This past weekend’s wedding was another special one, near and dear to my heart. Sweet Rebekah and Christian – two very young souls, on FIRE for the Lord, tied the knot! (Church family weddings are becoming a regular thing and I am here for it! Inquire about your date!! ahahah) I could not be more honored to have been chosen to document their beautiful day.
From the elegant, very classy “Audrey Hepburn-ish” dress Rebekah picked out to the really fun and clever table games to the hand written thank you cards given to every guest in attendance *even me and shuli :’)* to the tear jerking vows that would knock your vocabulary socks off from Christian; Rebekah and Christian are the epitome of genuine, Jesus loving – people. Who were both patiently waiting for God’s best.
I am so incredibly happy they have found each other and to watch all they will continue to do now that they are married; I pray increase and blessing over everything your hands touch and that even when the tough times come you lean extra hard on that third cord that strengthens you.
Here are some highlights from the day I just loved and had to pull from first! Enjoy ❤
Hello there, I’m so happy you’re here! Whether you book me as your portrait photographer or not, I created this helpful resource for anyone to rock their next photo session!
I’m Taylor Moulton, a small town portrait and wedding photographer that’s photographed dozens of families and couples over the last six years and I’m happy to say I’ve learned a thing or two when it comes to having a truly rewarding portrait session and it boils down to these top five tips.
1. Outfits
The single most, immediate question that *probably* shoots through your mind when you are either thinking about booking a session or just have is:
“What am I/or we going to wear?”
And it’s completely normal and totally valid. And my most helpful tip when I’m asked this question is this –
Start with a print.
No matter who is wearing it; You, dad, brother timmy or little sister susie…find what print you like and then pull everyone’s colors/patterns and textures from that. Here is an example from a family session I did where you can see all their colors aren’t exactly matching but they are all in the same family or relative to the print mom is wearing and it all looks really cohesive and put together.
*Bonus tip* make sure you feel comfortable in whatever you choose to wear and can easily move around/sit. My sessions always have some kind of movement involved and a long flowy dress you can twirl around in, is an added plus!
2. Embrace the chaos
This tip is more for families with younger kids or kids entering that “independence stage” and you might be cringing right now at the thought of your kid mid photo session having a level five meltdown but rest assured…We will make it out alive and we will get some good ones of them. I promise. Some of the best photographs I’ve taken of children with their parents have happened in the middle of a temper tantrum. It’s the loving grace and patience that comes out of you when you see your babies breaking down, it’s scooping them up in your arms and holding them close to you and telling them it’s going to be ok. And in that moment of you naturally mothering them, I’m capturing it all for you and it’s almost as though I planned for it to happen that way. It’s ok if it gets a little messy, it’s ok if your kids don’t act the way you thought they would. This is your beautiful family and your very unique story that is so worthy of being documented and you will love to look back on it.
3. Connection over Perfection
If you’ve seen the viral trend going around right now about “smiling FOR the picture vs smiling IN the picture” this tip is exactly that. Personally, I like getting a few images of you smiling at me, because yes of course I want to photograph your beautiful faces but I LOVE taking photos of you smiling/laughing and looking at each other because then I’m getting to photograph your connection – your love for one another and I think that’s an even more beautiful moment to hang on your walls and walk by every day. So tip number three, fight the urge to constantly look at the girl with the camera and fall in love with looking into your significant other’s eyes again.
4. The First 20 minutes
Alright, you’ve booked the session – you’ve read my outfit tip and you have a fabulous wardrobe laid out. You get to the location and meet up with me and now the session is about to start and suddenly you have butterflies going crazy in your stomach because you’re so excited but also a little nervous…You’ve never done this before and don’t know what to expect. Girl, I got you. Just know that the first 20 minutes is going to feel a little awkward, especially for couple sessions. Unless it’s your norm to be constantly rubbing your noses and dancing together in the streets like some cheesy rom-com movie…which it may be and there’s no harm in that…but for many couples I meet; it’s not – just know and understand that the first 20 minutes feels awkward for just about everyone and that’s not a weird or bad thing, I promise it’s a very, very normal thing and it will feel immediately better with just a little time.
5. Don’t come starving
My best advice for moms of little kids or wives of hangry husbands or even moms to be – really this tip is for anyone and everyone. Don’t show up starving to a photo session and also don’t come completely stuffed full either, you don’t want to feel uncomfortable moving around for an hour. Eat a reasonably clean, small snack right before we start. Since my sessions on average last an hour to an hour and a half we don’t want anyone super famished and already cranky before we even start. Here are some good options to set everyone up for success:
Apple slices
popcorn
cuties oranges
pretzels
peanut butter crackers…ect
The idea here is we want to stay away from anything super juicy, sugary or “cheese dusty” Lol. And then as a great reward for following directions and participating with Ms. Taylor – eating at someones favorite restaurant or getting a treat afterwards is a wonderful idea too!! 🙂
And another bonus tip *Just have fun!!* Photo sessions become immediately less stressful when you just only have one goal in mind;
have fun and trust the photographer to capture it beautifully.
I hope these five helpful portrait session tips come in handy for you for your next session and I’m praying I’ll be the photographer you entrust with your story!! 🙂
Another beautiful lakeside ranch wedding is in the books and I was blessed enough to do it for a very special couple! I had known Kessid already from my church – she is not only our children’s pastor’s oldest daughter but she’s also been a leader at every kids camp/VBS event I’ve helped photograph in the last few years so I knew long before now what a sweetheart she is.
It’s the momma in me that makes me so elated she found a great guy like Jonathan to build a life with and the more time you spend with them the more perfect together they seem. P.S They met at church camp guys. I mean C’MON, it was meant to be!
While I’ve shot weddings at Lakeside many, many times this was actually my first morning/mid-day wedding; even with the very different lighting outside, I honestly loved it. Kessid and Jonathan had so many unique little spins on their day that just made it so cute and extra THEM.
Instead of dinner there was delicious coffee and brunch food. Because the first date they ever had was at a coffee shop. ❤ There was a flower girl but there was also a “rock boy” on account of Kessid having little twin siblings. An unforgettable donut cake. And one of the best wedding trends of all time; picture guest book with instamax polaroids.
Kessid and Jonathan’s joy and love for the Lord radiated throughout the whole day from her aunt, best friends and cousins praying with her before she got in her dress to my favorite part of their ceremony where they read personal vows and did communion together but then they had all their parents come up and lay hands on them and pray over them right before the ceremony concluded. Which I thought was just the most precious and special thing and I wish more people would do it!
It was a glorious day filled with so much love, I hope the love birds enjoy these sweet sneak peeks from their day and all the honeymoon cruisin’! I’ll list all the vendors at the bottom and thank you for reading!!
What a joy it was to be able to be present for this beautiful wedding! I thank God for the connections and relationships he’s allowed me to build in my community because in meeting Stephanie, Kayla’s sister at my home church – I’ve not only gotten to do a handful of family sessions for her, and watch her babies grow but then when her sister got engaged, I was suggested to be her wedding photographer!!
God is so faithful!
Tyler and Kayla were such a delight to photograph; I personally know they’ve had quite a few bumps and road blocks along their wedding planning process, so once the day finally came I had hope that the stress of getting there would dissipate into the background and they could just soak in every moment of their day together.
Looking at their couple portraits and every single time they went in for a kiss during the reception you can tell they were just elated to finally be wed.
There was so many things I loved at this wedding and here’s just a few I want to share;
For one, This was my very first wedding I’ve shot at Cavallo Estate Winery and the scenery did not disappoint. The blueberry fields weren’t quite ripe yet but in a few weeks they will be teaming with big fat blueberries!
The standard guest book that everyone who attends the wedding signs, was a big blank photo book where guests would take their own instamax mini polaroid photos of themselves/moments at the wedding ect. and secure them with pretty washi tape. Then they would write Kayla and Tyler a sweet little message next to the photos. I LOVE this trend and I wish it would happen more and more! What an adorable way to remember the night, through hundreds of little glimpses of the people you love.
And then there was kayla’s niece Laurel, or should I say Justin Bieber’s “youngest belieber” Bless her little heart, at one point in the reception Kayla put her favorite song on “Baby” by Justin Bieber and she was dancing and belting out every word. It was so precious.
Enjoy getting to see a little look into the highlights of the day – Kayla and Tyler I hope you enjoy all your sneak peeks and are having the best time together as husband and wife!
Interested to see all the vendors involved? All the links are at the bottom! And if you want to see more work by me head over to my website, click here!
Be blessed,
xo
Taylor
True story: I auto focused on them in this picture with my NOSE. The talentttt am I right?! Hahah Jk.
Mom and son dances just hit differently now that I’m a mom :’)
There’s guestbooks but then there’s cool guestbooks
