day. They show off the highlights of the day. They are easy to look through. They are the images that everyone else wants to see.

But what about the other hundreds of images behind the blog post? If you’re shopping around for a wedding photographer, don’t you want to see what the photos from the entire day look like? I highly recommend asking your top three photographers to see an entire wedding that they’ve done recently. Compare all of the images instead of just the photographer’s top favorites.

Any photographer can take 10-30 images and make them look blog-worthy, but a great photographer will have those images plus hundreds of professional photos from every other part of the wedding day.

I am pleased to announce studio lb’s collaboration with the very talented wedding videographer, Adam of AJ Production Company. We have been offering weddings together for a while now, and we finally have something to show off together!

I invited Adam to join me at Dan + Kalina‘s wedding to try out his new ‘same day edit’ video. He covered everything from getting ready to the first look to the ceremony. We moved around each other and gave each other ideas for shots. It was SO much fun to talk lighting and have someone understand it as well as appreciate it!! I wish every wedding I photographed would book Adam as their videographer.

Okay, so maybe we got in each others’ shots a few times, but I intentionally wanted to get a few images of Adam in action. :-)

After the speeches at the reception, he showed everyone his amazing video. Of that day. I was pretty jealous. I have been wanting to do same-day slideshows for a while now, but haven’t found myself an awesome assistant to help with the editing like Adam has (yes, Kyle, that would be you!).

The reactions were priceless. :-)

It’s official… wedding season is HERE!! And I couldn’t be more excited!!

Dan + Kalina had a wonderful winter wedding in Brookings this weekend. Not only did I get to be their photographer, I also got to be their guest! I was fully prepared to catch Kalina’s bouquet at the end of the night. :-)

For those of you who don’t remember, Kalina caught the bouquet at her sister Erika’s wedding back in May. Dan proposed the very next day.

I’m so proud of Kalina for risking being cold just for the sake of pictures! :-)

The ladies and their matching scarves and mittens:

The men in their hats… breathing out… :-)

The Carlsons did it again – the Old Sanctuary was decorated so beautifully and set such a cozy mood for the reception.

ceremony | St. Thomas More

reception | Old Sanctuary

hair | Ritz Hair Studio and Whole Body Retreat

gown + bridesmaid dresses | The French Door (Sioux Falls)

men’s tuxes | Fergen’s

flowers + cake | HyVee

decorations | Pam Carlson (mother of the bride)

caterer | 1481 Grille

One quick photo from Dan + Kalina’s Brookings wedding yesterday before I get back on the road to Rapid City!

Congrats on your wedding and have a safe trip to Cancun for your honeymoon!!! :-)

Welcome, my wonderful blog readers, to the february edition of ‘laura loves…!’

There are several things that have made me smile this month, and here are my top favorites:

1. This video on YouTube makes my heart melt a little every time I watch it!! Part-way through the song, the dad is whistling and the little girl is pretending… she looks over to her dad and asks “one day I’m gonna whistle?” SO cute. And it’s a good song.

2. Rapid City is getting a Bed Bath and Beyond, and I caught them while they were working on putting up the sign. I think it would be much funnier to have a Bed Bath and Beyo…

3. Colorful yarn – I have finished several projects since I re-taught myself how to crochet using YouTube videos. My favorite part is picking out SOFT yarn in FUN colors.

4. Flowers – Lance had flowers delivered to my apartment for our 4-year dating anniversary almost two weeks ago. The original arrangement is on the left. Today I took all the still-fresh-looking flowers and created the arrangement on the right.

5. To My Wife – I subscribed to this blog a few weeks ago. My favorite is the one about slow walkers. Every time Lance and I have to go to WalMart, we are always on a mission to get what we need and get out of there.

6. Burros – I was cleaning out the text messages on my phone and this picture from Lance made me laugh. out. loud. It’s now the background image on my phone. :-)

7. Boots – I have never been a fan of boots. On other people, sure. On me, no. I wear a size 9 shoe and I feel like boots would really accentuate the hugeness that is my feet. But then I found this pair on Zappos.com and I figured why not try them on? It’s free shipping both ways. I got them in the mail a week ago and they are never going back. I think it was the buttons that sold me.