Here’s a look at Cheryl and Jim’s wedding at Acres of Land Winery in Richmond, Kentucky. The night before the wedding, a storm blew through the area, including a small tornado that knocked out power to the hotel where Cheryl was getting ready. The chef at Boone Tavern, their hotel, ran home, got a portable generator, and ran extension cords up to the ladies’ suite so they could get ready. How’s that for awesome customer service?

More from this wedding after the jump…

Saw a new bridal magazine from Great Britain called Izzy, and in their first issue, there’s a great article about “Taking Your Wedding From Great to Extraordinary”.

For once it’s not an article that’s going to encourage you to spend money or anything of the sort, just about thoughtfulness. Click over and take a look (http://bit.ly/ckDQYn, it’s on page 10) and while you’re at it, enjoy the rest of the magazine.

Tell us your engagement story to win a free e-session!

Well, congratulations then! I love hearing the stories about how couples find each other and how their engagements came together… so much so that I’m going to have a contest.

Pop over to our Contact Page and send us your engagement story– include all those details and fun moments, and don’t forget all the reactions and the rash of phone calls that broke out afterwards.

Get it in before February 28th, and we’ll put you in for a free, special engagement session, and your choice of a free 11×14 print or a 12×12 square print of your favorite image from the session! We’ll also share your story here on the blog with your photos.

We’re offering two new types of specialty portrait sessions, and you can be the first to try them out!

Find out more after the jump…

A few more dates came off the board last week, including our first May and September bookings.

The current list of unavailable dates:

I had a pretty good feeling Michelle and Kris were going to sign with me after our first meeting. I mean, when you discover you’ve been chatting for two hours, it’s a sign you’ve definitely made a connection. We just spent the entire time laughing and occasionally even talking about wedding photography.

On Saturday, we went out to the Lexington Country Club, where they’ll be having their reception this summer. Now, the grounds didn’t look anything like they will at the wedding, what with the fresh blanket of snow on the ground. We thought it would be fun to show their guests what the place they’re going to get married at looks like at this time of year.

One great wedding often leads to another. In the case of Dallas physician Jessica, she heard about me from her friend Neema, whose wedding I shot and Jessica attended in June.

Fast forward to the fall, when Jessica and her fiance Rutu, an engineer, returned to Kentucky for their wedding. An Indian wedding is always an event– there’s nothing like it for sheer size, scope, or color. By now, I’m pretty used to the rhythms of these multiday extravaganzas, and in fact, I’m beginning to see a lot of the same guests… they say I’m part of “the family” now! Since Indian weddings all but require an associate photographer, I was happy to be able to bring in one of my favorites, the emerging Bowling Green photographer Jennifer Creed. For Jenny, it was her first Indian wedding, and she brought a certain amount of wide eyed wonder to our work.

The folks at the Embassy Suites have gotten to be quite proficient at these events, and Amy Stamper and her crew did a wonderful job of giving the ballroom three different looks in less than 36 hours. I also got to work with my good friend Laura over at Destiny Horse and Carriage, who conveyed Ruturaaj to the proceedings in Kentucky style, while surrounded by their singing and dancing family members.