P H O T O G R A P H Y
XOXO,
Alyssa
ABOUT ALYSSA
Hi! I'm Alyssa. This is where I'm supposed to tell you all about myself, so I'll give it my best shot:
When I was 11, my parents gifted me their old digital camera when they upgraded to a newer one. It was just a basic point and shoot camera, but I felt like the luckiest girl in the world! I quickly developed a love for taking photos of my youngest sister, Kasidy, who was not yet 1 at the time. My middle sister was too old for me to fool her into letting me doll her up for pictures any time I wanted. Ha!
As Kasidy grew up, I continued to photograph her and all of her silliness. She went from being a baby to a little kid, then to a middle schooler, and she's now close to graduating high school. I photographed every stage and used every photo as a lesson in composition, skill, and technique. I didn't realize it at the time, but I was also telling the story of a little, silly, wildly energetic girl who grew up to become a very smart, beautiful, determined (and sometimes still silly) young woman.
When I was 16, I received a call from a frantic bride who was desperately trying to find a photographer for her wedding the next day. Her original photographer had an unexpected death in her family, and this bride needed someone who could step in and take photos in her place.
I'll never understand what made that poor bride trust the 16 year old, quite unexperienced, naive version of me that I was at that time, but I will forever be thankful that she did. Thus began my journey in shooting weddings.
Since that day, I've shot more weddings than I can even begin to count. I've shot in a wide variety of lighting situations, and I've dealt with lots of weather (from oceans-to snow-to tornadic condtions-to ice) that refuses to cooperate. (It always turns out just fine, by the way!) I've been able to calm many anxious brides, pinned the boutonnières on countless groomsmen, and have assisted in so many last minute bridal hair touch-ups that I now keep extra bobby pins in my camera bag just for weddings. In the last 3 years, I have taken on more weddings, which developed my need for my second shooter, Kim. She and I make a wonderful team while shooting, but we also consider each other - as well as our kids and loved ones - family. We eat dinner together, we shop at target together, and we even vacation together from time to time. Oh, and we both taught middle school together in the same building (that's another story) - but I mention it to say that we can handle our fair share of large crowds. That comes in very handy while shooting weddings!
We've been given the opportunity to capture the most precious of memories for so many couples, and I know how lucky we are to be the ones chosen to do that. We put our hearts into every single photo. I treat each wedding as if it were my own, and Kim has such an eye for detail, with the ability to make the simplest of moments absolutely beautiful, and she captures the happiest, sweetest emotions in her photos. I often make the joke to friends that we "baby" our brides, but it's not really a joke. It's true! We make it our mission to give each and every bride and groom the very best photographic experience we can give them, from the engagement session, to the wedding ceremony, and to the exit after the reception.
We would be absolutely honored to photograph your day, too.
I can't end this story without giving credit to the little sister who let me take hundreds of photos of her as she grew up, so here's a tribute to her below containing some of those very photos. Thanks, Kas! You rock.