Heather + Cliff’s gorgeous mountain wedding at the Brasstown Valley Resort was absolutely breathtaking! Heather and David are cousins and being a guest at a wedding is so much fun for me! I hope you enjoy this gorgeous & rustic wedding.

The men in the wedding party all wore seersucker suits — they were so light and summery. I love capturing both of these moments below, they are high on my list of favorite moments at a wedding: the Groom seeing his Bride for the first time and the beautiful Bride walking down the aisle with her Dad.

The beautiful wedding reception was decorated with eclectic centerpieces — each table had a different configuration of vases. Heather and her family spent months antique shopping to find gorgeous vases & candle holders… to me, that sounds like a dream! I’d love an excuse to antique shop! Added benefit: you get to keep the fabulous vases after the wedding.

Heather + Cliff’s wedding cake was perfectly elegant & rustic with beautiful tree bark detailing and the fun heart with their monogram!

Cliff is a big football player & fan so what better grooms cake than a tower of yummy cupcakes with fun football toppers!

I absolutely adore monograms: on paper products, on cakes & why not make a big monogram made out of moss letters for the head of the room? I love this!

And now a fun inspiration board from this Rustic, Elegant wedding:

Too bad a photographer’s blog isn’t showing any images?!? We’ll be back to regularly scheduled programming hopefully by tomorrow. In the meantime, go checkout the Kristen Steele Photography facebook page for some pretty photos I just uploaded from the Wedding 101 Expo! Enjoy & happy Tuesday!

He’s so oober-adorable, so super-cudly that I can’t help but be obsessed with him. Winston is definitely a ladies man, he is the friendliest dog I have ever seen. His sweet little paws love to chase after ice or his blue squeaky ball. Currently his newest obsession is biting us, which I don’t really mind because he’s so dang cute.

His newest trick: he {kinda} knows how to sit. Sometimes he feels like sitting, other times he just looks up at me with his dark chocolate eyes and ignores me. Whatever, he’s adorable & here’s the proof:

I hope you’ve enjoyed meeting Winston & if you’re in the Nashville area let us know and we’ll have to have a puppy playdate!

::woof woof:: love, Winston

Courtney is the brains and soul behind Pizzazzerie & she hosted a PHENOMENAL engagement party around a Peacock theme. Sound too cool to be true? Yep, it pretty much was.

She has an eye for detail, I mean like SERIOUS cupcake-flagging sort of detail. This party was a photographer’s dream, at least this photographer. I seriously love the details and I thoroughly enjoyed taking pics of every single detail of this party. The Hostess with the Mostess blog says, “Rich jewel tones, hand-painted table signs, pinwheel drink stirrers served alongside a vibrant blue signature drink, and feathers galore… what’s not to love?!” I couldn’t agree more!!

Don’t just take my word for it, go check out the Hostess with the Mostess blog to read ALL about every detail & to see all the photos!

Connect with Pizzazzerie:

• Go visit Pizzazzerie.com
• Become a fan of Pizzazzerie on facebook
• Follow Pizzazzerie on twitter

I had a blast & loved meeting new friends too!

As I was saying before, the natural light in Italy just looks so much more golden than it does anywhere I’ve ever seen. I think that Italy is a photographer’s dream, because there are natural things that make a photo excellent or different like arches. Take this one for example:

I really loved Florence and was thankful that that was our “base city” for us to explore the rest of Tuscany. Here we’re walking through the streets of Italy on a rainy day with my sister Caroline & her friend Missy. I’m not usually a fan of tilted images, but this one works (I think) because it shows the motion of us walking & it accentuates the old, worn texture of the sidewalk. This street on the right isn’t any special street, but that’s why I love it. All of the streets in Florence look like this: gorgeous, full of beautiful doors & windows. Did you know I have a weird obsession with doors and windows when I travel? I think I’m going to do a whole series on the doors I saw while in Italy this time.

That morning our plan was to walk from our house & find a sweet little bakery to eat a quick bite. Well we walked the whole way to the piazza where The Duomo is and found that the only restaurant/bakery was this Scudieri restaurant. The cappuccino you see below may in fact be the most expensive one I will ever have in my life, haha! Also in this same piazza was this fun scene of a man looking out on the piazza (with more windows!).

So we had a quick coffee and then it was off to climb Giotto’s Tower!

I didn’t realize that there were several levels to the tower, so once we got to the first look out area I thought we were at the top and I kept taking TONS of pictures… only to find out we had about 3 more levels to go! Whoops! As you climbed up the 400-something stairs to the top, there would be sweet little “lookout” windows where you could see the Duomo or the gorgeous city streets below.

In the end, I was really glad that it was raining because that meant there were NO lines to actually get into the tower and it wasn’t crowded at all walking up the stairs. The stairwell was built in medieval times so you can imagine how small it was. I can’t imagine what it would be like with hundreds of other people. By the time we got to the top we were so ready for a break! But just checkout the view once we got there:

If you’re headed to Florence, climbing Giotto’s Bell Tower should definitely be on your list! It took less than an hour to climb & get back down and the views were absolutely breathtaking!

When Tiffani of Creative Designs & Events came to me about this Bridal Fashion shoot I got SO excited! We had so much fun brainstorming ideas for this shoot!

Our beautiful model Lacey got to wear two amazing dresses from The Bride Room! Brides, if you haven’t been to The Bride Room yet, you NEED to go there! It’s like bridal heaven!!

So without further ado… here is our Bridal Fashion Shoot at the Historic Carnton Plantation and in downtown Franklin!

I am so incredibly proud of how this turned out & I couldn’t have done it without all the amazing vendors. Thanks to all the amazing vendors who helped make this shoot a success:

• Design & styling by: Tiffani of Creative Designs & Events
• Fabulous dresses & accessories: The Bride Room
• Model: Lacey Young
• Makeup: Shannon Wright
• Location: Historic Carnton Plantation

This is definitely one thing that I wish someone had recommended to me: to have an amazing makeup artist come to YOU on your wedding day so you’re not running around like a chicken with your head cut off! Just read below about her de-stress treatment… I seriously want her to come over to my house every day and do that! I hope you enjoy getting to know Amy Lynn!

So you’re in the Nashville Wedding Industry! Tell us what you do!
Faces and Hair! I do makeup for all occasions. My weekdays are spent working on photo shoots for album & book covers, head shots, advertisements, and various other print materials and videos. And weekends are for helping brides look amazing on their wedding day.

What is the spunkiest part of your job?
Well, it’s really fun to use color and light to change things. When a girl is so self conscious about her zits, I can use the techniques I know to make them almost disappear. And when she looks in the mirror, she’s taken aback by how flawless her skin looks. Or when someone wants their blue eyes to dazzle, using color correctly can make them jump out of her head! So it’s a lot of fun to alter parts of a face to give them more radiance, color, or to hide them all together.

What is one accomplishment or accolade that you’re most proud of?
Being able to do this job at all is an accomplishment. It’s unbelievable that I never have to go to work. This career is not work to me. It’s just hang out, fun time. I get to be around amazing people and do an activity that really completes my being. Very few people can say they enjoy what they do that much. So being able to call myself “A Makeup Artist” is a huge deal and I am so proud that my business has grown so strongly that I can commit myself to it.

What do you feel that brides know the least about as far as your role in the wedding is concerned?
When you are 60 years old, you’ll have a husband and pictures to remember your wedding day…that’s it. You want those images to make you feel incredible each time you look at them. Makeup can make or break your pictures. It can totally transform the way you look in pictures. Not just because it adds color and definition to your face, but because it reflects light and uses the pigments to give certain effects. Professional products are made to work well with camera. Using your typical everyday foundation is not going to look nice underneath a lens that sees EVERYTHING.

What does a successful wedding look like when everything has gone according to plans for you?
Bride is smiling and happy. Bridesmaids look good. And we’re on time.

What’s one fun product or service that your Brides really love?
Probably the de-stress treatment that begins our time together. Your wedding day is full of people fussing over you. But when I’m 6 inches from your face with an arsenal of brushes, people tend to leave you alone. So the time we have together to work on your makeup and hair, is a quiet time for you; time to reflect upon the biggest decision of your life and to really absorb everything you are feeling. We begin this appropriately with a de-stress treatment which includes a hand massage and stress release spray. It signals the rest of the room to give you a break.

Any other random factoid that you’d like to share about yourself??
I’m a vegetarian! I’ve been meat free for almost 2 years and don’t think I’ll ever go back. Animals are my weakness so I couldn’t justify eating them and contributing to their abuse anymore.

What do you like to do for fun when you’re not being a fabulous wedding vendor?
I have a great husband that I spend most of my free time with. We like to play board games, cook, and watch sitcoms.

Connect with Amy Lynn:

• Amy Lynn Larwig MUA Website
• Become a fan of Amy Lynn Larwig on facebook
• Follow Amy Lynn on Twitter

As if I haven’t convinced you enough to hire Amy Lynn as your makeup artist, checkout her promo video:

Amy Lynn Larwig, Makeup Artist. from Mark Brown on Vimeo.

Six months ago on February 10th I had the amazing opportunity to go to Making Things Happen hosted by Lara Casey, Jeff Holt and Jeremy Cowart. And in honor of our amazing experience 6 months ago tonight we’re having a reunion to celebrate and share with each other our accomplishments.

So what exactly is Making Things Happen?
The Making Things Happen™ workshop is an intensive designed to fire you up for 2010. Spend an afternoon with me making a clear, active, successful plan for 2010. From branding to bold moves and everything in between, I’m inviting you to join me for an intensive like no other. I’m fired up and intend to make sure you leave feeling the same way about your future. I’ll be asking attendees vital (ie- hard) questions and require that participants be ready to lay it all out on the table. This workshop is not for the faint of heart, but for all creative professionals who really want to change, grow, and harness their full potential in the new year. Making Things Happen is about personal branding. Making Things Happen was founded on the idea that you have the choice to change your life. The Making Things Happen Intensive is about personal evolution. (Taken straight from the Making Things Happen website.)

So I’ve answered some brief questions regarding where I’ve come in the last 6 months & how Making Things Happen helped me get there. So here we go….

What were your goals when you started? What have you accomplished since MTH?
My one main goal when I arrived at MTH Nashville was to become a full-time photographer. At that point it seemed like it would never happen, because there was so much standing in my way. But after making the time that day to really sit down and think about that goal and the actual steps that I needed to take, I felt equipped to know what I needed to do.

6 months ago, I never thought I’d ____.
6 months ago, I never thought I would be a full-time photographer and have photographed a destination wedding in Volterra, Italy.

What were your biggest fears and how have you overcome them?
My biggest fear was that I would make the decision to quit my job and then not get booked for any weddings or lifestyle portraits. I have overcome this huge fear by stepping away from my fear. I recently read this quote and it perfectly reflects my Making Things Happen experience:

“Each time we decide to take a step away from fear, we begin to move forward into a life completely energized and rich in the freedom God has for us.” —Anne Jackson

What has been the most valuable asset to you in your journey?
My most valuable asset(s) to me in my journey most assuredly would be my faith, my husband who has been so supportive and my fellow MTH community!

What is your best advice to others who want to MTH?
If you’re thinking about attending Making Things Happen, I would say… don’t pass Go, don’t collect $200 until you sign up and make plans to attend MTH. It will not only richly bless your life and your business but it will kickstart your thinking differently to dream more for your life and your business.

Fill in the blank: Making Things Happen means ____.
Making Things Happen means realizing your goals and accomplishing them.

What are you most looking forward to for the rest of 2010? What’s next?
For the rest of 2010, I am most looking forward to growing my business: announcing new projects, new products and most importantly touching new clients with their photos.

So there you have it! It’s been quite an incredible past 6 months. There has been so much change in my life that sometimes I don’t feel like I’m really living my life, my dream but in fact it’s true. I’m so thankful for how supportive and encouraging David, my family, all my friends and fellow photographers have been. SO THANK YOU!!!

If you want to take a stroll down memory lane, here’s my really really rambling video that I recorded as soon as I got home from Making Things Happen.

Making Things Happen 2010 | Nashville from Kristen Steele on Vimeo.

I’m so thankful for my Making Things Happen experience and I’m hoping that my MTH reunion experience doesn’t stop tonight with my Nashville friends, but that I get to go to the Watercolor Reunion too! Are you going?

I was inspired by several photographers who have made their own 101 in 1001 lists, like Amelia Strauss and Kate Whitmore, so here I am making my own list of goals and things that I want to accomplish!

My start date: Sunday, August 1, 2010
End date: Sunday, April 28, 2013

1. Decorate my office (with my giant wishlist from IKEA) to be completely me & organized.
2. Go snow skiing with my hubby.
3. Get a set of real pearl earrings, a necklace and a bracelet to be truly Southern.
4. Start a photography mentor program.
5. Invest in good wedding shoes.
6. Be published in a wedding magazine.
7. Design, finish & print all the marketing collateral that I dream about having.
8. Take Winston to obedience school & teach him not to bite.
9. Get another “L” series lens.
10. Figure out exactly the right words to describe “my photography style.”
11. Start sending out really fun, unique referral presents to past clients.
12. Design & purchase an album from our wedding.
13. Finish a personal journal through the very last page.
14. Read through the Bible in a year.
15. Make business goals for a calendar year and surpass them.
16. Take a Maples Cakes class & learn how to decorate great cakes.
17. Get an iPhone.
18. Pay off our house & be completely debt free. (This is a crazy lofty goal.)
19. Photograph a birth story.
20. Have a promo video made that fully expresses my personality & photography style.
21. Get leterpress business materials.
22. Learn how to play golf with my hubby.
23. Plant flowers in pots & keep them alive for an entire season.
24. Go to WPPI.
25. Win a photography award.
26. Have an above-the-garage or in-house studio and client meeting space, complete with kickin’ canvas collections to show off.
27. Migrate to a completely paperless office & personal filing system. (Thank you, Sean McLellan, for at least showing me how, now I actually need to do it!)
28. Attend a Zack Arias OneLight workshop.
29. Get personalized stationary with Kristen Steele instead of my maiden name.
30. Create a studio manual.
31. Take formal portraits of my parents.
32. Get my Roth IRA set up.
33. Photograph a boudoir session.
34. Get silkscreen printed DVDs.
35. Have a weekend with just my little sissy.
36. Hire an office assistant/manager.
37. Lose weight & wear a bikini in the Caribbean with my hubby.
38. Buy a full frame camera.
39. Start thinking about having a little Baby Steele.
40. Have my quiet time every day for 6 weeks.
41. Shoot another wedding in Europe.
42. Start outsourcing my editing, at least some of it.
43. Actually post photos from session on my Flickr account.
44. Write at least 5 chapters of my book.
45. Buy all the equipment I would need for a camera booth.
46. Go to the flea market & buy fun props for photo sessions.
47. Be featured on the Southern Weddings blog or in the magazine.
48. Go to the beach at least for the weekend with the girls, because I love feeling sand beneath my toes.
49. Finish decorating our master bedroom, including re-upholstering the chair.
50. Blog on my writing blog every day for a whole month.
51. Have my fine art photography displayed at an art gallery.
52. Shoot a beach destination wedding.
53. Buy an old camera at an antique store & do a session with it.
54. Get a canvas collection with photos from our Italian Adventure trip for our living room.
55. Surprise Dave with an iPad.
56. Finally finish editing photos from our Italian Adventure.
57. Make a wreath for our front door.
58. Get Winston a Christmas stocking.
59. Finish compiling my Photo Greeting Card collection to offer my fabulous clients.
60. Be featured on Style Me Pretty.
61. Learn more about lighting.
62. Take dance classes with my hubby & then dance @ a wedding.
63. Finish reading The Photographer’s Workshop.
64. Actually write letters to our two Compassion International sponsor children.
65. Find an album company that I’m 110% in love with.
66. Completely redesign my website to be custom, absolutely fabulous & fully represent my brand.
67. Learn how to quilt, or at least how to sew & make some pillows.
68. Sell my Senior prom dress & buy more camera equipment.
69. Go to a Catalyst conference.
70. Take a trip to Boston with Dave.
71. Shoot a proposal.
72. Take a family trip with Dave & Winston somewhere fun!
73. Start an awesome group of fellow photographers who want to encourage & spur one another to excellence in our business.
74. Join a local business chamber.
75. Hire an intern.
76. Donate photographic services to an organization that I’m passionate about.
77. Do a “Top Five” blog post.
78. Photograph the important places from my personal history.
79. Sit down with my Dad & write out his life history.
80. Send out anniversary cards to past clients.
81. Implement the ridiculously fun ideas I have for branding…
82. Send someone a gift just because.
83. Go visit Springfield, KY with David & show him where my Memaw & Papa lived.
84. Spend a whole night in a bubble bath relaxing and reading.
85. Go on a road trip with David.
86. Host a Christmas party.
87. Cut down a fresh Christmas tree at a Christmas tree farm.
88. Finally clean out all my stuff in my parents’ basement.
89. Take a trip to Chicago with Dave.
90. Meet Andy Stanley.
91. Get a publisher for my book.
92. Make my own candles with a fun scent.
93. Go vote in a local election.
94. Finish reading a political book that Dave wanted me to read.
95. Start & complete all 90 days of P90X.
96. Host a Social Media workshop on how to use Twitter + facebook for business.
97. Babysit for friends to give them a free date night.
98. Go to ImagingUSA again.
99. Start something new that stretches me out of my comfort zone.
100. Encourage a friend just because.
101. Actually complete all 101 things on this list.

So there it is! That’s my list of 101 things I want to do in the next 1001 days! As I complete each item, I’ll write a blog post telling you about it! Enjoy & if you have a 101 in 1001 list too, list it below in the comments and if you tweet use the hashtag #101in1001 & we’ll follow along with each other. Hugs!!