Studio Noveau Blog

Andy and Elona were married at Devil’s Head Resort in Merrimac, WI on May 22nd. Devil’s Head is near the Wisconsin Dells and is actually a ski resort in the winter, but during the spring and summer it’s a gorgeous site for an outdoor ceremony! They also held their reception at the same site. Since I’m sooooo behind on blogging, I’m going to just post a few of my favorites, but this in no way takes away from the fact that this wedding was a casual, fun day with some great people!

Special thanks to Carla for tagging along and acting as second shooter for the day.

How is this for a bride and groom portrait?  :)  Fun, huh?

This next one is probably my favorite from the whole day.  Andy looks so happy and Elona is so relaxed!

I love these next three in the series from their reception. Elona’s grandfather was giving a very lovely speech. (You’ll see him again in a photo, dancing with his wife.)

This next one is fun, too. After the maid of honor, Willow, gave her speech, she realized she broke her promise not to cry. Fun fact: Willow will be getting married in 2011 and I’m proud to be the photographer for her wedding, too! AND I’m the photographer for Willow and Elona’s mother who will be getting married in just a few weeks!

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!

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

Beth and Dan were married at Luther Memorial Church on University Avenue in Madison recently. Followed up with fun shots at the Capitol and the Union, we ended the beautiful day at the fabulous Monona Terrace. This day was filled with fun details such as barbershop quartets, a photobooth, and lots of great people. Special thanks to Mandie for joining me that day. I love shooting with her, and we’ve done weddings together in Mexico and all over Wisconsin. Mandie, you rock!

Next two taken by Mandie:

This church was beautiful, but had some very strict rules for professional photographers. Mandie and I definitely got creative with where we placed ourselves to capture photos of the ceremony! Next two taken by Mandie.

I love this one Mandie took of Dan and the little boys, and also this bridal portrait I took of Beth. She’s so beautiful!

Yes, the Capitol building is such a typical place for photos if you get married in Madison, but I’ll be honest that I don’t get tired of it! It’s just so regal and impressive. Even at my wedding, some of my favorite photos of the day were taken there.

By the time we got over to the Monona Terrace, it was pretty dark. We just took a few minutes to set up some off-camera lighting, and this sweet photo by Mandie was the result of our quick moving… how awesome is this?

The reception:

Dan is involved with a barbershop quartet, and asked some of his buddies to sing with him. It. Was. AWESOME. After Dan sang, the original quartet went to each table and sang during the dessert hour. It was an amazing personal touch to add to their day.


Next two taken by Mandie:

It seems like there is always one couple at every wedding that really steals the dance floor with their moves.

And to top it off, just a couple fun shots from their photo booth. If you are thinking about adding on this feature, it’s awesome. In fact, it’s so awesome that it’s something I chose to do for my wedding, too! Not only do you get cool photos of your guests that you will always look at and smile, but you also will get a second shooter for the day! Huge bonus!

Aileen and Mike had an absolutely beautiful wedding in downtown La Crosse. Gorgeous venues, gorgeous couple, and lots of fun details! I’ll let their photos speak for themselves.

Little kids with bubbles make me smile.


Okay, maybe it’s not just kids. Bubbles make me smile.

We headed over to Pettibone Park with the wedding party for some fun shots. This next one was completely posed, but it completely cracks me up!

The reception was at The Waterfront in downtown La Crosse. Love that place!

The End!

It was a cold, cold winter afternoon in Prairie du Chien… the day I met Lindsay and Jason.  They drove up from Iowa and we decided to take their engagement photos at Villa Louis, along the river, and downtown. I just loved how the photos “popped” with all the snow in the background.

So I’m VERY guilty of not keeping up on this blog. But in my defense, I’ll just say that the benefit to not keeping up like I should means I have fresh weddings and sessions to post during the slow months.

On that note, meet Matt and Mallory! They were married a couple months ago (I refuse to say exactly how long for fear of incriminating myself on the grounds of late blogging) in Iowa. Matt and Mallory seriously brought the awesomeness to their wedding day. They got married in a church that many members of their family were married in, and found so many fun ways to personalize their day. About half of the couples I work with choose to schedule a “First Look”, which is a private moment for the bride and groom to see each other before the ceremony. The benefit to a First Look is that you have the opportunity to take photos together before the ceremony, reducing the time needed for pictures between the ceremony and reception.

Here is their First Look… I LOVE these ones for the sheer happiness that you can just sense!

I LOVED Mallory’s shoes. I mean really, who doesn’t love a red, high heel, peep-toe, glamorous shoe?

And I love this picture of Mallory herself. She’s just radiant!

We didn’t have a lot of time to wander around town before the ceremony, so the beautiful bride and handsome groom ventured outside for just a couple fun pics before their ceremony started.

This shot of Mallory and her dad is so sweet! They saw each other in the hall, and this candid shot is the result. Doesn’t he look like a proud daddy?

Time for the ceremony!


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Next, we headed over to the college to get some wedding party photos. I loved all the brick buildings and arches!

Time for the reception!

Matt, being the thoughtful guy that he was, knew his reception was taking place during an Iowa game. Okay, it’s been a while and I don’t remember exactly what game it was… but I think it was important! So while there were regular reception things going on like cake cutting and dancing, there was also the game playing on TWO large screen tv’s at the Grinnell Country Club.

And look at this adorable little guy!

Groom’s cufflinks:

The cufflinks coordinated nicely with the newest addition to their centerpieces:

I love when everyone has so much fun with speeches:

And I also love old wedding pictures. As a wedding photographer, I’m probably biased in thinking that wedding photos are one of the most important parts of the day… since it lasts generations, and serves as a lasting reminder of the love that resulted in entire families coming together for marriages of their children. I always wonder which of the photos I take will end up on a table in 50 years at their children and grandchildren’s wedding.

Groomsman by day, Iowa fan by night



Can you see everyone in this room watching the game? Just on the other side of the wall was the dance picture above. Haha.

Matt and Mallory, I hope your last few months have been wonderful! Thanks again for letting me share such an important day with you!

I’m pleased to announce that Studio Noveau has just received word that we’ve received the WeddingWire Bride’s Choice Award for 2010!

The annual Bride’s Choice Awards recognizes and celebrates excellence in quality and service within the wedding industry, as determined by recent reviews and extensive surveys from over 500,000 newlyweds. Studio Noveau is among the top five percent of all vendors in the WeddingWire community, which includes over 100,000 wedding professionals across the US and Canada. Awards were given to winners across 19 different service categories, from wedding venues to wedding photographers.

Thanks to all of my clients who left reviews and feedback on my services! This is the second year Studio Noveau has been given this honor, and I’m flattered!