Becky & Russell's Wedding

Wow the first post of the new year! Now that we are back from England, mostly settled into our new house and finally winding down from the busy holiday season, we are going to attempt to catch up on some blogging from several of our weddings and sessions we had last year. Easier said then done but here we go.

Becky and Russell had their beautiful Fall themed wedding back in November at Cleveland Park in Spartanburg, SC. The venue is beautiful on its own but with the amazing decor put together by Kaye Greene, of Just Weddings - Flowers by Kaye, and Kim Wehunt, planner extraordinaire from All in the Details, the place came alive with Fall colors and carved pumpkins. We were in detail heaven!


Here's some highlights of the day.

Becky's dress was absolutely gorgeous. It made her look like she was floating on a cloud.


The cute ringbearer trying desperately to coral one of the adorable flower girls who was picking up as many leaves as she was dropping!





This casual bridal party shot (along with another sweet shot of Becky and Russell together) can be seen in AVF Weddings' ad in the current issue of Weddings & Events with Style magazine. Coincidentally, our images from three different weddings made it into that issue. Go us!


And here are a few spreads from the happy couple's album.
The opening page.


Becky in her beautiful "cloud" dress working it like the actress/diva she is.





The lovely Fall details and the "Zombie Smash" story that kept her Dad from tearing up. Guess you had to be there to get that one.





See what we mean about detail heaven! Oh and can't forget delicious cake created by Kathy & Company.


And now for the romantic stuff after the reception.









Curtis & Emily
Kismet Photography

Kat & Todd go to the movies!

One of our awesome couples, Kat and Todd, had a totally cool and unique idea for table decorations at their movie-themed wedding. And, as we thrive on unique ideas, we were all for it. Their idea was to take some of their favorite movie posters and have a photo shoot to make them look like the stars and then we transpose them onto the poster. Kat and Todd were so into it that they even found similar outfits, brought props and had a ton of fun with it which only made it more fun for us!

We did the shoot a while ago but they wanted it to be a surprise for their wedding guests so we had to keep it under wraps. The problem is, we thought the resulting posters looked so cool it was killing us to not share them with the world! Now that their amazing movie-themed wedding has passed (be sure to check out their album design further down), we can now share the posters.

Check out the slideshow below to see Kat and Todd looking like movie stars and then be sure to check out their album design after that!


The Movie Posters:

The Album Design:

Curtis & Emily
Kismet Photography

Holiday Greetings

Recently we had the privilege of photographing Scott Pilgrim, one of the awesome DJ's with Jumping Jukebox, and his wonderful family at a place that's near and dear to their hearts...Death Valley! They have three beautiful children, and one practically adopted boyfriend, and they were all so much fun! They wanted to have a nice holiday card to send family and friends that was less "Christmas" and more "We bleed orange". Check out the card we designed as well as some of our favorites from the shoot.













The boys being boys!


Here is the front (on the left) and the inside flap.


The awesome pano inside along with a clever saying that Marti came up with.


The back side.


To the Pilgrim Family,

We had an amazing time with all of you. Thank you for entrusting us with your family memories. We look forward to doing the same next year when Andrea graduates :)


With Christmas being just two short weeks away, most of us are already starting our holiday traditions. Buying the first carton of eggnog, putting up the tree, decorating the outside of the house...and it makes me remember how I spent Christmas as a kid. Curtis and I had very different holiday traditions. He was a Christmas Eve present-opener, whereas I believed in Santa and set out cookies and milk (and a carrot for the reindeer of course) before bed.

This year, we'll be celebrating in a way that we have only done once before. The year that we got married, we flew to England to spend Christmas with my sister, who has lived there for several years. This year we're crossing the Atlantic again and spending the holidays with her. We're so excited to get our holiday cheer on...British STYLE! On Christmas day we'll wear colorful, paper crowns and open crackers to see what lame toy is inside. Will it be a mini screw-driver or perhaps a plastic army man this year?

As we will be out of the country, Kismet Photography will be closed from December 15th-December 31st. We will have very limited access to email and needless to say, with the ridiculous roaming charges, we will not be checking voice mail much either. We will be enjoying this time with our family, and thank you for your patience (in advance) for the delay in email and phone replies.

Happy Holidays!

Curtis & Emily
Kismet Photography

Fun times with pumpkins & goofy hats!

Anyone else missing the nice Fall weather? It seems like you can't go outside anymore without full-scale winter attire. Luckily we were able to get most of our engagement shoots done before the cold set in. Two of those sessions were Amy and Jeff's, and Shannon and Tucker's. We always try to make engagement shoots fun for our couples but we also had some ideas for getting a little goofy too. Luckily for us these four were up for anything!

When we first met with Amy and Jeff, Jeff told us that he loved pumpkins. And being big Fall and Halloween fans ourselves, we knew photographing in a pumpkin patch would be awesome! Little did we realize that finding a pumpkin patch the week before Halloween that still had a lot of pumpkins would be a trick. After some cruising around, we found a farm and pumpkin patch combo that was perfect!


We wanted to do something different with this wall and it ended up being the wrap-around cover for their custom photo guestbook.








Like we said, these guys were up for a little goofiness and the pumpkin patch had this beautifully adorned pumpkin just itching for a photo-op. The second shot is exactly what Amy does whenever Jeff is being Jeff. We love it!





Shannon and Tucker's shoot was the same weekend in downtown Greenville and we had some more new ideas and even found an awesome new spot while walking around.





This is our new secret grotto that we stumbled upon! You would never know this was taken in the middle of the afternoon with the sun shining. It's perfect for some moody romanticalness.







For the next few, we had a fun idea to get goofy with some hats we found at Mast General Store and Shannon and Tucker were totally up for it. We have the most fun clients!

This one they aptly call the "American Gothic" shot.


And later an epic duel ensued. To prove how cool these guys are, just about this time a mutual friend of theirs came up to them to say hi. Other than saying they were taking their engagement portraits with big grins on their faces, they didn't seem phased and continued with the shenanigans. We just love it when people don't embarrass easily...


or at all! :)


A HUGE thanks to both couples for all the laughs and silliness! We appreciate your willingness to go with our ideas and have fun with it. As we said, engagement portraits should be fun. After all you're celebrating your love for each other so let loose and be yourselves.


Curtis & Emily
Kismet Photography

GRRRRRR Baby, very GRRRRR!

Introducing a steamier side of Kismet Photography...Boudoir Portraits! The winners of our free boudoir session were fantastic models and did an incredible job strutting their stuff for the camera. More importantly, they created one-of-a-kind gifts that are going to knock their guy's socks off! In fact, don't just take our word for it. Here is an email we received from one of our winners whose husband is deployed in Iraq.


"Thanks for extending the gallery! I'm sure that will thrill Scott! :) He has been as attached to those pictures as he can be in a public place. He tries to find computers that aren't quite as open and he will just sit there and go through them over and over and over again. In all honesty, he is having a really hard time picking his favorites. The one where I'm on the bed and my legs are in the air...he continues to look at that one and call me his own personal pinup
girl!

I don't think you could have pleased him anymore than you did! I'm sure he will be attached to that computer as much as he physically can be! Thanks again for this special opportunity! To see the smile on his face as he is going through the pictures means more to me than you will ever know!"


Hearing that we made their long-distance relationship a little easier to bear really showed us the power of photographs and how they can bring so much joy to people. It proved to us once again why we absolutely love what we do.

We had an awesome time doing something different and we're so excited to offer this type of session to anyone that is interested. The session is based on your comfort level. It can be anything from soft and sensible to sultry and smokin' hot. Heck, why not even throw on your bridal gown and give a sexy twist to bridal portraits. Bridal boudoir anyone?! The examples below are just a sampling of what we can do for you and what amazing gifts you can give to your man. Gifts that he will never forget!


Imagine his pride when he sees you sporting his favorite teams colors...and little else!








This just proves that you don't have to show a lot of skin to be ultra sexy. Move over Angelina Jolie!


Even your guy's favorite T-shirt makes it that much more personal to him.





It's not all seductive eyes and come hither stares. Don't forget that your guy loves to see that beautiful smile too!








Pearls and lace are just classic.


Before we go, we have to thank Katie Martin, our amazing make-up artist, who did an outstanding job giving our already gorgeous girls a little extra boost of confidence. Not to mention looks to kill! And for all you future boudoir divas and brides, Katie is available for travel and you can reach her at 616-9416.

That's all for now but stay tuned as we still have a lot of awesome stuff to catch up on including a super fun family portrait session that all you Clemson fans will greatly appreciate.


Curtis & Emily
Kismet Photography

Hope is 6 months old!

We hope everyone had a wonderful, stomach-expanding Thanksgiving. And we hope that those who brave the madness of Black Friday don't get trampled on in the hunt for the ultimate sale. After all, we want you to be able to check out some of the fun baby and family shoots we've done recently!

Right before Halloween we did a session for baby Hope, who just turned 6 months old. We really enjoyed photographing such a happy baby and can't wait for her first birthday when we get to do another session with her. Then we are creating an album to showcase her exciting first year! Here's a small sample from Hope's 6 month session.


Hope's mommy and daddy did an amazing job decorating her room. This little princess had one of the most chic and sophisticated nurseries we've ever seen!





We love this one. She just looks like she's saying "What?" with her little hand.








This is just too cute for words! We love Halloween but put a cute kid in an adorable kitty costume and we go bonkers! The pumpkin and leaves were our idea but Hope makes the portrait with her Vogue-esque pose.








It's amazing how fast kids grow up. Since we photographed Hope, her first teeth have started to come in. So if you have a new bundle of joy, we'd love to document your baby's first year.


Curtis & Emily
Kismet Photography