Ladies and Gentleman, I would like your attention.

For months now, I've been dying to share with you the wedding of Alyson and Jesse. This wedding meant SO much to me, for so many reasons, but most importantly for the positive impact I hope it makes in our market and industry overall! Alyson and Jesse are my first same-sex-couple and it was my extreme pleasure of photograph their wedding! It's been a personal goal of mine to gain more same-sex couples, because I truly believe in gay rights, gay marriage and equality for all. When I met Alyson and Jesse, it was very clear that they were the perfect clients to begin my client base with, and the entire experience with them has been nothing but absolutely amazing!

What is even more epic is that I feel like we're making a big difference and taking part in a little bit of history, because the Newquist's wedding is the FIRST. EVER. SAME. SEX. WEDDING. EVER. PUBLISHED. IN. MINNESOTA!!!!!! Are you kidding me?!?!?! When I found this out, it really hit me how important this time is for our world and the incredible impact it will have on the wedding industry! I'm a person who is all about making a difference and to be a part of this movement is incredibly exciting to me. I feel honored to be a part of it. I'm also very proud that Minnesota Bride believed in this story enough to publish it, and the fact that this is all happening pre-leagalization in Minnesota is even MORE exciting!!!

Alyson and Jesse were two of the handiest and craftiest brides I've ever met! These two ladies decided not only to have a DIY wedding, but they purchased 40 acres of land up in Finlayson, MN and opened a wedding venue, called Juliane James Place, for future couples, both gay and straight for the record, to host their weddings and events at! I, myself, have used the space to photography Tara LaTour's newest collection and also to host the ELEVATE Workshop this past fall! The property is nothing short of gorgeous and I highly encourage you all to check it out!

I will be doing a full blog post on Alyson & Jesse's wedding in the next few weeks, but I wanted to share the news of this incredible feature in the newest issue of MN Bride, which is hitting the news stands as we speak! This feature means more to me, simply because of the issue at hand on gay marriage. I hope it does impact not only our city, but our industry and Midwest market overall! As a vendor, I'm incredibly proud and that is the best feeling in the world! 

 

I love big announcements! They're just so much fun!

As many of you know, a couple of years ago, I started another wedding photography company called Rivets and Roses. This brand started small, with only one photographer shooting under it at one time and coming into the 2012 season, it was very clear that it was the perfect time to take this to the next level! We've had phenomenal success with our photographers in the past and I had big plans for where this studio might go in the future!

When I look back at many of my notes/goals/thoughts from the past couple of years, I always had written down to "Focus on R&R and make that brand what you know it can be!" A few months ago, I was looking through all of those notes-to-myself and I suddenly felt this overwhelming feeling that now was the time to make that happen, we were ready.

So, for the first time ever, I really put it out there that I was hiring. I decided to hire on more photographers to make Rivets and Roses a legitimate, full functioning wedding photography studio for the city of Minneapolis. I wasn't sure what kind of applicants we might get, but I knew exactly what I wanted in these new shooters. There was a high level of quality I was looking for, as well as passion and drive to be an amazing wedding photographer. Let me tell you that I was AH-MAZED by the people to sent in their applications! I met with many seriously talented people and had some solid conversations during the interviews and I am SO proud to announce the team we have put together for you! 

Each of our new photographers has a very distinct style and personality that is very different from one another! Rivets and Roses is a wedding photography studio where couples are meant to come and browse around the website. It's designed for potential brides and grooms to wander around and really find a photographer who inspires them, both thru their work and personality. The benefit of booking with R&R is simply the fact that it's the sister company to my wedding brand, Photogen Inc. and the same quality of service and product will be given to every single one of our clients! We will most definitely take care of you!

So, go on! Take a peek! Browse through our super-cool site, and learn about all of our new shooters! Louisa, Leslie, Natalie, Marc and Desiree are all helping me host FOUND // The Art of Wedding event on Friday, January 20th! If you want to meet them, please stop on by and say hello! We would love to see you!

Ben and Christina are one of those couples that makes your heart melt. Their love is simple, honest and pure and that is exactly what they revolved their wedding around. Their entire affair took place on an early Saturday afternoon at the Woods Chapel and the entire event was produced by their family and friends. This was a DIY-done-right wedding and I just love the way everything turned out - simply gorgeous!







Congratulations to the new Mr. and Mrs. Rich! Thank you so much for allowing us to document this day.



LOVEe

I am SO excited to finally announce this big event I've been working on!

For years now, I've wanted to do a fine art show, featuring work from all of the amazing weddings we've photographed over the years! Well, now is the time and this has turned into an even larger affair than I could have ever imagined! Here are all the details:

Join us for a revelatory night of cocktails and celebration as Photogen Inc. and Rivets & Roses present "FOUND // The Art of Wedding," on Friday, January 20th, 2012 at 514 Studios in the North Loop district of Minneapolis.

FOUND celebrates local talent working to elevate weddings to an art form and introduces engaged couples and Twin City art lovers alike to their work. The event will be curated by Eliesa Johnson and features fine-art installations by photographers Photogen Inc. and Rivets and Roses, fashion designer Tara LaTour, floral designers Munster Rose, filmmakers Capture Studios and stationer Paperista. MN Bride will be handing out complimentary copies of its latest issue, while Flow DJ spins some tunes, Cocoa & Fig will display and serve their tastiest confections, and the lovely crew at Crispin will pour up tastes of their refreshing cider. So whether you're a newly engaged couple or a fine art enthusiast, FOUND is sure to find you enchanted, inspired, and a little imbibed.

This event is open to the public, and it is a +21 event!

You can find out more information by checking out the official website at FOUNDEVENT.COM and follow us on twitter @FOUNDEvent! Hope to see you all there!


LOVEe

The year Two Thousand Eleven has been a whirlwind, to say the least! I honestly can't believe I'm already writing another end-of-the-year blog post! It's absolutely crazy to think that an entire year has gone by so fast, yet after going through our blog posts this past year, it's insane the amount of things we've accomplished here at Photogen Inc.!

First and foremost, I have to thank all of our AMAZING wedding clients and vendors we've had the opportunity to work with this last year! We are lucky enough to have THE most fabulous clients who are just as excited about working with us as we are with them. This makes our job a million times more enjoyable, and we have loved each and every single wedding from this last season!



At this time last year, the ELEVATE Workshop was a simple idea in my head I was trying to make come to life. In 2011, we hosted not one, but TWO successful workshops and each one was SO. MUCH. FUN. Hosting these workshops has been just as much a learning and growth experience for me, just as it is for the attendees. It's been a true pleasure to teach and serve every single talented photographer that has signed up. I've also been fortunate enough to collaborate with the most amazing industry talent to make these workshops come to life! You better believe there will be more ELEVATE Workshops!
 You can look back at recaps from our workshops HERE, HERE, and HERE.

Below are the group shots from both ELEVATE Workshops + a local MINNeSHOP we hosted this past year!


In addition to the workshops, I've been lucky enough to mentor several photographers over the year thru LOVEe Consults, which is the consulting side of the business! These are one-on-one mentor sessions and I love them SO much! Each and every photographer we've worked with has made GIANT strides in their businesses and it's so exciting to see the change!


We partied in Vegas this last year with all of our friends across the country, which was SO much fun!


Several of our lovely weddings were published in both print and on national blogs: Style Me Pretty, Southern Weddings, Grace Ormonde, Munaluchi Bride, Minnesota Bride & Luxe Mountain Weddings.



We moved into our new studio, which we absolutely adore!


I attended my second Engage conference at the Grand Del Mar this past year and, as always, it was an amazing week! I'm so looking forward to going back in 2012!


On a personal note, I had one of the funnest summers of my life! I actually made a point to attend many concerts, street festivals, and even go on a couple of trips, including sailing around the British Virgin Islands and climbing a mountain! One of my goals last year was to spend more time with family and friends and I think I definitely improved on this...at least a little bit :0)



So, here's to 2012! I can already tell this is going to be one-hell-of-a-year! We're spicing things up around here, restructuring, hiring some new talent, launching some new websites and hosting some smashing events! As far as my goals go for the next year, I'm already well on my way. I make my to-do-list on my birthday, and even looking at my goals since October, a lot has already been accomplished!

2012 is also going to be one amazing wedding season! Every single wedding we have booked so far is going to be absolutely incredible and I'm also very excited to work with many very talented vendors this year as well!


Please raise a glass of bubbly with me and cheers to all of the good things that happened in 2011 and to all of the even bigger things that are bound to happen in 2012!

Thank you to my crew, each and every one of you, who help me realize these dreams every day! You are all THE BEST and I couldn't do it without you!

LOVEe