Josh and Paige

Today I was delighted to join Josh and Paige on their wedding day at the Saint Paul LDS Temple. The day was overcast, but that didn't put a damper on the bright colors of the day!
Congratulations on your wedding and I wish you many years of happiness! I hope you enjoy your sneak peek!

Dance

I love this image because of the way they are looking at each other. They aren't chatting like a lot of couples do during their dance. But there's the unspoken connection between them in this moment. I like that.

Krista and Brian

Yesterday was the photo session and reception for our friend's daughter, Krista, and her husband Brian. I knew Krista back when she was a teenager in the Young Women's program at our church. She's grown up to be a beautiful woman.

We had planned to spend about an hour at the Minnesota State Fairgrounds, but it started pouring rain early in the day and the rain stayed all day long with gusts of wind. We found a few sheltered spots to play around in. I love sessions like these where there's no wedding to rush off to, and the dress doesn't have to stay completely spotless!

Hope you like your sneak peek and look forward to showing you more!

Love is in the air...

Meet Heidi and Dave. I feel so lucky to be able to photograph their wedding in May. In the meantime it was really fun meeting up with them at the Historic Stone Arch Bridge in Minneapolis for an engagement session. Aren't they gorgeous?

I'm so happy that it's warm enough to do outdoor sessions now!

The weathermen were so wrong about how Saturday was going to turn out. We were a little worried that we'd be toting around some umbrellas, but as you can see the day was clear and bright and beautiful, what luck! I've never shot down here before, and it was fun trying out a new spot. I'll for sure be back to shoot again.













I hope they remember me when they start having babies, their kids are going to be adoreable!

Wedding Formals

Today I'd like to address the topic of wedding formals.

You've taken a lot of time and spent a lot of hours scouring over photographer's galleries and portfolios when hiring a wedding photographer. You've chosen your photographer for a reason. Perhaps it's their artistic images that captured you. Maybe it was their personality. Perhaps you really loved the albums they offered.

Now that you've signed your contract and sent in your deposit your photographer may ask you for a list of family members you'd like to have included in your wedding formal pictures.

I've had a lot of brides give me a variety of lists, some very minimal, because they want me to focus more on artistic pictures for the day. And some brides have given me a more extensive list, wanting to make sure they are photographed with each member of their day, which is fine with me, but takes a lot of time and also cuts down on the time I can spend doing more creative work for them. It all depends on what the bride and groom really want, when placing images in their wedding album.

There is one issue I'd like to address with future brides in particular, when considering on who to have photographed in your wedding formals. You and your groom are coming together to create a union.

Mark 10: 7-8 (KJV)

For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife; And they twain shall be one flesh: so then they are no more twain, but one flesh.

This is a union between two families. Two families becoming one. You will now belong to his family, and your groom will belong to your family. There is no reason to have individual pictures of yourselves with your family members. There are several reasons why it is not necessary. First, it quite often ends up with redundant images and burned up time, which will make less time for more artistically inspired photography. It can also wear out the whole family having to wait around for their turn in the pictures. In the end it can end up being one long portrait session instead of a wedding session. Please consider having only one image with you and your family together without your bride and groom, and then one image with both of you with the entire family instead of individual pictures of you with each of your family members.

When deciding what images you really want in your album to look back on in the next 50 years, think about what is most important to you. When choosing your photographer, what images were you drawn to most? Are pictures of your family what you will hold most dear, or will you want more artistic images?

You make the call.

© 2009 Jennifer Klingensmith

A Sneak Peek Play

( click to see larger image)

This is sort of a sneak peek for one of my Extreme Bridal couples (you might recognize them as my October '07 wedding couple), and also a play with texture. I love how you can see the city behind them through the glass.

I was really happy when this couple called me to do another session. Their wedding had been in October and it had been cold and rainy all week before their wedding and so the ground was wet and her dress was a little light for the weather, which made it a little hard to get some good stuff, so it was nice to get it out into the world when it was warm again and we didn't have to keep it totally clean!

This was taken in downtown St. Paul by the Capitol on one of the bridges that go over 35E.

| Amy & Ed |

This cute couple found me through one of my brides last year (Thanks Mara!), and I'm so glad they did! They just celebrated their 3rd wedding anniversary last month and wanted some fresh relationship pictures. I had a lot of fun planning for and carrying out their session.

Their session was done mostly down on Grand Ave. in St. Paul. Weather seemed to be threatening this session at the beginning of the day, we had some good downpours and the storm spouted off some tornado activity east of us, but thankfully the weather cleared up just in time for their session, and we made some good use of a puddle!

We ended the evening down by the train tracks and a brightly colored wall.

Thanks you two for a great evening! Hope you enjoy your sneak peek, I couldn't resist playing with them while they uploaded! I can't wait to finish working on your session and share it with you.

(click on image to see larger version)