Fun and romantic engagement session

Some of our couples are fun, some of our couples are romantic and then we have those that are BOTH! This fun and romantic engagement session was just what we needed before the heat wave. We knew that the wedding photos would be taken in Forest Park so we decided to explore Tower Grove for the engagement session. The park is usually busy on the weekends so we picked a few spots at are a bit less travelled. These areas really gave us the opportunity to get creative without having to worry about people in the background. From the very first pose we knew it was going to be a fun and romantic session. Natalie and Jalen just fit together perfectly. They look loving at each other, they snuggle up, they act silly and they are up to go wherever we think might look nice. We started off with some simple backgrounds so we could completely focus on them. We could see the emotions, their hands linked together and the loving nuzzles as they got close together. This lead the session into some fun photos as Jalen twirled Natalie around a bit ending with a dip. Since we are at the park so often we enjoy utilizing new things, even if those things are not permanent. Some random cut down trees gave us the perfect high to take some hugging photos. Natalie got a bit of saw dust on her dress but we brushed it off while we walked a bit farther. We found a really nice field of flowers and a water feature. Since we had already done some intimate close ups and some fun photos this was a great opportunity to just let them interact. Like a photographer hiding while getting those moments that matter. The last thing before we ended was a fun trick where they “throw” each other a bit. It always ends in laughter, this was no exception, their wedding day is going to be so much fun. We know there will be a bit of romance in there too, see you next month.
Rachel Ravetta   0     Engagement Photography , Ravetta Photography , St. Louis Photographer , wedding photography

Ashley and Ian

We waited and waited for this day to happen and it FINALLY arrived. We were waiting with great anticipation, therefore we know the family was overjoyed for this event.  Ashley and Ian have been together for many years. They may not have had love at first sight, in fact Ashley drove Ian crazy. But he soon saw what an amazing person she is and couldn’t live without her. They planned this event down to the very detail and it showed. Ashley and Ian knew planning a wedding was a big job so they welcomed the help from parents. When you are blessed to have parents who are willing to make your vision a reality your wedding is perfect! We began the day hanging out with the girls and boys as they got ready. The were not able to see each other that morning. However, Ashley did get a bit of a peak of Ian as he did some photos out front. The photos captured every moment of the morning from hair and make-up to a crazy pillow fight. Yep, while the girls jumped on the bed the boys had a pillow fight. The energy from this group of people is amazing. How could you not enjoy the entire day around such a great group! The photos started off with a first look where Ian almost fell to his knees when he saw Ashley. It was a perfect moment for them before we got into a few hours of photos. Yep, hours! They were able to take some time with just the two of them around the grounds. That was such a wonderful opportunity for them to just enjoy time together before the chaos. It wasn’t really chaos but we were able to do pretty much all the photos before the ceremony. We accomplished some fun wedding party photos, as well as, those perfect family photos. The flower girls and ring bearer kept it interesting by providing some comic entertainment as they try to walk out of the photos. Have you ever wanted to make your ceremony unique? Why not have your dad officiate! Ashley’s dad performed the ceremony which added that little extra special touch. The stories, the heartfelt words and the congregation fully invested tipped this ceremony to the top. How could this day get better after all that had happened up to this point? Well, an reception for Ashley and Ian with no detail left out. The cake, the décor, the speeches from loved ones, the dancing, the sunset photos and the epic send off. Seriously, just a perfect event from start to finish. Capturing another event for this family was an honor. Since we have known them for years.   #ravettaphotography #stlphotographer #summerwedding #weddingphotos #stlwedding #outdoorphotos #happytogether #allsmilesallday
Rachel Ravetta   0     Ravetta Photography , St. Louis Photographer , wedding photography

Let’s take a walk together

We often go to parks or those typical locations for session. We love when it switches up a bit and let’s take a walk together. When you drive around your neighborhood do you see a nice wall, brick steps, maybe even some interesting landscaping. All of these things create beautiful and unique photos. We can meet near your home or perhaps there is a neighborhood you enjoy visiting. We walk around together and find areas to take photos. Of course, we are not up on porches or trespassing in anyway. Just using the surroundings to create the perfect photo. When you are part of our birthday club we have probably been all over the city. Let’s get out and go for a walk around your neighborhood. This is exactly what we decided to do for this birthday club session. It was decided to take a walk around favorite neighborhood, The Hill. We have been photographing on The Hill for over 40 years, there is always a new place that is interesting. The stone walls and cozy benches are perfect, not to mention the new Piazza has that wonderful water fountain. Since we were doing a bit more walking at this session we had lots of time to talk. We talked about the start of school, what fun travels happened over the summer and we couldn’t forget to talk about video games. All the boys love talking about video games, good thing we know a thing or two. However, they are always happy to teach us more. The weather was warm but not too bad in the shade. We could see that the smiles were getting a bit fake after a few blocks in our walk so we broke out some jokes to get him laughing. We have know him since he was a baby since he is part of our birthday club. There is one more session left in the club, but we know that we will still get a chance to see him. Perhaps around the neighborhood because it is one of our favorite places to go.   #ravettaphotography #stlphotographer #thehill #birthdayclub #outdoorsession #summerphotos #photosintheneighborhood #letstakeawalk
Rachel Ravetta   0     birthday club , Children photography , Ravetta Photography , St. Louis Photographer

Mom is the favorite so we just roll with it

Sometimes I wish we could all roll with it like this family. Mom is the favorite so we just roll with it during the session. The plan was to photograph an 18 month session in the park. Mom has some thoughts about flowers in a basket and reading the favority books. However, Luella had other plans. She didn’t care about her favorite books, she just wanted her favorite person – mom. We know it is hard for little ones to sit without mom sometimes. We started of slow by having them play together while mom inched away a bit. She was never able to get too far! Lucky mom knew this might be an issue so she dressed ready to be in photos if needed. This is the personality we want to capture right now, all mom all the time. Most of the session turned into a mom and me session. These photos were quite perfect! Then after Luella warmed up a bit more she was willing to play with her brother for a few photos. These dancing and playing photos are very cute! We had to do a bit of zooming and cropping to get a photo of her by herself. However, what we did get was wonderful because she had a big smile on her face. Of course she did because she was still touching mom. We even tried handing off to dad while mom hid around the corner. All the little tricks we had Luella wasn’t buying what we were selling. This isn’t the first session where mom couldn’t leave and it won’t be the last. We are just grateful that when mom is the favorite everyone is willing to just roll with it. Truely these photos will be cherished because mom is often behind the camera, they will be enjoyed forever. #ravettaphotography #stlphotographer #birthdayclub #queenypark #momandme #photoswithmom #babygirl #outdoorphotos #outdoorsession #photographyoutdoors  
Rachel Ravetta   0     Children photography , family photography , Ravetta Photography , St. Louis Photographer

Summer wedding summer sweethearts

Elizabeth visited our office with Nick and her mom to talk about the summer wedding. They were great to talk with and we looked forward to photographing the wedding of these summer sweethearts. The couple made the decision to have just one photographer at the wedding. This is not as common because lots of couple feel a bit awkward doing those silly or romantic photos. The second photographer is there to capture all the in-between-moments during the day. All those times couple are acting silly with their friends or romantically look into each other’s eyes. Once we arrived we saw why they knew only one photographer could capture all they needed. From start to finish they we just having the time of their lives, enjoying every moment of this summer wedding! They got silly, romantic and everything in between. We started photography at the church. Everyone was perfectly on time giving us plenty of opportunity to get family photos prior to the ceremony. This opened up more time after the wedding to spend at the park. Most couples seem a bit nervous prior to the ceremony but these two were very calm. If they were nervous you would have never known! A very traditional ceremony surrounded by friends and family was perfect for this summer wedding. We were able to quickly do the family photos in the church. Couples usually don’t have a watch, it seems like these photos go on forever. However, we were done with everything in less than 30 minutes. It was great timing and relieving a bit of stress of getting to the reception on time. There was plenty of time left to have some fun in the park. These summer sweethearts were so lucky with the weather on this summer wedding in July. It was not too hot with a nice breeze. They really took every advantage of spending some extra time at the park to create photo memories. The wedding concluded with the reception at an event space where they met! How perfect, they even had a sign saying “we met here”. All the small touches in the room really added to the overall feeling of love. The room has comics they had sent each other, a crossword puzzle where the answers were all about them and a puzzle made from engagement photos. These touches showed how perfect this couple was for each other. We are honored we were able to be a part of this day and hope to work with them again in the future. #ravettaphotography #stlphotographer #summerwedding #forestpark #stlouiswedding #weddingphotographer #weddingphotos #summerweddingphotos #happycouple
Rachel Ravetta   0     Ravetta Photography , St. Louis Photographer , stlouisphotographer , wedding photography

Heirloom Photography

Heirloom photography is a southern tradition but we are happy to offer this style in our studio. Portraits that span generations are meant to capture children in a classic and simple style. The best age is any child that can sit unassisted into the teen years. Heirloom photography is a tradition done once per child at a particular age. However, you can do them yearly if you wanted. Heirloom sessions are unique and our goal is to provide your family with timeless heirloom prints to display in your home forever. Your viewing gallery will include many images and expressions. Once you make the selection of your favorites we can print them in black and white or color. You can even add the details of turning it into a digital painting. The work of art with every detail perfected will be a cherished memory for many future generations. We received a call wondering if this was something we could do because our client saw them online. She is a grandmother and wanted to have this southern tradition for her grandchildren. We have recently been photography sessions outdoors because the weather is nice. However, we have full studio that we can utilize at any point. We use a crisp clean white background for many different types of portraits, such as model photography and these timeless heirloom photos. During this session we were quickly able to capture some great expressions. This little girl was ready to smile and give us all sorts of facial expressions. It is going to be a tough choice for grandma to select her favorite for the wall art. Since we had a bit of extra time we included a few personality photos as well. Personality photos are done on the same white background but allow the child to pose, dance or jump around to show off their personality at this age. We really enjoy these crisp and classic photos, give us a call to set up your appointment today.         #ravettaphotography #stlphotographer #heirloomphotography #studiosession #southernheirloom
Rachel Ravetta   0     Children photography , family photography , Ravetta Photography , St. Louis Photographer

Siblings having fun together

Moms of three have their hands full but we are happy to create a session of siblings having fun together. When mom can get three kids ready for photos and out the door on time we step up to the plate. We get as many photos as we can during the session. The goal of this session was photos of the kids individually and then all of them together. We actually started by taking some first communion photos of the oldest because the quick photos done on the actual day were not suitable for the wall. We were happy to create more wall worthy art for the family. Once we completed those in the church we headed outside. The day we selected actually turned out to be quite nice. It was a breezy July morning which greatly helped the attitudes of all children because they were not hot the whole time. Of course we also tried to find as much shade as possible. Photography of the siblings together was fun because we could see how they interact together. We were able to get some perfect smile photos. Then we had to have some fun by jumping around for some photos as well. During the individual photos that gives us a moment to get to know each child. The oldest was doing a great job of keeping up the smiles even though he had been in tons of photos at this point. We were able to talk about Minecraft and underwear to keep the laughs. Middle man is full of personality, he was all wiggles during his photos and quick to say this was going to wear him out for the day. We kept cracking up at the things he would say between photos! Little princess was all about it! She wanted to pose herself, pick some locations and also help her brothers get the perfect photos by fixing hair. Such a joy to work with this crew and we know we will get to see them again!       #ravettaphotography #stlphotographer #summerphotography #siblingphotography #locationphotos #kimswickmo
Rachel Ravetta   0     Children photography , family photography , Ravetta Photography , St. Louis Photographer

Unique Engagement Photo Idea

Alexis and Brian are getting married in October so they wanted to do a summer engagement photo. They had a unique engagement photo idea! First of all they wanted to take some more traditional photos in a simple white dress for her and a white polo for him. They have 3 children, which we encourage be included in the session. An engagement session is time to spend together but it can also be a special time for the whole family. Including the children in a few photos and then having a friend or family member take them for the rest of the session is a perfect idea. The kids actually did a great job of posing while we quickly worked through the family photos. The kids were able to have fun on the playground when they completed the photos. The session continued with us taking a walk to get some great angles at the top off the bluffs. It was great idea for Alexis to bring her tennis shoes with her because walking up the hill in heels would have been very difficult. These two have a very romantic chemistry which radiated during the entire session. They had no problem pretending we were not there taking photos. They just enjoyed the moments together. After spending some time on the bluffs getting amazing views and images we got ready for the fun. The unique engagement photo idea was to get in the creek because the family spends so much time together there. They knew the exact spots with lower water, trees and large rocks. They are often at this location so that made it extra special to them. It was a perfect day because it was warm enough for the water to feel great, but not so hot that we couldn’t walk down the creek a bit. It was fun to work with this couple and create these photos that mean something special to them. We look forward to working with them again in October.     #ravettaphotography #stlphotographer #summerengagementphotos #creeksession #engagement
Rachel Ravetta   0     Engagement Photography , Ravetta Photography , St. Louis Photographer

Summer wedding in beautiful location

What is better than a summer wedding in a beautiful location, an amazing couple to work with while we are there! The stepdad of the bride contacted us a few months prior to the wedding. The couple still needed to find a few vendors for their wedding and he wanted to help ease some stress. Once presented with the information they knew we would live up to their expectations. We met with the couple to talk details of the wedding day and pick a package option. The wedding was in Potosi, MO so there was a bit of a travel from our location. That is no problem at all, we enjoy getting out of the city sometimes! Kelly and Gary talked with us about the importance of all the guests that were going to be at their event. We know it is important to get photos of the guest but this couple really wanted to be sure the full focus was not on them. They had too many friends and family around to not share the day with them. Their son was having a great day, except for “all the photos” he had to take. Poor little guy, he did such a good job of standing in all the family photos. He deserved that clothing change and a sweet treat. He was included in a lot of photos throughout the day. It was not only a special day for Kelly and Gary but this was the day they had planned and talked about for awhile. The whole family should have fun! From start to finish everyone in attendance at this summer wedding were just living their best life and enjoying every minute of the day. We had a relaxed start to the day with a first look followed by the majority of the photos. This gave us the opportunity to not rush while the wedding party had some fun together. Because we did photos before the family photos after the wedding went very quickly. All the planning helped the wedding run very smoothly and even a bit ahead of schedule. What a great feeling to be able to relax and enjoy the day. There was not a moment that a guest wasn’t having fun. From the games in the yard to the party music inside it was a memorable day for everyone. We are so glad that we were able to be a part of this wonderful day.   #ravettaphotography #stlphotographer #summerwedding #weddingphotographer #twineaglelakebarn
Rachel Ravetta   0     Ravetta Photography , St. Louis Photographer , wedding photography

Too much fun in one session

There really is no such thing as too much fun in one session. We often only get to see some of our clients once a year when it is time for a birthday club session. When a family has three members of our birthday club we understand that is it sometimes easier to just get everything done during one session. Three kids ready for photos arrived and did everything we wanted. We were hoping to accomplish each kid individually, the three kids together and some family photos. Not only did we get those but we also fit in some photos with mom and kids and then dad and kids. Working with each kid individually gives a moment to talk with them one on one. We learn so much about the things they like or what makes them smile. Getting to know our birthday club members is truly a joy. The photos of the kids together are fun because they interacted so well together. You can tell big sister wants to keep those boys in line! We picked a park near dads works. It worked out perfectly that dad could meet during his lunch to be a part of these photos. We are a big fan of using every opportunity to get those family photos. After a couple locations we could tell the kids were starting to get a bit silly. Great, let’s do it! Some fun jumping photos, tickles, ring-around-the-rosie, and climbing in trees – these photos are a great way to show personality and also let the kids have fun. We like having the nice family photos but adore some time when the kids play together. They might not all be looking in the right direction, or even doing the right thing, but that is the personality we capture. We look forward to seeing them again next year for the birthday club session. #ravettaphotography #stlphotographer #birthdayclub #parkphotos #familysession #summerphotos
Rachel Ravetta   0     birthday club , Children photography , family photography , Ravetta Photography , St. Louis Photographer