Tag Archives: katelyn james photography

The engagement picture outfit decision.

You guys, you’re probably thinking, “Uhh, Molly, you’re already married. Why are you talking about engagement picture outfits?” True. I am married. But there was a time not too long ago that we were engaged and about to get engagement pictures taken.

You guys, our wedding photographer is amazing (seriously, if you haven’t checked out Katelyn James Photography before, you are SERIOUSLY missing out). And I knew these pictures would be on her blog and lots of people would see them. I mean, I was a Katelyn James blog stalker for YEARS before I got engaged. So, I knew her brides were FABULOUS and fashionable. BUT, more importantly, these were the first real portraits I was going to have with my soon-to-be husband and I needed my outfit(s) to be PERFECT.

I was stressing. Seriously. It was bad. I couldn’t sleep the night before. I felt like it was the night before school pictures or something. But even MORE important. And since I was living alone in my apartment, I had no one to tell me if the outfits were cute or if they would work or not.

I wanted to look like ME. SO, I took so many phone pictures and texted them to my friends and got feedback that way. LOL. Ahhh good times.

BTW: My friend Katie even shared her tips on what to wear for a portrait session… I wish I’d had that before our pictures!

Anyway, I thought I’d share with you guys the photos I took and the outfits I considered and then I figured I’d share a couple pictures showing off the looks I actually wore. If you want, you can check out more of our pictures on our photographers blog by clicking here.

Please excuse the mess in these pictures. These were taken in my old apartment during the midst of cleaning out my apartment, so yeah, it was not in it’s peak condition.

option one: (i later came to learn that my husband ~~hates~~ doesn’t like this dress… so needless to say i didn’t wear it)

option two:

option three:

option four:

option five:

option six (without jean jacket):

option six (with jean jacket):

And here’s one of our engagement pictures. I went with outfit six! My favorite. I love this outfit. I felt confident and I loved that hubs and I weren’t matchy-matchy… we coordinated.

[Outfit deets: Shirt: Ralph Lauren, Skirt: JCrew, Jacket: LOFT, Boots: Cervone]

And then, because hubs and I are rather spirited, we took a few pictures in Kenan Stadium on the UNC Chapel Hill campus.

[Outfit Deets: Shirt: college shirts , Jeans: JCrew, Boots: DSW (really old)]

And then this was our last look. I ended up really loving this outfit and this picture below is one of my favorites. I actually have a giant canvas of this picture on our wall in our living room. It’s husband’s favorite picture of us. I don’t know why I love it so much, but I do!

Plus, I think my husband looks so darn handsome in this picture!!

[Outfit Deets: Shirt: Target (Merona), Jeans: Jcrew, Boots: DSW (old), Necklace and earrings: Kazuri Beads (Kenya)]

So yeah, those were our engagement pictures. I LOVED them so much – I mean, I have them ALL over our house.

Again, if you want to see more, you can check out our blog post on our photographer’s website by clicking here.

Have you ever had portrait-outfit-anxiety like I did? Have you had any fancy pictures taken lately? Share a link below! I’d love to picture-stalk you! jk. but seriously.

Happy Tuesday!

all for now.

He’s my Daddy and I’ll gush if I want to

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You guys, this man you see in that photo below… that’s my daddy.

Today is my daddy’s birthday. But before I get to gushing on my dad, I thought this was a great opportunity to share some of my favorite photos of my daddy and me from my wedding. Why? Cause I can. BOOM!

all photos taken by the amazing katelyn james of katelyn james photography.

so, a lot of brides and grooms decide to do a “first look” on their wedding day. and that’s awesome. hubs and i did that and it was one of the best decisions we made. but i wanted to do a daddy / daughter first look – that was super important to me. i am really, really close with my daddy and i wanted to capture the moment he saw me all dolled up on my wedding day on camera. and these images are some of the images i will cherish forever.

best daddy reaction ever.

yeah i totally smeared all my makeup. totally worth it.

i love this one.

some great shots of my daddy walking down the aisle.

i feel like this picture below literally says 1,000 words. i love it.

our daddy/daughter dance. we danced to “I’ll Always Be Your Baby” by Natalie Grant. listen to the song. i dare you not to cry.

yeah, and then THESE photos are the truest testament to my relationship with my dad.

we are totally weird. and i’m okay with it.

So yeah, today’s my daddy’s birthday. I often don’t know how to put into words the relationship I have with my dad. He’s my rock, he’s my best friend, and he raised me to have extremely high expectations for whomever I would end up marrying. news flash, I chose well.

My dad is such an amazing father to my sister and me and he was such an amazing husband to my mama. He’s been through so much in his life and I know my mom’s passing was so hard on him, but through it all he’s stayed so strong. He works so hard, loves and takes care of people so selflessly, and I just think he deserves the world. And of course, he’s so smart, and seriously… I don’t think I can even begin to explain how hilarious my dad is.

My dad is straight up RIDICULOUSLY funny. When I was a kid he used to walk up the stairs of our house chanting the “Yo wee yo, yooooo oh” winkies chant from Wizard of Oz… or wake me up in the morning before school with his face covered in shaving cream… or dance to “Land of 1000 Dances” in the car with me.

As I think about how blessed I am, I can’t help but owe so much of it to the amazing man that is my father. I would not, without question, be who I am, or where I am, today without it.

So, daddy… I LOVE YOU! Happy Birthday! God knew what He was doing when He made me your earthly daughter. I hope you have the best day ever! I miss you and I can’t thank you enough for everything you’ve ever done for me!

If you want, you can wish my daddy a happy birthday in the comments and I will read them all to him! He loves notes, even from strangers! OR, you can gush on someone in your life. Doesn’t have to be a dad, can be a mom, or a brother, or sister, or friend.

Who do you want to gush on? Tell me all about that amazing person in your life.

xoxo, all for now.

The Stillman Wedding: The God’s Knot

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Photography by Jillian Michelle via Katelyn James Photography

When John and I were planning our wedding ceremony, we really struggled with some of the things we wanted to include.

To us, the wedding ceremony was THE single most important part of our wedding day. It was our time to profess to each other, quite literally, in front of God and ev’rybody how much we love the Lord, each other, and our commitment to both the Lord and each other.

It’s a HUGE deal. Marriage is, like, a HUGE deal. You know.

But you see, the thing is, we are not very old school. I was not going to walk down the aisle to Canon in D or Here Comes the Bride. While that is TOTALLY fine for some, that’s just not our style. I mean, the groom and groomsmen wore JEANS and cowboy boots for pete’s sake.

We also didn’t want the traditional Unity Candle ceremony. Again, while that’s AWESOME for some, it’s just not our style.

That’s when I learned about the God’s Knot ceremony.

It was PERFECT for us and our pastor, being the awesome pastor that he is, LOVED the idea, too and really help to make it a unique part of our ceremony. It was a great witness to our friends, family, and guests about how committed we are to putting the Lord at the center of our marriage.

What is the God’s Knot ceremony?

Basically, you have this Cord of Three Strands – one purple, one gold, and one white. While the pastor speaks and explains the significance of each strand, the groom holds one end of the cords and the bride braids the strands.

It’s all based on Ecclesiastes 4:12.

¹² Though one may be overpowered,
two can defend themselves.
A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.

Here’s the reading that our pastor read during the ceremony:

The braiding of the three stands demonstrates how JOHN and MOLLY are joined by God in marriage. Each strand holds special meaning.

The Gold Strand symbolizes that the Lord Jesus has been invited by JOHN and MOLLY to the position of authority in this marriage relationship.

The Purple Strand represents the groom. As a new creation in Christ, the majesty of the Groom is represented in purple. As JOHN loves his wife and submits himself to the Lord, the Lord in turn will demonstrate His great love in the marriage relationship.

The White Strand represents the bride. Having been cleansed by salvation in Christ, the purity of the Bride is represented in white. As MOLLY honors her husband and submits herself to the Lord, the Lord in turn will nurture and strengthen the marriage relationship.

Ecclesiastes 4:12 reads, “Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.”

Today, JOHN AND MOLLY have been woven together by God as ONE in marriage!

Furiously braiding.

[All photography by Katelyn James Photography]

There’s even a fancy-schmancy explanation card that goes along with the strand.

Photography by Jillian Michelle via Katelyn James Photography

And, of course, after the wedding, we have a permanent reminder of our commitment to the Lord and to each other to hang in our home.

Crappy photo by me.

This is our strand hanging in our living room with two photos of us during the ceremony. I thought it looked good. The picture, clearly, doesn’t do it justice.

Now, I will say that I originally tried to DIY and make the cord of three strands myself with supplies I got from the craft store. It was a MAJOR DIY failure. So, at the last minute, to save myself the stress and headache of trying to fix it, I just went ahead and paid the $30some dollhairs for the “OFFICIAL” Cord of Three Strands.

Although I’m a HUGE proponent of DIY, I would highly recommend NOT trying to DIY this…

Anywho. What do you think? Did you do any Unity Candle alternatives in your wedding? What other ideas have you seen? Post a comment with your thoughts below!

xoxo, all for now.

The Stillman Wedding: VOTE FOR US + DIY Wedding Signs

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Happy Thursday!

First, a shameless plug and humble request: Vote For Us? Our SERIOUSLY amazing wedding photographer, Katelyn James, is holding her annual LOVE SHOTS contest! She has a photo representing every couple’s wedding that she photographed in the last year and the WINNING COUPLE gets a 20×30 canvas of a photo of their choice! AHHH. Seriously.

I love this for two reasons:

It just shows the generosity (and sheer marketing prowess) that Katelyn has for her clients
Canvases are ESSPENSIVE, y’all. Seriously. Those things cost a lot of American dollars… and seeing as how we got married a little over a month ago, we’re still recovering from spending a lot of American dollars on our wedding. Granted, it was worth EVERY penny (and we saved a ton of money doing 97% of it ourselves, but that’s neither here nor there).

So, would you be AWESOME and visit Katelyn’s site and go to the bottom and click “JOHN + MOLLY” and vote for us! You can vote every day until Monday, April 2nd at noon!

Moving on.

Now that I have my very unattractive shameless-self-promoting-plug out of the way, we can get to the good stuff.

SIGNS. At a wedding.

John + I knew that we really wanted personal touches all over the wedding and I knew I wanted to get as creative as possible. However, I was working with a VERY small budget and not a lot of time. When you’re working a lot, trying to pack an apartment, move, and get married, and all the whatnot, time is limited.

Well, on one of my many trips to Michael’s, I saw blank white canvases were on SALE. Yes! Score! And acrylic paints were on sale, TOO!

So BOOM. I had an idea for signs!

So, I took a Tuesday night, had a cold beverage, a good friend, and painted away!

I glued fabric rosettes on some to spice them up! And tried to come up with creative ideas all over the place!

“Biscuit Snatcher” is a term of endearment our Pastor loves to use when referring to children. I thought it was perfect.

Photo by Katelyn James Photography

Sweet tea… and that other tea. You know. Unsweet tea.

Photo by Katelyn James Photography

Now, I had quatrefoils ALL over our wedding. I’m a Phi Mu. I love quats. Sue me.

So I knew I wasn’t going to do a traditional Mr. and Mrs. chairback signs. So I made those puppies. QUATREFOIL CHAIRBACK MR. AND MRS. STILLMAN signs. Oh yeah. How awesome are they?

Photo by Katelyn James Photography

This one I loved instead of a “Thank You” sign – however, sadly, the day of the wedding we were so busy running around that we never took a picture with it. Oh well. Anyone want a “much obliged, y’all” sign?

Anyway – all in all – for the canvases, paints, and time – I spent about $17 TOTAL and about three TOTAL hours making the signs and all the things that went with it. Not too shabby.

What creative projects have YOU done recently? Ideas? Thoughts? How have you saved money? Post pictures! Link your blog! Do it up!

xoxo, All for now.

oh, and vote for us.