The previous blog post featured Nick & Elaine’s engagement session. The day after that, I photographed Elaine’s bridals at the new downtown botanical garden area.  Now that these two are officially married (two days), I’m allowed to post her bridals showing off her dress! yay!

A couple weeks ago, I road tripped up to Alva for Jessy & Timmori’s pre-wedding photos.  Now…if you’ve never been to Alva…it’s small.  According to the internet, Alva’s population is 4,800.  I’m not really sure what that number compared to in size, so I looked it up (I’m being resourceful today). Oklahoma City’s population is 580,000.  So..what’s the point of my blabbering? My point is- even in a town of 4,800 people, I can find a way to get lost.

I drove around this city full of stop signs for about 30 minutes before I finally stopped for directions. I pulled over at a vegetable stand full of old ladies.  You can always count on the old ladies to help you out.  NOT.

Here’s what they were thinking when I pulled up.

“Huh….either someone in Alva got a new car….or its a visitor.”

“Must be a visitor…she just hit the curb while parking.”

“Oh great…its someone from the city- she’s wearing something other than cowboy boots.”

I know this is what they were thinking…primarily because of how our ACTUAL conversation went:

Me: ” Hello….Sorry to interupt ladies…but I’m lost.”

Old Ladies:  (Laughing) “You’re lost in Alva??”

Me: “Yeah…my Mapquest keeps bringing me to this address but it’s not the correct one.”

Old Ladies: “You’re in a city with about 3 main streets….so turn right, go straight, and the address is on your right.”

At that point, I said thanks, got back in my car, and pulled off the curb.

At least we got pretty pictures

The biggest perk of having an actual bridal session (rather than only taking a few solo pics of the bride on the wedding day) is having plenty of time to take the photos without being rushed.  Believe it or not, no matter how much a bride loves taking pictures, on the wedding day its the LAST thing you want to think about.  And because of the hustle and bustle on that day, posed photos often get set aside til later or never done.  Brides: The best scenario is to have posed bridals taken before the wedding date (days, weeks, or months) and then, on the wedding day, have 95% of the photos taken candidly.   This allows for real expression and emotions to be captured on camera. Check out my smokin hot bride, Victoria!

Long gone are the days of not seeing the bride in her wedding dress before the ceremony.  Pre-wedding photos, often called “first look” photos are pretty common nowdays.  These are photographed either

1) on the wedding day before the ceremony

or

2) a specific date prior to the wedding date

Kyle and Lindsey wanted a location that was unique and not the traditional photographed spots. They chose gorgeous locations in Ponca City. We hit up the Marland Mansion, rural land, and even my grandma & grandpa’s daisy field!

Expect more wedding pics later this year!