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Caleb + Whitney – A rustic Iowa Wedding

When I start to count my blessings, I count these two twice! My baby brother is married and has found his true soulmate! All in God’s timing, he brought these two together and my heart is bursting with joy and love for their beautiful little family. I was ten when Caleb was born and from that moment on, I always fought my mom to hold the baby and carry him around everywhere! He was often my shadow throughout our summers together before I moved away to college and I’ve always just adored him. He is a wonderful brother and human being, and I’m a very lucky sister indeed to have such amazing brothers in my life.

I always knew that when Caleb met “the one” he would be the best husband and father ever, and he definitely has filled that role so amazingly, and I am just so proud of him. Whitney is a wonderful addition to our family, and they compliment each other so well. Our family is always laughing and having fun whenever these two are around. Baby Sawyer is a mini of both of them combined and we just love her to pieces!

They were married at Myers Wedding Barn in Sperry, Iowa. Their ceremony overlooked their beautiful pond, on that warm and sunny August afternoon. I can’t believe my baby brother is married, and I’m just so excited!! Our family has been friends with the wonderful Gray family ever since Caleb started school in Danville, so it was such a treat to have Val as such a big part of the wedding. She decorated their ceremony and reception so perfectly, and I am still in awe over the beautiful colors and flowers she created for them. I absolutely loved the colors Whitney picked. The color is called Quartz, which is a dusty rose or mauve tone, and it looked amazing. Whitney and her girls were able to get ready in the bridal suite and Caleb and the groomsmen had the coolest man cave that sits on top of the venue, overlooking the entire barn to hang out together all morning. Bailey and I had so much fun documenting their day among the evergreens, their fields and all of their rustic backgrounds throughout the property – their wedding day was a dream.

Caleb and Whitney, we wish you a lifetime of love and happiness and are so grateful you two found each other when you did. We love you so and can’t wait to watch your sweet little family continue to grow!

Caleb and Whitney’s Wedding Mix:

Venue: Myers Wedding Barn
Flowers: HyVee Floral
Dresses and Tuxes: Mora Lee Bridal Dress at Sarah’s Bridal Gallery
Catering: La Flama Taco Truck
Cake: A family friend
Entertainment: Dueling Pianos

Our Momma-to-Be | Bailey Rae

It’s BABY MONTH around here!!! Ohmygoodness, watching our Bailey throughout this year has been so fun and her little peanut is such a blessing, much like she is. She is absolutely stunning and we know that she will be the most amazing momma too. She’s always baking yummy treats for the holidays, spends extra time hand-lettering beautiful cards, and creating sweet and thoughtful gifts. She is so creative and talented and we just know that passion will be even greater when it comes to making her sweet baby feel special too.

So we thought we would feature our very special momma to be, because we think she’s pretty amazing and think you will too. This baby is our Thanksgiving baby, and we definitely feel very thankful for this little bundle and his/her momma!

Bailey, we love you to pieces and are so excited to be on this journey with you!! Congratulations sweet momma!!!

The Clovers – A Tree Farm session

One of the things we LOVE about the upcoming season when we officially have to say goodbye to summer is the beauty of the turning seasons here in the midwest. Our tree farm family day is right around the corner, just after the beautiful fall season where we capture more of a winter vibe for holiday cards and decorating your home for the holidays. It is always such a fun day, filled with a blanket of early frost and sometimes even snow, warm mugs of hot chocolate and lots of layers, scarves and adorable boots. We capture the beautiful evergreens just in time for Christmas and have made it a fun family tradition for many families over the past several years.

Our featured family from last year is the sweet Clover family. They are a true gem in this world and such a beautiful light for others and we are honored to be a part of capturing their beautiful and growing family. Harper will leave your heart in a puddle after she melts it with her sweet hugs and beautiful curly locks and adorable personality. Baby Saylor is picking up everything her big sissy is teaching her along the way and is oh so precious.

Matt and Britanie are a match made in heaven and are truly blessed to have one another. They compliment each other so well and given the trials they are going through we are just so thankful they have one another as well as a huge community of family and friends that love and adore them as well. If you would keep this sweet family in your prayers that would be wonderful! We would love to help them grow in the amount of prayer warriers behind them so they may always know they are never alone in their battles. We love you Clover family and thank you for sharing your beautiful family with us, you are such a blessing!

We hope to see you this Christmas season and can’t wait to capture beautiful family memories for you!!

Featured Family Session – The Hoods

This family is pretty amazing in our books. I was so happy when they first called to book a family session with us, because it had been so long since I had last photographed them for Seeth and Siedel’s senior sessions! We originally had planned for a spring session, but Covid had other plans for us and for Siedel’s travel plans back to Iowa. So we waited until Siedel could make new plans to come back and visit everyone from New York, and we were happy to still get them in this summer…and it was perfect timing as baby Callie was able to be here, at just three weeks old!

Family sessions are so important and special to capture. As time passes, families grow up and evolve and it’s important to capture those special times when everyone is together, in one place, especially when it is for just a short time. We LOVE capturing families… the relationships, the extra special bonds between siblings, the candid moments, all of it! I had some of all of my favorite people to photograph when I got to spend time with this sweet family… a brand new BABY, sweet and playful kiddos, and a family that is close to one another, even when they normally have to live miles apart.

It is amazing to see how much nearly a decade can change within our own lives, but especially throughout an entire family. Siedel lives in New York now, travels the globe in his free time, and saves lives everyday for his profession. Seeth has a beautiful family and the sweetest kiddos and momma JoDel is loving being a grandma to these beautiful kids, and now to a new baby girl too! Latiecia and her family are absolutely precious and those curls though…I’m in love!

I can’t believe how fast this year has gone… and with it has come a whirlwind of emotions, a roller coaster of a year, and now more than ever we can’t stress more the importance of taking extra time to capture the most precious and beautiful people in your life…your family. We are booking into fall now, and are looking forward to the change of seasons, of amazing colors and playing in some leaves together. If it’s been a hot minute since your last family session, call us before it’s too late!

Tea Time Party of 4

I’ve said this before, but I’m going to mention it again, I LOVE my job, like REALLY LOVE what I do. I have the best crew to work with and keep things running smoothly and the best clients on the planet. These little girls you are about to see were precious beyond belief in their princess dresses, ready to share some girl time during a much anticipated tea party.

Little Miss Sophia has a very special place in our hearts, and this sweet little pea turned 6 this year already. Her momma always comes up such fun, creative ways to document their every milestone and I love them all to pieces.

We found the perfect garden to host the tea party and it was filled with lots of sugar, sparkly dresses, and fun tea time hats. The incredibly talented Amanda of Fancy Favors made the delicious cookies, cake pops and cupcakes. It was absolutely perfect in every way!!

We are always thinking up creative ways to capture the adventure and imagination of children and LOVE being a part of capturing their milestones. We have Limited Edition sessions that are unique and creative in theme for our kids to take part in, and they are limited in the amount of bookings we can take from each session and how often we have these special sets. If you would like to be in the know with what is happening around the studio for the next ones, be sure to join our email list!

XoXo! ~Kim

Featured Session – The Nelson Family

To say that we are OVER THE MOON excited to meet the triplets is an understatement…we are so giddy over here!! When Alaina shared her amazing news with us, we were exploding with emotions for her. You all know we LOVE our babies, and now we get to love on THREE all at once?!! God you really do know our hearts needed this.

Alaina wanted to do a gender reveal session for the babies and we were so excited to put it together for her. We ordered the canons from our favorite confetti vendor on Etsy Poof There It Is Reveals and set up the perfect locations to capture this exciting time for them. Sweet Annika said they were having two boys and a girl…sounds like a pretty good combination right? Equality in the family… oh, what a FUN surprise this was!!!

Alaina and Russ mean the world to us…they let us capture their engagement and wedding, have blessed us with capturing Annika as she’s grown in the big sister she is about to become and we cannot wait to create more memories for the soon to be Nelson – Party of 6 crew. Gahhh!

So here it is friends… the surprising gender reveal session for the triplets!!

The Quarantine Life

Never thought I’d say I lead a quarantine life or live through a real life clip of a movie like “Outbreak”, but here we are friends, living it up. I’ve learned much and my eyes have been opened over these past several weeks, and I’ve hit many epiphanies over these past couple of months, and have experienced highs and lows, much like many of you have.

I was getting ready to go on a much needed girls trip with my college besties, when my husband says to me “You had better prepare for a two week quarantine away from home on your way back”… to which I rolled my eyes and said, “ohmygoodness, that’s extreme”. While he was on the extreme end of the rumors looming ahead about the novel Coronavirus, I did end up shocked on the way home to find that many flights were cancelled and O’Hare was eerily quiet. I was so thankful when I stepped out of the airport and saw my husband waiting there for me to go home instead of the scary forced quarantine he had mentioned to me just a few days before. Key West closed all of their businesses a couple days after we returned home… yikes.

So I came home to my kids and husband who had stockpiled cans and cans of food, snack items, meat and breads. He said the grocery store shelves were empty and you may need to learn to get creative should you need extra toilet paper and cleaning supplies. I decided to quarantine myself to my family in the event I had picked up anything along my travels through the airport. So over the next couple of weeks I spent all of my time at home, never leaving the house, which is very out of the norm for this go getting momma.

As crazy as this time was, I also felt okay with the quarantine…maybe the island life had rubbed off on me and continued to my country life??? I was spending much needed time with my babes, learning ways to homeschool them and keep them busy, and cooking every night, what the what??! Those of you who know me know that I really just run from place to place, working, running more errands, picking up kids, taking kids to activities, working, running some more errands, working and working some more. I am the definition of a hot mess express, most of the time! Truly, God has spoken to me many times on late night work edit sessions through podcasts and authors such as Jefferson Bethke and his truth telling book “To Hell with the Hustle” which is a must read my friends, if you’re caught up in the crazy whirlwind of life and sometimes lose yourself and inadvertently prioritize busy over all else like I tend to do. So some one on one time with my kids and husband? Me fulfilling my wifely duties and making dinners and staying on top of the house for a change? Ok, yes please!

So much has changed over the past several weeks. My heart hurts for our community and the people in it that are struggling. Struggling with depression, loneliness, finances, and physical and emotional trauma… The world is experiencing heartache on a whole new level. I’ve seen sacrifice, bravery and thoughtfulness arise out of many beautiful souls to help those in need, even if to just bring a smile to someone who needs one that day, or a phone call to let someone know they’re loved and not forgotten.

School was called off for the rest of March and then non-essential businesses were forced to close to help stop the spread of the virus, including ours. From that point on our staff worked remotely, catching up on back orders and using this time to focus on areas that we typically wish we had more time to work on.

But then it continued into April, forcing us to cancel our Easter sessions and our entire spring season where we kick off the busy year with beautiful blooming trees and flowers. So, what do we do during all this downtime? I get to thinking now would be a good time to spruce up the studio and remodel things I have only had time to dream about doing, but not actually having time to ever sit down to plan and do. That is until now… It all started with an epoxied camera room floor for an all white newborn camera room, and has evolved into bringing back our old bathroom, a new sales room, an additional camera room and brand new flooring throughout the entire studio. Whew!

Now that it is mid summer and things are slowly returning back to a “new” normal, we continue to finish up our studio renovation, and are eagerly photographing our senior class of 2021 and many amazing families and babies. Much love to all of you and we are always here for you!! If you are in need of anything, even if it’s just extra prayers, we are here for you and would love to do that for you so just reach out and let us know how we can help you!

For your entertainment, we thought we would post a highlight reel of what’s been going on this Quarantine for us. We would love to see some of yours too so be sure to leave us some extra love!!

Our team during one of our in home zoom meetings. I missed my girls!!!

Bailey’s life during quarantine consisted of helping her niece register for high school this coming fall, as well as teaching her how to drive. She spent lots of time with her nephews as well, and captured some beautiful pictures of baby Jaxon with his big brother shortly after her was born during this crazy season. She helped her papa on the farm, planted a huge garden and built a swing set for her nephews as well. Whew, girl, you were busy!!!

Kelsie picked up some new hobbies and mastered her macrame, embroidery and cross stitch skills. This girl is super talented and is blessed with many gifts up her sleeve.

Eva has been planning a wedding for her daughter, homeschooling her 4th grader, cooking meals for her party of 9 every evening, and spending time creating videos for children’s ministry and virtual prayer groups to help Harmony stay connected to Jesus and His word during these crazy times of quarantine. As if this wasn’t enough, she decided to renovate her kitchen!! Seriously…she is superwoman.

Quarantine was a bit crazy around the LaFauce house. The first two weeks of quarantine were relatively calm in comparison to our regularly hectic schedule. We loved the extra time of snuggles, dinners together, and learning the ropes of home schooling. About a month into quarantine, it became obvious that this momma needed some extra hands on deck after trying to home school, keep the house in order, get studio work completed, and begin a total renovation project at the studio. Thank goodness for the love and support of our sweet Peyton who stepped in and helped home school and keep my kiddos entertained throughout these projects.

Spring is my FAVORITE season of all so to say I was super bummed that everything was cancelled and rescheduled was an understatement. But it also all worked out, because this spring may have been one of the strangest seasons we have had in years. Our winter stretched into almost half a year when Mother Nature decided to snow down on us mid April, which would have been our prime spring family season. So what was this photog-ing momma to do?? Well drag my kiddos out in it of course!! So we played the snow, dancing in front of the newly bloomed trees, as snow sprinkled down around us. We attempted spring pictures not once, not twice, but three times before we got a beautiful spring day, with blooming trees and bushes… and all the way into mid May no less! When we finally got the green light to photograph for our clients, I was thrilled to see there were still many beautiful blooms to be had all the way into June… a sign that I believe to be from God … his way of always bringing blessings and goodness to us, even when we are navigating through uncertainty. Trust in Him always.

Heaven gained a beautiful Angel

“How blessed am I to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard?” – Winnie the Pooh. These words ring so very true.

Erin was beautiful, inside and out. She was the person you wanted in your court, because she planned everything out, was incredibly organized and pretty much thought of everything, and everyone. My heart has found much joy reliving all of the moments we’ve shared together… weddings, engagements, babies (oh the sweet baby sessions) and countless family sessions. And I keep replaying in my mind how incredibly blessed I am to have known her and shared so many incredible memories with her and her family.

She always called me KimAnne, which is funny because they are like family to me, but it just stuck from the time we met until now. She was one of my biggest cheerleaders and told everyone from the mountain tops that they needed pictures taken, and to call me; how incredibly sweet is that??! Her dad, Jim and I were the first to meet when Julie booked me to capture her and Ronnie’s wedding all the way back in 2005. And I have loved them ever since. There are just people in this life that you meet and instantly feel like you’ve known them your entire life, they are those people to me. I wasn’t a natural business entrepreneur turned photographer, my passion has always been photography. Only it’s so much more than that…I love people and I cherish the relationships created from capturing such beautiful memories. The entire Zane family welcomed me into their lives and hearts from the moment we started working together. I have countless memories with them and so much laughter; so much joy.

Like if I could think of my top 5 funniest memories to date, this crew would ABSOLUTELY have made it to the top. One of them being a personal call from canon Kodak himself offering up his camera advice and services… I wonder if he is still wrapped up in rolls of 35mm film awaiting the day we will hire him for his incredible camera knowledge? I am assuming we were one of many studios he had applied for that day and was quickly snatched up by another photographer from lack of punctuality on our part. You could always hear the laughter behind the scenes from Erin and Julie, and envision the eye rolls from the girls on the other line when the boys were onto their next big adventure. These guys could write a book and I guarantee it would be a bestseller …There ya go boys, your next adventure awaits you. I cherish these moments.

I loved my time in Chicago with them, creating more family memories and a sweet friendship too. I always loved that they were so close to each other and I could visit each of them. The very large canvas print of the baby on the beach in the studio is just one of the many images captured from their family…I love that image of Mason when he was a baby, and I love the memories we created that weekend staying at Rick and Erin’s. From dinners to tailgating for Bears games in Ronnie’s authentic Bears truck, I have loved every moment I have ever spent with them.

The sisterhood of Julie and Erin was something sweet and special too. They would banter back and forth and would lovingly argue who the favorite child was and their friendship was always something I admired and loved. In preparing for sessions together, Erin would have everything planned months in advance, from outfits to colors, although Rick oftentimes threw his own personal style into the mix and even wore a shiny, shimmery gold button down shirt one time to a family session. Seriously, I just can’t make this up. I always looked forward to seeing them and spending time with them, because I knew no matter what was going on in that moment in my life, everything was about to be uplifted in laughter for sure.

All three of us were pregnant at the same time together, and had even experienced heartache getting there together. It was always nice checking in with each other about what was going on with baby and sharing in the excitement of motherhood to come. We shared baby stories, talked about when to start them in preschool and school in general. And I have just loved sharing life with them.

Jim and Jane, I am so incredibly grateful for you and for sharing your beautiful family with me. Thank you for raising such incredible girls and growing such a loving family. My heart hurts for you and all you are going through, and have been going through. You have built such a beautiful and amazing legacy so far and I am grateful to have shared such special moments with you.

Julie, Ronnie, Zane and Adalie, I love you guys and I am just so sorry. There are simply no words for this tragedy but I do know that Erin is with you always in your heart and I pray that all of the memories you have of her will help heal your hurt and bring you comfort. I love you all to pieces.

Rick, Mason and Torin, your wife and momma LOVES you so deeply…I see it over and over as I look at these images, and she thought the world of you always. There is nothing to make this unspeakable pain go away, but I hope you always know how incredibly loved you are and the love she had for you will live on always in your heart and through the people and lives she touched. Love you guys so much and we will continue to keep you in our thoughts and prayers.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for letting me into your family and sharing such beautiful moments with me. I love you all so much and will keep you in my prayers now and in all the times ahead. 🙏🏼❤️

This video is in honor of you, Erin and your amazing family. Thank you for all the beautiful memories. You created an amazing legacy and you will be greatly missed.

A gofundme account has been set up for the Witt family to help in child care, sports, college and anything else the future holds for Mason and Torin.

Please click HERE to learn about and help support this sweet family.

Senior Spotlight … Sammi – BHS

Let me tell you about a special girl right here. Actually, this whole family is pretty special in my book. Her session was so fun, so creative and it stretched me out of my box and because of that has been one of my most favorite sessions for her class. She has such a fun loving personality and we laughed throughout her whole session. We have spent most of our time outdoors for most of our seniors this year, and although we went outside for Sammi, some of my favorite and most creative images are shot in the studio. But even her outdoor sessions were super unique. We picked a time last summer when the sunflowers were in full bloom to capture her and her puppy, and her fall session turned into a winter one when we had a crazy cold snap of freezing snow. Remember that? When the trees were in full color, but there was snow on them and the ground?? So wildly cool and a session I won’t forget for sure!

Sammi is a shining example of making lemonade with lemons and we adore her positive attitude and cheery outlook on life. This is the girl you want in your court when the world turns upside down because she will help you find a way to look at the bright side. And when I look back at the images from her session, this is what I see…a beautiful, outgoing and bright girl…even her images are fun and colorful. Sammi, you are going to do amazing things and can’t wait to follow along on your adventures. I know the end of your senior year doesn’t look the way it should, but we know you’ll make the best of it and turn this experience into something wonderful too. We love you girl, and thank you for letting us capture your incredible personality and be a part of your senior year!!

XOXO!

high school senior pictures

high school senior pictures

high school senior pictures

high school senior pictures

high school senior

high school senior pictures

high school senior pictures

high school senior pictures

high school senior pictures

high school senior pictures

high school senior

high school senior

Welcome Baby! A Lifestyle Newborn Session

We were soooo excited when Marissa called to tell us all about her baby plans for their first baby girl and honored to be a part of capturing her very first session.

We captured Sophia’s newborn session in the studio where we have an abundance of props and headbands and outfits at our fingertips. Her nursery is beautiful, with hints of dusty pink, champagne and creams, and adorned with butterflies. And we had a perfect set of fairy wings with matching colors that we knew would look amazing in her bedroom.

Family is such an incredible gift…capturing families is important to us anytime, but especially after the birth of a brand new baby. This moment is huge, and it’s so very fleeting. They are tiny for such a short window of time, and the images we create during this first family session are priceless and only get better as time goes on. One of the current trends in newborn photography is lifestyle family sessions at home. This is where we go to our client’s home for the session to create more candid, in the moment type of images and Marissa loved the idea of capturing her beautiful family altogether in the comfort of her home. This type of session works best with homes that are bright and airy, and that have lots of windows and natural light coming into the main rooms we want to create images in. Of course we can always bring our lighting gear, but prefer to keep it as natural as possible to truly capture our families in the moment – as they take in all the love for their sweet new baby.

I am so excited to share these images because they are just so precious. This baby girl will forever be taken care of by her two big brothers who adore her so very much. And I know that these images will be treasured forever. We are so excited to document sweet Sophia’s first year and watch her grow!!

newborn baby girl

newborn baby girl

newborn photography

newborn photography

newborn baby girl

lifestyle newborn session

newborn family session

newborn family session

home lifestyle session

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