Welcome to Part I of The Bridal Experience.  I'll be introducing you to all of the vendors involved and sharing pictures from the first set of the day, The Enchanted Forest.

The Bridal Experience is the brain child of Rachel Wooters, who wanted to bring a bunch of vendors together to create a "wedding day" in an effort to network, and create beautiful images for marketing purposes (and some other stuff, to be announced later on this year!).  So, without further ado, here's the list of vendors who participated!

Venue: 1912 Barn Contact: Aissa Norris (217) 853-6058 Wedding Décor: Elaburg Events Contact: Angela Burgener (217) 433-9421 Makeup: Rachel Wooters of Headlines Contact: Head Lines (217) 875-2776 Hair/up-do's: Crystal Edgecombe, Amy Hicks, Denise Alexander, Leah Black-Beasley all from Head Lines (owned by Denise) Contact: Head Lines Hair Design (217) 875-2776 Dresses: Candice's Bridal Contact: Julie Goff (217) 726-7905 Cake: Iced Contact: Jodi (217) 774-2247 Flowers: Shirley's Flower Shoppe & Greenhouses Contact: Shirley (217) 864-4623 Brides: Bailey Bloomfield, Dani Feller, MK Halm

The Enchanted Forest was conceptualized to show you how truly versatile Aissa's barn and property can be. 

This lovely lady came to my rescue last fall when I was in desperate need to get on a farm and play with horses (hang in there, I know that sounds weird).  Many might not know, but I used to LOVE riding, and miss being around horses terribly.  Lindsey was kind enough to let me come out and photograph her and her beloved Lexi.  Combining horses and photography had to be one of the best sessions I've had to date!  To top it off, I got to take announcement pictures for her since she was just about ready to announce they were expecting a baby!  Check out their gallery here (about 3 or 4 rows down).

 

Fast forward to practically the end of her pregnancy, and I headed back out to take maternity pictures last week.  I bought this aaaamazing flowy gown I wanted to put Lindsey in for some pictures with her husband and Lexi.

There is so much to say about this little beauty.  First of all- look at all of her HAIR!  It's amazing, and adorable, and I love it!  Then, she slept practically the whole session, and was more than happy to be squishy!  Check out her gallery here  

(she's about the third picture in on the page)!

Like most babes, Audrey came with a special quilt made by grandma, with a cute puppy to match.  It fit perfectly in a bucket I had lying around, and once we got the quintessential close ups of her itty bitty features, we snuggled the puppy in and got a few more adorable pics.  I look forward to incorporating the puppy into future pictures!

Once we get our bucket poses done, we moved onto the beanbag, and got some more adorable, sleepy, squishy baby pictures. 

Miss Maci came in to the world a little earlier than expected, she was about three and a half weeks at her newborn session.  However, I've never had a baby so smiley (I'm going to think she's happy to see me)!  Every time I went to make an adjustment she cracked a little grin.  Totally made my day!

Obviously, mom and dad are fans of the St. Louis Cardinals.  Since I don't have bright, vibrant colored wraps (mine are muted and earthy) so we wrapped Maci in a pale blue that the Cards used to wear, and coordinate with a Cardinals bow.  Check out Maci's full gallery here (she starts at the third picture)!

As so many of you know, newborns are my favorite style of photography, so if you or someone you know is expecting, please contact me to discuss what you envision for your session!

   So quite a few things have been going on behind the scenes here at Hidden Gem.  I've been working with a friend of mine who is building her clientele, and we've decided to collaborate on a few projects.  I want you all to meet Rachel Wooters, based out of Head Lines here in Decatur.

Our first project that we're super excited about is our BOUDOIR EVENT we're hosting.  We wanted to do these in the summer when everyone is ready for bathing suit season instead of just coming off of the holidays.  Everyone has eaten a lot over the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays, and certainly everyone has spent a lot! We want to give you gorgeous ladies time to recover from all aspects of the holidays. I'll be behind the camera (obviously), Rachel will be doing makeup, and her co-worker Amy will be providing hair services.