Stories
When Ann-Hamilton emailed me and said she had found the perfect wedding day first look location I was all ears. You all know by now that I am PRO the first look (HERE are reasons why). She said she had found a castle, yes castle, around the corner from the venue. Excuse me! What did you just say?? A castle in the middle of Decatur, tell me more. She sent me the google listing and thought there was no way we would get access to this place.. but….. WE DID!
You can consider where you first met, where you got engaged, your hometown, a place you visit often OR you can consider a place you have never been to before for your engagement photos. You can then get amazing outfits to compliment those locations and plan the perfect time of day and day of the week with your Atlanta wedding photographer and make killer engagement images! All it takes is a little planning and your engagement session can be more than just a trial run in front of the camera before your big day.
There really is something special about being a photographer and capturing life milestones. Moments really are fleeting. They happen so fast, and are gone. A lot of the time we are so busy celebrating and tending to these milestones that we sometimes forget to slow down, revel in them and really celebrate these events.
Being new(ish) to Atlanta Christopher and Colin wanted the beautiful Piedmont Park as the setting for their engagement session. They imagined walking around the park, sun shining, with the trees and flowers in full bloom. O.K! Let’s do that! The first date we had picked out was actually raining, and COLD for Spring. We postponed and it was so worth it! You couldn’t have asked for a better day.
Spring has sprung! Welcome to Spring everyone. Welcome to pollen and mosquitos and BBQ’s and late afternoon hangs and bumble bees and all the fun things that come along with longer days. And welcome to the amazing golden light that fills the air!
McDaniel Farm Park is such a diverse space for every season, but there is just something about when the land starts to bloom and start fresh for the year that I had to suggest it to this family for their session. With concrete and natural paths this park is suitable for everyone. The park has so many great options like the pathways, or the fencing, a bridge, a barn, you name it!
Nick proposed to Alesha, here, in this gazebo, on this lake in Piedmont Park. Obvi we had to photograph their engagement session there and all around the park! It was so stinking special getting to hang out with this newly engaged couple and create some new memories for them leading up to their wedding this June!
Because Nick proposed on the lake I really wanted to explore the lake with them and really make this session special for them. We walked all the way around the lake and if you have ever been to Piedmont Park you know there are so many gorgeous spots along the lake any Atlanta Wedding Photographer would love to photograph at.
But nothing was more gorgeous than this amazing Winter light. Yes! This was photographed in the first week of January! Minus the leaves, it legit looks like Fall. Just stunning. Then you put these two love birds in the light and you have magic.
When I am getting to know a couple and photographing their engagement session, I never want to rush it. I schedule enough time at the end of the day to explore the location they chose and sometimes it takes a minute for them to get comfortable in front of the camera. Lets face it, you allllll say you are awkward in front of the camera. (Y’all are all so silly.)
When they said they only brought the outfit they are wearing and just wanted to explore the city I was probably too stoked. This allowed me to bring out the tools I don’t always get to use because we are on schedule or have an agenda we have to complete.
Cue the pipe ring of fire shot thing. See below.
Playing in traffic! This is something I do on the regular.. I really need to be more careful when I photograph, but I just can’t help when I see a perfect image happening. This really allows for some actual candid images using the city in the best of ways.
And here I go again, not looking where I am going, just running into traffic. But really, I do also rely on the couple I am photographing to give me a heads up if they can if they see I am about to really be in traffic, or if I am going to run into the curb or step in a pothole. If you see an Atlanta Wedding Photographer taking photos of couples in the street, its probably me, so please don’t hit me, haha.
All joking aside… if we don’t have fun your images will show it. If that means I have to act out a bit, I so will. I joke that I play in traffic, but we are always safe. As your Atlanta Wedding Photographer I will always put myself before my couple to make sure the grassy isn’t too muddy, to make sure there aren’t spiders, to make sure you won’t get hit by a car.
Be on the lookout for photos on my Instagram and Facebook from their Atlanta Wedding at the Dekalb Courthouse this June!
Hitting it off instantly, they had their first date after a week of talking and on their second date he knew she was THE one. After 11+ months he recreated their first date down to what he was wearing and even what was on tv that night. He had his guitar wrapped around him and he played a song he had written officially asking for her hand before getting down on one knee, using her full name, and asked her to marry him. SWOON
When I hear “backyard wedding” I start envisioning so many different possiblities. But none of what I was thinking about was enough to prepare me for Lauren and Katherine’s backyard wedding. They set the bar really high when it comes to having a wedding at home. Being an Atlanta Wedding Photographer and well, wedding photographer in general, I have seen a lot of backyard weddings, but this Atlanta wedding was one to write home about.
YOU’RE ENGAGED! What an amazing, exciting, crazy, and lots of things to do time! You have posted your ring selfie and gotten tons of likes, messages, and responses.. so what next?
Save The Dates are next! Right, so what is a Save The Date. Its the time where you loop in the friends and family you intend on inviting to your wedding! The very first official step. This is a pre-invitation that announces your wedding date.
Not permanent or anything like that, but more frequently. See, my Mom and Grandmother live in Ocala, Florida. While I go and visit them (depending on my wedding season) every three to six months (plus Thanksgiving and Christmas) I thought it would be fun to photograph more Central Florida weddings giving me the opportunity to visit with them more often.
Now what does this have to do with you?!
This means NO travel fees for Central Florida weddings. We both win in this situation. I get to stay with my Mom and Grandma, so you don’t have to pay for travel. You get an amazing Atlanta wedding photographer for the price of an amazing Central Florida wedding photographer! My Atlanta prices will carry over to any Florida weddings I book.
A little about my Florida background.
My family moved to Ocala, Florida from Chicago, Illinois when I was like young, like 2 or 3 young. I still drive through the old neighborhood when I visit my Mom and Grandma. My childhood house seems SO small now that I’m an adult.
OCALA WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER
I am in touch with my best friend growing up in that neighborhood. Her name is Denise and she lives in MA. We ran into each other, consequently, a few years ago in Las Vegas and had to get a drink together. It had been like 20 years since we seen each other.
I went to high school and college in Central Florida, but left the state in 2006 to attend and pursue my photography dreams at school in MA. After graduation, my boyfriend who I also met in Ocala and I made the choice to move to Atlanta so he could start the further pursuing of his career in tattooing. 8 years later he opened his own tattoo studio!
Actually, today is the 3 year anniversary of him opening Gate City Tattoo.
We both made sacrifices in order for both of us to achieve our dreams. **side note: My boyfriend James and have been together for 19 years this coming December. Anyway.. I feel like it’s finally time to spread my wings photographically and photograph some amazing Spanish moss, natural springs, and beach weddings of my old stomping grounds!
This does not mean I am booking any less in Atlanta! I am still booking and will always be booking here in Atlanta, but see Florida doesn’t technically have a Winter season and it would be cool to also use the 3 months of ice we get here to be in a more warm location still photographing weddings!
Wait, does that make me a workaholic? or just in love with photographing weddings? I am going with the second, haha.
CENTRAL FLORIDA WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER
The NO travel fees is generated toward any location roughly within three hours of Ocala, Florida. So, yes, Central Florida. Do not let this discourage you if you having a wedding in South Florida (my sister lives in Clearwater!, and I’m sure I can crash on her couch).
So! Florida couples.. lets talk about your Florida wedding and the photography I can provide for you! I’m so excited to meet you and can’t wait to hear all the details of your BIG day.
OCALA WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER
So.. what does this Summer Flash Sale mean?
It means I have been lazy, enjoying summer and slacked on my non-wedding pricing guide, so YOU get the benefit from my laziness! Take advantage, this does not happen often. or ever.
Pricing includes - up to 45 minutes of photography time , up to 15 High Resolution images in Color and in Black & White, online gallery with download and of course, a print release.
This is great for updating your updating your head shots, maternity, products, photos of your pet!... pretty much anything
Well, maybe not anything..
..you get it
Let's do this y'all.
This wonderful newly engaged couple wanted to do something a little different with their engagement photos, something winter like. After calling around to many different venues near and far and looking at schedules and watching the weather radar literally minute by minute, and 53 emails... we made some engagement beautiful images. Their couple style is so much fun, so loving and just as real as they come.
You know those days where you wake up and you know it's just going to be ah-mazing! Well, that is how this whole wedding weekend was in Hilton Head. As a full time Atlanta Wedding Photographer, I make it a habit not to drive more than 3 hours in a day to a wedding because after photographing for 8-10 hours and driving.. DEAD. So with the travel time of just over 4 hours there, 10 hours photographing, and 4 hours back; I decided to drive in the night before. So glad I did. I had never been to Hilton Head before and it was a much needed change of scenery. You couldn't have ask for a better breeze, whiter sands, perfect blue sky and just the right amount of overcast.
The wedding was held at this great compound on Bradley Beach called 5 Urchin Manor. When I say this was a compound, I mean it was a compound! The total number of people this place can sleep is 21! This place was breathtaking.
At every wedding something.. SOMETHING gets tangled in the wedding dress. On this wedding day it was "sea urchins". Not really sea urchins, but those grass burrs that are super prickly and stick to your shoe laces.. yea those things. But, we all laughed it off including some beach goers.
The wedding reception was intimate and beautifully set with peaches in the center pieces and the most delicious BBQ for dinner under a tent in the middle of the compound. The guests signed a globe and left bucket list ideas for the couple. Their first dance was adorable and they actually tricked me! If you have been to as many weddings as I have you see couples choreograph their first dance where they start out slow dancing and the DJ back spins a song or makes it seem like the song messed up.. well that happened here and I actually thought the song messed up - BUT it didn't. They did this fun high energy dance together and had everyone on their feet.
OH MY GOSH and let me tell you about the dueling pianos they had for the reception.. SO FUN! I was literally laughing all night. There wasn't a song they couldn't play. If you ever get a chance to see dueling pianos, you totally should. It was a unique idea for this wedding day and I was so excited to see the performance leading up to the wedding day. The show did not disappoint. Between the pianos and the guests reacting to the pianos, the reception was one for the books.
Not all wedding days have a formal exit and that is OK! I always try to make an "ending" photograph just because I feel it completes the album in my weird way. Since this couple was staying at the compound they did not "exit", but the groom sure did end the night by singing Tom Jones to his bride! And let me add, he sang extremely well.
Personalized touches is what helps me get to know the couple I photograph. Most times I don't get a lot of time to get to know the couple that brings me along on their wedding journey due to time or distance or what ever reason. Spending over 8 hours with someone on the wedding day, you should most definitely feel comfortable with each other and you should be able to have fun!
Venue: 5 Urchin Manor
Photographer: Krisandra Evans Photography
Coordinator: Cindy Brown
Florist: Tracy Inglesby
Caterer: Bess Soper
Salon: LUSH
OCALA WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER
There isn't a bad location at the Georgian Terrace hotel. Trust me. I've literally been all over that place. It is just stunning - EVEN THE ELEVATORS! Then you add an amazing bride, beautiful flowers, good vibes and you are setup for a fantastic day. And that is just what Kelly and Chris got! They were good sports too! I have them alllll over that hotel and the Georgian Terrace is no small space. I even had them on the roof top. Given the proper amount of time, we will hit all the portrait locations at your venue. I shoot fast for a wedding photographer, test me (haha).
Seriously, do you see what I mean? Just stunning. This is a dream location for any Atlanta Wedding Photographer. Having a wedding in a location like this means you can pretty much have free range of the venue to take portraits (I even got roof top access for the wedding party photos! See a few photos below). If you give me 25 minutes for your portrait session, I will take 26. If you give me 45 minutes for your portrait session I will take 46. I will use every minute you give me.
ROOF TOP ACCESS! yessssssssss. Did I mention I was afraid of heights? Well, lets just say the elevator ride up was interesting to say the least. Like it was high enough to make my ear pop. And all of us in one elevator, ah! Usually, if I keep photographing I am able to block out the scary things like height or bugs or tight spaces.... I have to because you hired me as your wedding photographer and I can't come with a list of things I won't do. I have been part of an helicopter exit. So imagine me on the roof top with no safety rails and a helicopter and a bride and a groom plus the wedding party! Now a helicopter exit, let me tell you how scared I was that I was going to be so busy photographing and not paying attention and get my head chopped off (LOL) - seriously. But, I'm getting off task here. Lets focus! OH, but not before I tell you what happened at my most recent wedding where I sat my camera bag on the ground and somewhere in the ground was a nest of baby spiders, so my bag got covered with hundreds of baby spiders DURING the ceremony. Talk about professional... no one even knew ;-)
Georgian Terrace Wedding Photographer, right?! Ok.
I have to give a shout out to all the amazing vendors this day. Not only did they work with my crazy timeline of wanting to hit all these great locations, but they made sure I had access to each location. And of course to Kelly and Chris for having me along on their wedding day journey. It was truly a pleasure to work with you both and your families. Thank you for trusting my vision. Best wishes for the future!
Wedding Planner: Peachy Keen Planners
Florist and Decor: Peachy Keen Decor
Venue: The Georgian Terrace Hotel
Photographer: Krisandra Evans Photography
OCALA WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER
