RACHAEL EARL » PHOTOGRAPHY: Lifestyle Portraiture and Wedding Photography

I wanted to get a sneak preview up, so here goes! First up, some details, including the best wedding shoes!


Yes, those are metal flowers made by the groom. They were amazing.

The bride looking stunning:

Sunflare through the window=double awesome

The groom looking badass:

Might just be the coolest groom ever. Sorry, other grooms, but that is a working gun in his belt.

Two of my favorite shots of the couple:


Uncle Charlie, we love you and this photobooth shot (no pun intended).

Can I just say how amazing the Tempe Center for the Arts is for weddings? And how amazing Connie and Adam were on their wedding day last Friday? Well, considering that I just used the word “amazing” twice in my post so far, you can probably guess. Here’s a quick sneak peek for them!


We made good use of so many areas of TCA!


A pair of ring shots-I couldn’t decide which I liked better:


I love when personal stories are incorporated into wedding images! Their story is so cute!

A romantic moment between Adam and his brother…LOL! I love Connie’s face in the background!

And this was a favorite the instant I snapped it!

Enjoy your “sneak peek”-I should probably come up with a better name for that since 9 images is kind of excessive for a “peek!”

…these were all shot in about 40 minutes at the Mesa, Arizona Temple. It was a whirlwind session, but these guys did awesome, and got a ton of images anyway!

Isn’t she stunning? I loved her dress-it was incredibly beautiful!

Here is a sneak peek from a…dare I say it…”epic” session from today. We hit so many locations that my head was spinning-it was awesome! A bazillion more to come, but for now…

This was right before I got poked in the bum by a cactus.

Old Jeep for sale? U-turn!

Does the phrase, “Really, really, really incredibly good looking” come to mind?

And a few from the Mesa, Arizona Temple. Just beautiful…

…of awesomeness! Okay…that was pretty silly, but it is 12:41 am, after all.

And finally, for your viewing pleasure, a short animation. “Brent, do you think you can slide down the railing to Tiffany?” This is awesome because he stays exactly the same the whole way down.

How else would I showcase Tiffany’s and Brent’s rings?

(Magnet is off my refrigerator!)

Bridesmaids are important because when looking through your wedding photos, you want to find little gems like this tucked away, and then you know you chose the right girls. 

Yesterday, I shot a marathon session with Lauren and Layton in several spots in Mesa.  Here are a few of the shots we got.  It was crazy and overcast, so the sky way amazing!  I love these two, and love these photos!  I’ve shot photos at the Temple a bunch of times, and wanted to mix it up a bit with some new spots.  The grounds are beautiful everywhere, and with the overcast weather, we could literally shoot almost anywhere.

I love that the Temple is at the bottom of this one!

They chose to add a bridal session to their already scheduled wedding so they could do photos of the two of them the day before the actual wedding, and relieve some of the stress of the wedding day.  It also allowed us to visit several different areas of Mesa, which was awesome!

I cannot reveal where I was standing for this one for fear of getting in trouble 

I have so many photos to go through of these two from yesterday and today, but wanted to post up a sneak peek!  Thanks for looking!

I am writing this post at just past 10:00pm after getting about 2 hours sleep last night.  I was up bright and early, Monster Lo-Carb in hand, to shoot a bridal session for the awesome and amazing Lauren and Layton, who are getting married tomorrow.  Yes, I am tired, but I am also so glad that we got to shoot this morning for about 3 hours.  About an hour after finishing up, the clouds rolled in, and it has been dark and dreary all day.  We’re hoping for clear skies tomorrow!  Tomorrow is super special because it also happens to be my 29th birthday!  Why work on my birthday?  Because these guys are truly some of the most fun, in love people I’ve ever had the chance to work with!  So worth it.

Here are a few more from their engagement session (which I posted a teaser and had yet to continue the post!)-ENJOY!

Awesome.

They make each other laugh all the time-so cute!

Gorgeous sunflare!

These next two shots make me laugh!  I was crouched down hiding behind a giant trash can trying to shoot Lauren and Layton on Mill Avenue with tons of people passing by me.  Somehow, everyone still saw me and would stop in the middle of the photo instead of just walking through.  I managed to snag this shot, which I liked because of the motion of the guy walking through, and the other guy walking up the stairs (not Photoshopped).

But before I got that shot, Patrick Tipton, who was assisting me that day, decided to take matters into his own hands!  This makes me laugh:

This makes me laugh, too, because we sneaked into an old bookstore because Lauren and Layton love to read, so we were looking for a cute book and couldn’t find any!  We found this one, which related to the ring.  The funny (kind of…) thing that I found out today is that they actually had to take her ring back and get a new one because the diamonds just wouldn’t stay in!  They ended up buying from a different jeweler!

I look forward to working on my birthday to work with these two again!

And I’ll leave you with ONE image from today.  Something I am really impressed with in Layton.  He actually MADE this bouquet for Lauren last night because she wasn’t going to have her flowers until tomorrow, and wanted her to have something for pictures.  He found a video on YouTube that taught him how to do it.  I was seriously impressed!  It looked awesome!

See you guys tomorrow!  Can’t wait!

Almost every day, I have that song from The Apprentice running through my head.  It’s just so catchy, and I have to admit that The Donald looks pretty cool walking through that field in slo-mo…but anyways…

Mr. Trump certainly doesn’t have to worry about money whatsoever, but many modern brides do.  They want their wedding to be awesome, spectacular, unique!  Everyone should!  Check out these tips on

1.  Okay, so it’s important to first PRIORITIZE.  I am sure every photographer that ever meets with a bride asks them what is most important to them on their wedding day.  Yes, I do believe photography is one of the most important elements of your day because it is what you will have on your walls or in your album forever.  Photos help us remember key moments,  emotions, and details.  No, I’m not telling you to forgo a cake for your photography, but I can say that a $300-500 dress can photograph well and look just as lovely as a $3000-5000 dress, and yes Christian Louboutins are to die for, but sometimes you can find them more reasonably priced if you look hard enough.  (Alas, they apparently do not make size 5, which makes me so sad…)

Yes, photography sometimes can take up a large portion of your budget, as the photographer spends the most time with you during the day (6-10 hours), spends a considerable number of hours perfecting and editing through each image, deisigning albums and products, before finally delivering a very valuable product.  Photographers only have one shot at getting it right (which is why I always suggest finding a photographer who has insurance and is a member of the PPA to make sure they’re covered in case EEK! they don’t).  It is the most important day of your life.  If they screw it up, you can’t redo your day, the emotions, the moments.  I have actually been called on to photograph people after the fact that “didn’t get any good photos”, and also one bride who didn’t get any photos of just her in her wedding dress, which is extra money they didn’t intend on spending…

2.  Ask about making payments.  If you’re wedding isn’t until September 2010, but you know who you want as your photographer, ask if you can make monthly payments.  Most will be more than willing to accomodate you.

3.  If a photographer’s pricing just isn’t within your grasp, ask if they would book a bridal session (with or without the groom, before the wedding day), an engagement session, or a post wedding/trash the dress session with you.  Often, these 1-2 hour sessions are cheaper, and will still yield amazing art that you can put on your walls, or in a small album or guestbook.  Photographers will usually schedule these sessions during the week, and they can be set up during prime outdoor lighting time at a really cool, unique location, which is another plus!  No, I am not discounting the time spent photographing your wedding ceremony, reception, bridal party, and family.  These are also important elements that need to be photographed correctly, but if you are looking to still get great images without going over the established budget you have set, consider this option.

4.  Wait a year on your album or your disk.  Yes, I know you want your wedding photos right this second, but how cool would it be to get an album on your first anniversary to relive those special moments?  You can always get some cool prints or a few canvases to hang on your wall before then, and I even offer my clients the option to download individual files straight from their online gallery.  You don’t have to pay for an album upfront, and I never try to push products on my clients.  Consider making your album a little smaller-maybe not in size, but in the number of pages, and include just your favorite photos of the two of you in it laid out in a modern, magazine-style layout.

5.  Ask about weekdays, or other non-prime times.  As with any vendor, you can sometimes get a small discount if you get married on, say, a Thursday instead of a very desirable Saturday.

Photographers spend a considerable amount of time determining their pricing based on travel costs, assistant fees, time spent at the wedding, time spent editing and producing the final product, wear and tear on our equipment, insurance and professional organization fees, cost of products included in your packages and time making those products, among other things.

I hope this helps!  Photographers, for the most part are really cool, normal people, and I for one know that if I meet with a couple who loves my work and clicks with me on the personality level, but doesn’t have the budget for a full day of wedding photography, I always want to explore other options for them to create truly memorable, yet affordable memories of the best day of their lives!