Stacey Bode Photography

I am all giddy about getting to show you a big ol’ post of Lauren and Albert’s exquisite wedding day.  I filled in for the lovely Robin Nathan, who had a sooner-than-expected maternity leave.  Michelle White was our super second shooter.

The ceremony was held at one of my favorite places….The Atlanta Botanical Garden.  A little rain popped in at the tail end of their vows, which cooled everyone off and filled us all with giggles.  Nobody laughed harder than Lauren and Albert.  For the reception, everyone headed next door to the Piedmont Driving Club.  The whole ballroom was filled with stunning details and decorations.  It was a joyful, memorable event, and I couldn’t be happier for this great couple.

I have to give major props to Lauren’s sister Lisa of Paper Daisies Stationery.  She created all the beautiful, custom items you see in this post.  She also designed the logos for my main photo company and my Cheeky Lamb biz.  Yay, Lisa!

Anyone who looks in my closet can tell that I’m a little crazy for black and white.  Sometimes, I wish I could be one of those hot pink-wearing people, but I’m just not.  Well, except for that one year in the 80s.  What I love about black and white is how it can be equally classic and modern, depending on how it’s done.  Leave it to the folks at Design Aglow to create holiday card templates that totally speak to my aesthetic inclinations.  I really dig how these designs incorporate elements that are simple, and others that are a little fancier….without being the kind of frilly that makes me gag.  Things that veer toward the Victorian tend to make me develop a rash.  Anyway, I thought I’d post some examples here for anyone who’s considering some custom holiday cards this year.  I used pics from my shoot with the incredible Boggess/St Charles family.  Woo hoo!

What’s shown here from left to right is the front of the card, the 2-page folded middle, and the back.

Yay, Trip!  I can’t get over the great job he did with his headshot session.  I think we might have even embarrassed him a bit with all our WOWs.  The fabulous Jacque Carder provided the styling for our shoot, and she and I kept gushing over how easy Trip was to work with.  Particularly, he could take his look from “devil” to “angel” in about a second.  So cool.  He really knows his face and expressions, which is something every photographer hopes for in a subject.  Win, win!

It’s that time of year again….time to book your family portrait shoot.  Woo hoo!  Dates are disappearing fast.  October is already full, but there are still shoots available in November.  Yay!  If you’re wanting photos to give as holiday gifts or to use for the cards you send out, your photo session will have to be booked before December in order for you to get everything in time.

I always look forward to the Fall season, and working with so many fantastic and adorable families.  Each one is incredibly unique and wonderful.  It’s such a joy to capture with my camera.  Time often passes faster than we’d like, so thank goodness we have photos to freeze our moments before they transform into new ones!

Here’s the full post of images I took during Wendy and Jeremy’s elegant wedding at the Ritz-Carlton that I second-shot for Robin Nathan and also with Melissa Schollaert.  Beautiful couple, beautiful place, beautiful day.  Win, win, win!

A few weeks ago, I got to shoot the gorgeous wedding of Lauren and Albert for Robin Nathan.  Woo hoo!  Robin had just had her little baby girl, so I took over the photography, with help from fantastic second shooter Michelle White.

The ceremony was held at the Atlanta Botanical Garden, and the reception was at the Piedmont Driving Club.  So cool!  It was a really great day, and I can’t wait to share more images with you.  In the meantime, here’s a little sneaky-peek!

Dave and Deann have been friends of mine for years.  You’ll be hard-pressed to find two more kind, insightful, and giving people.  Theirs was actually the very first wedding I ever shot, which seems like about a million years ago.  They have a really fantastic family, who all had a wonderful reason to get  together for a celebration.  Dave’s grandmother Florence is now 100 years young.  Yay!  We should all be so lucky to reach such a great milestone, and be as fabulous as she is.  I love that for the party, she wore a shirt that said “So far, this is the oldest I’ve ever been”.  Well put!

Sometimes it’s great to be wrong.  I always swore I’d never use pre-designed album layouts because I like very simple, modern page displays that showcase the images rather than the backgrounds.  Then, I got an Album Cafe gift certificate from the wonderful Pam Jones when I spoke at her Kiss the Bride workshop.  I still prefer really clean layouts for wedding albums, but The Album Cafe had a few designs that I fell in love with for my Cheeky Lamb boudoir photography.  What I dig about these designs is that they really enhance the photos instead of distract from them.  I also happen to be obsessed with the color gray.

I wanted to post examples of the layouts, and thought Jaimie’s pics were perfect for this design style.  I also purchased another, more romantic set, and I think those will look gorgeous with images I’ll be taking next month during another outdoor Cheeky Lamb shoot.  I’m so excited to take those pics!

In other Cheeky Lamb news, I will soon be creating a separate website for just my boudoir photos.  Yay!  Those shoots are always such a blast because they are fun, challenging, dynamic, and the ladies couldn’t be more brave and fabulous.  I’m so glad that these pics will finally have their very own, fancy-pants website.  I’ll let you know when it’s all set for the lookin’.

For now, let’s all just be thankful for Pam, The Album Cafe, and Jaimie!

What are the necessary elements of a truly unforgettable wedding?  In my book, they are:  a loving couple, a pretty setting, unique and thoughtful details, joyful friends and family, and a good ol’ dose of fun.  Tom and Julia’s North Carolina wedding had all of this and more.  I was so struck by how exquisite everything was, that I’m pretty sure I spent most of the day looking like a giddy deer in headlights.  You couldn’t throw a bale of hay without hitting something awesome.  Yes, there were bales of hay.  They were used as seating for the ceremony.  Are you getting an idea of why I’m so excited?

I’m going to try to keep my comments to a minimum, because I’d rather let the images tell the story.  I’ve posted lots of pics here, and the slideshow at the end of the post has a whole bunch more.  I do have to give a huge shout-out to my hubby Matt, who did such an excellent job as my second shooter.  He’s almost a little too good, really.  I think he might be reading my mind at times.  Get outta there!

Tom and Julia, could I possibly adore you any more?  No, I could not.  I’m so very happy for you, and I’m fortunate to know two people who are as kind, smart, hilarious, and generous as you.

To view a slideshow of more images from Tom and Julia’s incredible wedding, please click HERE

Here are all the yummy details

Wedding Planner – Elizabeth Hempfling – Thanks so much, Elizabeth.  You did such a wonderful job!

Dress Designer – Rodica Lazarian – There’s a photo in the slideshow of Julia standing in line with several other ladies in her family.  ALL of those ladies wore the dress Julia has on (9 total now)!  Rodica did an incredible job altering it and making it extra-special.

Flower Design – Carolyn Clement of Millefleurs – Really beautiful!

Catering – Eileen Gaddi of Gadabouts Catering – So delicious!

Cake Catering – Stickboy Bread Co. – Cupcakes AND a shark!

Stable Owner – Keith Ward of Dutch Creek Trails – Keith, your property is gorgeous, and thanks for the moonshine and tales of “the blue room”.

Evita and Michael’s wedding photos are now international!  The folks from the lovely Lohas Magazine in China have published some of their wedding and day-after pics.  Woo hoo!  Sadly, I can’t read Chinese, but I’m guessing the article says something like, “Evita and Michael are the most awesome people in the universe, and they had a wicked-cool wedding!”.

They even used one of their pics for another feature in the mag!