Lunch by Candlelight

Feeling slightly nostalgic for my photojournalistic days, I've decided to narrate this post as if it were a photo story. From my journalism classes at ACU, I got the general impression that the best photo stories tell the story in as few pictures as possible. In fact, if you can tell an entire story with one picture, you have met your ultimate goal. This story has 21 pictures...I fail. But, I do hope you enjoy them!




Lunch by Candlelight: Kayla Anderson's Bridal Luncheon
Photos and Story by: Emerald Lemmons


Closing the door behind me, I stepped out of the sunny June day and into the cool elegance of a well decorated home. The pale yellow walls and warm-toned furniture accented the bright daisies and glowing candles placed strategically about the room with a decorator's eye. Today was a day of appreciation, of celebration and, most importantly, of food. I had just walked in to Kayla Anderson's Bridal Luncheon.

The luncheon was held in the home of and hosted by Judy, a long-time friend of the family. Although Judy was a lovely woman, she asked that I not take her picture and since she was feeding me, I acquiesced.

Each place was set with a tiny bell holding a place card and a small bag of jelly-bellies and m&m's.


In the center of the dining table and the hostess table were lovely arrangements of candles and daises--the same daises the bride carried as a bouquet in her bridal portraits.

Soon after arriving, the hostesses had us take our places and began to serve lunch.

Those in attendance were:

Kayla- the bride

Whitney- a bridesmaid

Brittany- a bridesmaid

Steph- a close friend of the bride

Erin- a close friend of the bride

Amy- a bridesmaid and the bride's cousin

Hannah- the maid of honor and the bride's sister

...and me of course. After lunch, Norma, another hostess and friend of the family, appeared with some surprise gifts for the bride. We were all charmed by her first gift--a tiny blue leather covered box of all the letters, cards, and thank-you notes Kayla had ever written to her. Imagine, keeping those mementos for so many years! (Not that I think you're old, Kayla!)

We were equally charmed when Kayla read a thank-you note that she "wrote" when she was two years old. It read something to the effect of, "Thank-you Norma for the gift. Sorry I haven't been able to write you sooner, things have been rather hectic around here. I loved your gift and have placed it on the mantle. Thanks again! Love, Kayla."

The second present was one we had all contributed to (well, except for me, but I do intend on completing my homework!). It was a recipe box filled with recipes from Norma--who is an incredible cook--and the rest of us.


After Kayla received her gifts, she gave us a few...even the photographer walked away with a really cool pair of pajama pants!





All the bridesmaids were given lovely pearl necklaces to wear with their dresses at Kayla's wedding.

After the gifts and a cup of coffee (and tying pretty blue ribbons on what felt like hundreds of programs) we all gathered up our things and left for the bachelorette party, thanking Judy and Norma for the wonderful lunch they served as we walked out the door.

As for myself, I left wishing and planning to one day be able to host a party as lovely and as tasty as Kayla's bridal luncheon!

Why my dog is just as wonderful as Gus Gensic!

They may be brothers, they may be the same color, but they are not at all alike, and of the two, people generally like Gus better for his docile disposition, entertaining stupidity, passion for water, and fluffy-like-a-bear coat. However, my dog is just as wonderful as Gus--and this is why: because, even with a hurt leg and no desire to move, Indy took the time to share his food with his best friend besides me...Crab.

See? Just as wonderful!

Experiments in display

You may have noticed that the locations for my last two portrait sessions were similar. That is because a) both ladies wanted downtown portraits, b) the sessions were a day apart, and c) I wanted to run some experiments in posing, lighting, editing, and creative layouts. Here are the results of one of those experiments and I'd love to hear what you think about them!!

Erin and Brenden

Erin is a friend of mine from my Fat Tuesday friends. She and her fiancee Brenden are getting married in December and asked me to do some quick engagement photos so they could get their "Save-the-dates" out on time. So, we played in downtown Abilene at sunset. Here are some of my favorites:

Josh and Allie

It seems like every post lately has something to do with Kalyn. Josh and Allie are friends of Kalyn and her husband and pretty soon--if not already--they will be celebrating their second wedding anniversary. They asked me to take some pictures in honor of that event. Here are some of my favorites:

A wedding I didn't HAVE to photograph...

Last weekend, Kalyn's cousin Emily got married. The wedding was several hours away and Kalyn was driving by herself and knew she would be coming back at night. Now since we haven't had a road trip in a while, haven't stopped at Dairy Queen in a while, and Kalyn's still a little deer-skittish, she asked me to come along with her and crash Emily's wedding. She also told me that her uncle Ron had planted an entire field of sunflowers in honor of Emily's wedding and I should bring my camera and we could go play in the flowers. So I did. But!, we didn't end up actually getting to the entire field of sunflowers.

So I pose this question: What does a wedding photographer do at a wedding where there's already a photographer?

The answer: Try not to take pictures for the first hour and a half and then give in and bombard the people she knows with her camera. So here you have it...portraits and portraits of flowers.

Monks (the non-monastic, non-OCD kind)

Monks is a coffee shop in downtown Abilene. There slogan is, "Keep Abilene boring." I like it. I also like that the periodically display local artists' work as their wall decorations. Good coffee and good art totally go hand in hand. This month, along with several others, my friend Kalyn's work is displayed. She has a wide variety of pieces ranging from modern art to roosters. You should totally go check it out! Monks is located at 233 Cypress Street.

Here are some pictures from her "gallery opening":







Considering how many times Kalyn has appeared on my blog--and the THINGS she writes on HER blog--this may be a shock, but she's actually very shy. Hence the pillow hiding whilst I try to take her picture by her artwork. ::sigh::