Rebekah & Logan | the couple

I am in LOVE with this session. 

This session holds a very special place in my heart. No one reached out to me for this. No one had this idea, but me. I was in a rut. I didn't want to take another session because I was becoming frustrated with myself. I felt like my images were starting to look like something that I just didn't want. Now don't get me wrong, I am unbelievably proud of every single session I do, and if I'm not, I make it up to my clients and ask them if they would like ANOTHER session. Luckily, that has only happened once, with a not so happy 2 yr old! :) But there is something about having a creative outlet that is incredibly personal. Even though clients contact me and ask me to photograph them, every single session is like a little mission for me. I want to better my craft, better my imagination and better how I see people...the real people. Not them standing in front of a camera. 

I did a small casting, haha, not really. I posted on FB if a young couple wanted to have their pictures taken. And guess what! Rebekah and Logan fell in my lap!!! :D 

Rebekah was actually in Keely and Scott's wedding last year so I was happy it was a familiar face! However, I was not ready for how awesome Logan and Rebekah were, not only with me, but together! They are stinking adorable. Not in a gushing, omgsh, I'm going to be sick to my stomach adorable, but in a quiet, sincere, and completely genuine way. 

I already knew the location. An abandoned house. Now which abandoned house was another story. I wasn't in the mood to break any laws, have a house fall down on our heads, or get eaten alive by guard dogs, so I was ecstatic to find this little gem off of a not so quiet street. 

Here is how my amazing self-reviving session took place. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did! 

This left picture just gets me. I can't help it.

Cushions and chair are brought to you by people leaving awesome pieces behind. :) Thank you previous owners! 

Isn't Rebekah insanely gorgeous!? Ahhhh, her smile is contagious! 

This one might be my fav! 

After night started to fall, I knew I wanted to do some late fire pictures. I have been wanting to do a session like this for a while, but knew that after winter, it probably wouldn't happen for a while. I wanted to play with some off camera flash which turned out ok...practice makes perfect right? 

One thing I did take away from our little escapade, make sure your firewood is DRY. I was in a rush and grabbed from the wrong pile. Whoops. :)

Rebekah and Logan, thank you so much for being my guinea pigs! You two were perfect and I couldn't be happier you sought ME out! :D

Smiles,

Kayla F

The Hodges and their Pups

So, if you know me AT ALL, you know how much I love puppers! I mean, look at how much I dote on my silly little Bean Butt, Diesel! So when my awesome friend Jessica asked me to do a session with her, her hubs and the two new additions to their family I was all on board!!! Seriously, how can you not fall in love with these fluffy faces?? I packed up my doggie treats (as is evidence by Tucker's little snout) and headed off! Lets just say, that I went home and took a very long nap after this session! I forgot how exhausting puppies are! 

Jessica told me that she and Brad hadn't had pictures taken since their wedding 3 YEARS AGO!! I couldn't believe it! So of course I had to shove a little bit of just the two of them in there as well!!! I'm just going to let the rest of the pictures unfold...because looking at them all over is making me tired again! :D

I can't help it...I love the one of their hind ends!

And of course I love Happy Puppers #1 and Happy Puppers #2!!

This final picture was literally pure and utter luck! With two puppies, not on a leash and with a large black noise box in their faces, they were not interested in sitting still. But boy was I excited when I saw some of these while editing! Yay!!!

Next week is going to be busy busy busy! Not only do I have my first bridal shoot, but I also have lined up an engagement shoot AND my first wedding for the 2012 wedding season!! I can't wait to bombard you with yummy, lovey dovey goodness! 

planning the big day | our venue

I don't know if I could be any more excited to let you all know where Robby and I will be having our wedding! I wanted to wait until our Save-the-Dates went out, but I cannot contain my excitement! Robby and I loved all of the venues we visited, but in the end, we couldn't get over how perfect Maple Grove Inn would be for the most important day of our lives!!!

Overall, the venue has everything we want! It comes with amazing landscaping, we can have our ceremony and reception outside (with an inside option and two tents in case of rain), the house feels like everything I have ever wanted, and above all, Diesel gets to spend the day with us!

In the coming weeks, I will talk about everything that comes along with Maple Grove Inn, especially when it comes to rentals and catering. Robby and I couldn't be happier that we found this venue and we can't wait to spend this day with our closest family and friends!!

Planning the Big Day ~ All the Places Part 2

I hope you all had a fantastic week! Mine has been oh so fun as wedding season is starting to swing back in full gear and I've dove a little bit farther in to the wedding planning world! Its insane being on this side of the process! You just really don't realize everything that is involved in planning a wedding! Wowza!

Ok, so I am absolutely in love with this next venue I'm going to share (what am I saying...I love ALL of these venues)! :) But this one is super special. I've known about Maple Grove Inn for about 5-6 years now. An old friend told me about it once when I was so keen on having my own Bed & Breakfast (any other girl who watched Gilmore Girls also had this dream at some point in time). Well, she told me about a quaint little B&B right down the road and told me I should just go check it out. Well, I drove down the road and could not believe what I saw...perfection! Literally, the exact Bed & Breakfast that I had always wanted. I was sitting in the parking lot, working up the nerve to go inside and ask if they were hiring when a whole slew of cars started pouring into the parking lot...it went from 1 little Suzuki to about 25 cars in 35 seconds! So my nervous little butt hi-tailed it out of there. Needless to say, that amazing little B&B always stayed in the back of my head. Fast forward 5 or 6 years to last summer. Jennie tells me I am going to be shooting a bridal luncheon at none other than...Maple Grove Inn!!! You've got to be kidding me! I actually get to see the inside! Yay!!!

I immediately fell in love with the house. A little history recap, the house was built in 1799 (ummmm thats 100 years before the Biltmore) and is one of Knoxville's oldest homes! I felt like I had struck gold...I probably just walked around the house for a good 10-15 minutes just taking all the antiques and oldness in! It was like being transported back to my Gammy's house, but much bigger!

Anyway, when Robby and I started talking about venues, I immediately wanted to show him MGI. Went went in...you guessed it, January, when it was bone freezing cold and walked around the outside of the home. Robby liked it...but I didn't want to get my hopes up. So we decided to make an appointment with Vicki and tour the house!

My favorite EVER!!! The driveway to the house is unbelievable...whether its winter or spring!

A week later (because I cannot contain my excitement) we went and toured the house. I was already hooked, but Robby fell in love immediately. Then, to top it off, Tom (the owner of the house) made Robby and I a cup of his own roasted coffee. Can I tell you how delicious this cup of coffee was?! I have never been able to drink black coffee, and I drank the ENTIRE cup, no problems! It was delicious!

Rob and I were excited, but didn't want to make any decisions until we saw all of the venues that were on our list (which weren't very many...you'll see all of them). We bid adue to Vicki and Tom and went on our way. Because I didn't have my camera with me on our initial trip, Robby and I decided to go back and have a gander at what Maple Grove Inn would look like in the spring. These are those pictures. Isn't it beautiful?!?!?!?

So thats Maple Grove Inn! Its definitely different than Watermelon Moon Farms which you can see HERE! So what do you think of Maple Grove Inn??

Next week, will be our last venue...its of course historic and an amazing home here in Knoxville! I can't wait to share the yummy gorgeousness with you! :)