Well, then Seven’s first year was coming to a close and I was feeling nostalgic and had all of these random notes, on my phone or scrap pieces of paper, telling of the year’s accomplishments. Blame it on crazy mamma hormones or whatever you will – I wanted to hold on to them forever and suddenly found myself freaking out because I didn’t know where to put it all. I’ve always thought a parent’s job is to double as your child’s historian and the documenter of their lives and I was just feeling plain ol’ irresponsible not having Seven’s first year of documents organized well. Enter the baby book for child #1 and thus my intimidating commitment to keeping one for every child so as not to be the subject of their therapy sessions.

I have to say, I’m glad I’m doing them. I love them and I already know they’re going to mean so much to my kids when they’re older. So, as we anticipate our little Miss Serai’s due date later this week, I’ve set to work on her baby book. The first part is all about before you were born and the book asks for photos of your mom and dad before you arrived. Sean makes the argument that any photos of us up until this point fit that bill, but I prefer a more specific and literal interpretation. Mandated by the baby book, we’ve stepped into our new backyard over the past couple of weeks and documented our family as it is, right now, right before our daughter arrives.

Side note to new moms:

If you aren’t keeping some sort of record of your child’s infancy, I would like to encourage you to do so. It hasn’t been as much work as I was afraid it would be and a well thought out baby book is so much more of a treasure than I originally thought. If you’re looking for a good one, I really like The Complete Baby Journal, Organizer & Keepsake. It asks for funny stories, your thoughts throughout, and leaves places for you to write letters to your child at various milestones. It also comes in a tote which helps keep it clean and holds any loose things together with the book that you might not have attached yet. Some of the décor is a little kitschy, but what baby book’s isn’t? It’s the content that matters and this one is very thoughtful.

As you can see, she can’t possibly be too much longer – I’ve run out of room! Serai, my little chickadee, we can’t wait to meet you!

For the technically minded who have graciously sat through my personal post:

All images shot with a Canon 5D Mark II and 85mm 1.8 lens

Retouched and enhanced using the Motibodo board and Totally Rad Actions

Family formals don’t have to be boring or a chore for everyone involved. Not only that, but of all the photographs from a wedding day, they’re almost guaranteed to be at the top of the list in importance as the years pass on so you might as well make them enjoyable and memorable.

This blog post is dedicated to helping you do just that.

When I think about our own wedding photography, there are two that really stand out and mean the most to me and they are both of Sean and I with our grandparents. Why do they mean so much? Because when I look at them I see how much Sean’s grandparents love him and I can feel the bond in their little family.

The photo of my grandmother and myself is from when she walked me down the aisle and while it isn’t a particularly beautiful image, what I see is my grandmother by my side and the slight scrunch to my nose that has happened for a moment every time I laugh since my grandfather taught me to make that face when I was one. I see two of the most important people in my life through this simple photograph and I remember how I feel about them.

These are the things we want to bring out in our family formals. They should be about showing the love these people feel for each other, making their personalities apparent and evoking powerful emotions from them every time they look at those images for years to come. But because most people are used to just lining up and won’t automatically offer the good mushy emotional stuff, there are a few things you as the photographer and you as the bride can do to help make this happen.

1. Choose a location that will help you succeed.

Standing in front of the altar tends to lend itself to stiff photos. Try to get outside if you can, or at least to a place with nice natural lighting. Why natural light? Well that’s because…

2. …Your lighting equipment is scary and cumbersome.

I know there are some who will disagree with me on this point, but what we have found is that large lights and flashes going off – all of that can make your subjects uneasy. In our experience, having as little going on as possible will help you connect the best. Another reason for not using flash is because often times family members will only give you what you’re looking for for a second and you don’t want to be waiting for your flash to recycle when that happens. Obviously there are certain scenarios in which natural light is just not available and of course, in that case you do your best with what you have but, when at all possible, keep the amount of gear looming in your subjects faces to a minimum.

3. Squeeze in tight!

On the most basic level, a family grouping is always going to look more natural and affectionate if the people in it are in the closest proximity possible to each other. Tell everyone to get closer and when they do it, tell them to get closer still. Have everyone put an arm around someone next to them and then tell them to lean in. Side tip: have the guys unbutton their jackets for this. When they put their arms around a person on each side of them, it will gape in a funny way otherwise.

4. Do what you’ve got to do to loosen them up.

Sean and I shoot a lot of weddings out of state and Nashville is a pretty eclectic town in general with people from all over so for our couples who are not from around here, I’m pretty sure they’ve never heard anything so obnoxiously Southern as me saying “love on your mamma now!” Who cares? It makes them laugh and loosens them up and when self-deprecating humor, silliness, and a little extra prodding are combined, who’s going to say no to me? ;0)

Brides (and Grooms too for that matter) – if your family isn’t natural lovey-dovey in front of the camera, but you want those photographs, help your photographer out! Squeeze your dad, kiss your mom, laugh and have fun with it and your family will follow suit – even if it’s just for a split second that your photographer can capture with machine gun shutter firing techniques. =)

5. If you want the love, you’ve got to ask for the love.

Most people are going to do what they’re accustomed to doing in family portraits: face forward and smile a fake smile. If you want something different, you have to ask for it. Telling someone to love on their mamma in a girlie southern accent may not be your thing, but come up with something ahead of time to help make your clients and their families feel comfortable and affectionate toward each other.

We find that using words and phrases like “squeeze”, “nuzzle”, “give her a kiss”, “look at her but don’t cry now!” etc. are effective cues to get people going.

6. Don’t force it.

This applies most often for Grooms and their dads especially. If after all your joking and gentle prodding and cueing they are still just not going to give each other a big giant man-hug, that’s ok. Encourage them to do their thing and photograph the results. It is true personality that you’re wanting after all.

That’s that! We hope this post will get you well on your way to amazing family portraits and an enjoyable wedding day experience for all. Best of luck!

It has been a while I know. It’s truly amazing how quickly life can take off with you! Sean and I have moved, are preparing for our daughter to arrive later this month, and all the while have been cooking up some awesome stuff for photographers that will be released to the public very soon. We’re so excited about it all and as you can probably imagine, this particular collection of things has made life very full as of late!

Soooo…since we’ve been neglecting this blog so very much lately, it only seemed right to come back with a bang – with lots and lots of images filled with delicious details and beautiful people. You see, while we are very good with our sneak peeks, we might just be the world’s worst at blogging big wedding features and you’re about to see why: I just love too many of the images and it’s too hard to pick just a few! For so many reasons, Ruth and Frank’s wedding gave me just such trouble…

Reason #1, it took place in Brooklyn. I have to say, the first time Sean and I visited New York City, we didn’t expect to like it. We thought it would be way too crowded and brusk for our nature, but we totally fell in love. Through Ruth and Frank’s wedding, the same thing happened with the eclectic historic suburb of NYC known as Brooklyn. It has so much charm that the Sex and the City girls never gave it credit for and we so enjoyed our time there.

Staying true to the city’s rich history, the couple was married at Grace Church: an amazing old Episcopal cathedral.

The traditional tea ceremony was held first and there were hugs and smiles and adorable babies and of course, tea.

I love this series from Ruth and Frank’s entrance. It illustrates reason #2 I had such a hard time narrowing down the images for this blog feature: Ruth and Frank. They came to us with the “you will love them” stamp from another couple we already loved so we knew we would get along, but oh they are just too adorable for words! Their entire wedding day was filled with silliness and laughter and such joy. I could photograph them all day long.

Reason #3 for ridiculously long blog feature has got to be the details. Ruth was so thoughtful in the way she put her wedding together. Her dress was just the beginning and there will be lots more to come. Ruth looked stunning in this gorgeous Jim Hjelm.

Have I told you lately how much I love a joyful crier? Well I do – a lot, so Ruth’s Maid of Honor Jen makes reason #4. =)

#5 – the emotion of the day. Sentiment and meaningful glances and happiness written all over everyone’s faces is why we love photographing weddings. Ruth and Frank did not disappoint!

Oh let’s get back to the details! How cute and classic are these Badgley Mischkas?

And the flowers by EG Geddes Inc. – whimsical and happy and classic – just like Ruth.

#6 – An entire wedding party that will run around a city block and be crazy fun without hesitation – in February – in Brooklyn – in the snow. They were superstars!

Yay! Back to more details! These are my favorite. Ruth just amazed me. She hand-drew all of these amazing line drawings for the décor and favors at their wedding. These sketch pads were sitting at every guests seat for them to take home.

She also drew the menu in such a clever way. How fun is that?

Next, she made personalized coloring books for every kid there. The theme of the wedding was Brooklyn so she made drawings of different things that are indicative of Brooklyn and used them in the table settings. She then copied them into a cool numbers book for the kids. Love it!

We haven’t shot another wedding at the Galapagos Art Space, but I’m pretty sure it never looked so amazing as it did for Ruth and Frank’s reception.

More drawings: the NYC skyline as seen from Brooklyn.

Their adorable cake was made by Silk Cakes.

A drink for each the bride and the groom. The Bearded Gentleman for him, and The Green Card for his Canadian bride. And how great is this seating chart?

More amazing flowers by EG Geddes and incredible Brooklyn-inspired drawings by the bride.

Reason #7 rocked my world. I want to move one of these into backyard and eat it every day. It was the surprise waffle truck from Wafels and Dinges that the couple secured for their guests as an after-dinner treat. Hot chocolate and a warm belgian waffle topped with ice-cream, strawberries, and nutella on a cold Brooklyn night? Yes please!

And now to close it out, more emotion, fun, and all-around joyfulness from this beautiful couple and their beautiful wedding.

Thanks for looking! Hope you enjoyed the photographs half as much as we enjoyed being there to create them. To Ruth and Frank – Happy Almost-Anniversary you guys! =)

Amazing vendors not mentioned previously:

Hair and makeup by JP Bridal

Catering by Dinosaur BBQ

Car Service by Promenade

Bride’s Dress purchased at Ellie’s Bridal

For our own card, we barely got them out this year with everything going on with the move, but after establishing the annual printing of the “Happy Holidays Post” last year, we couldn’t skip it! If you haven’t already seen it, this was the front of this year’s edition:

Before we announce the winner of our 2^nd Annual Holiday Card Contest, we just want to say that the love that each of you put into your cards was so evident and made us feel so fortunate to know you. We loved your creativity, your warmth, and the opportunity you gave us to catch up with you and your families.

There were a few that stood out and they’re all worth seeing so for our honorable mention category, check out these guys:

Bobbi and Mike were our winners last year and they brought it again this year! Their card was creative, beautifully done, and made us laugh. Well done you guys!

Eric and Karen took the photos from their travels this year and made a whole comic book for their Christmas card. How awesome is that?? So fun guys and way to think outside of the box!

AND NOW…THE WINNER IS….

Adrian and Brian (and Benny too)! If you haven’t seen this movie poster in a while, you should Google it. The attention to detail is great and knowing Adrian, we would expect no less. The drawing on the back really put it over the top. We loved it! Congrats you guys! A $10 iTunes gift card will be coming your way, soon!

And now it’s back to unpacking and sorting for us! We hope you all had an absolutely spectacular Holiday Season and that 2012 is off to a tremendous start!

- Mel and Sean

It’s that time of year again. Time for the…

2nd Annual Christmas/Holiday Card Contest!

It’s always fun to look at everyone’s Christmas/Holiday cards.  Checking the mail at Christmas time is one of our very favorite parts of the season! We love seeing what people put together for the cards they send out every year–so please drop one in the mail to us!

We’ll be picking our favorites and featuring them on our blog at the beginning of the year. In addition to that, our favorite card wins a $10 iTunes gift certificate!

Our mailing address is:

McLellan Family
188 Front St.
Ste 116-85
Franklin, TN 37064

Also, for our card this year we are continuing our Norman Rockwell style we put together for last year’s theme. We would love to send it to you!  So, if you would like to get the next installment in our Happy Holidays Post series, just email me (sean@mclellanstyle.com) your name and mailing address, and we’ll drop one in the mail for you!  We sent out nearly a thousand cards last year — let’s see if we can top it this year

Looking forward to seeing your cards!

Sean & Mel (and Seven!)

The couple married at the Church of the Advent’s classic stone cathedral downtown, and then danced the night away at The Club, an awesome venue overlooking all of Birmingham.

I love this first look series. Getting to capture a couple as they admire each other for the first time up close is the best. :0)

The fall details and vintage crystal elements were stunning against the candlelight and city lights!

Love the architecture of this church and this awesome wedding party…

Melissa and Rhyan, thank you so much for having us along to document your beautiful memories. Congratulations you guys!