Newsletter

Well, I just sent out a newsletter to anyone who is on my list! I love doing newsletters because it helps people see what has been going on here in MichelleAllen Photography Land. I wish I did them more often..and I will try to keep up with them.

If you would like to be added to the next newsletter just put your email in the box to the right. We are going to try to do some more fun things with those of you who have signed up!!

If you would like to receive the newsletter and didn't just send me an email or make a comment below and we will get one sent out to you!

Blogging

Some of you read my friend Melissa Jills Blog, so some of you might have seen this post already... however, I am going to copy what she said because it applies to my blog as well and it's kinda cool!!


Liene Stevens, a cool wedding consultant, and friend of mine for a few years, just let me know that I was mentioned on The Wedding Bee site as having a good blog. I checked out the post and they talk about reasons why wedding photographer blogs are great and list a bunch of great ones to check out. Many of the blogs listed are those I look at often myself and I'm honored to be listed there. I'm not sure how I ended up on the list but I'm excited! It's amazing how word-of-mouse spreads. Check out the post here and feel free to leave a quick plug in the comments about how much you adore my blog :).

Thanks!!

My Nephews

I apologize. I've been trying to blog every day, but yesterday I just totally blanked with doing it.. so tonight I stayed up a little later to post some great pictures of my adorable nephews.

I have to admit... I am biased. I love my nephews with everything in me. Whenever I get around them I just want to hug them and kiss them and take lots of pictures of them. They are hams... they love the camera.

The other night they came over to my house for a bit and as they were being their cute little selves my sister said, "Kim, where is your camera?". I had gotten so caught up in their cuteness I forgot to take pictures of it. So, I ran upstairs and grabbed my camera in time to get the cute little guys doing cute little things.

Below are some of my favorites!! Aren't they cuties?

Exciting news about Prints from Pictage

We have exciting news for anyone who orders prints from Pictage. Now, when you order a print from me from Pictage each print will be custom printed.

"Each print is individually color corrected by an experienced imaging professional and printed on the finest photographic paper. Pictage will reduce facial glare/shine, facial blemishes, eyewear reflections and fly-away hairs as well as provide light dodging and burning to even-out harsh lighting or shadows on each print."

I am so excited about this because now you know that you will be getting even better quality prints than we were already offering!! Just another way we are trying to go to the next level on our service and make you a happy satisfied client!

Another Album Design Complete

I am so excited because we have already predesigned Briana and Daniel's wedding album. Their wedding was this last Saturday and we are very ahead of schedule with getting everything done. We are trying as hard as we can to predesign albums as soon as the wedding is done so that the Bride and Groom will have it by the time they get back from their honeymoon. Our weddings in 2006 weren't able to be done this way, but our hope is that in 2007 all weddings will have albums done within about a week or two.

This has been one of my favorite weddings to do and the album turned out beautiful. There are a lot of images in this album, about 300 and the album is over 100 pages. Usually an average album is about 50 - 60 pages, but in some cases we go extreme!!


To look at the album click here. I would love to hear what you think about it.

Album Designs

We have been catching up a lot over here!! It feels so good to check things off my list!

I just finished designing Melanie and Chris's album for their wedding. It turned out wonderful and i'm so excited. The final album is going to be a 9.5 x 13 album with a beautiful metal cover! I love albums!!

To view the actual album Click Here.

Riding in Style

A couple of months ago I did a photo shoot for Eclipse Limousines of Scottsdale. They are now offering chauffeuring services for a Bentley Continental Flying Spur. A gorgeous car perfect for weddings.

They just sent me a press release which is below. If you are interested in using this car you should call Jennifer at 602.721.4865. Please tell them that you heard of them through me! You will love this car. I was able to take some amazing pictures with it! Gorgeous!

If you click on the image below it will get bigger so that you can read the press release.

Brianna and Daniels Wedding

As I promised, here are pictures from Briana and Daniel's wedding from this weekend. It was a wonderful day. The weather was beautiful, the Bride was Breath taking, the Groom was very much in love with his bride, the wedding party was a blast, the ceremony made me cry, and the reception was elegant and fun.

From the moment I met Briana I knew I was going to enjoy their wedding. She is such a sweet girl and has such a sweet spirit. They decided to get married and have their reception at their church called Highlands, in North Scottsdale. They are both strong believers in Christ and their ceremony showed their true passion for Christ and each other.

I have to tell a quick story about their vows, because I cried, as well as I believe the entire crowd, when both of them gave their vows. When Briana was giving her vows to Daniel she said, "Today my gift to you is my body, which has been with no other man, I have saved it for you alone." Wow!! How amazing that on her wedding day she had such a gift to give to Daniel. I love weddings like this, where you can truly see their love and devotion to each other. Daniels vows were just as amazing as he promised to care for her and love her with all of his heart.

Ok, well now that I have shared that, let's look at the pictures. Their pictures turned out gorgeous and I had such a wonderful day! Thank you both for allowing us to be a part of it!

The dress and Shoes

Something was funny:)

I love makeup shots. Isn't she gorgeous?

Daniel gave this dog to Briana when her other dog passed away. Isn't he so cute?

Putting on the Dress

The Beautiful Bride. These were taken at her parents house.

This is probably one of my most favorite shots ever.
This was at the country club where we did all the pictures.

The Girls

All the girls made their own boquets right before we left for pictures. It was awesome!

The Guys!

The Entire wedding party.

This was Daniels first reaction seeing Briana for the first time. They chose to see each other before the wedding to do all the pictures. Later I heard Briana saying she was so glad that they did it that way.

And now the lovely couple!

Be blessed you guys. Have a wonderful honeymoon!!

Baby Alex

Do you all remember this guy? We took this picture of Alex about 6 months ago when he was 4 weeks old! He is the baby of Robin and Manuel. I photographed their wedding over a year ago and I love that I get to be a part of their lives photographing their babies!!


Well a few weeks ago I was able to go back and take his 7 month pictures. He has grown up and changed so much since then already. This kid is so cute and happy. I love this part of my job!! And I found out that Robin is expecting again so congratulations!!!

Alex has the greatest and cutest smiles!


Finding his toes!





I love this hat!




Playtime!



We took alex outside because he loves being outside!!


Meal time!




Nap time!

We were able to get through all that Alex does in a day. We even got bath time! What a wonderful thing for Robin and Manuel to have... the memories of what they did with Alex at this time in his life.

If you are intersted in baby lifestyle pictures just give us a call or shoot us an email. We would love to do them for you!

Brianna and Daniel

Well i'm off to shoot a wedding! Daniel and Brianna are getting married today in North Scottsdale.


It's going to be a great wedding. Stay tuned for pictures!! Have a great weekend everyone.

Jeannette and Jason

Jeannette and Jason are getting married March 17th. It's not your typical wedding though. They are getting married at the Renasaince Festival. It is going to be a crazy fun party and i'm really excited. They are dressing up for the festival and most of their guests will be decked out as well. After the ceremony we are going to spend about a couple of hours enjoying the festival and taking crazy fun pictures of all the activities. We then are going to have a 7 course meal (I think) with all sorts of great entertainment!

When Jeanette first approached me to photograph her wedding I wasn't sure what to expect with the Renasaince Festival theme. I was excited and a little nervous because it is not what I am used to. However, I was up for the challenge!

I hadn't yet met Jason and I really wanted to meet him and see how they interacted as a couple. That is why we do engagement sessions and i'm so glad we do. I think at first Jason was a little hesitant.. most of the guys usually are... to be honest I hate having pictures taken of me as well, so I understand. But I don't take normal pictures, we have a lot of fun at the engagement session. In this case we went to downtown Tempe and got some really neat shots. I think a lot of these look like "Band Shots", album artwork, which is appropriate because Jason loves playing guitar!

After the session we grabbed dinner at the Four Peaks Brewery which was a lot of fun because that was really when we got to talk and I got to know Jeanette and Jason better. They are such a great couple and they really do Love each other a lot! I like that about people!!!



















Thanks you two. I had so much fun taking these pictures and grabbing some dinner! Can't wait until March!

Carrine and Michael

I have known Carrine for as long as I can remember. She has been my sister's best friend forever! When she called to tell me she was engaged and wanted me to take their pictures I was thrilled! She is from my hometown Pinetop, well actually the rivalry town down the street, Showlow, but I won't hold that against her!

Their wedding is going to be at the Torreon Golf Club. I have always wanted to do a wedding there and I love weddings in the mountains! If any of you are getting married in the mountains this summer please call me! I love the cooler weather!

Anyways, Carrine and Michael were totally ready to do anything I asked of them. We found a really neat new spot around one of the local lakes here in the valley and got some really great fun shots! I love new fun locations because I can be even more creative!

The pictures turned out great and they both looked great!



















Carrine, you are beautiful inside and out! Thank you for letting me take your pictures, I really am honored! Michael, you got a keeper... she is a wonderful lady!!! It has been great getting to know you as well. You are both an amazing couple!

Carissa and Bryan

When Carissa told me that she and Bryan wanted to do their engagment pictures in an art gallery I was really excited. I didn't know what to expect, but it gave me a new challenge and sounded like a lot of fun!

We went to a gallery in Scottsdale and took some great pictures. We then walked around and found some new fun locations. We had a blast and it was so great getting to know them. They are getting married in April and i'm so excited for their wedding. You can see that they truly are best friends by looking at these pictures!!













I can't wait for the big day guys!! Thanks for allowing me to take these pictures, I really had a great time getting to know you!