Sure do love the above picture of elizabeth and austin at the close of their wedding ceremony; the priest asked

elizabeth’s and austin’s parents to stand in honor of all they’d done to raise these two. Wow . . . a moving moment!

Everything . . . yes, everything, about elizabeth and austin’s wedding was a joy. For starters, i got to spend a bit of time

photographing the GROOM getting ready . . . love it when that happens! and can you tell what’s going on in that

second frame below? (Q: how many guys does it take to fold a pocket handkerchief? A: nine (plus a laptop and the internet))

we took advantage of beautiful natural light streaming in through the back of the sanctuary . . . and check out elizabeth’s

veil (boths shot of  veil below are annika’s). Hurray for two shooters! at the exact moment that annika made that picture

of elizabeth and her dad from behind, i made the picture of austin watching and waiting at the opposite end of the aisle:

From a sun-drenched exit, we took a stroll through downtown St. Charles . . . beautiful at holiday time!

And the reception was held at one of my favorite spots: St. Charles’ Foundry Art Center which use to be a train car factory

(this was silverbox’s 2nd delightful evening spent at the foundry . . . remember emily + jeff’s wedding in february?)

be sure to watch elizabeth and austin’s wedding slideshow . . . and keep checking the blog . . . lots more

entries to post over the next few weeks. congrats, elizabeth and austin!

~kim

*ebay:

above:  $4 flags-of-the-world soccer ball = ridiculously happy boy

*dimples (+ delight!)

the question of the season:  how many snuggies were found under trees xmas morn?

*artistic (albeit wacky) kids AND wacky kids!:


2 things 9-year-old Tycho loves most:  the beatles + the alamo

(3, 4, 5 would be “beer lids”; the KC Chiefs; and poker) ~

so our clever teenage daughter added a little collage cover to his present. HUGE hit! HUGE!

(fyi above: that’s Ringo remembering the Alamo in deep sepia-toned contemplation)

Tycho loves The Beatles SO MUCH that his Christmas List mainly consisted of Beatles shirts…he got THREE and couldn’t be happier…

* did i mention ebay?

 

since #6 on “Tycho’s favorite things list” would be LEGOS; “people” and “weapons” (to stage the alamo btw)

topping the most desired of all ~ but tough to find without buying gigantic high dollar sets,

UNLESS SANTA SHOPS EBAY AND GETS THIS WHOLE ZIPLOC BAG for pennies on the dollar. fyi: AND Paul’s new favorite lego piece, found!

* man’s/family’s best friend. introducing, LUCILLE. oh we love her so ~ and there’s the artistic teen by Lucille’s side.

[side note: Avery looking that good first thing in the morning without a hint of make-up clearly genes from Paul's side....]

*silly, subtle resemblence:

it’s not just the eyes, the nose, the smile, the teeth (?) ~ but even the tilt of the head that makes kids look like their favorite people. camera’s tend to capture that better than the eye, and THAT is one of the things I love most of all.

hoping YOUR Christmas was equally wacky, and merry, and bright!

stay warm! ~ amy

and BLOG READER BONUS TIME . . .

be the first to name the dance move pictured (hint: karaoke is involved) and an iTunes gift card will be yours to help you get YOUR groove on

happy thanksgiving to all! i promised lauren and nate that i’d post their pictures before i put turkey to table.

and here we are in the nick of time! the turkey’s thawed but not yet in the oven (no worries . . . we’re eating at 6 tonight).

and so, in a spirit of thankfulness, i’ve been reflecting on lauren and nate’s wedding . . . really, truly, our silverbox

clients are the best clients that we wedding photographers could wish for. other things from lauren and nate’s wedding

for which i’m thankful (i’ll let you find the pictures to illustrate): proud papas, raised glasses, solid & forever friends,

a splash of gold leaf on a november day, a flattering neckline, grandmas and grandpas, a loving glance, a resounding “i DO!”

click on lauren and nate’s wedding slideshow to see it all (and scroll down for favs).

go hug your loved ones.

happy thanksgiving.

and kudos to Stephens College staff for their incomparable Chapel and Kimball Ballroom.

~kim

let me connect the dots a bit:

MEET beth + jayme . . . 

authentic originals with a style all their own . . .

beth is the youngest of FOUR sisters and as early as saturday morning at the salon, i wished i was ONE of them.

and their relationship with their mom:  heart-warming, heart-melting, heart-lifting . . .

beth + jayme’s wedding took place in beth’s backyard, an amazing place for friends + family to gather

and oh my how SMASHING does jayme’s mom look in that shade of blue! love, love, LOVE the dance here between the blue and the floral orange:

annika miller consistently delights us with her eye and her spirit, and THESE IMAGES might be some of her strongest to date. wow:

and AFTER they said the “i-dos” — we headed just down the road to an old MILL. yes, a MILL!!

what an amazing place to spend some quiet time with the newest of newlyweds!

yet the celebration had only just begun!

we LOVE pulling out the creative stops and gently coaching couples to create jaw-dropping magazine-quality images like the ones above, but perhaps even more meaningful:  OMG real moments in real time:

joy. joy. joy!  this is a HIGHLIGHT SLIDESHOW you’ve just gotta see:  beth + jayme  ::  married!

and see above, BIG BIG thanks to brooke + allen of ORIGINALS PAPER ART for introducing beth + jayme to silverbox

[brooke directly above "bridal" beth, and i'm by her side ~ that's allen, Originals Box Set Builder between brooke and beth's sister, kim.]

can I just say this?  to have had the opportunity to document beth + jayme’s wedding, well, annika and i are lucky, lucky girls.

amy enderle

first, INTRODUCTIONS! silver lining readers may already know adam, owner of Columbia’s Upper Crust on Elm Street:

the Upper Crust is not only a fantastic restaurant, it also caters weddings, including show-stopping cakes, like THIS ONE:

(I’ve been meaning to ask adam how he transported this confection perfection from columbia to st. louis?!)

and introducing adam’s partner in love AND business: the gracious, BEAUTIFUL and so-very-sweet Caroline (she is

Upper Crust’s event coordinator, and if you want YOUR event to run as smoothly as caroline’s wedding, she’s your gal!):

and you may already know the guy family, ’cause ashley (adam’s sister) is a silverbox bride, and ashley’s wedding

with chase patton was featured on the silver lining two and a half years ago (has it been that long?

is that possible?!). here’s ashley and chase :’)

both ashley and chase were in the wedding party along with ANOTHER silverbox groom, second from the right

(that’s david who married jenelle almost exactly one year ago . . . HAPPY 1st ANNIVERSARY you two! :’):

ok, back to that perfect wedding thing . . . as photographers, we try to tell the story of your wedding day from start

to finish. we strive to nail each and every element, and with caroline and adam’s wedding,

we just might have achieved it! what does that mean visually? let me show you! First, SCENE SETTERS!

we want pictures that caroline + adam can show their kids and grandkids and say: “see, that’s how the

Bonhomme Presbyterian Church looked on the day we were married!” and oh, my, what a lovely church it was:

And then: authentic GETTING READY pictures . . . with emphasis on the authentic . . . real moments captured unobtrusively:

and of course PORTRAITS of you two, some (like these “first glance” pictures) natural and (mostly) unposed . . .

others, like this, gently posed (we found beautiful window light in a room of this church)

and with a purple wall like this, we couldn’t resist having some creative lighting fun!

and one of my favorite wedding storytelling elements is capturing EMOTIIONALLY RICH moments during your CEREMONY.

look at caroline and adam’s faces in each of these pictures . . . i’m moved all over again:

and how about TRANSITIONS?! like getting from church to reception (held at the luxurious Chase Park Plaza

just off Forest Park). Pictures like this do not just happen. Annika and I positioned ourselves in advance so that she

would be holding an off-camera flash at a 45 degree angle from both me and caroline + adam . . . we waited until

they exited, and then my pocket wizards fired the flash remotely . . . the moment was real . . . the side lighting

made it extra special:

DETAILS?! an important wedding storytelling element, and boy, did caroline and adam decorate the Chase Park Plaza

in stunning fashion! (by the way, customer service at the Plaza was outstanding . . . i’d book an event there

for that reason alone!)

and at the reception, we tell the story through CANDID, AUTHENTIC MOMENTS, those between caroline + adam

as well as with their loved ones:

case in point: this series of great pictures by annika that we’re calling: “adam and the women he loves” . . .

adam with his new bride, his mom, and with sister ashley:

and another scene setter (but you figured that one out didn’t you! :’)

huge kudos to silverbox assistant extraordinaire, annika miller, who continues to delight and amaze us with her work;

she made many of the photos throughout this blog entry. and special thanks to the oldfield and the guy families who

trusted silverbox to photograph caroline + adam’s wedding. and would it be unseemly if i BEGGED

you to click here to watch their wedding slideshow? not only are there tons more pictures. . .

but the music is performed by Hilary Scott who has a new CD out . . . i’ve listened to the entire CD,

and you’ve got to run out and get it RIGHT NOW (or at least after you’ved watched this slideshow ;’)

~kim

and but of course hot haute pictures of just the 2 of you:

AND what we really love is to be IN YOUR SHADOW.

we find those behind-the-scenes unplanned moments every bit as photographically interesting, memory-rich and important as posed images, (though we’re happy to create planned group shots & fashion-focused images, too).

In the picture below, for example:

That’s Elizabeth’s MOM in the back looking at her daughter and seeing her daughter’s future.

There’s so much going on here that I just love:  the unspoken dynamic between mom and daughter ~ that special mom-girl combination of  pride, joy and the reminiscing of fleeting moments of the last 20 years…

Photographically we talk about layers and whosh are they ever evident here:

and there’s yet another kind of behind-the-scenes coverage that just delights us to no end:

the visual feeling of rush and anticipation leading up to the wedding. the lovely yet blury speeding forward of a day not just the bride, the groom and the moms, but also that so many friends and family of the couple has eagerly awaited. is it a little bit like a sailor shouting “land ho!” ?

the excitement and flurry of the motion ~ now THAT’s story-telling wedding photographry

and one more “category” of picture we provide our clients that makes us jump for joy:

the 2nd shooter nailing timing, composition and exposure from just “off-camera”

annika miller, YOU are a treasure. the shot above = priceless and damn near perfect.

and so once again i find myself with many people to thank.

wes and elizabeth, of course, ~ and the moms and dads who raised such gracious and lovely people.

their siblings and friends who give us the chance to be in the inner circle on this most important of days and

(with 3 cheers!), assistant shooters who we count on, laugh with and love to watch grow.

feeling the glow

~amy

PS and OH YEAH, there’s THIS FANTASTIC SLIDESHOW with a brand new (to me!) song that i first heard during wes + elizabeth’s first dance. the version you’ll hear is by mike doughty and in just a few hours i’ve become so smitten with him, i just downloaded the whole album: Golden Delicious! (my kind of name for my kind of tunes….enjoy!)

hmmm. are visual puns easier? as in, there’s nothing more thrilling than CATCHING UP with silverbox brides from a few years back.

like many puns, i’m only chuckling b/c it’s past my bedtime. anyway. that cute mom? amy zguta. silverbox bride (from our pre-blog/film days) dr. amy zguta. now also dr. mom (nearly x2!) oh, and GREG! ['cause for every fabulous silverbox bride there's a can't-help-but-fall-in-love-with-him groom]

it was at greg + amy’s wedding that i first met the zguta clan.
and MY how the family has grown (just you wait!)

part 2 was this: a few years after greg + amy’s wedding, i got a call from KATIE zguta, who’d just become engaged….
(as in katie + gunther, march 2007)
THEN

and NOW
katie, gunther + ONE VERY happy lil man:

…and so today i’m ready to start a zguta family fan club….
it all started with these 2:

add THEIR 4 kids:

a little shake, a little stir and voila!: GRANDKIDS!

and NOW look at all the joy:

“to have and to hold”

flattered to have been part of the “all the kids back in town weekend” and looking forward to the next!
warmly, amy enderle. silverbox.

PS want to see even more? perhaps a SLIDESHOW is in order –> click HERE

even MORE soon, and slideshow, too.

happy, sunny, happy warm weekend all!

wes + elizabeth, there’s simply NO WAY your wedding could have been more perfect. oh WAIT….let me post ONE MORE; for if it wasn’t for CCC, how would I even know you? — stay tuned; moments away from:

story yet to come, but let’s just start with the word CROWE
i heart the whole darn nest of them