four

“It doesn’t seem like it has been 4 years already,” I told you a few evenings ago.You agreed and added that it’s been a really good four years.

We recently added another milestone to our marriage–buying our first home. Through the water damage, the cleanup, the repair, the week without appliances, the sub-flooring, and the misadventures of delayed furniture delivery, we trooped through it together.

There’s no one I’d rather be going on this adventure with.

You bring me laughter. You are my rock. You tell me to stop taking on so much. You give up the TV so I can watch DVR’ed shows. You make my coffee every morning. You take care of me. You love me so unconditionally that a day doesn’t go by when I feel like I could do nothing to deserve you.

But that’s the beauty of love. Because I love you in the same way that you love me. Unconditionally.

I tell you often, “I like being married to you.”

And you always respond, “Yeah, it’s pretty great.”

We’ve got the rest of our lives for all this greatness…

(Photo by Sarah Nebel.)

 

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Jill Casper Luton - I heart this :)

carrie + nick // south slope outdoor wedding photography

She stood beaming as her gown was pulled snug around her, the skirt fluffed, her veil attached. Every last detail had been thought out and planned and she was finally the bride. The bride to her best friend.

He waited outside for her to come to him. He heard her voice calling him before he ever saw her and his face lit up. He said, “I can’t wait to see her.” They wrapped each other tight and soaked in this moment, their moment. He was her groom and she was his bride. Nothing else mattered.

Carrie & Nick were wed on a chilly March day in a beautiful outdoor ceremony. Temperatures took an unexpected drop the week of their wedding, even bringing snow, but it was supposed to be sunny and mid-30s on Saturday so they kept their ceremony outside. I know they were so grateful to their bridal party, family, and friends for wrapping up in coats and joining them as they pledged their love to each other. As Carrie said, “I’m not cold at all! I think it’s my adrenaline keeping me warm.”

Carrie & Nick: you guys already know how much I adore you. I was so blessed to be part of your day and to document your love. I’m grateful to call you my friends. I hope that you are soaking up the sun in Mexico and enjoying every moment of this new stage of your lives together. Xoxo, Emily

View their slideshow below or here.

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Emily Crall - Carrie Mahon darling, I know you’re enjoying your honeymoon right now…but I thought you’d want to know. :) Love you both!

Lynda Irinaka - BEAUTIFUL pictures! What song was playing with the slideshow? It was perfect!

Joseph Rosa - Beautiful, just beautiful……………………

Emmy Hopkins - Your PICS are absolutely wonderful! Can’t wait to see them all! Hope you are having the most fantastic time!

Linda Fortney-Gifford - Beautiful! Love you both!

Emily Crall - Lynda, it’s called “No Other” by Kim Edwards. :)

Carrie Mahon - Amazing Em!!!! Thank you SO much :)

Ali Hayden - Beautiful Wedding! Congrats!

Jane Mahon Larrick - I love the wedding pix!

Mart Gustafson - Beautiful photos of a beautiful couple!

Rachel Ruffer Smith - Ahhh I love the shot of him kissing her shoulder! EPPPPIC! <3

we own a house! | the first week

If you follow me on Instagram, you know by now the story of our first home. I won’t go into details because we’re still in the midst of all the clean up, but basically a water valve leaked and we came the next day to find water in the kitchen and dripping through the ceiling in the basement. Everything is dried out now and we’re waiting on insurance for the go-ahead to order new flooring. So we’re camping out without appliances or a kitchen floor.

That is the sad news.

The happy news is that there wasn’t more damage than that AND my family kicked it up a notch for us during this whole stressful time. My parents were absolute life-savers with this move. I think they were over at our house every day last week except for one. They painted, cleaned, moved, organized, advised, and hung heavy stuff on our walls (like my piano shelf that my dad made for me in high school–I finally have a house to hang it in!).

We closed on Friday, March 8th, and on Saturday, we had quite the painting crew going. Kevin’s mom and brother were there in the morning to help and my best friend and mom were there until dark.

The painting went a lot faster than I had anticipated, mostly because my mom is a wizard of some kind when it comes to painting. Sara did a great impression of her late in the day (when we were mostly delirious) and it was basically, “Look at me, I’m Carolyn! [makes a quick paint roller motion] Done with this wall!” When I told my sisters, they both said, “Oh, definitely. Mom is the person to have around when you’re moving!”

On Sunday, Sara came back over and we finished with some touch-ups on the paint and then she graciously shampooed all of our carpets. God bless her.

Monday was one last push for painting because we ended up deciding to paint the hallways and stairs as well. I was going to leave it, but the tan color looked pretty bad with the new colors in the living room/kitchen. My parents rigged up a system on the stairs with two ladders and a board and before I could blink, they were finished with the tall wall space. Thank God because I had been so nervous that someone would fall.

Somewhat of the rest of the week was a blur. Kevin and I both had the week blocked off strictly for moving, but we ended up needing it off for contractors and insurance adjustors and what-not to come and take pictures and write estimates on the damages. (We discovered the water damage on Monday morning.)

My mom and I cleaned all of the blinds in the house. Let me just say, cleaning blinds is a two-person job and it will take a whole day. They look great now!

On Friday, my parents and brother helped move our furniture in. And the weekend was spent trying to find things in boxes and slowly organize.

Throughout this entire process, I have continuously been reminded that I cannot do things on my own and I feel so blessed by these people who surround me. They were there from the beginning to celebrate with us and they were there in the rough patches when I wanted to curl on the floor and cry. It’s been a hills and valleys week, but we love our new home and are so excited to get the flooring in, our appliances back, and the basement pieced back together.

For updated info on our home situation: flooding in our basement | the fifth week

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Janene Seemuth - congratulations on your new house how exciting looks beautiful so sorry for water damage glad you had such great helpers maybe marlene and I can come over some time.

Emily Crall - YES, @[100005471107885:2048:Janene]!! I’m super close to the derm office so you and @[1237053629:2048:Marlene] should definitely visit sometime. :) Let me get my appliances and a kitchen floor back though first. Haha!

basement progress | the sixth week | Emily Crall Blog | Wedding & Portrait Photographer - [...] I was thinking about all that we’ve been through in this past month and a half (read it here and here), I am thankful that we couldn’t see the future when we signed the papers. First of [...]

why the neighbors won't say hello | Emily Crall Blog | Wedding & Portrait Photographer - [...] Flood 1 when we had had a string of service vehicle in our driveway for about 5 weeks straight, I figured [...]

brave-inspired styled photo shoot

Once upon a time (several months ago), I watched the Disney movie, Brave, and I became obsessed with Merida’s red, wild hair. And that is, honestly, the way this whole idea was formed. I wanted to photograph someone with hair like that and decided to do my first styled shoot based on the movie.

Over-ambitious? Perhaps. Crazy? Possibly.

But as I started talking with vendors, I became getting more and more excited about it. Pulling together a styled shoot is not for the faint of heart. It’s wild; it’s exhilarating; it’s hard work; it’s rewarding. It takes right-sided brains and big ideas. I could not have been more blessed to have this crew around me though. I came up with the inspiration board and they each ran with it; designing and creating elegance, beauty, and big ideas in their own niche.

I’m saving most of the images for an online feature, but here’s a snippet…

Special thanks to all the vendors who helped pull this off: Bobbie (Cherry Blossom Boutique), Kailee (Hair by Kailee), Sarah (Zephyr Weddings), Julianna (Sweet Satisfaction), Julie (Tweedt Weddings), Tammy (Inspired 1015), Felicia (model), Adam (Tip Top Cakes), Lyndsie (XOXO Bridal), Monica (Cedar Ridge Winery), and Kelly (Spielman’s Event Services).

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Carrie Kroymann - Beautiful! What a group of talented people!

Emily Crall - Tagging: Bobbie Peiffer, Kailee Seward, Sarah Ann Clark, Adam Kopfman, Julianna Berg, Julie Tweedt, Felicia Noel Vera, Monica Berry. :)

Valerie Duvick - Emily this is gorgeous! Incredible work! :)

Celeste Hutchinson - Amazing! I knew it would be fabulous!

Brooke Ambrose - Beautiful work, Emily!

Travis Newell - Very very cool!

Emily Crall - Thanks, Valerie! It was so much fun! :)

Sarah DeShaw - Gorgeous shoot!

Cheryl Lucas - These are so stunning, gorgeous light and just well, stunning! I love all the details, and you captured it all so beautifully.

Judy Hostetler Balbinot - Wow! gorgeous! Kind of wish I could get married all over again & have you guys take care of everything!

Jerilyn Mayer Klein - Turned out perfectly wonderful!

Donna Swantz Miller - Exactly what I thought when I looked at this today!

Bobbie Peiffer - I think everyone of us said that as we we’re putting this all together on Saturday! :)

Judy Hostetler Balbinot - And the beautiful redhead model – WOW! stunnnnnning!

Emily Crall - @[1424072344:2048:Judy Hostetler Balbinot], we did say that on Saturday! We all want to have our weddings again…haha. :)

those who pull everything together

Several months ago, I had this wild inspiration. I was sitting in my living room watching a movie and I thought, “I want to photograph this.”

As I started writing down what all I would need, I realized this would be a much larger undertaking then I had imagined. I am a photographer. I arrive at weddings where the flowers are already delivered, the cake already set up, the dress fitted perfectly…there was no way I could pull together a styled shoot without a lot of help. A lot.

(Also, should I mention that I had never done a styled shoot before? Yeah, that too.)

I knew immediately of some vendors who I had to have on board in order to pull this off and I contacted them first. And to my surprise, they not only loved the idea, but they were 100% on board with enthusiasm to spare! With several months of planning and a few feet of snow, it finally came together.

I will post more about this shoot soon, I promise, but what I really want to say here is that I am only one person and one person can’t do a lot. It takes a village. I consider myself so blessed to be surrounded by some of the industry’s best. Their vision, their creativity, their passion, their dedication…they blew me away. On wedding days, we barely get to see each other, if at all, because we all have such diverse roles to play, but on a day like this, we could collaborate, laugh, work, and create together.

So here’s my thank you. Thank you to Julie, Bobbie, Kailee, Adam, Julianna, Lyndsie, Tammy, Sarah, Monica, Felicia, Kevin, and Kelly. The village did good. I’m so glad to call you my friends!

Front row: Bobbie (Cherry Blossom Boutique), Kailee (Hair by Kailee), Sarah (Zephyr Weddings), me. Back row: Julianna (Sweet Satisfaction) and Julie (Tweedt Weddings). Not shown: Tammy (Inspired 1015), Felicia (model), Adam (Tip Top Cakes), Lyndsie (XOXO Bridal), Monica (Cedar Ridge Winery), and Kelly (Spielman’s Event Services).

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destination weddings

I have done two destination weddings so far, one in Kansas and one in Puerto Rico. But I’m wanting to expand, to spread my wings, to meet more amazing couples from around the country and the world. Destination for me means that I will travel to where you are. Maybe we’re meeting there for your wedding (i.e. Cabo destination wedding) or maybe I am simply coming to where you already live and are planning to wed (i.e. Colorado, Florida, California, you name it!). If you or someone you know is getting married, I’d love to hear about it!

(As always, there are no travel fees for weddings within 150-mile of Coralville, Iowa. That includes Des Moines, Waterloo, Dubuque, Davenport, Peoria, and Madison.)

Contact me here for more information!

P.S. A wedding in Italy is on my bucket list.:)

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