Michael & Lindsey // The Brick - South Bend Wedding Photographer

We try to get to know our couples as much as we can in meetings and on engagement shoots but there’s only so much you can get to know in that amount of time and in those situations. 

Where you can see right into someone is in a moment like this. 

THIS face, this joy, this man who is in absolute AWE of his lady. It’s my favorite thing ever. My face literally hurt because I was smiling so big and for so long witnessing this beautiful moment. They both just couldn’t take their eyes off each other. They said they don’t get all done up often which made this so special and I absolutely love that. 

Years ago, Ryan told me to not get all dolled up every day because it wasn’t special anymore. I was surprised but honored that request and now live my life in sweatpants, no makeup and my hair piled on top of my head and I never feel like he regrets that suggestion. He makes me feel like who I am is greater than what I look like being all dolled up all the time. Let me tell you, after being married for almost 10 years, THAT is the kind of love you want to have. The special times are SO much greater when I do spend the time to be fancy pants and the normal times where I look like a regular human are lovely since I know I can always confidently be myself around him. 

These two really bring out the best in each other and I just know they are going to have such a beautiful life together! 

...OH, and another unique thing was while we were doing detail shots and waiting for the wedding party to arrive so they could get ready, they were just hanging out. They didn't want to see each other yet so they just sat back to back chatting for a while. It was simple and quiet and awesome. When I think back to my wedding, all I wanted to do was hang out with Ryan and so often the day is busy and hectic and it's this big whirlwind. I loved that they had this time to just hang out before the day got away from them. 

...Oh wait, one LAST thing. When she arrived, she was carrying this little stuffed cat. I asked about it and she told me that Michael gave it to her as a gift because their kitty obviously couldn't come to the wedding and I think that is just the sweetest thing ever. These two...I tell ya... :) 

Grace // 8 Months

We are usually so busy working on other people's memories that we never take the time to give our own family the the quality work we give everyone else. That ends now! 

We rented a studio in Grand Rapids, got Grace her first pretty dress and she had her first proper GAUPERphoto session! It's hard to believe she is ours a lot of the time. When she goes to bed at night I wonder if she even exists when the house is so quiet and life feels similar to how it did before she was born. It's so weird. Then in the morning, with her cutest good morning smile, I'm reminded that it's real for today and how lucky we are that we've all made it this far. 

She just started crawling this past week so that has made life interesting. This girl has been trying to run away from us since the day she was born. She's always been so strong and her legs have been anxiously waiting for her coordination to catch up with their strength. 

She's a little chunky butt with an endless appetite and her normal look is in jammies being covered in food and puke (as seen below). So I figured it was only right to start with who she really is before I got into this super girly stuff of dresses, pink, frillies and bows. Being extra cute is fun for the day but jammies and being gross piggies is our favorite way to live! hahaha

We had so much fun just playing with her for a couple hours, capturing her personality that has started to emerge. Her crooked smile, he dorky laugh, chubby thighs and insane amount of pride she has when she crawls is pretty much the best thing in life. 

Grace did SO GREAT at the shoot but on the way home, the prunes she had for lunch made their great escape with her biggest blowout of her life. Ryan also ran out of wipes in the process. She makes life such an adventure! 

So when we got home she HAD to have a bath since that was new levels of nasty and then the night ended with our typical routine of standing at the tree, taking off the little lady ornament and being the cutest thing ever. We will be keeping our tree up all year round I'm pretty sure because tree time before bed is my favorite part of the day!