Abi Ruth » Blog

Kadie’s sisters were part of her group of beautiful bridesmaids. I love the shot above of just the three of them. Then we had to include their brother Foster. {He’s always a good model for me, as demonstrated in his senior pix. :)}I also loved this pic of Matt and his sisters. So sweet.Next up, a few pix of the cutie nephews… :)

Kadie was a stunning bride. In her lace dress, with her dark, loose curls covered by her lace-trimmed veil, she was the perfect picture of relaxed elegance. Honestly, I could have taken photos of her and her beautiful bridesmaids all day!

I very much appreciated the chill vibes in the girls getting ready room. It’s always fun seeing the whole process of a bridal party getting dolled up. I’m an avid fan of beauty anything {fashion mags, YouTube makeup tutorials, Pinterest hair inspiration, all of that}, so being in on this behind-the-scenes part of the wedding day is pretty cool.Kadie was a low maintenance bride who did her own hair and makeup quite beautifully. She has perfected that glamorous loose curl hair, hasn’t she?It was such a cute moment when Kadie, surrounded by her girls, opened her present from Matt.Once everything and everyone was looking perfect, we headed outside for portraits. The sky had gotten moody, which gave us some lovely diffused lighting for these pretty ladies.Kadie casually slayed for her portraits alone.These girls know how to werk it.All the shimmery dresses, all the shiny smiles. :)After we headed back inside, the girls took a quiet moment to pray before the ceremony.Such a special moment during a gorgeous day. More to come this week…

Save

Save

I first met Matt when he came to be an intern for our youth program at my church. We hit it off immediately, as we bonded over having both been homeschool kids. :) Matt is quick to laugh and loves making others laugh as well {especially his bride, Kadie}. It was fun hanging with him and his guys on his wedding day. The groomsmen always provide lots of funny, lighthearted moments for me!

I loved this sign Kadie’s sister painted for the groom’s getting ready room.The perfect gift from the bride!The guys really dug their groomsmen gifts. I’m telling you, they were excited!I am a huge fan of grey suits on guys for wedding days. Don’t they look sharp?Next up, in this ongoing saga: the lovely ladies! Stay tuned…

Save

I’m back, with more from Matt & Kadie’s awesome wedding day. Here are some of my favorite detail shots. Kadie wore a beautiful lace gown and very cool neutral suede heels that looked to be quite comfortable while also stylish. Kadie’s mom, Kathy, whipped up her all-white-roses bridal bouquet, as well as doing the lovely table arrangements and all the other flower stuff too. Pretty impressive, Kathy. :)I patted myself on the back for the cheeky use of this church sign. ;)Towers of cupcakes arranged on an antique furniture piece? oh yeahhh.Each table had a unique centerpiece made up of a few blooms and some antique pieces.Kadie’s sister, Mackenzie, does amazing hand-lettering work. She did all the signs for the wedding. So lovely!I’ve got several more posts to do from this wedding. I’m breaking it down into categories so there’s not one hundred fifty-plus photos in on post. ha.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Fourth of July holiday celebrating America and the freedom we enjoy. This country isn’t perfect. No country is. Because countries are made up of humans and humans are not perfect. We are all desperately in need of a deep and personal relationship with God. And America gives us such freedom to pursue God with all of our hearts. If we do that, daily, I believe we will see radical changes for the better, here and around the world. God can provide peace and justice. He loves and forgives and shows mercy and gives grace. We should do the same. I’m so thankful to have been born into a nation where the message of Christ Jesus is freely shared! I am oh so grateful to have the opportunity to live without fear, to live with power and love and self-discipline {2 Timothy 1:7}. I will strive my whole life to better my community and my country instead of tearing it down.

~abi~

Save

Save

Last month, I photographed Matt & Kadie‘s amazingly fun wedding. And I’ve got about one hundred and sixty-three favorite photos to share from it. But first I want to chat about some of my thoughts on blogging and weddings and Instagram and, and, and…

In the past, there’s been times when I’ve shared weddings in multiple posts, like I am going to do with this one. But then it seemed like that must not be a good idea for some reason, because no one else {other photographers who blog} ever does it. Several years ago, I backed way off on the number of weddings I shoot a year. I still love shooting weddings. In fact, I love it even more now that I shoot about five a year. But I’m kinda bad about sharing them. One reason is, I already spend a lot of hours editing a wedding. So adding hours {and hours} to cull and edit images for a blog post can lose its appeal. But I don’t usually share my photography work on Instagram {other than, say, a screenshot from my blog to show that I have a new post up}. And I know most photographers share a ton of their work via Instagram, and that’s awesome and I love seeing their pretty photos. But I like blogging {really, I do}. I like being able to easily go back and find images {without scrolling through an ig feed forever}. I like being able to pin images. And I really like having my Instagram just be something for me, not necessarily my business. I know most people would say you and your business are one and the same, and I totally agree with that. I do. But I like Instagram to be instant, fun, no-pressure images of my life. And while I love my client-friends, I want to be sharing more snippets about me than official photos of them. Make sense? I did share a few initial faves from Matt & Kadie’s wedding on my Instagram because I was super excited about them. But overall, I think I’ll stick with sharing iPhone pix over there and my photography photos on here. But on top of all that stuff I was thinking about, I was also thinking how the really cool pix people share on Instagram {and I’m referring to photographers who share their work that way} kind of seem to make more of an impact because there’s usually only one {or a few} shared at a time. So I was thinking I should break up my blog posts some and share them in smaller, more bite-sized pieces. And this works out well, because I also realllllly, truly want to be posting on here more often. It’s obvious I’m not good at narrowing down favorites to share, and I also suck at not chatting a lot in my posts. So smaller posts might help with posting more regularly.

Whew. Enough of all the over-explaining. Let’s talk about Matt & Kadie. They’re hot, obviously. And they’re cool. And their wedding was so fun! I have much more to share, but I thought it made sense to start off with photos of the lovely couple themselves. They chose not to see each other before their ceremony; and while they were saying their vows indoors, the rain was pouring down outside. But wouldn’t you know it, the rain stopped and the golden light shone on us for their portraits together after the ceremony. {Let me just insert a little #protip to brides & grooms here: We photographers loooove it when couples see each other before their ceremonies, sure. But look, the photos can be just as great even if you choose not to see each other before. It’s okay. It’s your wedding! Do things the way you want to!}Who knew parking lot stripes could look so rad?? We did.Kadie had the most perfect wavy, shiny, pretty bridal hair, didn’t she?Oh man. Melt my heart.Stahhhp it. Models.During their engagement session, we talked about how Kadie hates PDA. Good thing there was no one around except for me and my camera for these portraits. ;) {Side note: I don’t think Matt minds PDA one little bit.}Well look at this happy little accident. :)Pros at soft smiles. #nbd“Whoa, look how hot my new spouse is!” <– I’m good at reading minds sometimes.Kadie, why are you so pretty? Matt, why is your hair so cool? :)Goodness, you two. I just love you and your love. Photographing your wedding was truly a joy. Congrats!

~abi~

Save

Save

Save