It’s that time of year again, when Doug’s 2 Salon & Spa needs to update their headshots! They are the poster children for staying on top of their marketing, which is especially important in an industry where the employees often change their hair colors and/or styles – often so drastically that their own clients might not recognize them! We stuck with the dark background setup we’ve used previously so that the new employee pictures would match the existing ones as closely as possible.
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It’s time to highlight the latest and greatest custom wedding albums from Chanterelle Photography’s brides and grooms! The Chanterelle Signature Album has been my top selling wedding item since I started shooting weddings over 10 years ago. That’s not terribly shocking considering an amazing wedding album is the the kind of keepsake you have for a lifetime, and let’s face it – you might tell yourself that you’ll make your own wedding album once you get the digital files, but realistically, who has the time? So just save yourself the headache and let me handle it for you. 😀
The batch shown in these quick iPhone pictures happened to be all single leather covers. No two tone covers this time around, do I sense a trend starting??? Varying shades of brown still top the list of favorite cover colors. Most couples leave their albums on display year round in their homes, so brown seems to fit in best with their current decor, but it’s also classic enough to fit in when it comes time to redecorate.
Want to see more snapshots of Chanterelle Photography wedding albums? Click here!
Disney fans are everywhere, so naturally, there are plenty of people looking for Disney wedding ideas. If you’re one of them, you can start with the The Disney Wedding Podcast blog, where Vanessa and Jared’s Disney-filled Oroville wedding was featured HERE!
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Some of you may know I was born and raised in Northern California, so it may not be that surprising that I shot a wedding there. What IS surprising is my upbringing had ZERO to do with me booking this wedding – so how did it happen? I’ve known Vanessa’s dad Derek since I was just a couple of years into my photography career, we met because he was a photographer too. I even did his headshot about 7 or 8 years ago. A few years later, we shared an obsession with long distance running – we even ran the same marathon in Sacramento the weekend before the wedding (and yes, we made sure to stop and give sweaty hugs when we passed each other on the course!). So when he mentioned Vanessa’s wedding, I was happy to do it, but I admit it it made me a little nervous. Shooting the wedding of a photographer’s daughter? No pressure there, right? Then I found out that not only is Vanessa his only daughter, she’s his only child. Did I mention Derek is also a retired cop??? 😮
Vanessa is a big fan of Disney and DIY, so naturally, the wedding had plenty of both. Hidden Mickeys were everywhere – in tiny rhinestones in her veil, and in the bouquets (which she made herself using flowers from Costco!). Disney may be the happiest place on Earth, but I think Vanessa’s suite at Feather Falls Lodge was a close second when a rather large box from Jared arrived containing several gifts for Vanessa, including a pair of crystal-studded Gucci shoes and a black beaded Ralph Lauren dress to wear during their honeymoon.
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Vanessa and Jared decided not to see each other before their ceremony, but Vanessa did want to have a first look with her dad once the Allure Bridals ballgown was on. Derek arrived (with the help of mom Teresa) decked out in a throwback tie pin and a Disney wedding appropriate set of “Father of the Bride” cufflinks.
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Meanwhile, Jared was busy putting on some cufflinks of his own (Mickey heads, of course). When Derek first met him, he said his first thought was, “Who is this freakishly tall guy?” My first impression was the same, though that’s not saying much since I’m short and everyone is tall to me! Don’t let his size fool you though, it didn’t take long for me to figure out the freakishly tall guy is also a freakishly nice guy. He seems like the type of friend who would offer to help you do the most heinous of chores, like helping you move. *shudder*
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The Disney love continued at the Calvary Baptist Church ceremony, where the wedding programs were a perfect knockoff of a Disney park map, guests signed in on a poster of Mickey balloons, and more Mickey heads lined the aisle.
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After the ceremony, the bridal party and I headed to the Oroville Chinese Temple for pictures, where the bridesmaids demonstrated their dedication – the dye from the ribbon on their bouquets had slowly started to stain their hands pink!
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The reception at Lake Oroville Golf & Event Center was a Disney wonderland, with decor inspired by Arendelle, the kingdom in Frozen. Paper lanterns formed Mickey heads over the dance floor, escort cards looked like retro Disneyland tickets, tables were named for Disney attractions, and vials of glittery pixie dust served as favors.
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During his toast, Derek mentioned that Jared had asked him and Teresa for permission to marry Vanessa. Teresa immediately said, “We’d be honored!” – Derek joked that she had stolen his chance to jerk Jared around a bit and make him sweat. Then in an unexpected turn of events, one of the groomsmen (who happens to be a legit auctioneer) stood up to give a toast and started auctioning off a centerpiece to get the newlyweds some spending money for their honeymoon. Seriously, when you think of what a stereotypical auctioneer sounds like withalltheirwordsrunningtogethersoyoureallyhavetopayattention, that’s what he sounded like. No one expected it, so when he started it was fun to watch everyone’s eyes start to get big, looking at each other like, “Are you hearing what I’m hearing???” Another groomsman won the auction, which I think ended at about $400!
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Thanks Vanessa and Jared for trusting some tiny weirdo your dad recommended to shoot your wedding, and thanks to Derek and Teresa for trusting me with your baby’s big day. And just for giggles, here’s that headshot I took of Derek a hundred years ago. 🙂
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Hotel: Feather Falls Lodge
Ceremony venue: Calvary Baptist Church
Reception venue: Lake Oroville Golf & Event Center
Wedding gown: Allure Bridals
Bridesmaid’s dresses: Alfred Angelo
It’s hard to believe it’s already time to reveal the annual Chanterelle Photography holiday card, it feels like we just revealed the 2015 Sherlock Holmes card! For 2016, I wanted to do something completely different from anything we’ve done before, so we went ANIMATED (okay technically “illustrated”, but you get the idea), so here is “Going UP”!
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Choosing the Disney/Pixar movie “Up” as inspiration was a bit of a risk. I try to choose themes that are easily recognizable by most people, but occasionally I have an idea that goes with a very specific theme. When you get too specific and/or too contemporary, you run the risk that many people may not “get” the reference, simply because they haven’t seen the original – like with our 2013 “Hunger Games” card. I knew that even though “Up” came out in 2009, it was contemporary enough that some folks (especially those without kids) might not have seen the movie. But Watson naturally has eyebrows just like the character Carl Fredricksen, so who was I to go against what nature was telling me? 😉
The animated/illustrated front of the card required 2 days of Photoshop work, mostly because I’m a photographer, not an illustrator. So I had no idea how to make this happen, and had to teach myself (you really can learn just about anything online now!). It involved drawing over the original image (which was shot on my front porch), simplifying it into into areas of light and shadow, and making my house look more like Carl and Ellie’s house. It just took A LOT of small steps to get there. I probably should have just paid someone to do it, but alas, I am ridiculously stubborn and a glutton for punishment.
Our outfits and props came together relatively quickly. Watson’s jacket and my shirt came from Target, and his glasses came from Dollar Tree. Watson’s tiny white toupee and my hat came from Amazon. The balloons came from Walmart, and were tied to Watson’s harness (fed through a hole I made in the back center seam of his jacket). We had almost everything else at home already – I tapped into my crafty stash to make the Wilderness Explorer flag, the sash of patches, Watson’s bow tie, and the bottle cap “Ellie badge” to pin onto Watson’s jacket. I scrounged around my house for props to go on what would be Russell’s backpack, and discovered when you don’t have a butterfly net, a Thai tea strainer looks basically the same, haha! I had planned to wear the backpack in the pictures, but after taking a few test shots, I realized you couldn’t see enough of it for it to translate well, and it would be more effective set off to one side.
I’m sure the neighbors that saw us setting up the shoot thought we were nuts – imagine looking over at your neighbor’s house, seeing her dressed up like the Disney/Pixar version of a boy scout, and her dog in a suit jacket tied to a bunch of a balloons. 😮 Thankfully no one tried to commit me to a mental institution. Let’s hope it stays that way in 2017. 🙂
Thanks for a great 2016, and Happy New Year!
Want to create your own “Up” themed photo? Here are links to some of the items we used (click the photos below to go to the corresponding item’s page on Amazon)! Some of the items we ordered are no longer available, so I’ve linked some that are nearly identical. Please note: this post contains some referral and/or affiliate links. What this means is, if you click on one of the links and purchase the item shown, I may receive a small commission from the company selling that item (as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases). This happens at no additional cost to you – the price of the item is the same whether you order through one of my links or not.
