The Art of The First Look

St. Louis Wedding Photographers

The first look has increasingly become the norm in wedding day schedules. Couples no longer feel the pressure wait until the ceremony to debut their respective wedding day attire. Rosalie and I both agree that this is a welcome modern fixture to the big day. Though we love when couples save the moment for everyone to see, there is something uniquely magical about having such a tender moment shared privately between the couple. It creates a quiet space for our couples in an otherwise busy whirlwind of the day. Not to mention, for many it is one hell of a stress relief for the rest of the day! We can’t begin to tell you how romantic it is to see a couple just burst into tears at the mere glance of each other. Sometimes it’s in a backyard, sometimes it’s in an empty sanctuary. The moment is always special. So before I ramble on and on about why I love the private first look, here are some of our favorite first look from over the years.

An Appreciation for Wedding Receptions

St. Louis Wedding Photographers

For as long as Rosalie and I have been shooting weddings, we have loved shooting wedding receptions. All of the big events are pretty much crossed off of the list for the day (save for cake cutting) and its time to cut loose. Dancing the night away with your closest friends and most loved ones is simply the best part of the day. This little journal entry is simply and appreciation for the wonderful moments captured while we partied down with our couples. We pledge to post more reception photos on our feed, so take a look at some of our favorite party moments!

Our Favorite St. Louis Engagement Session Locations! (And why we love to do them!)

St. Louis Wedding Photographers

One of the most import aspects of relationship building between Rosalie, myself, and the couples that we work with is the engagement session. In between booking a wedding photographer and actually doing the thing on the big day, we love getting to capture an engagement session. Unless you’re using photos for save the dates, planning an engagement session may not be the first thing on your mind. But for us, this type of shoot allows Rosalie and I to meet our you, get comfortable, and create some amazing work together! There is definitely an advantage to meeting up and working together before the wedding day. For many of our couples it may be the first time they have ever been professionally photographed. (Like… 99% of our couples have never had their photos taken before.) Getting comfortable with us and being in front of the camera before your wedding day does quite a bit of nerve calming. When the day you say “I do!” rolls around we’ll be old pals! Photographing you also gives us a chance to perfect how we’ll be photographing you in the future. We look out for things like posture and are better acquainted with they dynamic you both share. We can photograph your love more authentically if we have a chance to study it before hand.

Now, let us tell you why we love St. Louis for engagements. (A lot of our couples travel to Missouri for their engagement session!) St. Louis’ diverse assortment of neighborhoods and architecture lends itself quite well to a photographer’s constant search for new and interesting sites for shoots. A number of city parks offer natural landscapes and colorful backdrops while city streets and public university campuses create the perfect place to get modern and classy photos when the colder months set in, leaving Missouri colorless and bare. Both the city and the surrounding suburbs have so much to offer when planning an engagement photo shoot. Here are some of our favorite places to shoot in and within 1.5 hours of St. Louis.

1. Lafayette Park

Hands down the prettiest park in St. Louis. Lafayette park is the definition of magic. With wooded groves, wide open spaces, and a bridge overlooking a dreamy pond below, you really can’t go wrong. We find ourselves coming back to this place over and over again because it really is the best. From spring to fall, Lafayette Park takes us by surprise with its beauty. There are also resident ducklings and two swans that live on the pond and Rosalie says hello to them every opportunity she gets. Outside of the park on the square, there are charming homes that are perfect for sidewalk and street photos. We never miss a chance to walk one of our favorite neighborhoods with our couples.

2. WashU

The Campus of Washington University is amazing through the seasons. The architecture makes for interesting and artistic photos no matter what time of year it is. We have a personal favorite time to visit and that is in November when a lane of ginkgo tree are bright, bright yellow. It’s like something out of a movie.

3. Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis

(This is also on our best wedding venues in St. Louis journal entry! You can read that here.) Like WashU, CAM is a year round engagement session location. There are indoor ad outdoor areas to explore, and as long as you call ahead, you can have your photos taken indoors.

4. Central West End

Adorable streets, shopping areas, and of course, Jeni’s Ice Cream! If you love the feel of the movie “You’ve Got Mail”, you’ll love taking your photos in Central West End.

5. Forest Park

It’s basically St. Louis Central Park! 1300 Acres of endless photo spots. Our two personal favorites are Art Hill and the gardens along the Jewel Box. We’re dying to shoot an engagement session that We know, we know! It’s very popular. It is also very easy to be creative and make it look new in photographs.

6. Kiener Plaza

This area in the city has a perfect view of the St. Louis Arch if you’re wanting to include it in your engagement photos. It’s also a short distance from the City Garden Sculpture Park

7. Castlewood State Park

Beautiful wooded areas, streams, and a short hike that leads to a stunning overlook! Every time we photograph a couple here, I wish that we could bring our dogs. So if you want to include your pup’s in your photos, this is a great place to do it. Very dog friendly!

8. Weldon Spring Conservation Area

Easily one of the coolest engagement session locations for couples who want photos are out in nature, but also want artistic photos. This site is a WWII site where they made munitions. Since then the area has been cleaned and decontaminated, so it’s perfectly safe and also extremely cool.

9. Klondike Park

This former silica sand quarry gives couples a water front and stone setting for their engagement photos. Located just 45 minutes outside of St. Louis, this park is for the outdoor lovers!

10. Elephant Rock State Park

An hour and a half out side of St. Louis, is a collection of huge boulders that are named appropriately because they are the size of elephants and larger! Sweeping views over the Mark Twain National Forest, an easy paved hike, and a water filled quarry. When you’re among the rocks, you’ll have to keep reminding yourself that you are indeed in Missouri. It’s wild!

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We’ll be adding more to this list every single month, so if you’re still looking for the perfect spot, be sure to check back in with this page!

A Colorful Wedding at Vine Hill House

Rosalie and I have found that we tend to attract the most easy going couples these days. Couples that want to break from tradition and do things their way. On days like this day, we get to spend time with folks that know exactly what is most valuable on a wedding day. What made Theresa and Balt’s wedding so terrific was the overwhelming amount of love and care brought by their wonderful family and friends. Theresa and Balt were surrounded by the ones they cared the most for. For Rosalie and I, the embrace of such a diverse color pallet made for a visual feast for our cameras. This was a truly wonderful wedding day and such a joy for us to have been back in California for the occasion. We love shooting out west and capturing that golden state charm we, as Missourians, missed so much! As your scroll and mosey about these images we hope you can see the absolutely stunning amount of detail our fellow vendors poured into this day. A community of wedding industry all-stars made this day so easy for us to capture. Please enjoy this captivating California Wine Country Wedding at Vine Hill House.
Also this was the first wedding that we brought a film camera along to. Be on the look out for some black and white snapshots from throughout the day!

Venue: Vine Hill House
Makeup: Samantha Keefauver
Hair: Carly Wise
Planning + Design: Brannan Events

Rosalie's 30th Birthday Playlist

Rosalie’s 30’th Birthday Playlist

Zach made me a playlist as a gift for my 30th, and I’d love to share it with all of you. :)
Saying goodbye to my 20’s feels amazing. It was filled with so much love and learning to be true to myself. I hope that my 30’s are filled with even half of the complete joy and freedom I’ve felt in the last two years. I’ve never felt this way before a birthday, but this year I feel like honoring and prioritizing the person I’ve become

So here’s to

Waking up
being present
prioritizing myself and happiness

and clinging so hard to the people who’ve given me room to learn and grow and loved me through it.

xo
Rosalie

Ps. Zach you are so thoughtful and I love you endlessly.