RACHAEL EARL » PHOTOGRAPHY: Lifestyle Portraiture and Wedding Photography

Any wedding that starts with this…

…and ends with this…

…is bound to be good!

Stay tuned for more from Jeff and Vanessa’s fun fiesta yesterday!

Ok, so I totally dropped the ball on our Christmas cards this year. They are ordered and printed…but I forgot to buy envelopes! Oh well! Those of you out there expecting a card from us, be patient! For now, you can enjoy a virtual card:

(Once again, photos by Gretchen Knoblock (top) and Kelvin Leung (bottom))

And a bonus that I probably should have put on my card, had I known!

(Photo by Matt Sloan)

Who says rain has to spoil your photo shoot? With the recent weather in Arizona, and Christmas rapidly approaching, some of our oldest friends (and my longest running Christmas photo clients!) set out in the rain for their family photos. And guess what? They’re some of my favorites!

Who can resist a pile of leaves? (Even if they were wet?)



OR the perfect puddle?!?!


LOVE the splash!

BONUS TIME!
Ed and Jennifer today:

AND 7 YEARS AGO! That’s right…7 YEARS of consecutive Rachael Earl sessions for these guys! These were back when I was just a humble Photography student at ASU!!!


Oh, and did I mention these were back in the film days? *GASP* Film? What IS that? : )

I guess it’s only fair to include a shot of myself and my husband in there as well, for old times’ sake!

Thanks for being such good friends, you guys! I hope you’ll trust me with your memories for many years to come!!!

aka: Second Shooting with Matt Sloan

The day before Thanksgiving, I had the opportunity to help shoot a wedding with my friend, Matt Sloan. Can I just say that I had a pretty awesome time? Gorgeous couple, beautiful location, and a dog as the ring bearer? Heck yes! Here are some of my favorites from the wedding. Wait, did I say some? I meant lots.

A fave:

The ladies were workin’ it!



Hello! Gorgeous!


Getting Daisy the dog all spiffed up!

Notice the rings on her collar-love it!

The ceremony was moved inside due to rain, but everyone was still in good spirits!

Daisy made herself quite comfortable during the ceremony:








La Marcha!

Love the expressions in this cake cutting shot!



Love this shot!

And finally a shot of Matt!

Thanks for letting me help out, Matt!

I had one of those wedding firsts a few Fridays ago when I was hired as a wedding gift. I’ve never been a gift before, but one of my past wedding client’s brothers was getting married in an intimate backyard ceremony, and hadn’t hired a photographer, so his brother decided that would be his gift to the couple! How awesome is that? Gift wrap not available, unfortunately.

Here are some of my favorite images from Tony and Cynthia’s wedding!
Cynthia=Amazing!


LOVE the red shoes!

Tony’s Dad is such a nice man!

And I love this shot of Cynthia with her dad!

The ceremony lighting was beautiful, and there were lots of laughs!



A little formal shot after the sun went down:

Love the cake topper-Cynthia says that’s pretty much how it all went down…

Sometimes cutting the cake can be hard-what do you do with the top of the cake?

Solution:

I LOVE this cake shot because of the size difference in the cake they are feeding each other, and Cynthia’s reaction to the ginormous piece that Tony has!

I have to congratulate Kenny and Allison on their baby who is due in January! They will have been married 2 years come March, and are very excited about their new addition!

BONUS TIME! I remembered snapping this shot at Kenny’s wedding of Tony catching the garter (after a knock down, drag out brawl!)

And remember kids, “Friends don’t let friends not have a photographer at their wedding.” That’s how it goes, right?

One, and ten thousand to say, “I could have done that.”

That might be how some photographers work, but ’round here in Arizona we’re friends! Okay, so it was a stretch, but I laughed pretty hard at my joke, okay?

A week ago yesterday, we went with our friends and fellow photographers, Matt + Angie Sloan and Gretchen + Tory Knoblock to the Mesa Arizona Temple Lights. They are beautiful, and the Temple is located on Main Street and Mesa Drive in Mesa, AZ. I snagged this photo off Gretchen’s blog:

Awww…we’re so cute. Thanks to the random passerby who got to demonstrate her fierce raw photography talent!

…she’s going to want an umbrella to go with it!

I had a SUPER fun shoot yesterday in the rain with my BFF, Jenn. She was kind of bummed that the weather was so icky, but in the words of Tim Gunn, sometimes you just have to “make it work” because Christmas is almost upon us!

I’ll post theirs up soon, but I wanted to put up these ADORABLE photos of my little Abbie (red umbrella) and her best bud, Taylor (black umbrella). The girls had such a fun time in the rain, and pretty much didn’t want to get back in the car when we were done.

Last night, Abbie turned to me and said, “Mommy, I just love umbrellas. They’re the best.” Who knew such a functional invention would bring such joy to a 4-year-old?

Well, these two are also already married, but they are having a religious ceremony in the Mesa LDS Temple later this week. Congratulations, you two! You might remember them from a previous post in their caps and gowns-these guys are having a busy month! I love shooting at the Mesa Temple, and this was no exception-what a beautiful location! I guess it didn’t hurt that I had two subjects who could probably be professionally good looking for a living.

A fave!!!


Gorgeous eyes-holy smokes!

See what I mean about professionally good looking?


And one last image of the Temple. No matter if you’re a member of the Mormon church or not, this month’s Temple lights are absolutely beautiful. Head down there and take a look!

Thanks, guys, and I’ll see you once again later this week!

Ahhh, Vanessa and Jeff have to be one of the nicest, cutest couples on the planet. They just ooze love for one another! I had the opportunity to shoot their “engagement” photos the other night in downtown Mesa. They actually are already married (they eloped in Vegas!), and are having a religious ceremony later this month. Thank you guys for being up for anything and for being so amazingly in love!!!

I love all the geometric shapes we found, which complimented their outfits!




These two are just so cute together!


We headed down Main St a little bit and I loved the amazing sky overhead!

And in a nod to Vegas, we went scouting for neon signs. Alas, many of them weren’t turned on, but we found a couple!

Can’t wait to see you guys in 2 weeks!

First off, I have to apologize for this post because it will be massive. Like, I mean gargantuan. I tried to edit. I really tried, but I absolutely love these photos and this family. I love when families are themselves and they just have fun and let go. I am all about fun and easygoing sessions! With that being said, I hope you like them because I absolutely love them.




Ethan has such a mischievous look in his eyes-I love it!

They are in for it when she’s older-are you kidding me with those baby blues???


Ethan and his dad do “Airplane” all the time, and guess what? It made for an awesome photo!

I love this sweet moment!

I love the intensity of this hug-it’s like extreme hugging!


I told Ethan to smile with his teeth (trying to get a big smile), but he literally gave me what I asked for!


AND…I can’t forget my FAVORITE one from the session. Seriously-I love that everyone looks perfect and Ethan chose that moment to pick his nose! SO funny, and being the person that I am, I would frame it large on my wall!