Studio Noveau Blog

It’s that time of year again. That glorious, much-celebrated time called… my birthday!

I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but community giving is VERY important to me, and volunteering/charitable giving ranks up there in my list of priorities. With that in mind, I know that our food pantries struggle with keeping their shelves stocked. To go a step further, I have a huge soft spot for kids and it occurs to me that kids of families that frequent food pantries may not always have a birthday cake or fresh fruit (my personal favorite!) When the typical donations are canned or boxed foods, there seems to be a lack of both birthday cake mixes and fresh food given out at a typical food pantry.

So, I’d like to announce Cake For Comments!

Please leave a comment on THIS blog post, telling me something you appreciate about my business, a memory you have of me, or even a favorite picture. Basically, make me smile!

For every comment I receive, I’ll donate a cake mix, frosting, OR $1 towards the Crawford County Markets Care program. (This program allows local food pantry customers to obtain fresh goods from the local farmers market. For more information on how YOU can contribute to this extremely important non-profit endeavor covering many counties in southern Wisconsin, please click HERE or contact me.)

So… please help me help the local food pantry… leave comments!

I’m a bad blogger. Well, maybe not a BAD blogger. What I should say is that I get SO busy from all these fabulous weddings and sessions that I don’t always keep up with my blog like I should! So please accept my apologies that May and June have been so busy that I can’t keep up on posting.

So, I’d like to assure you that there is lots of blog awesomeness on the way, including four weddings, several engagement sessions, and one Rock The Dress session. Whew! If you’d like to see a little bit of what’s been going on, please make sure to swing by the Studio Noveau Facebook page where I post sneak peaks of every wedding/session I shoot. You can check that page out by clicking HERE. The fan page is almost to 600 fans, and when we hit 600 I’ll be doing another giveaway!

Lastly, more big news. Did you see the new Studio Noveau website? It was launched yesterday and is SO great that you MUST check it out. Right now. You can view it at www.studionoveau.com.

Check back soon for the latest and greatest… and have a great day!

-Rebecca

Amazing!  This wedding was simply amazing. She’s a teacher, he’s a doctor. She’s detailed and gorgeous, he’s thorough and handsome. Together, they an unstoppable team. Does it get any more perfect than this?

Recently, I had the honor of driving down to Des Moines for Bridget and Kyle’s tastefully elegant wedding. And, as many of you know, my husband Ben was acting as my second shooter and joined me on this trip! This wedding was especially fun for me in several ways in addition to Ben shooting with me. A little history on Bridget and Kyle is that they met on Facebook through mutual friends, and much of their early communication was done in person and on Facebook. So when Bridget found me on Facebook, we all thought it was fun that they decided to choose Studio Noveau as their wedding photographer.

My day started at Bridget and Kyle’s condo, where the girls were getting ready. Bridget planned ahead to reserve the beautiful community room in the building. With floor to ceiling windows, this room was gorgeous, uncluttered, and had simply amazing light. Future clients, please take note. This combination makes for gorgeous, relaxed pictures! I loved Bridget’s {blue} shoes and her dress.  Maybe I’m kinda partial to Pronovias dresses because my own wedding dress was by designer Pronovias.  Bridget also wore pearls (so did I!) so I couldn’t help but love her entire bridal attire!

Did I mention she was a radiant bride?  Just look at that smile!

I love this moment with Kyle and his mom!  And I also loved the curvy wall above, located in their church.  Of course we had to grab a quick portrait there!  Their church was the amazing St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church in West Des Moines.

Their first look was one of the sweetest I’ve EVER seen!

These next two were taken by Ben.

How cute is this one!  By the time Kyle got Bridget and all her layers into the car, it was such a cute picture that I had to jump out of my car, run over to theirs, and grab this photo.  :)

Off to the Rose Garden, the location where Bridget & Kyle got engaged.  As such a meaningful spot, they knew all along that they wanted photos taken there.  And with the fun architectural pieces, the amazing light, and all the green vegetation around, I was one happy girl!

Ben took these next three.  Apparently Kyle likes golf.  (Isn’t that a requirement for doctors?)

After the Rose Garden, we had one more fun stop.  Their reception was at the historic and beautiful Hotel Savery in downtown Des Moines.  Kyle and Bridget rented the penthouse for a small pre-party for their parents and wedding party during the cocktail hour.   We were able to grab some fun shots up there on the roof that had great views of the capitol building and other cool things.  This post is already getting super long so I’m only going to post a couple, but there were so many great shots!

Reception:

Bridget and Kyle, congratulations! Thank you for allowing Ben and I to share such an important day. I’m looking forward to your Rock the Dress session in June!

Just wanted to share a snippet of a recent email from Kristin, my April 10th bride.  She wrote:

First of all, Luke and I (along with EVERYONE else that has seen them) love, love, love the wedding photos!!  I knew that I loved your style the first time I saw your website, and you definitely captured and delivered that style again for our wedding day.  And I am still amazed at the variety of settings you found throughout the church to use in the photos, especially the plain, little meeting room with the single window with light streaming in that you had me sit in front of…so simple, yet so dramatic…only someone with an eye for photography would have known that was going to be such a perfect spot!  Love it!!  Ben did an awesome job as well…we’re so lucky to have had both of you join us (I, too, am a fan of the fish-eye lens)!  I hope you both had a good time working with us!  Thank You so much for everything, we’re so delighted with how everything turned out!!

Thanks, Kristin and Luke!  Ben and I absolutely enjoyed sharing your day and documenting it for you.  :)  Congratulations again!

To view the original blog post, click HERE, or check out their Facebook album with over 100 images by clicking HERE.

First it was going to rain.

Then it was going to thunderstorm.

Then it was *maybe* going to rain.

SO… we ultimately decided we’d just keep Tricia and Dustin’s engagement session scheduled, rather than try to reschedule.  And, of course, the weather was AWESOME!  I love when things work out.  :)  And here are just a few of the photos from their session in Viroqua!  (Let me point out, dear readers… I am trying desperately to keep up on blogging in a timely fashion.  It’s one of my 2010 goals!)

Tricia and Dustin, I’m looking forward to your wedding in La Crosse soon!  I had a blast working with you guys!

Hmm, have I ever mentioned I’m behind on blogging? Because I am. This next session even has SNOW on the ground, but it’s the middle of April already! Please don’t judge me. If you want to see the latest and greatest as soon as they are shot, make sure to become a fan on Facebook… typically, sessions are posted to Facebook within two days! The blog… well, the blog doesn’t get quite as much love!

Anyway, meet Casey and Zach. These guys rock. They were having a heck of a time deciding between a winter and spring engagement session, so we decided to do BOTH! Yes, we divided their session up into two mini-sessions so they could get the best of both worlds. (If you are a client of mine and interested in the same, please inquire for details!)

What I loved about this session was that we were able to try some SUPER fun locations that were very off-the-beaten-path. After all, you may not always get to be adventurous with photos on your wedding day, so why not make it a goal for your engagement session? I loved this location with all the crates!

Casey REALLY wanted photos with this old sleigh. I was a bit skeptical at first, but after her “crew” showed up to help us move it (thanks to her dad and brother!), I could see how cute it would be. Don’t you love it?

And I LOVE this grove of trees. And how Casey and Zach really just “pop” because of the muted background colors.

Saturday was the beginning of Studio Noveau’s wedding season and I have a couple “teaser” images to share with you.  Full blog post will be here soon, but for now, please enjoy these images of Kristin and Luke.  

Ben (my husband) and I drove up to Woodbury, Minnesota for this beautiful wedding. From her peep-toe pumps, cocktail length gown, and birdcage veil, Kristin just oozed with class and style.   From his quiet but steady demeanor to his classic tux, Luke looked every bit the part of the easy-going gentleman. They were both so relaxed and it put all of their guests at ease. What a fabulous wedding!

Some details:
Ceremony: King of King’s Lutheran Church.
Reception: Prestwick Golf Club
Caterer: Axel’s at Prestwick
Bride’s Dress: David’s Bridal
Makeup Artist: Ulta
Cakery: McHatties
DJ: Bellagala

Thanks to ALL of you who entered the contest for two copies of the Offbeat Bride book.  I had a blast reading about your ideas for your offbeat weddings.  LOVED IT!  I wish you could all get a copy of the book, but unfortunately I’m limited to choosing only two winners.  Thanks again to Offbeat Bride for offering this promotion.  :)

The winners are…

(generated randomly by the number generator at www.random.org)

Drumroll please….

Kristin and Stacie!

#4 , Kristin

Our save the dates are decoders and our reception will be pretty close to a carnival.  I’ve been wanting to read this book for a long time!

And #28, Stacie

Our wedding is over a year away, but as English majors we’re going to be incorporating books into the centerpieces (instead of flowers), and authors’ names at our into a backyard Montana wedding with a vintage vibe. I am currently on the fence about acquiring a vintage pink dress from the 40’s for my wedding dress. I tried it on while playing dress up in a costume shop last summer and commented that it was the perfect style for my some-day wedding dress (this was before I was even dating the some-day groom).

Stacie and Kristin, please email me at rebecca (at) studionoveau.com with your addresses so we can get your book sent out to you!

(And don’t forget to become a fan of Studio Noveau photography on Facebook… I LOVE Offbeat weddings and I LOVE to travel!!)

This past weekend, I had an absolute blast joining my friend, the uber-talented Krystal Muellenberg of Krystal Muellenberg Photography for a wedding in Baltimore.  It was our first time shooting together, and we had a blast.  Not only were Erica and Dave fantastic to work with… their wedding party rocked as well!  Make sure to check out Krystal’s blog since I’m just going to post a FEW of my favorites… there were so many awesome moments throughout the day that there’s no way I could post them all.

And check out the fun video slideshow with a few more pictures from their day!
Erica & Dave.

It’s definitely not a secret that I LOOOOOOOVE creative, fun weddings that really allow the personality of the couple to shine through.  I love that wedding trends are moving towards each celebration being a one-of-a-kind event without the bride and groom feeling that they have to follow the “cookie-cutter” mold of a traditional wedding.

A few weeks ago, I was asked to do a book review for the book “Offbeat Bride“. And, knowing my weakness for all things wedding-related and quirky, I jumped on the opportunity!  In the interests of market research, I took the book along on my trip to the WPPI Photography Conference in Vegas AND along to Erica and Dave’s wedding in Baltimore.  This month I’ve had a LOT of time sitting in airports!  So, editors of Offbeat Bride, here are my thoughts!

First of all, let me say that I never really considered myself an “offbeat bride”.  Yes, I tried to personalize my wedding and am happy with all the unique things that Ben and I incorporated into our day, but I felt like we needed to do things a certain way to follow typical wedding “etiquette”.  Now I wish I had read this book three years ago!  Looking back now, I would have probably skipped the dance part of the evening, and had a jazz band rather than a DJ.  I would have worn more comfortable shoes and let Ben have a little more fun with his outfit.  Even though my family isn’t as unique as the author’s, I still took away a lot of advice that made me wish I’d done things slightly differently.

One thing I loved is that the author, Ariel, didn’t feel the need to follow tradition if it didn’t work for them.  For example, she didn’t want to make her single female friends feel embarassed about the bouquet toss.  So she skipped it!  Because they felt passionately about sticking to their budget and also being eco-friendly, their outdoor wedding seemed perfect for “muglies”, an ugly mug picked up at a thrift store for .25.  These Muglies served as beverage holders for all of their guests for the entire evening, and were a fun conversation starter.  The Muglies also served as wedding favors… the uglier, the better.  Michele and Jason, one of my couples from 2008 asked family members to make homemade jam to use as placecards and favors… I love that idea!

They found ways to incorporate both of their values into the event: he was a vegan, and she was wasn’t.  Solution?  Vegan dinner and both vegan and non-vegan dessert.  She wanted a non-traditional dress and he was uncomfortable in a tux.  Solution?  Corset top with wedding skirt made of lime green organza over ivory satin.  Classy, huh?  The groom wore a suit with the sleeves ripped off.  That wouldn’t have worked for my wedding, but for them, it was the perfect choice… and I love that!  One trend that I’ve loved lately is allowing the girls to pick their own dress in a certain shade, and giving them a choice for shoes, and allowing the guys to wear a suit:

One thing I loved about Ariel’s views on weddings was that she knew where to splurge and where to cut back.  For them, they spent little money on decorations and invitations, but splurged on her shoes and wedding photography.  As a photographer, I was worried she’d say that they did without photos (gasp!), but as Ariel stated “Paying an experienced wedding photographer was one of the wedding budget items that I refused to scrimp on.”  They ignored the typical wedding magazine photos lists that include things like “Mom helping bride with veil” and “Dad whispering last minute advice to groom”.  Instead, their photographer caught real moments with the day’s events.  Yes, they did formal pictures.  But they were quick, painless family groupings and with the wedding party that flew by, and saved more time for moments for just the two of them and the photographer… so they could enjoy the day with the rest of their guests.  But above all, they kept things casual, such as this fun, relaxed portrait from Renee and Justin’s wedding:

My overall impression of the book was that it really kept things in perspective. While many couples won’t have to deal with some of the very different family situations mentioned in the book, almost any bride or groom could benefit from reminders of why you are actually getting married in the first place (and help you figure out if you REALLY need to have a traditional wedding cake or adhere to the all-women bridesmaid suggestion).

Idea from Michele and Jason’s wedding that I adore: asking family members to make special family-favorites for dessert, and forgoing the cake altogether.  Then they included recipes for each dessert in their wedding program booklet:

Idea from Liz and Ed’s wedding: all the flowers came from Ed’s mother’s garden, and they just asked a florist friend to assemble the bouquets and boutonnieres.

Who says weddings can’t have an element of playfulness?

Lisa and Rick shared a love of all things medieval.  So they decided their day should reflect it.  No traditional white programs for this ceremony!

Similarly, Lisa didn’t want a white wedding dress.  So she wore orange.  Love love love it!

Shoes.  Enough said:

So.  Are you interested in being unique?  Does the thought of breaking out of the traditional-wedding mold sound like fun to you?  If so, leave a comment below with something you want to do for your wedding that really signified YOU as a couple, or a fun detail you are excited about!  I’ll be choosing two people randomly from the comments left, and the editor of Offbeat Bride will be sending you a free copy of the book!