Sarah and Todd were married on a very hot, beautiful October day. Every little detail of their day was fabulous. From the jewelry, to the tuxes, to her dress and the cake. My favorite part of the day? Hands down, when they jumped up on a hay bale right before the reception. Thanks to Sarah and Todd for rocking out those portraits!!!
Thank you to all my wonderful clients who are being SO patient with me as I tackle the busiest part of my year (while being pregnant and having my 3 year-old on cycle break from pre-school!).
Here’s a sneak peek of some of the things I’m working on. Eventually, I WILL get all of you blogged. Again, thanks for being so understanding.
Mandy and Curtis.
Kate and Chris.
Liz and Nathan.
Katie and Jonathan.
Kristin and Greg.
Sarah and Todd.
Lauren and Dan.
Abby and Steven.
Elaine and Chris.
Kalyana and Jacquelyn were married several weeks ago in the tiny town of Trenton, IL. They both live in Chicago, so I actually had never met Kalyana until the wedding day, though I had photographed Jacquelyn during a bridal session a few months ago. It was so much fun to be a part of their day.
Ceremony: Trenton, IL
Reception: Regency Conference Center
Dress: Maggie Sottero
What better way to start than with the bling?! I love this ring. It was simply stunning.
The bridesmaids were trying to figure out the beautiful necklaces Jacquelyn bought all of them.
While I was at the church with the ladies, my fabulous second shooter, Von DeVore, was at the hotel with the guys where she grabbed this shot.
I love how they’re looking at each other in this shot.
After the ceremony, they were able to steal a moment just for themselves…Plus me. 
After the ceremony, we had to drive about 20 minutes to get to the hotel for the reception. We had literally 10 minutes to do all portraits. It wasn’t much time, but we made it work (in the word’s of Tim Gunn!) Plus, we had some really soft, pretty light.
What a good looking wedding party!
The tables were named after all the places they have visited, and let me tell you, these two are quite the world travelers.
How cute is this card box? Love this idea…Especially for them.
And Jacquelyn and Kalyana are quite the dancers. I loved their choreographed first dance!
Coming up soon on the blog…
Tyler + Emily’s wedding in Aviston, IL.
and Deanne + Matt’s wedding in South County.
On Saturday, I had the pleasure of shooting the engagement of a fellow wedding photographer! Elaine + Chris live in Cape Girardeau and are getting married here in St. Louis. I was thrilled when they chose me as their wedding photographer, and I’m really looking forward to their October wedding! (No pressure! 
) We had gorgeous weather, and I always love shooting in Old Town St. Charles. I find different places to shoot everytime I walk up Main Street with a couple. Love that!!!
I love ivy! Especially with her pink shirt.
Get a little closer…
How cute is that bench!?
One of my faves from the day. I could have shot in this little area all day! The trees and light were incredible.
Same spot, different angle + pose. Love this. They’re so cute together. Talk about cute babies someday!!!
Yup. They’re gorgeous.
My favorite.
I haven’t been shooting much this winter, and at first, I was loving the break. I really needed to re-charge my batteries before wedding season 2010 began. I put my camera down for a while. I just had to. But after my son turned 3, and I tried to put together a slideshow from a year of his life, from age 2-3, I realized how so many months had gone by with little images of my own child. Not just photographs that I wanted to have printed as a canvas. Just any pictures. And that made me sad. I’ve done a lot of brainstorming and thinking about ideas for Nicole Welch Photography for 2010 and beyond, and I’m really excited about the things to come. I’m thrilled to have the year booked up, and I’m getting REALLY antsy to start shooting some weddings!!! But first, I have decided to go back to my roots in documentary photography. That’s where my love is, and I love bringing that to weddings. At times, though, I suppose reading blogs of other (albeit amazing) photographers, I lose sight of who I am and what I want to be. And I don’t want that at all. I love capturing real, true moments of couples, their families and friends on one of the most important days of their lives. I don’t ask my brides to re-create moments. I don’t ask for hours of time to do posed photos, whether formal or informal. I want to capture you. I want to tell your story. So…..I guess I’m making a pledge to myself to get back to those roots, and I figured what better way than to start at home, more often than not with my own son. So if you see a lot of Mr. Aidan on the blog, you’ll understand why and where I’m coming from.
In the mornings, Aidan loves to wake up and watch an episode of Little Bear.
He’s so calm in the morning. Too bad it didn’t happen more often!
Playing PBS Kids on mommy’s computer.
Time for trains!
Frustrated.
Beloved Thomas.
Aidan’s first time ice skating….Perhaps not the best idea Dan and I ever had…
After re-scheduling several times, mostly due to the crazy weather in St. Louis, we were FINALLY able to shoot Ileana and Jim’s engagement session. Ileana had contacted me many months ago to shoot their engagement pictures. Unfortunately, I don’t get to shoot the wedding. They’re both in the Air Force out at Scott Air Force Base, but they’re getting married back in their WARM homestate of Georgia. Lucky them.
It was still a little cool and rainy during our session, but these two still were up for anything I suggested! And even though I usually prefer to shoot with some good sunlight, I ended up really liking the moody, urban feel of this shoot. We spent some time down at the Arch grounds, on some railroad tracks out by the graffiti wall, and then we headed out to Washington Ave. (My favorite urban place to shoot engagement pictures in St. Louis!)
I should also add that on this day, as is typical of me, I lost my cell phone. I’m ALWAYS losing my phone. I’ve purchased all kinds of contraptions, holders, clips, etc, but I’m always losing my beloved Blackberry. And let me tell you, I am LOST without that thing. Somehow, when we were shooting at the Arch grounds, it fell out of my pocket. Probably while I was lying on the wet grass trying to get the entire Arch in the shot with my wide-angle lens. Well, I didn’t notice it until the shoot was over. And it was dark. Brilliant, Nikki. So yeah, I had to head back to the Arch grounds to look in the wet grass for my poor phone. You see, even though it’s only a $50 fee to place a claim on it (oh yes, I have insurance on that bad boy), I’ve lost/broken SO many BBs during the past year and a half. I’ve lost count. But I’m sure my husband hasn’t. That’s sort of a little thing between us. He hates how I treat it. And lose it. And break it. I just can’t help it. I’m BUSY. There’s SO much going on, and my phones just take a beating every day. (That’s my excuse anyway.) So I went back through the grass by myself and found it. In the dark, and I have no idea how. I just knew there was no way was I going to go home with another phone problem. So that’s my crazy Nikki story of the day. And if you ever call me, and I don’t call you back, rest assured I’ve probably dropped the thing in a glass of water, dropped it down 3 flights of stairs, or it may be in the grass under the Arch. You just never know.
And….on to the pictures!
The end!
I had a session with my 5-year-old nephew, Justice many, many months ago. My poor sister has been so incredibly patient with me while I take care of all my clients first, so I was really happy to be able to get these up. FINALLY.
I’ll start with my favorite of the day.
I love how his eyes sparkle…
Loved this outfit!
I think this one is SO him.
© 2012 St. Louis wedding photographer Nicole Welch
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