 Eeeeek! I just adored this sweet wedding that took place last October at a gorgeous barn in Stillwater, Oklahoma! Sami and Adam and their friends and family really put on such a great wedding celebration, so full of love and fun and dancing and pretty fall colors.
Rosemary Ridge is a gorgeous new venue that I absolutely fell in love with. I believe Sami & Adam were the first to get married there after it opened. There are so many details I enjoyed about this place, but I’ll let the photos speak for themselves. Okay, I know I literally just said I’d let the photos speak for themselves, but I have to inject here.. These amazing light fixtures blew my mind! I mean, come on. Trees hanging by their roots and wrapped in twinkle lights?! I die. So good. {I probably took twenty-five different shots of these things, ha! Sorry for all the tree-light pix, Sami. ;)}  Sami killed it with the gifts for her parents and mother-in-law. Lots of tears happened. Including a few from me, since Sami’s mom Steph is a dear friend of mine. {Steph and I attended photography school together around the same time, and we both went on to work there for years. So I’ve actually known Sami since she was a pre-teen! It was so special to be her wedding photographer!}These cuff links…so sweet! One says “First man I ever loved” and the other is a photo of Sami and her dad when she was a tiny girl. Good stuff, man.I really dig the groom’s dressing room. Such very cool details, like these silver animal head hooks.I cannot get over this pic of Sami’s grandmothers seeing her for the first time in her wedding attire. Maybe it’s because I love with my Gram, but this just pulls my heartstrings and makes me so happy! And look at her mom reflected in the mirror, too! awww!What a beautiful bride!!Okay, full stop here. LOOK AT THIS SIGN! hahaha, I loved it so much!! Sami’s mom Steph is also a photographer, so they get it. I mean, this is just perfect. Had to share it with y’all. :)Just can’t get over this venue. Love everything about it.Sami’s face here: “Oh yeah, we married!” ;) Love it!This detail is so special. Sami’s grandfathers are no longer with us, but she wanted them to be part of her special day, so she attached their photos to her bridal bouquet with ribbons. I really love this.Ohhh, Sami’s dance with her dad… Melt my heart! Can you tell this is a very close family?Look, it’s more pictures of my favorite lights I’ve ever seen! ;)What a wedding! I just loved all of it, as I’m sure you can tell from the millions of pix posted here. :) Makes my heart happy.
Sami & Adam~
I adored capturing this great celebration of your love! You two are such a cool, laid back couple. It was a joy to be part of your special day. It was great to see you guys surrounded with so much love and support! Thank you for having me be your wedding photographer.
xoxo,
~abi~
Friday, February 26, 2016
Hey guys, it’s Friday – yay! It’s been a pretty fun, laid back week for me. This time of year is usually a bit of a slower pace, which is nice. While I still {always} have a million and one photo shoots to post on here, I like to share personal, chatty stuff along the way, too. In this post, we’re talking about lip oils and blogs. :)One of my favorite bloggers {and a true o.g. when it comes to blogging}, Joanna Goddard, has this really great ongoing series over on her blog Cup of Jo: it’s called My Beauty Uniform, and fabulous women share their beauty habits and secrets and knowledge. I love this series! Months and month ago, I had read where one of the women talked about using this Clarins lip oil, and I really wanted to buy it, but I just couldn’t justify spending twenty-five dollars on some lip gloss – even if it seemed really glorious. So, I did what I do anytime I find myself wanting something I shouldn’t buy: I pinned it.I mean, doesn’t it just sound magical?Then, lo and behold, the other day I came across this Milani lip oil while picking up some necessities from CVS. And hey, look at that: it’s only sixteen-and-a-half dollars cheaper than the Clarins stuff! Plus, they were buy one get one half off at CVS, and I had a five dollar coupon to use there. Cha-ching! You better believe I grabbed two of those things! I picked up Healing Lemon Honey and Repairing Primrose, and I loooove them. The oils feel so luxe on my lips. It’s an indulgent lipgloss that also really seems to be treating and healing my winter lip dryness.Now, to switch subjects somewhat drastically, let’s talk about a couple of blogs I discovered and subscribed to this week. The first is The Makerista, a really good home decor blog. Way, way back in the day, when I first started following blogs, I followed mostly photographers. Now, I hardly follow any photogs {which is why I like to keep the topics a bit diverse on here}, and instead I love reading good blogs about home decor and of course fashion/style blogs. But no matter what kind of blog, I always prefer ones with a strong personal narrative. So when I came across The Perfect Little Life on Instagram and clicked on her blog link, I was instantly hooked. But don’t take my word for it – if you like following fun blogs, check these ladies out. And if you have any really cool blog recommendations, please share them in the comments!
Have a lovely weekend, friends!
~abi~
Tuesday, February 23, 2016
Ohhh, Lexi.
How freaking cute is this girl?? And let me tell you, she is absolutely just as beautiful on the inside as she is on the outside! I’ve known Lexi from church for a few years now, and I was so happy when she asked me to take her senior portraits.
Since it’s dreary and rainy here in OKC right now, I thought these photos from last fall would be perfect to share today. They start out warm and sunny and end all cozy in an awesome bookstore.Western Avenue is always a great spot for photo shoots. I love that Oklahoma City is getting more and more cool wall murals all over!Lexi is a very talented performer, and I think her dancing experience came through beautifully in her poses.We ended the shoot at Full Circle Bookstore, which is such a jewel of a spot here in OKC, seriously! If you haven’t ever been there, or if you haven’t been in years, go. They have a little cafe and everything. It’s perfect.Now I just want to curl up under a soft blanket and read a book!
Lexi~
You beautiful soul, you. Thank you for choosing me to be your senior portrait photographer. I so enjoyed our session! Can’t wait to see what amazing things God does with you in your future! <3
~abi~
Tuesday, February 23, 2016
Well, I ended last week with a style post, so I thought I’d start off this week the same way. {{{All photos by my awesome sis Mandi.}}}
Around two years ago, I pinned some fab gold trousers on Pinterest, and I swear I’ve been on the hunt for some to buy ever since then. First, I thought I would surely come across some at a thrift store; but since that hasn’t happened, I’ve also looked online and at non-thrift-stores I’ve allowed myself to enter {I only say that half-jokingly — I have a serious shopping problem, so I really try to limit my forays into any store where too many cute things will tempt me…}. So when I saw these black and gold pants for a cheap price at Burlington Coat Factory last fall, I snatched them up. They’re definitely not as cool or perfect as the gold ones on Pinterest, but they’re fun pants anyway.
I found this cheery yellow blouse at my favorite thrift store for twenty cents, I believe {on a sale rack}. Not even a week after buying this, I saw a post on Garance Doré’s blog that highlighted a fun outfit from the Balmain x H&M collab, and it gave me the idea of pairing this blouse with these pants. I added a gorgeous nude bag with fringe tassels that I also found at Heart & Hand, and finished the look with some incredible vintage shoes I thrifted.I actually just got up and checked the bottom of these amazing shoes to see how much I had paid for them, and would you believe they’d been marked down to ninety-nine cents?!
This whole thing just caused a flood of memories to wash over me, so bear with me for a bit and let’s walk down memory lane…Most of y’all probably already know this, but I was raised in a super strict Baptist church, where altar calls were the norm, and people often, as in almost every service, went forward and knelt and prayed at the front of the church. {I promise this has to do with thrifting and shoes, hold on…} When I was young {as in pre-teen and early-teen years}, I can distinctly remember being so worried that the thrift store price on the bottom of my shoes would show whenever I went forward and prayed in church. I mean, really. I was sooo embarrassed to have paid ninety-nine cents for some shoes. Now, I am ecstatic about it, and I’m bragging about it on a blog for anyone in the world to read! Haha! Isn’t it funny how sometimes, the thing that embarrassed us when we were younger can turn out to be the very thing we are most excited to show off when we are older?!
Anyway, check out these rad ninety-nine cent, leather soled shoes… Yeah!I think this blouse has a cool vibe when the neck tie is undone, but I also really like it looped up.Last week, I got several inches cut off my hair, and now looking at these pix, I’m so happy it’s shorter. It just looks heavy and blah here. If you follow my Instagram, you’ve seen my shorter ‘do, but I definitely need to do some more outfit pix soon so I can show it off on the blog, too. :)Happy Monday, friends. Let’s have a fabulous week!
~abi~
p.s. Tell me your embarrassing stories so I don’t feel alone in my teenaged-thrift-store-shoe-shame.
Friday, February 19, 2016
Last week, I had my sis Mandi take some outfit pix for me in a couple different outfits… This week, I had my friend Jamie chop about five inches off my hair… So I thought I should post the outfit pix asap and then do some new ones soon with my shorter hair. :)
I would say, generally speaking, most of my outfits consist of at least fifty percent thrifted items. In this case, the cool maxi dress and the sweet feather earrings were thrift store finds. The bright flowered jacket came from Burlington Coat Factory awhile back, and the heels were a Christmas gift from my boyfriend’s awesome mother.I love this dress so much because of the funky bottom half, but the top is pretty shapeless. I usually wear it with a vest or jacket over it to make it more flattering on me.
So here’s a fun story:
This jacket is what first caught the eye of my amazing boyfriend, Jonathan. I know I haven’t talked much about him here on the blog yet, so here’s how it went down….Jonathan and I go to the same church {shout out to Life.Church NW}, but it’s a pretty big church and we had never actually met. Somehow, he started following me on Instagram; and last August, I posted a pic before church in this jacket. During the service that day, he spotted me and recognized me from Instagram and messaged me after. We went on our first date a week later, and have been blissfully together ever since! :) So, fashion for the win! Fun prints can really help you stand out, if you know what I mean… :)
Happy weekend, friends!
~abi~
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by Abi Ruth
[…] will be celebrating their 1 year anniversary this October. {See their engagement photos here and beautiful fall wedding here.}We saw various sea creatures during and after our shoot. This little guy was especially […]