pure photography by april cochran-smith

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ch-ch-ch-changes...

It's that time of year...  I just shot my last wedding until April & it's too cold & gross out for portrait work (well, "typical" portrait work, at least).  You think I'd be sitting here all bored and restless with nothing to do.  Well, you'd be wrong.  I've got about 5 million things on my to-do list before wedding season starts up again.  I'm in the process of updating both of my websites, creating new pricing for current & soon-to-be offered products AND getting ready for a fancy new blog.  Oh yeah, I'm excited.  I've been dying for a new one forever, but for some reason or another, haven't made the transition.  I figure now's a pretty good time, you know, with all of my free time and all.  It'll have my twitter updates, on-page commenting & REALLY BIG images!  Awesome, right?  I'm still trying to figure out how to transfer this blog over, but all in due time, I suppose.  It'll still be a little while before it's ready to go live, but I thought I'd go ahead and start building the excitement now.  

Now for the photo portion of this little blog post...

I bought Jack this firefighter jacket a while back & he loves it.  I could be biased, but I think he looks pretty cute as a fireman.  Judge for yourself...

Just in case you thought this was a real fire extinguisher, it comes with this warning: "This is a toy.  Do not use it to extinguish fires".  Good to know.

denise & rob - the slideshow

Click here if you'd like to open in a new window.

denise & rob

So, did you think I fell off the face of the earth?  Or, perhaps, that I was in Vegas with every other photographer on the planet?  Nope, we've just had a rush of sickness in our house for the past 2 weeks.  First Jack & then me.  I finally feel like a real live girl today for the first time in a week.  What this means for you is that you've had to wait extra long for Denise & Rob's wedding post.  Well, wait no more, 'cause here it is!

I was super excited when Denise's mom contacted me about their January wedding.  I've never photographed a winter wedding before, so I was stoked to have the opportunity.  Of course when you have a winter wedding, you hope for snow & luckily, snow is exactly what they got just a few days before.  The only downfall was that it was FREEZING the day of the wedding.  Still, though, they were all troopers and did a couple of shots outside really fast!  

Something really awesome about Denise & Rob is that they met on craigslist.  He was looking for a roommate & she answered the ad.  Rob's dad gave a great speech & in it he told about how part of Denise's rental agreement was that she would mow the lawn.  His dad knew that something was up when he went by one day & Rob was doing the mowing.  Suffice to say, the rest is history. 

Denise's day started at Christina & Company in West Lafayette.  This is my second time photographing there, so I was pretty excited for the awesome lighting in the makeup area.  As before, it didn't disappoint!  I love how calm Denise looks here.  She was like this all day...

 

This was a really cool wedding (no pun intended) that was held at Duncan Hall in downtown Lafayette.  I'm so lucky in that I keep getting these weddings in amazing venues!  There was so much beautiful, natural light coming in during the ceremony - a photographer's dream.  We had the whole hall to ourselves & there are definitely a lot of sweet places to do pictures.  

Here are a few details from around the hall..

No post would be complete without a shoe shot!

One of my favorite pictures of the day.  Can you find me?

I know this isn't an "official" posed picture of the guys, but there's something about it that I really like.  

I was actually going to not do a couch shot this time, but once I saw this vintage one, I knew there was no way I could resist.  So glad I didn't!

I love this little moment of Rob's dad getting his bowtie properly tied.

My favorite moment of the day.  This was right after Denise's dad had walked her down the aisle.

Up the aisle shots are always some of my favorites.  I just love the pure joy that is on their faces after that first kiss & being announced as officially married.  

How cute are they?  I couldn't decide between the next two, so it's your lucky day - you get both!

Another version of the earlier sneak peek.

So sweet.  They were like this together all day.  You could tell that they love each other so much & are so happy to be together.  Have I mentioned that I love weddings?

A few details from the awesome reception at The Trails.  I love the idea of the Ball jar for the bridesmaids flowers.  Also, Rob doesn't like cake, so they had pie for him.  Dustin would've been in heaven!

So Billie Jean came on & this is what I saw next...   LOVE it. (there's more in the slideshow too!)

I was SO excited that Denise & Rob were going to do the horah.  It was so much fun!  Although, at one point, I thought they were going to lift Denise right into the ceiling fan.  No worries though -  it all went beautifully.

This picture makes me happy :)

Classic...

Slideshow coming right up!