Kristina Lynn Photography & Design Blog » iowa wedding photographer

Wedding Photography | WeddingWire Bride’s Choice Award

Kristina Lynn — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 21:59:03 +0000

I just got the news today – I’ve been selected to receive the prestigious WeddingWire Bride’s Choice Awards™ 2012 for wedding photography! This annual award recognizes the top local wedding vendors from the WeddingWire Network, which includes leading wedding planning sites WeddingWire, Project Wedding, Brides.com, Martha Stewart Weddings, and Weddingbee, who demonstrate excellence in quality, service, responsiveness and professionalism within the wedding industry. While many industry awards are selected by the organization, I was selected based on the awesome reviews from past newlywed clients. This recognizes the best local wedding vendors across different wedding categories, from wedding venues to wedding photographers, based on their overall professional achievements throughout the past year.

I’d like to take a moment to thank all my wonderful wedding couples who have taken the time to review my business on WeddingWire. Thanks to your positive feedback I was able to receive the WeddingWire Bride’s Choice Awards™ for 2012!

If you’d like to check out what my brides had to say about me, simply visit Kristina Lynn Photography & Design’s WeddingWire Storefront here.

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Engagement Portrait Photography | Matt & Megan

Kristina Lynn — Mon, 30 May 2011 22:44:21 +0000

Matt & Megan are the most laid back couple I have ever had the pleasure of working with. They are up for absolutely anything and really gave me creative freedom not only on their engagement session but their entire wedding design suite (more on that later in a different post!). The only request they had was to be able to incorporate their racing background into the session somehow. Since they are more relaxed/casual than super formal, we did part of the session in the studio and then headed to downtown Marion to find some grunge alleys for more of an urban look, hitting up a park along the way. These guys were so comfortable with me and the session that they just looked so natural in the photos – which I love. If they are this comfortable in front of the camera now, their wedding day is going to be a breeze!

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Wedding Photography | Amanda & Jeffrey’s Wedding Day

Kristina Lynn — Mon, 23 May 2011 23:52:58 +0000

One of my favorite things to photograph at a wedding are the details. The things the bride and groom have spent hours of time and lots of money on to make their day extra special. It’s these details that, even though they have spent tons of time on, they themselves normally don’t notice on the big day so I always take time to make sure to capture them.

Amanda & Jeffery’s wedding had some really personal touches, such as one of her garters which was actually the one her mom wore down the aisle. I think my favorite detail images of the day were of her dress. The rich wood tones of the sanctuary provided some nice contrast with her white dress (and the lighting was amazing!). I also loved the girls’ bouquets which had some fun design elements worked into them.

It was such a beautiful day for a beautiful wedding!

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Engagement Portrait Photography | Nick & Meggie at the University of Iowa Campus

Kristina Lynn — Mon, 23 May 2011 21:37:43 +0000

I believe that an engagement session should be about who YOU are as a couple and so I love doing sessions at places that are meaningful. Nick and Meggie met during college at the University of Iowa, so it was very fitting for us to do the session at various places around campus. I hadn’t been to the U of I campus before so it was fun for me to get a personal tour, find out about the couple’s life when they were on campus, and create some awesome images for the two of them.

The campus had so many great places to photograph I love finding nooks and crannies that are full of character to photograph in, like the back alley way. Now don’t get me wrong, it was a little gross in the alley, but hey, sometimes you just have to take one for the team in the name of awesome photography! I also really LOVE the super contemporary backdrop that the Iowa Advanced Technology Labs building provided. And I must say, Nick and Meggie were troopers for going along with my idea since it wasn’t exactly the coolest day and sun beating down on the metallic surface didn’t really help the situation at all. But I think the end result was worth it! Couples that are up for anything really make my day – here’s hoping that their wedding day is just as fun as the engagement session!

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Engagement Portrait Photography | Kelly & Nolan in the Twin Cities

Kristina Lynn — Sun, 15 May 2011 21:00:27 +0000

Kelly & Nolan are one of my couples that live in the Twin Cities but are getting married back in Iowa, in Kelly’s hometown, this coming fall. So to get the best of both worlds, we decided to do their engagement session up in the Twin Cities to tie that part of their life in with their special day. It had been a pretty gloomy day with rain threatening any outdoor plans we had for the session. So we had decided to hit up the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden where, if it did happen to keep raining, we could at least find space out of the rain to photograph. And afterall, nothing screams TWIN CITIES like the giant cherry and spoon sculpture. But it was like magic! On my way to the session, the rain stopped and the clouds started to lighten up creating a nice even lighting – perfect to utilize different parts of the sculpture garden.

Next we headed off to The Guthrie Theater, another famous landmark in the Twin Cities. The thing I love about The Guthrie is that there are lots of different areas to choose from so you can create a more formal look or use some of the surrounding areas for more of an urban feel.

I had so much fun photographing Kelly & Nolan’s engagement session. I can’t wait for their wedding day in October!

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Commercial Photography | Floral design by Studio Fleurette

Kristina Lynn — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 01:00:59 +0000

So the past couple months have been a whirl wind for me – and it’s definitely evident by my lack of blog posts! So it’s time to get back in the swing of things and get this thing updated, so in the upcoming days/weeks/etc look for lots of new blog posts about my fabulous sessions in both the Twin Cities and in Iowa.

I’ll start things out with the fabulous Studio Fleurette, a floral designer located in the Minnesota/Wisconsin area. This floral design was very special and close to her heart since they were for her little sister’s wedding back in April. I absolutely love the color scheme with the grays and the pops of orange. One of the things that Danielle does differently thank other floral designers – she uses all natural elements, even if that means purchasing pieces from all over the states. If you’re looking for an original design with lots of attention to detail – definitely contact Danielle!

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Iowa Wedding Photography | Miriam & Anthony’s Wedding Day

Kristina Lynn — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 20:05:53 +0000

You may remember this super photogenic couple from the post featuring their engagement session a few months back. I can’t believe how fast time has flown and now I’ve photographed Anthony & Miriam’s wedding day! Pretty sure these guys get the award for Most Organized Wedding for the year (I know this is only my 2nd wedding of 2011 but they are going to be hard to top!) Anthony is an engineer by trade so he is very detail oriented. In fact, he is so organized that he had typed up the wedding day timeline and posted it in the church basement so everyone would know where they needed to be and when. What a GREAT idea! (**hint hint future brides and grooms **) The day went so smoothly and we never got behind. It was amazing!

Miriam & Anthony’s First Look was so heartfelt and full of love. I was getting teary eyed just photographing it!

Yes those are little piggies in the bride’s bouquet. She absolutely LOVES little pigs and wanted to incorporate them into her day. I love personal touches

This little girl was so darn adorable! She was practicing carrying the bride’s train down the aisle. Too cute!

The wedding party was awesome – totally laid back and up for anything. When you have a wedding party like this, you HAVE to do some fun photos!

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Iowa Wedding Photography | Heidi & Joe tie the knot in Des Moines

Kristina Lynn — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 23:48:12 +0000

This year is a big wedding season for me; with 13 weddings on the books it’s my biggest year yet. Lots of weddings means and early kick off to the wedding season with Heidi & Joe’s early April wedding. At first I was a little afraid of what the weather would be like on April 2nd in Iowa but we really lucked out with fantastic weather. How often is it 70 degrees.. in Iowa.. in APRIL! We started out the day at the Holiday Inn & Suites in Jordan Creek with getting ready shots of Heidi. The hotel room had beautiful light – perfect for the detail shots as well as her getting her dress on. The hotel is attached to a Johnny’s Italian Steakhouse, providing the perfect location for the first look as well as some fun photos of Heidi and Joe. Their ceremony was small and intimate with just immediate family members – actually the whole day was very relaxed and low key. Love those! These are just a few of my favorite images from their big day. And if you’re looking for a fabulous place to eat in West Des Moines, make sure you check out Johnny’s Italian Steakhouse – AMAZING food!

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Iowa Wedding Photography | Images featured on Marry You Me!

Kristina Lynn — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 05:02:04 +0000

I had an awesome surprise waiting for me in my inbox this morning. It was an email from my good friend, and awesome florist, Danielle who owns Studio Fleurette here in Stillwater telling me that I needed to check out the Marry You Me blog. Went to the blog and was amazed to find out that my photography is part of a feature blog post!! I do a lot of Danielle’s photography of her amazing floral arrangements and tablescapes and one of her latest designs was today’s feature! So amazing!!! Click here to see Danielle’s amazing work (seriously! This design looks like it needs to be in Martha Stewart Weddings!) and my fantastic photography that captured it all

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Twin Cities and Iowa Portrait Photography | New Website!

Kristina Lynn — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 02:44:13 +0000

Hey everyone! I know in the last post I mentioned all kinds of new things are coming to Kristina Lynn Photography & Design. I decided this year I needed a newer, flashy website that really showcased my artistic images. Well, wait no longer! The new site went live this week and I’m lovin’ it! Stop by and check it out, then leave a comment here and let me know what you think. I’m looking forward to your feed back. Stay tuned, more new things coming very soon!

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