Liz & Mark at Villa Marie Winery, Part 3

Part 3 of 3 . . .

Now for the pretty pictures.

This little one was such a doll! No prompting necessary at all for this picture. All I did was call her name and this was what I got.



I love all of the limey green of all the vines.

And of course, a little bit of silliness for this fun bunch.

I had a super fun time with Liz (the photographer) and Liz (the Bride) too.

Oh, and a funny story about the trials and tribulations of a photographer. Liz and I thought it would make a cool picture if we could have the bride and groom in this field of wildflowers we saw across the street. The bride and groom were willing so we trooped on over. When we got up close, the grass and everything was actually pretty tall and the bride was a little leery of getting in there so I was sent in to kind of mash down an area for her to stand in. I went charging in to make a path and come back out up to my chest in green sticky burrs...which was really bad because I was in all black. Liz got some on her too... see them on her pants here below.

We ended up not getting that picture and many of the guests got a good laugh on me as the walking sticky burr magnet (they were like velcroed on me). Good times.

~Von

Liz & Mark at Villa Marie Winery, Part 2

Part 2....

Liz and Mark had a very loving and quite emotional day. They incorporated some Hawaiian touches into their day (as you can see with the special lei around the grooms neck) since Hawaii is were they met and fell in love. They were both students at the university there. How cool is that?...to attend school in Hawaii? Their officiant and many of their friends flew to Illinois just to celebrate this day with them. They are well-loved, that's for sure.

Liz was blessed (literally) during the prayer offered by her friends and family. It was very heartfelt and many tears of joy were shed.

But it wasn't all about emotion...

I have no clue what the guys are doing here in this picture below, but I turned around and found them hopping on one leg in a circle and had to be really quick to get this shot.

This particular group tended to be very camera shy if they saw me pointing my camera in their direction. Which was a little unusual because most times it's the guys that are totally non-challant and act totally cool and whatever when I hang around with them to get pictures. I had to be sneaky and quick.

Now, the girls....they decided to have a full blown race.

We were on the other side of the property, by the vineyard with the bride and groom busily taking portraits. We needed all the bridesmaids and groomsmen to gather so we could get group photos. They decided to see who was the fastest runner down this slope to get to the other side where we were waiting. I'm telling you...this was not a jog they were doing, this was a full blown sprint go-as-fast-as-you-can type of run...in dresses. What a crazy (fun) group!

The boys, of course, couldn't be outdone, so after the group photos were done and we were heading back inside for the reception, they decided to have this hand walking contest. What an energetic, athletic wedding party don't you think?

So next will be the pretty pictures in Part 3.

~Von

Married: Liz & Mark at Villa Marie Winery, Part 1

Have you ever had the feeling when you first meet someone that you know you're going to be good friends? Well, I recently had the pleasure of making a new friend...Liz Reiff Sloan of LPhotographie. We hit it off right away.

Liz needed someone to come out and shoot with her for a wedding she was doing that very afternoon. Her shooting partner was in the emergency room with broken bones in BOTH FEET! Yikes! How terrible!

I was so glad I was available to help her out that day. I love meeting new friends and hitting it off like that. I feel so blessed to be able to meet so many wonderful photographers.

Liz's couple were really sweet and adorable...and the brides name was Liz also.

The bride and groom were the first couple to be married at this new banquet facility...Villa Marie Winery in Maryville, Illinois. It was a very nice facility! It had a very tuscun feel with marble floors and textured walls and a fireplace.

You can see a little bit of what I mean in this picture below.

Here are other details from the reception. I thought the floral arrangements were beautiful. I especially loved the orchids...very classy.

Don't want to overwhelm this post with pics, so I'll save for the next post.

~Von

Wedding: Carrie & Chris

I had the pleasure of shooting another wedding with the oh so talented Alisha Clark.

I love being the 2nd shooter. It's a different perspective than what the lead, or primary, shooter will get. And I get to hang out with some really amazing photographers that day.

Here's one of the images from this past Saturday for the wedding of Carrie and Chris. (More on the story of this day to follow in another post.)

It was really cold and gloomy that day. I think the temperature was somewhere around 43 degrees and with the wind it felt around 30 or so. Needless to say, there weren't many pictures taken outside. The bride and groom and the bridal party were such troopers though and managed 10 or 15 minutes in the freezing cold before they headed back inside.

Thanks Alisha for having me along. Always have a good time with you.

~Von

Calling all Victoria's Secret Models...or those that want to be

Open casting call...sort of.

I'm looking for a few adventurous ladies looking to have some super classy boudoir images taken of themselves for my portfolio. Ladies of any size and type. These images will be very tasteful and classy...in the style of pin-up girls of the 40's or ads you've seen for lingerie like Victoria's Secret.

Boudoir images make great gifts for the man in your life, especially wedding or anniversary gifts. These are very personal and he's bound to love them.

A really cool idea is to have the collection of images made into a book or a calendar. I'm thinking a book sprinkled with ... your classy images plus some love words...something you may have written or said to each other.

Email me if you are interested. I've got a VERY special deal I can offer you. I'm particularly looking for ladies willing to allow me to post a few selected images from their session for future clients to see.

Email me at von@vondevorephotography.com


~Von

B....."It looks like a butt"

So I had to share an amusing story about the conversation I had in the car with my daughter, Liv and my son, Ethan.

Liv is in second grade and struggles a bit with her reading and writing so we're always doing spelling games and practicing our handwriting. She had just gotten a cool new notebook at the store this day and was writing a personal story or such in this notebook.

She asks me how I write a "B"...which is hard to do when you're driving you know....that's something you have to demonstrate versus giving verbal directions. She says she "draws" a 3 and then makes a straight line from the top to the bottom. Pretty good description I thought...better than what I would have said.

Her brother pipes up and says, "Yeah, or what I do is draw a butt...you know sideways...and then make a straight line. That's how you draw a B."

"A butt?!?! Really? a butt?! Ethan"

Yep...that would be a typical Ethan thought process...such a boy.

~Von

Anniversary Session: Cherie & David

Had a super fun session last week with fellow photographer, Cherie Irwin and her husband David. Cherie has a really fun photobooth business...check it (by clicking on her name) . It's a great addition to any wedding reception.

Just a quick post...full post to follow.

They are an adorable couple as you can see here below.

~Von

Another busy weekend...

Last weekend, I also got to hang out and shoot a beautiful wedding with the wonderful Stephanie of Stevie Photography. We had a great time at Mandy and Mike's wedding. Here's a quick look...

Stephanie at work...

Photographers contort themselves into all sorts of positions for the sake of a good picture, that's for sure!

I've been known to lay on the ground (on my stomach) and cause passing vehicles to get so distracted they popped a flat tire running over a curb. Seriously...not kidding.

I didn't think my backend looked that good...or maybe it was too wide and that's what caused the accident...hmmm, better start working out properly if that's the case. Either that or do what Stephanie here is doing and lay on my back and hope that my abs can hold me in that position long enough to get the shot. Stephanie is obviously in better shape.

Thanks Stephanie for letting me shoot with you again.

Sometime soon, I'll post more from this fun day.

~Von

Abby and Allen: Shhhhhh....it's a surprise

Okay...so everybody that sees this particular post needs to keep it hush hush. You MUST promise to keep quiet about this before scrolling down to see these images.

Did you promise?

All right then, if you nodded your head in agreement you can scroll down.

This past weekend, Abby and Allen went with me all around town so we could get some really cool pictures of them.

They are brother and sister and they get along wonderfully...do lots of stuff together they said. (That boggled my mind because my two children fight and bicker all the time. They just laughed and said not to worry because when they were younger they used to fight and bicker all the time too...but now, it's great. They have similiar friends and actually hang out with each other too. Okay...I hope they're right. I guess I'll just have to wait and see if my two will grow up to get along...at least some of the time).

Anyway, they were awesome!!!!!!...and so sweet too. Their parents are getting ready to celebrate a major milestone wedding anniversary. And Abby and Allen wanted something really meaningful to give their parents for an anniversary gift. So Abby called me to see if I could take some pictures of them (the kids). They want to give their parents a beautiful portrait. Isn't that sweet? I think so.

So here's just a few images since I haven't finished editing the session yet.

Loving the wind in the hair in this picture below.

~Von

Crazy busy weekend

I've been insanely busy this past weekend. Evidently October is THE month for weddings and family pictures. Shot 2 weddings and 2 portrait sessions in 3 days....crazy but fun. I'm still working on processing all the images so just putting up a few now for a sneak peak.

Friday, shot a wedding with the fabulous Brandi Brown. The couple, Nate & Suzanne, were married in Greece last month and Friday was their reception with family and friends at the Mad Art Gallery....a super fun and funky venue.

Then, on Saturday, drove down to Perryville for an even crazier party...uh wedding...shooting with Samantha Iverson of Mirage Photo. I can't remember the last time I had such a rambunctious group to photograph...I LOVED it!!! It was like being part of the wedding party. (No pictures will be posted on this wedding until after the bride & groom see the images).

Then, on Sunday, got together with my good friends Anna and Dan and their new baby girl, Samantha (who is 10 weeks old and just too stinkin' cute!) for baby's first photo session.

Also, had a mini-session with Anna's brother, Daryn and Lori and their crew...Kyle (center), and twins Clayton(far left) and Kerstyn (far right).

I'm working furiously trying to get all the images processed in between weekends of shooting...so thanks for your patience all my portrait clients.

~Von