Matt and Vanessa's REAL Engagement Session

These two are troopers. (And so am I :)) We have been from one extreme in the weather to the other! I met Matt and Vanessa at Matt's brother's wedding in 2006. Matt liked what he saw from his bro's wedding and thought it would be a good idea to get me involved with his surprise proposal. I am so glad he did! It was super fun, super freezing (he proposed on Christmas eve this last year) and I'm glad I got to share the experience.


Woo hoo! She said yes. :)

Fast forward to last weekend and you have the real engagement session. We walked around downtown in 90 degree weather and they did not complain once. We stopped and got an icecream cone so it wasn't all bad and jumping in the lake at the end was a well deserved treat! Thanks you two for being so much fun to work with! I cannot wait for your wedding in September!

I just love this one. I love the toning, the looks on their faces... everything.


Every great picture has flare. Really.


The lake felt sooo good!

This is funny...

«All you need is colleen donovan.»

That's my new slogan courtesy of sloganizer.net. Why pay if you don't have to??? hehehe. I need to go to bed. Check back tomorrow for pictures of Vanessa and Matt's engagement session!

Rami & Kameron's Wedding at Cave B

Hmmmm... I miss them already. :( I enjoy getting to know the couples I work with so much that after the wedding I get pretty bummed that I won't see or talk to them as often as I used to. Rami and Kameron (and their families) are just plain ol' kind people. So nice. They are going to have a wonderful life together! Anyways, I promised a few more pics and here they are in all their glory!

They were married on May 3rd at Cave B Inn and the day was absolutely gorgeous! It was trying to rain all day, but held off until after the ceremony was over. But hey - rain on your wedding day is lucky. The clouds made such a beautiful backdrop for the ladies' cream colored dresses. I'm still drooling over the pics. The entire day was a joy and I was really excited to take my assistant Michelle with me. We worked together and got some really cool pictures with off camera flash.

I'll stop blabbing and post the pics. Rami and Kameron - congratulations! I love you guys and I am so grateful that I got to share your day!! Oh and don't forget to check out the slideshow! I haven't made one of these in a long time!!





Kameron working on the buttons..


Boys are so messy!


Putting the final touches on Rami's hair...


Gorgeous!!!


Maybe I should've saved the gorgeous comment for this one. :)




See - I told you the clouds were pretty!!


Weddings are a lot of hurry up and wait. :)

Kwynci seeing her dad for the first time...


She liked to dump the flowers out instead of sprinkle them, so they put strategically placed 'refills' down the aisle.








Yes - I know the jumping pictures are well worn, but they are so darn funny sometimes!!


Whatta man...


This is my favorite spot at Cave B.




Off camera yummy flash...


Some more...



Quite the bouquet toss, if I do say so myself...


You must party until the shoes come off...

Venue - Cave B Inn and Winery
Photographer - Me (hehehe)
DJ - Dale Roth
Florist - Allen and Green


visit Colleen Donovan Photography to see if I'm available on your wedding day.

Denise and Erik's Wedding at Cave B Inn

What a wedding! Denise and Erik were married surrounded by their loved ones at Cave B the last weekend of April. It was a beautiful day! I had been biting my nails for the two weeks prior because it had been so darn cold and yucky, but the wedding day was warm(er) and sunny. So pretty! Denise had told me that she had always wanted to get married on a cliff and the weather cooperated so she could have her wish.

I'm always a little nervous for weddings where I haven't previously met the couple but as soon as I found Denise and said hello I knew she was a sweet lady and that we were going to get some great pictures! Talk about a peaceful bride!

After hair and make up we went upstairs to finish getting ready, then headed outside to do formals. Cave B has a big rock wall that I love to do pictures in front of. It's just the right color to make everyone stand out. Love it!

We flew through the formals and it was on to the ceremony on the roof of the cavern rooms. Gorgeous light everywhere. Cameras everywhere! I don't know why it always surprises me how many people have cameras. Like, EVERYONE! Some people are real go getters and have two. :) I think it's wonderful that something so many people love is available to everyone. We are all obviously drawn to trying to keep moments alive for as long as we can.

I stole Denise and Erik for a private session after the ceremony and took advantage of the view of the gorge. I did have the urge to push someone off the cliff but I refrained. :) Anyways, we headed to the reception and after a yummy dinner everyone cut loose. Holy cow - those people can boogie!! Here's a few more pics from their beautiful day. Enjoy!

Wedding Resources -
Venue - Cave B Inn and Winery
Florist - Apple Blossom Floral
Cake - Cakes By Bea
DJ - Eric Dover Audio FX

Visit Colleen Donovan Photography

A Baby Girl and Her Dad

Rami and Kameron's wedding was perfect! Beautiful everything - I'll post some more pics really soon but I wanted to share my favorite moment from their wedding yesterday.

Rami and Kameron's little daughter was one of the flower girls and was very upset that she had to leave her mom behind and walk down the aisle. Very upset. :( Well, you can hear her crying for mom and her cousin is trying to make her feel better by pointing out grandpa, but she wasn't really having it.

Then she sees her dad standing up front waiting. She sucks in all her breath and lets out the most delighted giggle I think I've ever heard. The pictures show her reaction. The whole time I'm trying not to choke up (I mean - the bride hasn't even come out yet and I'm crying!) and let those delicious feelings of a dad's love wash over me. Anyway - I've written too much and probably killed the moment but I still have to share...

Annalee and Scot's Engagement

I have to leave for a wedding in an hour, but I wanted to post up some pictures of Annalee and Scot's engagement session from last night. So much fun! I got to take Annalee's senior pictures, her brother Jesse's senior pics and now I get to do her wedding! I am so excited! It's so much fun to have a bit of a relationship with the people I photograph. I love this family (and from what I saw of Scot's dad last night I'm going to love them too. :)). So here are a few of my favorites so far - check back for more!

This one was Annalee's idea. She wanted to make her mom squirm. :) hehehehe...

Maryssa

What a perfect day for pictures! Nice soft lighting courtesy of the clouds and just a little bit of a breeze. So nice! We went out to Hidden Meadow for Maryssa's senior session and had lots of fun wandering around all over the place. I did get a little distracted by the owls that were in the trees, but only for a couple of minutes. :) Maryssa was up for anything and we got a lot of great pictures that she is going to love! Here are a few of my favorites before I head off to bed. I am so excited for the wedding tomorrow that I need to go to bed early so I'll get at least a couple of hours of rest. I hope. :)

Thanks for being such a good sport Maryssa! Next time we're trashing the dress!!

Sneak Peek of Denise and Erik's Sweet Wedding at Cave B

So lucky! Or blessed. :) I was biting my fingernails for the two weeks leading up to Denise and Erik's wedding worrying about what the weather would do. It's been so cold! But - this last Saturday was beautiful! I didn't get to meet Denise or Erik before the wedding as they are from out of state and after emailing and phone calls it was so much fun to finally meet them face to face. Amazingly kind people. It was a wonderful day and a gorgeous wedding. I have a bazillion pictures to edit but I have to post a few. It was just so pretty. Denise was stunning and her lucky groom was no slouch. :) I am still just all giddy inside from watching them together. The love they have for each other was so sweetly obvious. I'm getting a little emotional thinking about it actually. Okay, enough mushy! Take a look at their pictures and check back in a few days for their slideshow!!!

These are in random order. I haven't finished editing yet but I just had to share a few!




What do you think of this one? I'm tired of the regular ol' cake picture so I dared to be different.




Making their escape...






The bride and her model perfect little nephew...




So pretty...


Work those abs Denise! They both do triathlons so I should've made them work harder! :)

Brand new newlyweds!

There must've been something on the ground...




The baby of one of the bridesmaids was trying to eat the rose petals before they all got scattered on the ground. It was funny.

Venue - Cave B Inn and Winery
Flowers - Apple Blossom Floral
Cake (delicious) - Wedding Cakes By Bea
DJ - Eric Dover - Audio FX

Leslie's Perfect Day

In spite of the huge storm clouds hovering on the horizon and the wind threatening to become a tornado Leslie had a beautiful day for her senior portraits! I'm praying the weather will cooperate for the wedding I have this weekend too. :) It really was a great day yesterday - we found all sorts of nice soft lighting and got some great pictures. Senior sessions are my fave!!

Here are a few teaser pics for Leslie and her mom...


It looks like spring...

Self inflicted pain...

used to feel so darn good! Now it just makes me feel old. :( Summer is coming, I'm turning 30(!) AGHHH!!! next month and there is no way in heck I am going to turn 30 as out of shape as I am now! So I get up this morning, take the kids to school and hit the weights. I did squats, lunges, and calf raises. My legs were numb until about 3:00. Now they're sore. I'm so looking forward to not being able to sit down tomorrow. :) Like I said - summer is coming.

Aimee + Don + Cave B Inn = Beautiful Wedding!

Thought I'd share a few of my favorites (so far) from Aimee and Don's super romantic wedding on April 5th. It was out at Cave B and everything was gorgeous as usual. :) I always take way too many pictures out there. Anyway, it was a sweet, simple ceremony with about 20 of their closest friends there to give them love and support. So laid back! It was wonderful. We dashed outside to take a few formals and then everyone proceeded to party! The bride was gorgeous, the food was pretty, and the surroundings were awe inspiring. I'm so glad I got to be there!

I loved Aimee's dress - it was so romantic. :)


I'm a sucker for flowers...


Cave B is always pretty!


I love the look on her face when she sees Don for the first time!

And I loved the way he looked at her the entire night...


The kiss - and man was it ever! :)


The boys have to look pretty too...


I swear she was glowing!!!


It looked really good - don't know how it tasted though. :)





Watching these two was really fun - they mirrored each other pretty much the whole time I was there...

Except for when they were smooching in front of the gorge...


Congratulations you two!!!

Venue - Cave B Inn and Winery
Florist - Florist in the Garden

visit Colleen Donovan Photography

Gretchen and David's Wedding

Finally! Gretchen and David were married the Saturday before Easter and life has been a bit of a whirlwind since then. The ceremony and reception were held at Anthonys in Richland. I loved this wedding. Gretchen and David were so sweet to each other and they surrounded themselves with people who loved them. It was wonderful to be there. There were lots of tears, even more laughs and super yummy food! What more could you want?? Gretchen and David - I am grateful that I was able to be a part of your day and hope (as always) that the moments I captured will bring back all of the emotions everytime you see your pictures! Best wishes you two! I'll be in touch! :)

Final touches...

Grandpa waiting for showtime...

Tender moment...

These girls were having waaay too much fun!


Sister inspecting the handiwork...

The boys...


The beautiful bride...

The ladies heading back from formals...


Really fun lighting to play with!


The vows...

Just the two of us (okay, them) we can make it if we try...

Aghhhh... sunset light.

I love the look on David's face in this one...

I had some major competition at this wedding - let me tell ya! :)


And they danced all night and lived happily ever after. :)


visit Colleen Donovan Photography

I'm a Liar

I promised I'd post a few pics of Seaside today, but after laying in my bed until 11:30 this morning I kind of ran out of time to do everything. :) Here's one picture. The other 50 will be up tomorrow on our family blog. I always take more than I think I did and then it takes me twice as long to edit everything. :)


Okay, I couldn't pick just one. :)

I'm Home!

Wow! I didn't know everyone would miss me so much. I thought I'd just sneak away for spring break with the family and no one would notice. :) I have a bazillion emails to answer, a sister in law to get in touch with, and loads of laundry. All the pictures are still in my camera but will be free and ready to party tomorrow so I'll post some then.

We went to Seaside and had a super fun time! We've never been there before and kind of went on a whim (cause what else were we going to do??) and at the same time as our friends, the Griggs. I'm so glad we went! The ocean smells and sounds so good and it was nice to go all day with no phone ringing!! We played in the sand and the water - I think we have enough sand dollars to last us a while. We marveled at the beautiful creations that God made just for us to enjoy. And!!!! I FINALLY got to see Haystack Rock with MY OWN EYES!! I would have liked to stay another week and explore some more but we have stuff to do here at home. SO tomorrow is going to be busy already and since I'm all rested up I'm looking forward to it! I've been excited to share some pictures from Gretchen and David's wedding on Easter weekend and I'm really excited to edit Aimee and Don's wedding pictures from last weekend. It was out at Cave B and it was gorgeous. :) Anyway, too much typing. Come back tomorrow afternoon for some fun pics!! I hope you had a wonderful spring break too!!

I know it's Tuesday already but...

I just had to say that I hope everyone had a very happy Easter!! Check back in a couple of days for some pictures of Gretchen and David's sweet wedding in Richland. :)

Aren't these little bunnies the cutest? My mom made them. :)