The wedding dress and the coat

Every year around Olivia's birthday, I take pictures of her in my wedding dress. I saw someone on Oprah do it, and thought it was about the neatest thing since sliced bread. Given that it's July, I'm a little late. Here's a recap of the last 3 years:

2007

2008

2009

2010

But being a month late on Olivia's picture is nothing compared to Claire. I didn't do the wedding dress with her, because her birthday is in December, and I thought a strappy wedding dress in the winter was, well, cruel. So I take her picture with my fancy coat, that I bought the year before I had Olivia. I love that coat. I can't fit in it anymore. It's such a drag! So I took Claire's picture after her first birthday... and realized over the weekend that I never took hers after her second birthday. Why must December be so busy!!??!! So I took her picture in the coat the same day I did Olivia's. I figure having one at 2 1/2 instead of 2 is better than not having one at all.

2009 (really for 2008, but I took it in January)

and 2010 (really for 2009, but I took it in July, yuk!)

and the same picture, just playing around

One fancy lady

I have a slight obsession with petti-skirts, and the beautiful images photographers create with little girls in them. I have a fancy petti-skirt on the way, but I saw cheapo Halloween costume ones at Wal-mart. They had 4 colors, and I picked up 2 of them (for $5 each, I couldn't pass it up!) And while I'll use them on sessions for sure, I don't feel bad about keeping them in the girls' dress up chest. (for the record, the fancy one will never go in that chest)

286 of 365: One fancy lady


Olivia actually started the dressing up, but disrobed before the photo taking started. Claire actually posed for photos, and then let me take video of her! So here's a Claire video debut on the blog!

my favorite time of year

So those have been around know that I take photos of Olivia every year around her birthday in my wedding dress. I do a similar thing with Claire (in my fancy winter coat, since her birthday is in December, you can see that post here along with Olivia's past dress incarnations) and its probably my favorite tradition we have. I love getting out my dress... love setting everything up. Every year I do find myself hoping that next year will be easier. Olivia's not the most pleasant person to put into uncomfortable situations, and she definetly finds the itchy wedding dress uncomfortable. But this year, we did get some smiling images.

(my fav of the unhappy's)




it's like she's grabbing at suspenders!


And I took some of Claire as well, for her half year




Now I know what you're asking. You're asking, Heather how in the world did you get the girls to smile?? Well, we pulled out all the stops this year. Because she was just not having it at all! We let Vash (the cat) out, and Tim brought out MONSTER since the girls are still obsessed with it. Which brings us to the day...

163 of 365: Please be Entertained

so lets start at the start

Since I know Amber (the bride) from my 'day' job, I had a lot of fun being back with her while she was getting ready before the wedding. Her friends and family are just a joy to be around, and made me feel welcome the whole time.

Amber was wearing this fun printed shirt before getting into her dress... lets hope it was Brins LOL!


From the room they got ready in, you could look down over the parking lot. The flower girls arriving caused a bit of a tizzy.


I love how she's looking adoringly at Amber


Brian was a bundle of happy nerves beforehand.


And I just loved this... all the girls just fussing over Amber




Nothing beats Ambers shoes...


And of course the little girls tried their best to teach Ryan how to hold his pillow




More to come later!

the blown dress

I love photos of wedding dresses hanging in front of a bright window. Since it's something I'd like to try with Ambers dress, I wanted to practice sooner. Substitute dresses... the girls easter dresses!

85 of 365: Sugar and Spice


86 of 365: Everything Nice

4th in 4th

Another person posted on their blog, a game they had seen on someone elses blog. You go into your picture files, go into the fourth folder, and then post the fourth picture. Me being curious (and having tons and tons of folders of photos) decided to give this a try.

I took pictures of Claire in my wedding dress when she was just over 6 months old. I shoot Olivia every year around her birthday in my wedding dress, and decided that I should shoot Claire on her half years with her. Don't love this shot - but hey, thats what you get when I post the fourth picture in the fourth folder.