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If I haven’t said this enough, I will say it again… I love my brides!!! They are all so completely wonderful and amazing in every way and I am SO SO blessed to know each one of them. Lauren recently sent in her personal thoughts on working with me for her wedding and I just had to share!! I can say how much I love being a wedding photographer all day long, but it always means so much more hearing it from an actual bride. Thank you Lauren for being so truly beautiful inside and out in EVERY WAY! Many xoxos to you and Joe.

“Courtney is an amazingly talented photographer! She is so passionate about her work and it shows in the end. I love her romantic, artistic style. I had no doubt when I booked her that I would have beautiful photography in the end. What I didn’t know is that she would be a joy to work with through my wedding planning. She was my only vendor to check in with me through planning. She was my only vendor I didn’t have to call and ask “what do I need to do now?” Her photography for my event exceeded my expectations. I am so thankful to have found her and thankful I was able to book her for my event. I was ecstatic when I found out Courtney offered Gigglybooth. Gigglybooth added such a fun element to our wedding. It was such a great way to get pictures of all our guests, and it served as another form of entertainment for our guests. Our guests really enjoyed Gigglybooth, and love being able to view and order photos after the event! The backdrop Courtney put together was stunning, and the props she provided were so much fun! – Lauren Smith VanZandt”

To see all of Lauren and Joe’s wedding photos click here.

If you are a past bride wanting to share your experience on the blog or website, please email me!! : )

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As you’ve probably heard me say before… it is sooooo important for me to do things for myself as an artist, to push myself to be creative and keep the artistry and creativity alive and burning inside of me. I think every artist (graphic designer, video editor, painter, sculptor, stylist, photographer, etc) should always make time for projects for themselves. Don’t get me wrong, I LOOOOOVE shooting for my clients… I’m obsessed with it. But I still need to shoot things for myself, because after all… that’s how this whole dream began anyways. My mind is always dreaming up things that I want to shoot. My latest idea was to create a shoot themed around a “modern, rocker bride”. I wanted to do something a little different than the normal white/cream dress you normally see on a bride. If you know anything about me, I LOVE rock music and I love fashion and bridal couture. I wanted to combine all of those elements and create something different and beautiful, and prove that you can be different, but still elegant and stunning as bride. I immediately thought of sweet Jewel to play the part. If you’ve seen the sneak peeks I have posted from this shoot in the last couple of days, have you recognized Jewel yet? She modeled for me in 2009 for my “twilight” inspired photo shoot (which was another one of my “artist dreams”!) and I knew she would be just perfect to make my vision come to life. After she let me know she was super excited to do the shoot, I got to planning! I asked my mom to make a black tulle skirt and we then paired it with one of Jewel’s tops and belts to create the “wedding dress” for the shoot. It came out better than I even imagined!!

I then asked the genius Valerie of Southern Fete Event Planning to make a bouquet for me. I didn’t want real flowers.. I wanted different. I explained the theme I was going for and inspiration in my mind, and she of course delivered the most amazingly creative bouquet made of black lace and feathers! I wanted to be able to show that a bouquet can be creative as well. It doesn’t have to look like every other bouquet and Val proves that. I gave her a challenge and it pushed her to be creative, and in the end… turned out AMAZING and better than I could have hoped. I knew she would deliver as she ALWAYS does. I love her creativity!

I asked my sweet, dear friend and dream team member of my studio, Courtney Davis, to do Jewel’s hair/makeup for the shoot. I explained my ideas and told her I imagined Jewel’s makeup being a smokey “Kim Kardashian” eye with hints of gold. She OF COURSE brought that to life and created a masterpiece on Jewel’s face and with her hair. I have said this before and I will say it again and again…. Courtney Davis is a hair/makeup genius!!! She is truly THE  most incredibly talented stylist I have ever worked with. And I can say that in full confidence because I have worked with many. Not only is she good at what she does, but she is ALWAYS reliable and professional. Brides, don’t settle when it comes to your hair/mu for the wedding day… I have seen that happen WAY TOO MANY TIMES and it’s never a good thing. Never. Hire Courtney. ; ) (kikisconsulting@gmail.com)

I am SO proud of the result of this shoot. The photos are some of my favorites I have ever taken. I am so grateful that God made me an artist. I wouldn’t have it any other way and I truly give Him all of the credit for creating me with this gift that hold so dear to my heart and don’t take lightly. It’s 100% because of Him that I have the talent of art – I am so blessed.

Thank you Jewel, Courtney, mom and Valerie for helping me make another idea come to life. I couldn’t have done it without any of you. Many xoxoxos to you girls – I am so happy you are all in my life!!

I hope that you enjoy the photos, and that by the time you get to the end of this post, you know me even a little better than before.

Jewel, you are exquisite.

A little glitter fun to end the day.  : )

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I love the location Lyndsey and Travis chose for their shoot. It was very different than what I normally do and gave me the opportunity to be a little more creative and different. Lyndsey told me she really wanted her pictures to look different and was willing to do whatever to capture that. I definitely think we accomplished just that!! I love how the photos turned out and have been excited to show you a few of my favorites.

Lyndsey and Travis are such a cute couple.. one of my favorite things about them is how much Travis adores Lynds and always is sure she is being taken care of. It’s so sweet.

L&T, can’t wait to shoot your wedding this summer!!! Thanks for being so amazing. xo

Lyndsey brought this super fun heart shaped umbrella!

Beeeaaautiful.

Notice the graffiti of their names. ; )

Why yes, I planned that heart to be in the shot. Thankyouverymuch. ; )

Lyndsey, you are so beautiful!

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You may remember this beautiful couple from their engagement photos we shot a few months ago. They recently ran off to Disney and eloped! The happy couple of course wanted some fun professional photos as newlyweds so as soon as they were back from the honeymoon we made it happen!! It was a beautiful day at Houmas House Plantation and I absolutely ADORE how the photos turned out.

Autumn + Trey, I wish you both all the happiness in the world as you start your new adventure together as husband and wife. Thank you for allowing me to be a part of this special time!! xoxo

Hair/Makeup by Courtney Davis of Kiki’s Consulting. <– she is AHmazing!! Can’t say it enough!!!

BEAUTIFUL couple!!!!

I asked one of my best friends Noah to come along on the shoot and this is one of the shots he got. LOVE.

Noah also captured this shot that I find totally rad.

Trey’s signature move. ; )

LOVE LOVE LOVE this shot Noah took of Autumn!!! She looks gorg!

The End!

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It doesn’t seem like it was that long ago that I was graduating high school and “starting life” as a young, fresh and hopeful woman. I remember when I finally finished school and moved out of my parent’s home I was SO EXCITED. I was so ready to begin “adulthood” and begin my own adventure of life. Graduating high school is one of the most exciting times in a young person’s life so why wouldn’t you want some pretty photos to capture this time in your life? I don’t by any means specialize in senior photography, but every now and then will get a special request for it from seniors looking for something a little different than your typical graduation photography. Emily is SUCH a special girl. I see it written all over her demeanor. She inspired me in just the little time we spent together on the day of her shoot. Without knowing she reminded me to always stay young at heart and never to lose that inspired, hopeful spirit that she so obviously possesses. I am so happy I was able to photograph such a lovely young lady.

Thank you Emily for picking ME! : ) It means so much and I am so glad we met. You are SO beautiful! Can’t wait for our next encounter in the future. Wink wink.

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I’ve said this before… but as an artist it is CRUCIAL to push yourself to find ways to keep your creative wheels turning. Otherwise you will find yourself stuck in a creative funk. There are many things I do to keep my creative juices flowing. One of them is collaborating with some of my favorite local wedding vendors to create fun photo shoots where we can all run wild and free with our ideas. These photo shoots are so completely ideal for all of us to really let our talent shine and not hold back. You may remember my Vintage Love Story photo shoot where I created the concept and had several people help me put it together. I had SO much fun with this shoot I decided it was a must to do at least 4 of these types of shoots a year. Where we have full reign to do whatever we want. Since I came up with the last concept, I asked Valerie of Southern Fete (event planner extraordinaire) to come up with the next one. She came up with the idea of doing a Nancy Drew inspired shoot with several elements of mystery. Together with our ideas put together I love what we came up with. Below is what Valerie had to say about the shoot.

“I’ve been so inspired by Nancy Drew lately. Here in South Louisiana, outdoor receptions are hard to pull off because of the heat so I thought we’d try an indoor setting. For some reason, imagined the dining room table I always saw in my head when I read her stories. Something, grand and anything but boring. I thought of the perfect dining room for a Nancy Drew-inspired wedding and it chose our color palette for us in the form of gold chandelier and pale blue walls. From their we added soft and bold elements. It was soft with white hydrangeas and ruffly dress but bold with Nancy’s head piece and curls and the sunburst centerpiece all at the same time. To add some mystery, we incorporated the mystery wine text, a dessert key instead of labels and keys on the invitation set.”

Along with the help of Heather of Social Bites of Ruston for the beautiful desserts, Courtney Davis for the amazing hair/makeup and my sweet sweet friends Danielle & Jonathan for modeling… I think our photo shoot turned out beautiful. Please enjoy our creations. : )

Photographer: Courtney Dellafiora
Shoot Planner/Concept: Valerie Woerner of Southern Fete
Paper Goods: Valerie Woerner
Desserts: Heather Bailey of Social Bites of Ruston
Hair/Makeup: Courtney Davis of Kiki’s Consulting
Flowers: Bobbi Rice of Bobbi Rice Event Design
Models: Danielle and Jonathan
Assistant: Deirdre Dore’

Activities for your guest at the wedding are a big trend right now. For our Nancy Drew-inspired shoot, we thought adding a little mystery to our activity would be fun! Each guest would grab our mystery wine wheel, try all flavors and write notes under Mystery #1, etc. When they finished, they could detach the top layer to find out what wine they liked best!

Glitter marshmallows: GENIUS!

Heather is truly one of the most amazingly talented cake designers!! She blows me away every time I see one of her creations.

Valerie designed all of the paper goods from the place settings down to the invitations.

I asked Courtney Davis to do gold tones for Danielle’s makeup and to create loose wavy curls for her hair… she AS ALWAYS… did an INCREDIBLE job making my vision come to life. Brides, hiring a TRULY gifted and talented hair/makeup stylist is SO SO SO important for your wedding. I cannot tell you how many times I have seen hair/makeup go wrong on the wedding day. Don’t settle in this area of your big day.

My friends Danielle and Jonathan did an outstanding job being our models. Their love for one another shines bright on and off camera. I am constantly inspired by everything about these two.

Seriously, could they be any cuter!?!

Danielle… one word: STUNNING

Abbbbbsssolutely love this shot Deirdre captured at the end of the shoot:

The End.  : )

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