COREY AND MELISSA: HISTORIC SEVEN SYCAMORES WEDDING

This fall wedding was one for the books! From the actual leaf place cards to the exquisite floral design, I was completely swooning when I arrived to see all the goodness.

 Melissa and Corey hired the talented Katie Kalendar of Ribbon and Leaf Events to design and execute their vision of a an elegant meets rustic fall wedding, so it was no surprise to me that every detail from this wedding was carefully articulated and gave you a warm, cozy fall vibe.Historic Seven Sycamores has the most gorgeous overgrown trees all over their ground and Katie used the leaves from the venue, which had already fallen during the changing season, and teamed up with The Scribble Shoppe t to add some beautiful calligraphy to them with each guests' name as their place card. My favorite thing Ive seen to date. Rustic Roots blew us away with the brides bouquet along with the ceremony and reception floral design. Tres Bien provided guests with a wonderful and delicious display of a burger buffet (so yummy!) and all guests enjoyed sweet treats from the ever so talented Goodies Cookies and Cakes!

This was a wedding to remember and I'm so excited to share it here with you all!

Vendor love:

 Planning & Coordination -

@ribbonandleaf

Photo-

@simplysmith__ 

Videography-

@toastsnbells

Venue-

@historicsevensycamores

Flowers-

@rusticrootsfloraldesign

Catering

@tresbien_tailoredcuisinerust

Rentals -

@expopartyrentals

&

@charmingtreasureseventrental

DJ -

@thedjjohnlewis

Cake & Cookies

@goodiescookiesncakes

Welcome sign

@harpergrayce

Calligraphy

@thescribbleshoppe

Hair @alliiiv

Makeup @cassmakeup

Dress

@miabellabridal

NATHAN + CAMERON | WEDDING

JOSH + EMILY

So antsy to share this little highlight of the Vannette/Vanderbyl wedding tonight!! I have fallen in love with these winter weddings; cold and gloomy add so much more drama to the pictures and I can't get enough of them. Plus,  Josh and Emily are SUCH a stunning couple. So radiant and so snuggly with one another. I'm pretty sure the smiles did not go away AT ALL the entire day. Even with El Nino stopping by for a visit, Emily happily walked out of her parent's home to find her groom. With her umbrella in her hand, she truly could not hide her excitement. Her exact words were, "It's part of the story, right?" :)And it poured buckets of rain on this day. Somehow it paused in the exact hour we had scheduled to take all of the formal photos though! And it definitely goes down as one of my favorite weddings yet!Huge thanks to Theresa Wooner for second shooting this day with me! and Kayla Carlisle for some awesome reception images!!how gorgeous is that gown!?

Jen + Adam

A beautiful March wedding at The Bakersfield Country Club in Bakersfield, Ca. The day was timeless, fun, and pure perfection. I could not have asked for a more perfect day! Congratulations to Jen + Adam Papasergia! (I love saying that name) ;)

2014 Recap

Well, it's January. January is by far the slowest month for me, I like to go-go-go so sometimes January is a tough month for me. It FORCES me to slow down and I don't like that. But today I am finding myself reflecting back on 2014 and all the new adventures I was able to explore. 2014 was a pivotal year for Simply Smith Photography.. it was a year where I veered away from family portraits and dove deep into weddings. I seriously cannot be more thankful for that choice. I feel like it lead me to my purpose in this business. I feel like I found where I belong. Now the real question is.. do I really want to do every single wedding I am offered? And that was a hard one to answer at first because I can seriously live inside of someones wedding day.. I can get lost on a full Saturday enjoying the bride and her maids getting pretty and anxious.. I can stand back and witness the vows all day long, not to mention "her" Dad walking his daughter down the isle.. I can stare at the bouquet and centerpieces.. I love seeing the unique guestbooks and what song the bride and groom will dance to for their first dance as husband and wife. Now here's the kicker.. I have a husband myself! Not to mention a 5 year-old who is growing into his big boy body and realizing how good he really is at swimming and building legos and writing his name.. I also have a seven year-old who is learning new tricks on his trampoline every single day.. who likes to snuggle with me before bedtime. I know that these moments will not last forever, in fact, I know they will fly by. I'm assuming the joys of photographing a wedding won't ever dwindle away and I'll also bet money that for the rest of my lifetime people will always get married ;)Now if I've led you to believe that I won't be photographing weddings anymore, I'm sorry.. I blame that on my lack of writing skills mixed with womanly emotion. I will most definitely photograph weddings every year from here on out, but I have decided to limit the amount of weddings I will sign my name to. 2015 has booked up. I meet with my last client this Friday and she will, without a doubt, be the last woman who signs her name to a 2015 wedding contract with Simply Smith Photography. My family and my life miss me. I spent lots and lots of Saturdays away from backyard play time, BBQs, nieces and nephew birthday parties, evening dinners, swimming with the boys in summer, football games, etc. I think I did a pretty good job planning my weekends accordingly for this upcoming year. I actually stuck to my guns and have left June 2015 (you know, summer vacation? I didn't get that last year..) open this year for my family and friends. My sisters are going to love me this summer.Okay, I pretty much rambled and got off subject. The point of this post is to reflect on how busy and amazing 2014 was and how much fun I had photographing so many special days that year! and 2015 will be just as great!I shared as many images as I could find in my time machine from the gorgeous couples and their beautiful weddings. I'll try to recap on where they took place as I go along. :)**If you are reading this and you are planning your wedding for 2016, I want to let you know that new packages and pricing will be announced in June this year and like I said up there^, space will be extremely limited. So please check back JUNE 1ST!! :DFirst wedding that comes up is Annie and Jon Rosa out of Porterville, Ca. They were married at River Island Country Club. It was a beautiful day with tons and tons of family and friends! They know how to party.The next wedding that I want to share is Brittany and Caleb's rustic wedding. Drop-dead gorgeous bride and the cutest rustic details!Courtney and Will.. This wedding was so cute. It was super small and took place at the White Horse Inn in Three Rivers. (the famous rock picture)Oo.. this wedding was gorgeous. Summer at Wolf Lakes in Sanger with Jennie and Quintin..I also got to travel to Los Osos for the first and shoot a cute little couple for their engagement session.More summer time with Holly and Kelly :)This wedding might take the cake as the most beautiful and memorable. Only because it rained the entire time and we all had to work our butts off and improvise.. what a treat it was for me thought, because the rain made for some gorgeous images.Ending summer was not too bad when you have all these wedding to cull through.August came quickly and I got to photograph another Wolf Lakes event (Nat+Jorge) and then Karen and Paul Suhovy's in Visalia!Oops.. a little out of order here.. This wedding was one of my first weddings in 2014.. The Scheenstra wedding! I could have shared every single image (she had a chevron dance floor!!!)Okay, I'm getting tired of writing.. lol.. I'm going to jumble all of the gorgeous fall highlight into one group! (sorry.. fingers are tired) Fall did not disappoint. It was absolute perfection.November was just as wonderfulAnd there was Winter :)