Lauren and Jason Wedding Blog No. 2

This is part 2 of Lauren and Jason's wedding blog.  If you want to see the first one, it's directly below this blog. 

Before the ceremony started, we took a little trip down the road to Cappy's Pizza.. well, because they have this rockin' rocketship painted on a cool red brick wall.  Zissou came along for some pictures too.

My new facebook picture.  Never take a picture of your already huge forehead with a fisheye lens. 

Some of the best desserts I've ever had.  This girl rocks at baking!!

My favorite of the night.  These cherry pies were to die for!! 

Drive way reserved for scooters, bikes and motorcycles.

The sweetest vows I've ever heard.

Probably my favorite picture ever.  Thanks to my awesome hubby for capturing this!

And this was my awesome view. 

AH, LOVE Lauren's mom.  She hates this picture, but it's one of my favorites.  So Donna, it's going up!  ;)

PROPS AND "PHOTOBOOTH" PICTURES!

Hubs, you're hott.

Ok Donna, you're going to officially hate me.  I just hope you love the rest of the pictures so much, you can look over me posting this one.  This only shows how cool you are!!! 

Ok, so this lovely mother of the bride trips and hurts her ankle.  I look over and I see a crowd around her, and there she is with ice on her foot.  But instead of crying or being sad or anything like that, she's laughing and having a good old time!  I joke that I'm going to take a picture of her, and she starts threatening me that she will officially hate me!  Haha, all in good fun, I pick up my camera, not looking where I was focusing, and just snapped, and managed to get this picture completely in focus!  And it's super hilarious.  LOVE YOU DONNA!!!!!!  You're the best sport.

And I'll end this FABULOUS wedding with a final picture of the happy Mr. and Mrs.  CONGRATS GUYS!!!  Can't wait to work with yall in the future! 

Lauren and Jason's Wedding Blog No. 1

This wedding was SO unique..  Details galore!!  I know you remember this unforgettable couple.  Lauren and Jason did their e-shoot at the Airstream Ranch a few months back.  I absolutely knew this wedding was going to be amaaazing!  Infact, there were so many details, and so many faaabulous pictures from their wedding, I have to split their wedding up in to two blogs, atleast.  This particular blog is mainly dedicated to their details..  with the exception for one or two pictures of the bride and groom & a few of the dog.

Lauren and Jason had their wedding in their backyard, which is the perfect place for these two.  Their house is one big prop house, basically.  It's covered in antiques and awesome thrift store finds.  I for real need to go shopping with this girl.  She always finds the coolest stuff!

Lauren is an artist.  A fabulous artist!  You can look at her artwork here.  http://www.flickr.com/photos/yourhandwriting/sets/
She made several paintings for the wedding.  Totally love it.

A picture of her parent's wedding she has up year-round. 

This is a lyric in a Weezer song Jason played for Lauren when they started dating.  4 years later, she has "turkey" in her ring, and he has "bacon" in his.  Ironically, they are both vegetarians.

Ok, tell me this isn't adorable.  Lauren bought handmade, vintage valentines online and used them as tags for people to write their wishes/advice on! 

Another brilliant detail to their wedding, MASON JARS!  A beautiful red cabinet held a multitude of mason jars with tags to write your name on, so you won't drink Uncle Bobby's tea.   

She set up a "photobooth" complete with fun props for guests to take part of during the reception.  These pictures will be up in the next blog! 

This is one of my favorite details of the day.  They decided to paint something for each other.  The set up was to write something you would do for the other person.  They had no idea what the other was writing.   And this is how perfect they are for each other, they wrote the same thing!!!  I love, love, love this.

Zissou, the world's coolest dog. 

Their three dogs.. super dogs, that is. 

Some of my favorite ring shots.

Bryan trying to imitate Zissou.  You'll see why in the next picture. 

Ok, that's all you get for now.  You'll have to stay tuned for more pictures of this perfectly detailed wedding.

Photography and lip shimmers

I am over joyed about how fast my business is growing.  Like, BIG smiles.  I wanted to write a little about myself to the people who just started following me.  Get to know me, and write me back..  Tell me all about YOU!  I'm so serious.  Even if I've never talked to you before, I would love to know who you are and what you are about.  Find me on facebook http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/pages/Clearwater-FL/Jessica-Charles-Photography/285105999887 or email me at Jessica@JessicaCharlesPhotography.com.  I can't wait to hear from you.

Well, I'll start off by saying I'm a Louisiana cajun girl.  I grew up all around Louisiana, and my mom's side of the family is straight up New Awlins!  (New Orleans just incase if you didn't catch the accent there.)  And speaking of accents, my dad's side of the family is straight up cajun.  I don't think I have either accent, but catch me while I'm hanging around either of them and I'll pick it up fast!
I moved to Florida after Hurricane Katrina, and I met my now husband, Bryan.  He was my rock through the most difficult part of my life up until that point.  My family is still back in Louisiana, and I get to go back about twice a year.  I miss home so much!

A lot of people ask me how I got started in photography, and they are shocked that I just opened up my business last January.  I've always LOVED photography.  In high school, I took a photography course as an elective..  failed miserably, but I believe it was because the teacher had it out for me.  But after that, I figured photography wasn't the career path for me.  So I tried other things like teaching 2 year olds in an Early Childhood Development Center.  FUN but oh so stressful and tiring.  Then I worked at Jenny Craig for 5 years.  When that came to the end of the road, I had no idea where the next step of my life was, and it was depressing!  I felt I couldn't contribute to our finances and the world all together!  I was working as a temp, going from job to job, trying to find a decent job, not being truly happy behind a desk.  I have this creative bug in me, I just didn't know how to express it.  I sang in high school, but wasn't about to become a singer.  I tried painting, but really couldn't get the hang of it.  I even scrapbooked for a while.  By this time Bryan and I were married, and I was obsessed with wedding pictures.  My pictures, other people's pictures.. and weddings in general.  I remember my photographer, Horatio from Studio Four Photography, and I remember how happy he was and how much he loved his job.  I began to express interest in getting started in wedding photography, and he was happy to help teach me some basics.
From there, I learned as much as I could, I began shooting for friends non stop, networking with other photographers and second shooting for them, posting on Craigslist and BLOGGING.  I can't tell you how important those things were for me getting started.  In less than a year, I have booked around 40 weddings.  I had no idea it was going to happen so fast.  When we were just talking about doing this, we guessed 5, 6.. maaaybe 7 weddings, if I'm lucky.  I am truly so blessed.. beyond blessed.  I have a fantastic husband who helps me, shoots with me, supports me... And I have the best job in the world.  What else can I ask for? 

Now you know a little of my backround.  Here's some more info about me.  You may see some repeats, if you've checked out my website.

• I get really excited when I'm brainstorming for a shoot, or talking about a wedding.  I tend to say "Awesome" entirely too much.
• I have a dog named Jazz, and a cat named Doo.  Jazz considers Doo as her own play toy, and chases her around the house.  Poor Doo.
• I consider myself to be a bit of a shop-o-holic.  My husband thinks I go overboard, but he has noooo clue the damage I could do.
• I shoot with a Nikon D300.  We have two.  I'm in the process talking my wonderful, gorgeous, sweetheart husband into us investing in a Nikon D3s.  It would be...  well, AWESOME!
• I'm a fan of..  well, tv.  American Idol, So You Think You Can Dance, The Office, Community, Modern Family, Top Chef, Project Runway..  and my guiltest of pleasures, All My Children.  Don't laugh.
• I'm addicted to Burt's Bees lip shimmer.  Have to have it with me, at all times.
• I wear glasses, and would love to one day have Lasik surgery.  And then I will add sunglasses to my shop-o-holic list.
• I have subscriptions to Rachel Ray and Better Homes and Gardens, but I haven't opened up any of the magazines in 6 months.
• I love 90's music.  I'm going to be the old person who says "music now a days is garbage!", while I put in my Melissa Etheridge greatest hits cd.

So now it's YOUR turn.  Write me.  Tell me who you are and what you like.  Can't wait!