LAST UPDATED 2/28/12

As of now, I am still slated with a due date of Jan. 24. After the baby is here, I will be taking 3 weeks completely off. After that, I will answer emails and phone calls as well as hold consultations at my home (since I will have a baby with me until he starts daycare in late March.)

If you are interested in holding a lifestyle/boudoir spot officially, I do need a signed contract and half of the balance paid. I am not listing lifestyle/boudoir session availability beyond the summer as I won’t book that far out anyway for those. Weddings are a different story as they can be booked up to 15 months in advance.

MARCH:
Weddings: Booked
Lifestyle sessions: Booked

APRIL:
Weddings: Booked
Lifestyle sessions: 1 spot available

MAY:
Weddings: I can take ONE wedding (in either Omaha area or Kansas City) on May11-13 weekend or over Memorial Day weekend–May 25-27)
Lifestyle sessions: 2 more spots available

JUNE:
Weddings: I am available for either June 8-10 OR June 15-17 wedding if the wedding takes place within an hour or so of Kansas City area.
Lifestyle sessions:  6-7 spots available

JULY:
Weddings: I am available for two more weddings on the following: 14/15th and 28th/29th. One of them may be out of the KC area.
Lifestyle sessions:  6 spots available (recommended morning sessions with small children due to heat)

AUGUST:
Weddings: Available for 1 more wedding (in the Kansas City area only) on either of the following weekends: Aug 3-5 or Aug. 10-12.
Lifestyle sessions:  6-7 spots available (recommended morning sessions with small children due to heat)

SEPTEMBER:
Weddings: Available for 2 more weddings (only in Kansas City area) of the following 3 available weekends– Aug. 31-Sept.2; Sept 7-9; Sept. 28-30.
Lifestyle sessions: Inquire about availability in June.

OCTOBER:
Weddings: Available for 2 more weddings of the following 3 available weekends– Oct 5-7; Oct. 12-14; Oct. 26-28
Lifestyle sessions: Inquire about availability in July.

NOVEMBER:
Weddings: Available for 2 more weddings in the KC area… for Nov. 3/4 and 17/18th. And possibly Nov. 24th/25th.
Lifestyle sessions: Inquire about availability in August.

DECEMBER:
Weddings: Available for weddings in Kansas City area only on any weekend other than Dec. 22nd.
Lifestyle sessions: CLOSED FOR THE HOLIDAY SEASON

And 2013 is wide open, but I am holding to the policy of traveling only once a month away from Kansas City.

I will be on the coast of Maine shooting a very special engagement session and wedding… and won’t be back in the ojavascript:void(0)ffice until Monday, Sept. 19!

Here is one pic of what is to come on Monday….

May you and yours have a wonderful next few days…enjoy this beautiful midwest weather!! xo

As of this week, we are half-way there.

Pregnancy has not been amazing and all things warm & fuzzy like I know it to be for some lucky people. It has also not been as horrific as some women have to go through.

But feeling sick on and off during the first trimester is no walk in the park, considering I work 60 hours/week during wedding season. And feeling up and down mood-wise didn’t help. Luckily, now that I’m in the middle of the 2nd trimester, the nausea has been kicked to the curb…but in its place is another obstacle to working… arthritis. I have a bad back due to scoliosis to begin with, but add that to the fact that I’m growing a creature within, it’s pushing on the part of my spine that gets the joint pain, and I would say I’m dealing with significant aching at least 4 days a week, and another one day a week of HORRIBLE pain for several hours.

But oh the joys of bringing a human into the world!! I’m excited to get the room together…and to see what our creation looks like (the one in the womb is what I’m referring to here).

So, kids change lives. So how will this affect my business?

• I am taking off December, January and February from shooting, and possibly half of March, depending on how everything goes. 
• Other than the two weeks following the birth, I will still answer emails for inquiries during that time. 
• All consultations during this maternity-leave window of his birthday through March will have to take place at my home.
• I have decided to limit myself to 15 weddings a year, so that I can still shoot boudoir, family, children and newborn sessions as well. But those will still be limited at two per week. 
• As is now, weekends will be reserved for weddings or my family. No lifestyle sessions will take place Friday-Sunday. 
• I will only be traveling once a month for weddings. This is a hard step to take considering how much of my clientele is based in St. Louis, Columbia, Omaha and so forth, but it’s something I need to do so I can fully prioritize my No. 1 priority: my family. So this means that once I book one out-of-town wedding in a month, I’m not taking on any others. (This rule begins in March 2012.)
• I am holding off on booking any sessions from Nov. 15-Nov. 30 because I am not sure how my body will be feeling due to the bad back as described above. But I should know by mid to late October… and if I can shoot, I’ll probably be able to take on some mini sessions for last-minute holiday needs. Stay tuned for that. 

Here are a few photos of the recent progression of the belly bump.

If you’re really interested in following along with the pregnancy journey, leave me a comment in this post and I’ll email you a link to my baby blog. Otherwise, just send positive thoughts my way as we eagerly away the arrival of our baby boy!!!

Uprinting.com wants to give TWO of my blog readers a prize! 

So here’s the deal….

I find myself saying so often “If anyone would have told me when I was younger I’d end up a photographer, I would never believe them.” That’s because my original career goals, the ones that withstood more than a year or so, were to be a: racetrack manager (I wanted to please my dad, haha); private investigator (I loved mysteries!!); magazine journalist (I actually went to school for this).
—that’s me in 2nd grade to the right!

When I had to get a job at the age of 15, I was a “dietary aide” (aka a server) at a retirement center dining room. Then I worked at Blockbuster. Then Best Buy. And in between those to make extra dough, I babysat and worked at a telemarketing place. In college, I worked at Ruby Tuesday.

Once I graduated, I started off in the real world as a communications officer for the Missouri Senate. From there I worked at Columbia College as a pr/marketing coordinator.

And now….I’m where I should be.

Soooooo…. how can you win??? It’s easy!!!

Leave a comment by midnight (CST) on Sunday, May 22, telling me:
1. What you wanted to be when you grew up
2. What jobs you held in high school/college
3. What you do now

I can’t wait to see the progression!

Make sure to put in your valid email address (it will not be sold!!!) so I can contact you if you are a winner. If you don’t respond to the winning email within 48 hours, I will pick new winners. Winners will be chosen by random on that following Monday or Tuesday.

Here is what you will win:

• 100 5×7 Postcards (use them to promote your own business, or as invitations to a shower, BBQ or your holiday card, “we just moved” notice, etc!!)
• 14pt Cardstock Gloss
• Front-Only printing
• 2 Business Days Print Turnaround Time
• Once I have all my Italy pictures up in a gallery, you will get to pick out a 16×24 print!

Restriction: Limited to US residents 18 years old and above only.
This postcards giveaway is sponsored by UPrinting, no monetary compensation was given. Check out UPrinting online printing services for more information.


So get to it!


UPDATE!!!! I drew the numbers 1-18 (and if a person had to comment more than once due to space constraints, I lumped them together as ONE entry…). So ICF Reward Walls & Elizabeth are the winners!!!  

Neil and I don’t have any crazy plans. I am giving him a chia pet (shhh, he doesn’t know yet…and I’m not worried about him finding out because he rarely reads this blog) and a subscription to ESQUIRE magazine. And I have short ribs in the slow-cooker. But what I’m really looking forward to doing is something that I hope he doesn’t back out of. It came to me last night and made me giggle, so I will do all the sad puppy faces in the world to get him to fulfill his promise. To play HIDE-N-SEEK in the dark.

Yes, I know, it will probably last all of 20 minutes when we realize we’re too big to truly hide (especially with a really keen cat on the loose hunting us down)… but I’m hoping for just awhile, we can feel like kids again.

It’s either that or I’m forcing him to watch THE BACHELOR with me.

Anyway…whatever YOU do today/tonight…have fun making someone else feel loved.

Now on to exciting business:

For those who are faithful blog readers, you might remember one of my favorite weddings of 2010. And one of my favorite couples–Lindsey & Aaron.

Well, as I mentioned on their wedding post, Lindsey is the Senior Online Lifestyle Editor for GLAMOUR magazine. And the WEDDING branch of said site is under her purview…so how fitting that she brings her own expertise AS A BRIDE to the millions of Glamour.com readers by blogging about her wedding!

Last week, she blogged about the FIRST GLANCE.

And today, on Valentine’s Day… she blogged about her CEREMONY.

How exciting, right?

And to leave you with one of their wedding pics…

In case you missed my favorite images from family, children and newborn sessions, be sure to check out the post with THAT slideshow. 

But here is the slideshow featuring a few of my fave engagement images from this year. Watching it gets me extremely excited to shoot the weddings of those who have yet to get hitched! EEEEK!

(click on the lil’ arrow in the bottom left under the frame to get the slideshow going to music! If you want to click through one by one, you can do that by clicking on the arrow at the bottom center of the frame.)

2010 has definitely been a year I’ll remember, for reasons both good and bad.

It’s been a year in which I’ve made a house a home, comforted loved ones who went through rough times, said farewell to Neil’s grandma, saw my baby brother get married, broke free from the chains that were keeping me from fully growing my business, celebrated good news with friends, became one of many who declared the iPhone a life-changing device, took to the road weekend after weekend for out-of-town weddings, laughed a lot at my furry officemate named Kramer, embraced a really long autumn, rekindled my desire to finish my first novel, started a secret project (nope, I’m not telling!!!), became dazzled and daunted by New York City in person, and truly fell in love with being a resident of Kansas City.

And I’ve also met so many wonderful new clients and got to once again work with past ones. When we moved to Kansas City a year ago, I knew I was entering a market that was saturated with photographers. I knew there would be intense competition. But I am so thankful for those who came knocking on MY door to document the lives of their precious newborns, goofy toddlers, precocious children and zany families.

Here is a slideshow of some of my favorite images from this past year. It’s about 3 minutes long, which is crazy that a year full of work can be condensed to such a short amount of time. No job is easy, but I am very, very aware of how blessed I am to at least love the challenges that I wake up to everyday.

TO GET THE SLIDESHOW TO PLAY, please push the PLAY arrow button on the bottom left side.

I will post my favorite images from engagement sessions…and favorite image from weddings over the course of the next two weeks. Stay tuned!!!

xoxoxo
Darbi G.

A few notes before we begin:

• Plan all must-have shots to be done by sunset, unless you’re confident with and LIKE your photographer’s portfolio of off-camera flash photography. Check sunset times for your wedding day here.
• Be sure your flowers are delivered in time for group pictures with your girls/guys. If you are spending hundreds or thousands of dollars on flowers, they should be in pictures, right?
• Don’t forget to allot for time it takes to get from event to event and place to place, a period of time that I have not added on this list as that varies.

The below list is the standard amount of time “events” typically take on the day of the wedding. If it looks like there is too much time designated for something, that’s a good thing. Everything always takes longer than planned. Following this list are two sample timelines. Most wedding days (from preparation to leaving the reception) last anywhere between 10-15 hours.

Do you need a photographer for that whole time? Probably not. Most photographers will book 4, 6, 8, 10 or 12 hour packages. I feel 8-10 hours is the best amount of time to tell your story. I typically aim to show up the last hour of the girls getting ready and stay until a bit after all the reception events (cake, toasts, dinner, special dances, bouquet/garter toss) are done. This doesn’t always work out…depends on when the ceremony is in comparison to the reception.

The following order of events assumes that sunset doesn’t occur until around the time when the reception begins….and assumes also that the bride and groom ARE NOT seeing one another beforehand and that the bride and groom are fine with not doing a receiving line. If sunset is at a different time, just rearrange the order of events.

BASIC ORDER OF EVENTS W/ TIME ESTIMATES (if NOT seeing one another before the ceremony)
2-3 hours: girls at salon or wherever to do their hair and makeup (depends on how many girls there are and how many stylists/artists there are) If you have to omit coverage of something, this would e my suggestion
30 min-1 hour: girls putting on dresses/finishing touches; the bride putting her dress on might not seem like it’ll take that long, but sometimes it can…consider if you have to lace it up, shoes, jewelry, garter, seeing your father??? etc. (The guys get ready during this time)
20-30 minutes: group girl shots
20-30 minutes: group guy shots
30 minutes: all bridal party members should have this time to chill while ceremony guests are being seated
30 minutes-1 hour: Ceremony 
30 minutes: formal pictures with family (I have my couples keep it to fewer than 12 groups)
15-30 minutes: full bridal party pictures    
30-45 minutes: bride & groom shots–the most frame-able pics of the day!!! (if you choose a location that is close to the reception or the ceremony site, that works perfectly!!!)
3-5 hours: reception

NOTE: these timelines do not take into account travel time between venues.

FIRST-GLANCE SAMPLE TIMELINE:

(3:30 p.m. ceremony w/ sunset anytime after 5 p.m.)
For brides and grooms who want to see one another well before the ceremony so they can be sure to get photos together of the two of them before sun down. If your ceremony is an hour or less before sundown, I highly urge you to do a FIRST GLANCE. Your photographer will surely agree.

12 p.m. photography begins (usually photos of girls getting ready and of dress, shoes, etc.)
12:45 p.m. Bride putting on dress

MAKE SURE FLOWERS ARRIVE BY 1 p.m.
1:15 p.m. FIRST LOOK (we’d do more pics in the best lighting of the day after the ceremony)
1:30 p.m. full bridal party photos (all girls, all guys, everyone together)
2:15 p.m. family formals (usually only need 30 minutes, but it never hurts to cushion it a bit)
3 p.m. everyone is relaxing/freshening up
3:30 p.m. Ceremony (no receiving line)
4:15/4:30 p.m. Bride/Groom final portraits
5 p.m. announced at reception
5:15 p.m. dinner

• toasts
• cake
• special dances
• bouquet/garter belt
• open dance (if you can get 30-45 minutes of this covered, you’ll be good to go!)
  

8:15 p.m. photo coverage ends

TRADITIONAL TIMELINE (no First Glance):

(5 p.m. ceremony w/ sunset after 7;15 p.m.)
For brides and grooms who opt to not see each other until the bride walks down the aisle. This scenario works if your ceremony will end with at least 75-90 min of daylight left. And you should be fine with also having your reception guests wait a bit. Usually guests don’t get cranky if there is something to nibble on or drink while waiting for up to 1.5 hours.

Noon–Girls at salon or wherever to do hair/makeup (have lunch delivered!??)

2:30 p.m.–recommend that photo coverage begins while guys/girls finish getting ready
***Flowers delivered by 3 p.m.
3 p.m.–Bride puts on dress/final touches
3:30 p.m.–Girls go with photographer for group shots; bride alone
4 p.m.–Guys go with photographer for group shots; groom alone
4:30 p.m.–all photos done; break until ceremony
5 p.m.–ceremony; I recommend NOT doing a receiving line or you’ll have to go without some sort of pics
6 p.m. formal pics (12 groups max to keep within the 30-40 min)
6:30 p.m. full bridal party pics
6:45 p.m. Bride and groom pics
7:15/30 p.m.  B&G announced at reception
 (if you have 1.5 hours of sunlight to work with after guests leave the ceremony, that is enough time to get 10 formal family shots and then fun wedding party images and bride/groom pictures so long as travel time is not drastic)

RECEPTION:
If you only have the photographer for 3-4 hours of the reception, then plan your reception events wisely so you can get them all covered. Here is one order of events that works really well.

• Bridal party announced
• dinner/food lines open
• Bride/groom cut cake when finished with dinner
• toasts while cake is being served
• special dances (b/g first dance; father/daughter dance; mother/son dance) while cake is being eaten
• bouquet/garter belt toss
• DANCING!!!!!

For MY brides and grooms (as in, the ones who have hired me to shoot their wedding)….if any of this confused you, just email me your ceremony time, let me know if you are seeing one another beforehand…and I will draft you a timeline! Remember…my goal is to have happy brides and grooms. And though you hate to revolve your entire day around your photos, if you don’t make time for the photos you want, you won’t get the photos you want.

(The above post is copyright, All Rights Reserved….so please do not repost or publish anywhere.. but feel free to link back to my blog. ) Thank you.