Liz & Daryl are married ~ Iowa Wedding Photography

Posted on August 24, 2010

Another fabulous wedding!  I have always felt blessed to have amazing clients and Liz and Daryl were certainly no exception.  We had a great time and they were quite the cooperative bunch.  They were also pretty adventurous as you will see below.  Enjoy!

Liz and Daryl didn’t want to see each other until the ceremony, so we did all of the formals and group shots later in the day.  My favorite images are typically from the outdoor sessions though…and these were so much fun.  We started at Agronomy Hall on the Iowa State University Campus and then traveled on to the campanile.

This is one of my favorite shots of the day.  Very romantic.

I think Liz might be the ticklish type!  This was a fun set.

Here is where things got really interesting.  I have never seen a bride so unconcerned for her own safety…and yet still watching out for the dress!  Notice how Liz is clutching the train in her hand even as she leaps into the air.

Just a small note: I did not MAKE them do this.  The guys wanted to pick her up…my stomach about dropped right to my toes though when they then lifted her over their heads!

Not to be outdone, the bridesmaids then attempted to lift Daryl…that didn’t really go very far

Daryl climbed into the tree and then took a flying leap over his bride’s head.  It was pretty cool, and he managed a pretty graceful landing…well, almost.

This has to be one of the most unique cake toppers I have seen this season.  The John Deere cake was created by Anne at the HyVee here in town and she did a stellar job.  The cakes themselves were actually made by Shelly’s Country Cakes and not only were they beautiful…they were delicious as well.  I know that seeing the cakes was one of the first things Daryl and Liz wanted to see when they arrived at the reception.

Liz and Daryl, thank you so much.  You were a great group to work with and were constantly keeping me and Mitch on our toes.  It was a pleasure working with you.

Amber and Mike are married! ~ Ames, Iowa wedding photography

Posted on August 23, 2010

This has been one crazy wedding season, and I apologize as I am WAY behind in my blogging!  I have a whole bunch of posts in the works, but here is one to hold you over

Amber and Mike got married at St. Paul Lutheran here in Ames.  It was a beautiful ceremony, though the day was pretty steamy…then again, that has just been par for the course this summer hasn’t it.  We had a great time doing some shots on the Iowa State University campus between the ceremony and the reception which was held at the Gateway Hotel and Conference center here in Ames.  Amber and Mike are such a sweet couple, and you can tell that they are just head over heals for each other.  They also had a great group of family and friends involved in their day…this combination makes my job pretty easy.

Following the ceremony, the wedding party, my assistant for the day Lois Olson and I loaded up and headed over to the Iowa State campus for some fun outdoor portraits.  Despite the heat, we had a great time and we got some wonderful images too.

Coe’s Flowers in Ames did the arrangements and they were absolutely gorgeous!  I love the little details.  There were sparkling rhinestones and hand shaped wire sculptures in each bouquet.  The attention to details was just phenomenal, and Amber said they were wonderful to work with as well.

I do not know how she did it…but Amber managed to wear those amazing shoes well into the night!  I have a feeling her feet were killing her, but the shoes did look fantastic.

After the toasts from the best man and maid of honor Mike said a few words.  I just love the look that he and Amber are sharing in this image.  The emotion is pretty easy to see.

These dance shots are a little different than my standard.  I wanted to capture the glowing and intimate feeling of the lighting…so I left things all nice and soft and warm.  Check out the monogram, it was projected on the wall throughout the reception and really added to the ambiance.

These last two shots are sunset images that we captured when we stole away from the reception for a few minutes.  I love to get a few shots at the end of the night when the bride and groom are more relaxed and the sun is going down.  As you can see, a variety of looks can be had pretty easily that time of night.  The image on the left has a little fill flash and the image on the right is being lit with with a continuous light (similar to a flash light).

Thanks so much Amber and Mike for allowing me to be part of your day.  I had a blast.  One of these weekends we really will have to do some wine tasting together.

My baby is 1! ~ Carisa Keeling Ames, Iowa Photographer

Posted on July 8, 2010

Well, my little baby boy is one now.  Actually, he was one last month…but with wedding season I haven’t had a chance to breathe, let alone blog his birthday party.  I just had to share these shots from his big cake smash.  He had a great time.  We ordered his birthday cake from the crew at Devil’s Food Desserts here in Ames and it was fabulous!  The did a wonderful job and the cake was absolutely delicious as well.  I highly recommend them for any special occasion.  Ava is still trying to decide what to have hers look like.  She will be three before I know it!

So, this post is really more for personal stuff.  Some of the pics are even more snapshots.  But I really want my clients to get to know me a little bit, and seeing my kiddos (and my wonderful hubby, that’s Rob in the last shot) are a HUGE part of my life.  An occasional appointment has been rescheduled to take him to the doctor, but I think you all will think he is worth it.  He is definitely one cute little kid…and that is not just his biased mommy talking.

Be watching for his one year portraits as I will be bloggin’ them soon.

The cake was so yummy!  It was half chocolate and half white with raspberry buttercream icing in the middle and vanilla buttercream all around the top.  The frosting had a rich, creamy texture and it smashed VERY well as you can see in the next images.

Mary and Ryan are Married! ~ Iowa Wedding Photographer Carisa Keeling

Posted on June 24, 2010

I was recently honored to be a part of Mary and Ryan’s wedding day.  These guys, their entire wedding party and all of their family were a pleasure to work with.  Despite some minor mis-haps they kept their cool and had a wonderful day.  The ceremony was held in Imogene, Iowa at St. Patrick’s church with a reception in Omaha at the Scottish Rite Masonic Center.  Mary was absolutely stunning in her wedding gown, and Ryan didn’t clean up too badly himself.  Our plans got sidetracked a little bit when the party bus broke down on it’s way to pick up the wedding party in Imogene.  After placing a few phone calls and making some last minute logistical changes the wedding party arrived at the Scottish Rite safe and sound.  After dinner I stole Mary and Ryan away for a few minutes for an outdoor session in downtown Omaha, which was a lot of fun and an interesting change of pace for me.

This post is going to be a little longer than my typical post, because I am going to step you through the story of their day…

When my assistant Mitch Miller of MD Miller Photography and I arrived, Mary and the girls were finishing the final preparations on hair, makeup and dresses.  Mary has a large family, and there were a lot of women (and a lot of sisterly love and teasing) in that little room!

Mary and Ryan did not want to see each other before the wedding, so we did some of the family and wedding party shots before the ceremony, and then the rest of them after the ceremony.

St. Patrick’s is a beautiful, old church.  The detail is stunning.  The ceremony was beautiful, and Father Ken Gross gave a wonderful sermon.

After the ceremony, we went back inside the church and did the remaining group shots.  Then, while we waited for the party bus (that never made it) we did some more shots of Mary and Ryan outside.

Once we were at the reception and had a chance to eat Mary, Ryan, my assistant Mitch and I took a brief stroll outside in downtown Omaha to do some additional wedding portraits of the two of them.  This was a fabulous little session, and the results are some of my favorites from the entire day.

Once we headed back inside, it was time for Mary and Ryan’s first dance as husband and wife.  This is one of my favorite parts of the wedding day.  It is easy for the bride and groom to forget about everything around them and focus on each other.  The result is fantastic, natural expressions.

I love this series of shots of the bouquet toss.  You can actually see the daisy petals flying through the air as one of the bridesmaid’s catches the flowers.  There was an enthusiastic response as the girls tried for the bouquet too!~

In this last image I noticed how puzzled the children seemed by the “Chicken Dance”.  These kids really look like they think the adults may have gone a little crazy

I always ask my clients if there is anything else that they need from me before I leave for the night.  When I asked these two, Ryan commented that they had not taken a picture WITH me yet.  Aww…I thought that was pretty sweet.  So Mitch took the image below of the three of us.

Ryan and Mary, thank you so much for including me as part of your day!  I wish you a lifetime of happiness and joy.

Marci and Jake~Engaged! Carisa Keeling, Iowa Wedding Photographer

Posted on June 13, 2010

Marci and Jake are absolutely adorable together.  We did their engagement shoot on Iowa State University’s central campus and the session was a lot of fun.  They are both attending the University of Iowa now, but Jake’s heart is still in cyclone country!  I was able to capture a wide variety of expressions during the shoot and Marci and Jake really relaxed and had fun.  At least, that was the way they appeared!

I include engagement shoots in all of my wedding collections.  These shoots are a fabulous way for me to get to know my clients, as well as a great way for them to get some really great images which are then often used in one form or another in the wedding day.  I create custom guestbooks for many of my clients as well as invitations, save the date cards and even those super cute little magnets!

Ok, enough of my chatter, you came to see pictures right?!?!

Mary and Ryan ~ engaged!

Posted on April 14, 2010

Mary and Ryan chose to do an engagement session in two locations.  We started at Brookside Park in Ames and then headed to the Main Street District.  The great part about this is that they get such an amazing variety of looks and images and it doesn’t take a whole lot of extra time.  It was a bit chilly when we did these, but they were very cooperative.  I will be doing their wedding photography coming up soon too.  The wedding is in June and will be held at St. Patrick’s in Imogene, Iowa with a reception to follow at the Scottish Rite Masonic Center in Omaha.  After an engagement session like this I can’t wait to do the wedding shoot!  Hope you enjoy the pics.

A maternity session ~

Posted on April 14, 2010

I recently had the opportunity to capture some images of Genya.  Maternity shoots are such a fabulous thing to do.  So many pregnant women feel bloated and huge and just plain uncomfortable when they get to those last few weeks of a pregnancy.  What better way to document how beautiful, precious and amazing this time is than with a special photo session.  Genya and her husband Dan live here in Ames and are expecting their new arrival any time now.  I am especially excited as they are the newest members of my Little Ones program, so they will be back 5 times over the next year to document all of the changes that their little one goes through.  My Little Ones program is a great way to freeze so many details…and at a great price point too.  Be sure to inquire if you are interested and I can send you some additional information.  And now for some images!

Welcome Aleksander ~ Ames, Iowa Newborn Photographer

Posted on March 30, 2010

As promised, here is another precious little one session!  Alek was such a trooper, and was very cooperative.  He is just a little peanut and I was able to try out one of my props that a larger newborn doesn’t fit into.  It is one of my favorite shots from the day and is included below.  I favored the black and white style for many of these images.  If you are having a baby and would like to schedule your newborn session, now is a great time!  I have a new Little Ones Program that offers a fabulous value on sessions throughout the babies first year.  Please contact me if you are interested in signing up.  Now, for Alek’s images…

I am definitely going to have to get on Etsy again and order another of those little yarn bowls…just a tad bit bigger so it will work for more of the babies.  Alek looks so cute all snuggled up in there!

Welcome Olivia~Des Moines Photographer, Carisa Keeling

Posted on March 18, 2010

Last week I was fortunate enough to do a newborn session for this little beauty.  Olivia is the brand new daughter of my great friends Andy and Kendra.  We have been close for a long time, and to do this session for them was not only an honor, it was a lot of fun.  Little Olivia was probably the most cooperative baby I have worked with yet.  She was also awake way more than expected considering she was only 7 days old.  Andy and Kendra have a great house with lots of natural light, so I got to leave all of my lighting gear in the car (always a good thing).  There is just something about the soft natural light that works really well, especially for newborns.  I hope you enjoy these images from Olivia’s first portrait session.

Ava and Blake~Ames Portrait Photographer

Posted on March 12, 2010

I have been striving for that perfect image of my own two little ones.  You would think as a photographer this would be easy for me, but I have found that photographing my own children is a particularly difficult task.  I am pretty happy with the outcome this time though.  It is amazing, the kids are growing so quickly.  Ava is over 2 and a half now and Blake is 8 months.  I am also testing out a new posting method as I put all of the images into a collage prior to uploading this time.  You will see these images again as I am going to be ordering a large gallery wrap collage using some of these portraits and I can’t wait to share that with you too.

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