2012 was a doozy of a year for me, I had a full calendar of amazing clients, moved studios not once but twice, and had one heck of a year in my personal life as well. I want to thank each and every one of my clients for choosing me for their photos and let you all know how much your trust in me means to me. Every single one of my weddings were special to me for different reasons, but in an attempt to make this post more concise I’ve decided to narrow it down to choosing one favorite image from each wedding.

Heather + Trevor, January 21st

The year started out on super cold note with Heather and Trevor’s January wedding. My favorite thing about this couple is simply their story. They were best friends for years and then one day decided to dedicate their lives to each other. I chose this photo from their wedding as my favorite simply because of their expressions during a private moment before their ceremony.

 

Our Session with Jessica Claire, January 30th

In January Brock and I traveled to Orange County, CA for a portrait session with one of my absolute favorite photographers, Jessica Claire. We had an amazing time on our trip and during our session and will always be grateful for the beautiful photos that we have have to remember this time in our lives. I’ve been a fan of Jessica’s work for quite a while, but knew that I wanted to have her photograph us after I attended her workshop the previous year. I’m a firm believer that everything happens for a reason in life, and if you remember, it was while we were gone for the workshop trip that we unexpected lost our Mugsy. That was one of the most profound experiences of my life and although I wasn’t sure I could still attend the workshop, being there in the midst of all that was going on in our lives reaffirmed for me that I am on the right path in life and that my heart and my mind are finally able to come together in my career, which if you know me well was something I’d been searching for for a very long time. There is something that calls us back to California all of the time and we knew we’d be back, but this particular trip was very special. Please go out and take a look at Jessica’s blog post from our session sometime, we just love our photos and I can’t even describe to you how true her beautifully written words on marriage are. Love her!

 

Emily + Shea, February 11th

Emily and Shea‘s wedding was such an amazing day for me too. They were married in February, but the excitement of the day seemed to keep us all warm. They both come from huge families and were surrounded by so much love and energy throughout the whole day. This image from their reception is one of my favorite from the whole year!

 

Star 102.5 Leap Day Weddings, February 29th

2012 was also a leap year too, in case you had forgotten. Early in the morning on February 29th, I had the honor of being chosen by Star 102.5 as the official photographer for their on air Leap Day Wedding event. It may not be my most creative work, but it sure was a great experience and was so much fun to be a part of!

 

Angela + Kevin, March 24th

Angela and Kevin‘s amazingly beautiful wedding in Iowa City was another one of my favorites from the year. Their wedding was held at the Celebration Barn in Iowa City, which is just such a stunning place to shoot and the day was just perfect. I love this shot of the two of them because there is something simple about it that captures the way that they interacted with each other throughout the day.

 

Ildiko + Sebaastian, May 5th

Ildiko and Sebaastian‘s wedding followed on the night of the super moon. We had so much fun getting these late night shots of them to remember the moon.

 

Melissa + Dan, May 19th

Melissa and Dan‘s wedding took me to another new favorite wedding venue, the Soap Creek Lodge. All of Melissa’s handmade details made this wedding memorable and special. She spent so much time and attention to every tiny little detail and her hard work really paid off!

 

Allison + Mike, May 26th

I can’t even begin to tell you all how excited I was to shoot Allison and Mike‘s wedding. I remembered going on field trips to the old library downtown when I was little and something just seemed so grand and magical about the place. I was so sad when it closed and they moved to a new modern building and always wondered what would become of one of my favorite buildings. It’s now home to the World Food Prize and is at the very tippy top of my favorite wedding venues now.

 

Blake + Jes, June 2nd

On June 2nd, my brother-in-law got married to his best friend in the world and I was lucky enough to be able to shoot photos for them. This wedding is special to me for obvious reasons. This photo is from their first look. Blake and Jes and now expecting their first baby and Brock and I couldn’t be more excited for them and can’t wait to meet our new little niece or nephew in the spring.

 

Second Shooting with Shana, June 8th

This next couple is not one of my own, but is included in my 2012 look back because it was such a fun experience to get to help shoot their wedding with my good friend Shana of Shana Drake Photography. This wedding was held at the Sailsbury House with reception at Zart, another two of my favorite places to shoot. Thanks again Shana for having me there and for your continued friendship!

 

Megan + Jesse, June 9th

Megan and Jesse’s wedding in Okoboji was a blast! We went on a boat ride during the break between the ceremony and reception and stopped at Arnold’s Park for a quick ride on the ferris wheel and to play some games. That was certainly a first for me at a wedding!

 

A New Addition to the Beekmann Family, June 13th

In June we added another Boston Terrier to our family. Little Maddy has been a blessing to us this year and is practically attached at the hip to Mikey. She is the funniest little thing and has so much personality! We just couldn’t love her more!

MacKenzie + Steve, June 22nd

MacKenzie and Steve were married on a super hot day and started out getting ready in my (now vacated) studio in the East Village. I was super excited to shoot that day because it was my first wedding shooting my D800. The D800 has been quite a switch from shooting my D700′s since the files are so massive! My entire workflow, client delivery process, and data storage has been dramatically affected by switching to this camera so it was a very memorable switch for me. I chose this image from their wedding because of the cute expressions on their faces, I just love it!

 

Eloisa + Jose, June 30th

When I first met Elosia, we clicked immediately. The meeting I anticipated taking an hour quickly turned into two hours and she had me pouring my heart out and in tears when she got me started on what got me into wedding photography. She is one of those special people who just make you feel at ease. Their wedding in Ames was a beautiful affair and was so touching to witness. I chose this image because of her smile. She is just so in love with her husband and literally beamed the entire day.

 

A Personal Note on 2012, July – September

Over the fourth of July, we traveled to Utah to the wedding of one my husband’s best friends. It was really exciting to actually attend a wedding as a guest for once and the trip was amazing! We had a great time there and had no idea that we were carrying around a little secret the whole time, being newly pregnant. The year had been great so far and we were excited for our new little addition and the second half of my amazing wedding season. Unfortunately, we we ended up losing the pregnancy at 11 weeks during a thankfully slow time in September. Our friends and family have been an amazing support to us both during the good times and the bad and this just simply wouldn’t be a recap of 2012 without mention of our personal triumphs and tragedies. Although, the remainder of my wedding season was nothing short of spectacular, I didn’t do a whole lot of blogging throughout the remainder of the year to keep the world abreast of all of wonderful couples I’d been blessed to photograph. Losing a baby is a huge blow, but I am very blessed to have the job that I do. Being surrounded by love and hope each weekend has been very therapeutic and I am looking forward to the the future with all of my wonderful 2013 couples and hopefully an opportunity for some blessings in our personal life as well.  The photo below is one from our trip in Utah.

 

Jessica + Austin, July 14th

Little did I know before their reception speeches, but these two have had quite a history together in their young lives. They are such a fun couple to begin with, but after getting to spend a day with them and surrounded by their loved ones, I became even bigger fans of theirs.

 

Sarah + Luke, July 21st

Sarah and Luke had a gorgeous wedding in Des Moines, that was capped off with some very personal touches. Sarah not only choreographed a dance for she and Luke to enter their reception, but they were surprised by a performance of the ISU fight song by the ISU dance team. We had no idea that was going to happen, but it was such a cool surprise! I chose this photo of Sarah and Luke, because I just adore Sarah’s smile!

 

Julie + Alex, July 28th

Julie and Alex had requested a photo of the two of them together immediately after their ceremony so that they could have a photo that captured their “just married” glow. I had never had that specific request before, but it sure does show in this photo taken of the two of them just after exiting their ceremony. They are such an adorable couple!

 

Chelsea + Andrew, August 4th

I just loved every little detail of Andrew and Chelsea‘s wedding!! I don’t even know where to begin or end so I won’t. Just go look at their blog post and see for yourself what a beautiful event it was! Love!!

 

Kelly + Nick, August 11th

Ahhh…. I just love this couple and this whole group of friends!! There is just nothing to compare to the fun that this group of people has a wedding! Both Kelly and Nick are graduates of ISU’s theater program as are many of their friends. This is not a shy group who really know how to celebrate! SOO much fun!! This photo is from just after their ceremony as they ran off to their getaway car together. Such a cute moment!

 

Nicole + Shaun, August 24th

Easily the most memorable piece of shooing their wedding was their affection for each other! We left their wedding feeling renewed after witnessing it all day. So much love!!

 

Courtney + Jake, August 31st

Their wedding was day one of my one and only two wedding weekend of year. Their Friday wedding was a great start to the weekend! Courtney and Jake even attended the pre-ceremony cocktail hour with their guests (Courtney in a separate cocktail dress for the pre-ceremony festivities). The entire evening took place outdoors on a gorgeous summer night. Who could ask for more?

 

Brooke + Nate, September 1st

I met Brooke about five years ago (if I remember correctly) in the graphic design program at DMACC. Brooke is just THE most thoughtful person I have ever met!! I’d been hearing about Nate for all of these years and was thrilled that she wanted me to shoot her wedding! The photo I chose from their wedding is from their first look. The looks on both of their faces are priceless!

 

Ashley + Ben, September 14th

Ashley and Ben held their wedding at Summerset Winery, which is a place close to my heart. Years ago when Brock and I were planning our own wedding, we chose Summerset. We wound up having a destination wedding in the end, but a lot of our wedding plans were built around Summerset so every time I get a chance to photograph a wedding there, I do a little happy dance. These two were just so sweet together throughout the whole day as well. The weather was just perfect that day and we got so many amazing photos of the two of them wandering around the property.

 

Jessica + Anthony, October 6th

Their wedding was held on the same day as the Color Run and oh boy did that make things interesting! It didn’t stop us from getting so many of my favorite images of the year though! They had such a beautiful wedding!! I chose this image because I just can’t get enough of the way that he looks at her!

 

Jenna + Heath, October 13th

Their wedding was a really fun one for me because I’d already gotten to know a little bit about Heath’s family through my MIL’s friendship with his mom. My in-law’s even came to Des Moines for the wedding! These two are just adorable and it was so great to meet the rest of the family after getting to know Heath and Jenna a bit better. Both sides were just a joy to work with!

 

Kim + Jeff, October 20th

Kim and Jeff brought me to Nevada to shoot their wedding. I’ve known Kim for a very very long time now, I want to say it is somewhere in the neighborhood of about 14 years. This past year we’ve really gotten close and I was so happy to be able to both photograph and witness their wedding. I am so happy for you Kim!!

 

Jennifer + Travis, October 27th

Or should I have titled this Cook becomes Duke? Cook  (Jennifer) and I go way back. She was good friends with my sister Jenny growing up, they all go by their last names because half of them were named Jenny! She and I were also cheerleaders together for the Iowa Barnstormers back in the day. I chose this photo of them because it features her late father’s car. Her dad was such an amazing guy and his presence was definitely felt on her wedding day. Salute the Dukes!

Another Huge Life Change… Nikon Girl Goes Canon???, December 2012

So, I’ve always always always been a Nikon girl. I love my Nikons! At the end of the year when it came time to retire my D700 bodies, I was faced with the decision of what to replace them with. My options with Nikon just weren’t what I wanted them to be. I mentioned before how the D800 file size has affected my workflow and I surely wasn’t going to get another D800. Don’t get me wrong though, I love the camera and am not replacing it. I was just looking for something else to work along side it. In December I made a HUGE  leap and got a Canon 5D Mark III and a variety of tools to go along with it. So far I am in LOVE with this camera! I’m so excited to get started shooting with it at weddings this year, in fact my first wedding of year is this Saturday so I’ll be posting something very soon. Working with the D800 and the 5D Mark III is very exciting for me! They are both outstanding cameras, each with it’s own set of strengths and weaknesses, I’m so excited to be able to use them together to make sure that my product is improved by having the right set of tools for each specific scenario I’m working with. It’s going to be an exciting year! This last image is a frame that I shot second shooting for Shana in December with the 5D Mark III. I don’t want to reveal any more of this wedding than this before she gets a chance to so I chose a detail shot.

Goodbye 2012, Hello 2013!!!

I’m so excited to get this year kicked off and can’t wait to work with all of my amazing wedding clients. I’m also officially going to start looking to add more portrait work to my business and am equally excited about that! Thank you for your continued support and interest in Life Art Photographs, I can’t even begin to describe how much I appreciate it! I love what I do and couldn’t imagine doing anything else. Happy New Year!