Rich Smith Photography » photography

Rachel & Miles | Married!

Rich Smith — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 19:55:50 +0000

I was so excited to go up to Kentucky to photograph Rachel and Miles wedding. I haven’t spent much time up there but fell in love with Kentucky almost immediately after crossing the state line. Beautiful sunlight was illuminating the most incredible wheat and corn fields you can imagine. With cool old barns interspersed along the way. Not sure what I was expecting but it wasn’t this. Everywhere I turned I wanted to photograph in that location.

When I arrived at Rachels grandparents farm, the sun had already gone down but there was still enough light to make out the lake, tents and beautiful land around. Which made me immediately wish I had dragged someone with me to second shoot. There were too many amazing details to get in the time period I had.

To top it off, EVERYONE I met was just amazing. Rachel has a super close family and it showed. There was excitement in the air and it energized everyone around. Amazing surrounding, beautiful people, close family… these are definitely conditions I can work with.

After a good nights sleep, the bride got her hair and make up done about 12 miles from the farm:

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The first look:

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I love that bowties are coming back. I saw several of the guys wearing them. So cool.

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I’ve been shooting weddings for a while but Rachel introduced me to “tradition” that I had not encountered yet. All the bridesmaids put their names on the bottom of the brides shoe. At the end of the day, the bridesmaids name that is the clearest is either going to be next getting married or having a baby. It was great seeing the reactions from all the girls!

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The shy but beautiful flower girl:

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The incredible reception site…

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The arrival at the reception!

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A new first for me! A mac-n-cheese bar!

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It was SOOO hot outside! I had to bribe the girls that if they ran down the hill for me, I’d cut the photos short and they could change into something more comfortable. It didn’t take much convincing.

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They left on a boat on the river (you can just make it out in the photo below). Side note: this lake did NOT exist when her grandfather bought this land. He and his three sons dug this lake. Yep, it’s a man-made lake. Incredible feat with incredible results!

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Thank you Rachel and Miles for treating me so well while I was with you guys! I had a blast. Some of the many firsts I had with this wedding were: 1) first gift basket I’ve ever received from a bride (with homemade Kentucky bourbon balls that were so good) and 2) the first time the brides mom photographed ME with the bride! That just made me feel ultra special. I want that photo Mom! :)

Naomi + Markus [Married]

Rich Smith — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 17:48:22 +0000

Ceremony site: Calvary Chapel Ft. Lauderdale – Boca Raton Campus
Reception site: Boca Dunes Golf and Country Club

We were so excited and honored when Naomi and Markus wanted us to photograph their wedding in beautiful south Florida. I was even MORE excited after the wedding because of the beautiful weather, beautiful locations, amazing families, fellowship and awesome celebration that occurred during that day!

There are a lot of images in this blog post so please sit back and enjoy!

To start things off, here is the beautiful bride and groom on the beach. More of this series later.

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The day started off at Naomi’s parents beautiful home where everyone was getting ready.

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The lion definitely likes what he sees!

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Markus and Naomi wanted to do the “first look” before the ceremony like we encourage all of our clients to do! Always such a special time.

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The ceremony was held at the beautiful campus of Calvary Chapel Boca Raton!

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Markus’ boy band shot!

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Naomi and her beautiful girls!

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After the ceremony, we headed to the beach! Loved this location!

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Big thanks Jenna for coming out with us to help! We had a blast!

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Always awesome to see a granddad with his granddaughter. This was no exception. Loved it!

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Naomi’s dad gave one of the most moving speeches I’ve heard. Amazing.

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With all of the activity all around us, this game must have been REALLY fun to play.

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Love sparklers.

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Thank you Markus and Naomi for allowing us to be an intimate part of your big day. We’re forever grateful and hope we did your incredible wedding justice! Enjoy!

Brandon and Rachel {passionate} [Engagement]

Rich Smith — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 03:49:32 +0000

It was just such an awesome pleasure for us to meet Brandon and Rachel in Hawaii. They are such an amazing couple. Full of life. Fun to be around. Extremely in love. Cool as all get out. They’re just beautiful people inside and out. I just feel like we became fast friends with them and we miss them like crazy already. Can’t believe they’re 11 hours (flying time) away. It’s just crazy to think about. Oh man… I’m going to quit writing this paragraph because it’s just making me wish I had a time machine to travel back two weeks.

Meet Brandon. He is our wonderful friend Leigh’s nephew and moved to Hawaii about a year ago to become the golf pro at the Mauna Kea golf resort.

Meet Rachel. She’s the super sweet girl who decided to move half way around the world because of love. Someone should write a book (or movie) about these two.

I was absolutely thrilled they wanted me to photograph them. Two beautiful people in one the most beautiful places on earth? Sign me up. They were awesome in front of the camera and I just loved working with them. We had so much fun on this photoshoot that I was on an emotional high for the longest time!

No more talking! Photos! Check these two out!

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We found a black sand beach! They were watching a sea turtle bob his head up and down out of the ocean.

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Love these trees! Love this photo!

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Side note: I had so much trouble picking out my favorite images to blog. Seriously… every single photo is amazing with these two in it!

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Laying in a comfortable bed of corral rock.

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I just want to apologize to Brandon and Rachel. I’m from Tennessee. I had NO idea how painful it was to get your jeans full sand. It’s like walking around wearing sandpaper… literally! I got to try it out about two days later with our photoshoot with Leslie (pics coming soon to this blog). But you’ve got to admit though… these pics made it totally worth it! Am I not right!?

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Blow this image up large… now.

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How amazing is this couple!? I just want to comment on ALL of the photos above but will just let the pics speak for themselves.

Brandon and Rachel: It was just so amazing meeting you guys. Can not express to you how much I loved working with you two. Heather and I want to see you both again so badly! Everyone just accepting Heather and I into the Janous family dynamic and we are just so blessed and grateful to call you our new friends! Thank you!

Naomi and Markus | Engagement!

Rich Smith — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 04:07:15 +0000

Heather and I absolutely loved photographing Naomi and Markus in Boca Raton, Florida! They’re a wonderful couple and we enjoyed getting to know them during the photoshoot — and afterwards at Starbucks where we got to hear their story. It was awesome!

Advice to my readers: if you live in the South Florida area, find and get to know this wonderful couple. (Sorry, Naomi and Markus, if you get a barrage of emails asking you two out)!

We started off at beautiful Mizner Park. Yeah… incredible place. And with a fun couple, it made it even better! I want to go back!

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All smiles.

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Utilizing some very unique art:

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I love photographing around palm trees – they’re just so cool and different than what we have here in Tennessee.

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So fun!

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Did a little “trespassing” here. Ha! They were great sports!

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Absolutely love this photograph that Heather took!

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Then we were off to the nearby Addison, and it was beautiful! I love the textured walls, and we took advantage of the lines created by the staircases…

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One of my new favorite pics:

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Okay… another favorite! Loved shooting at Deerfield Beach!

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On the pier…not being from the area like Heather is, I didn’t know you had to pay to walk on it. A buck a person. And we were only there for about 5 minutes because the sun was going down! Had to hussle! Love this one too! Florida is amazing!

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My camera loved the ocean. It wants to go back.

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It was so dark when we took this photo. But I wanted to get it because this is where Markus proposed to Naomi! Awesome memories here! I didn’t know they actually had rocks in Florida but they do. Maybe they were imported. haha.

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Markus and Naomi, thank you so much for the wonderful time! We had a blast with you two. You are awesome and we loved getting to know you better and can’t wait to see you again. We’re going to have fun photographing for your wedding in December! It really can’t get here fast enough! Enjoy your engagement photos!

My beautiful wife and daughter!

Rich Smith — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 03:01:04 +0000

My wife had her makeup done at Elea Blake the other day! If you’ve never heard of Elea Blake cosmetic studio and it’s wonderful owner Daren Wright, let me tell ya something… you’re missing out. She is amazing at what she does. You know you’re good at something when you have your own line of products. She uses all natural mineral makeup and does custom blending to create the perfect match for your skin and color.

I recommend her to ALL of my brides and Heather wanted to go in to get a firsthand experience. She loved it! Afterwards, we went across the street at Coolidge Park to get some pictures. It proved to be much more difficult than we thought because Alana did not want to be with us… she wanted to run and explore! So the shoot didn’t turn out like we were envisioning but I still got a few I love. Let me share them with you.

Alana’s hair… awkward stage! But she’s so beautiful!

She loves to run like a flamingo with both arms trailing her. It’s hilarious.

Had to include a moody picture of her on the bridge.

Here’s Heather asking Alana to be still for one second so I could take their picture. It didn’t last long. It was windy on the bridge!

My hot wife:

Next top model:

Can’t get over her hair!

There they are… my girls! I’m so proud!

LOVE you both so much!!!