It’s no secret that my absolute FAVORITE part about weddings is the moment the soon-to-be husband and wife see each other for the very first time on their wedding day. It’s so sweet and romantic and special!

I am so lucky that most of my couples opt to do a ‘first look.’ As soon as they are ready, I arrange for just the couple to meet someplace quiet before we start taking portraits.

I keep my big zoom lens on for these photos so I don’t distract my couple. I want this moment to be for them. So that they can have this time to hug and kiss and hug some more and tell each other how GOOD they look!!

I think I forgot to mention how exciting this is for couples!! Sweet, romantic, special and EXCITING!!

I let my couples have as much time as they’d like to have to themselves. Again, this is their wedding day. They are the ones getting married. And for the rest of the day, they will be talking with all their friends and family who have traveled so far to help them celebrate.

Of course, this is the perfect time to exchange letters or even (surprise) gifts. :-)

After the ‘first look’ I move right in to couple portraits. Doing a ‘first look’ before the ceremony gives us as much time as we want to explore different locations for photos. This also extends the ‘just bride and groom’ time before inviting the wedding party to join us for some more photos!

If you have any questions about the ‘first look,’ let me know!!

My family is celebrating Christmas over the Thanksgiving weekend. So of course I already have all my Christmas shopping done. And of course I have all the presents wrapped. So naturally I have my Christmas tree up and decorated. And you can’t have a Christmas tree up without a Nativity scene set up.

And you can’t have your apartment decorated for Christmas without a whole bunch of tasty treats to munch on!

As I was putting the drizzle on the peanut butter balls, I had Willow Smith’s song stuck in my head. Except I was whippin’ my fork back and forth, splattering chocolate drizzle all over the place. :-)

There might have been a one-person dance party in my kitchen.

I really have no clue what qualifies a dessert as being a ‘tart.’ I would imagine something fancy, bite-sized and lemony. Because lemons are tart, right?

So I’m browsing recipes online and I find one for a Turtle Tart. It looks nothing like what my imagination would call a ‘tart,’ but it does look AMAZING. It has chocolate. caramel. and pecans. and looks fancy.

I am planning on making supper with my dear friend Halley tonight and I thought it would be nice to bring dessert. I had already gathered all the ingredients to make this fabulous ‘tart,’ so why not try out a new recipe?

And just to make sure it wasn’t deadly, I tried a piece. Because I’d hate for Halley to get sick just because I wanted to try a new recipe.

And it was good.

And will be tonight after supper.

And every day for a month because it made a whole 9×13 pan and it is so rich, you can’t eat a whole piece without a glass of milk.

You’re right, my wedding season was over… for my business… but that doesn’t mean I can’t be a guest at a wedding!! :-) I couldn’t help but bring my camera to Montana for my cousin James’ wedding. I didn’t take a ton of photos because catching up with TWELVE aunts and uncles and tables full of cousins takes a lot of time! I can honestly say it was fun to not be the photographer for once… but only because I had so many relatives to talk to!! :-)

My family is very witty. And punny. So seeing this sign as we drove up to the motel, I knew it would make for a lot of jokes throughout the day.

Obviously my dad was not the one to liven up the Dull Kilzer wedding. Here he is taking a pre-wedding nap:

Brayden was also a little sleepy:

Mr. and Mrs. Kilzer!!

My cousins have such beautiful children!!

When Emily first told me that she was getting married in October, in northern Minnesota, I feared the worst. I was sure we would be trapped in a snowstorm and we’d all have to wear snow boots and big, heavy parkas.

When I showed up on Saturday, there was not a cloud in the sky or a breeze through the trees. It was 75 degrees and sunny. In October!

No one had to wear snow boots.

Edie, I apologize in advance if any of these make you cry! Again!! :-)

The first look!!!

There was ONE tree with pretty leaves on it. We took full advantage of it!

Emily said “I KNEW my shoes would make you happy!!”

That’s right, ANOTHER shoe shot. You see, every chance Emily got to dress up in a costume she would ALWAYS be Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz. She probably has ruby red sippers in every size. So it was only natural that she would have a pair for her wedding… the biggest, most special ‘dress up’ day EVER!!

Emily and her beautiful bridesmaids:

The entire wedding ‘party,’ who fully lived up their name later that night…

Nate and his dapper groomsmen:

A little sparkly love…

Nathan + Emily win the award for having the cutest flower girls and ring bearer. But then again, how can you NOT win with TRIPLETS?!

Pretty sure I’m not the only one who realizes how cute they are!!

Nathan + Emily also win the award for having the cutest grandparents. :-)

The reception was full of fun people and beautiful details:

Emily’s sisters finally got to dig up all of Emily’s dirt *without* getting in trouble for it. :-)

Me and the happy couple and my go-go-gadget arms!!

Emily moved before our senior year in high school, but if you were to substitute her for the two foreign exchange students we got that year, this would be 4/9ths of our graduating class. We pretty much could have called this our five-year class reunion.