I thought it would be fun to do something new on the blog today!  So I’m going to share some behind-the-scene photos from this past wedding season with you all! By no means are these our well-polished or most flattering images but we hope they give you a glimpse into what goes on behind-the-scenes on a KJ wedding day! 

Let me first introduce us for those of you who don’t know us! I’m Kelsey, the photographer and creative of Kelsey James Photography.  And that’s my husband on the right! His real name is James (hence where our business name derived from) but he goes by Jimmy. He doesn’t always look like he’s in pain. That’s just his face he likes to give me when he is helping me test the lighting. 

We work together as a team on wedding days! I’m the main shooter and he’s my second shooter!

But we’ve also had the great privilege of training and working with the amazing Amy this past season! Do we look we we could be sisters? We get that a lot. 

We have also got to work along side some pretty amazing wedding videographers!! Story of Us Films produces beautiful wedding videos! Be sure to check them out of if you are in search of a videographer!

One of my favorite things of a wedding day is getting to be a part of the getting ready process. The excitement level is high and the nerves are real but it’s so fun to capture the bride preparing to see her groom! 

And if you have followed our work. You know that I love capturing all of the details at the beginning of the day. And of course, one of the main details is the dress! However, outdoor dress shots can often take a lot of planning and patience as the elements (aka wind and rain) can have a plan of it’s own. That’s why you’ll see the clear plastic laying on the ground and personal assistants hiding behind the doors ready to catch a flying dress if the wind got too crazy!

Notice the little feet in the picture on the left?! A big thanks to an amazing personal assistant for squatting to make sure the dress didn’t get wet since it had just stopped raining! 

Really. Helpful personal assistants are awesome! Thanks to our 2017 KJ brides, we’ve had some really great PAs this past wedding season!

Have I told you how awesome helpful personal assistants are? 

It’s crazy to think we started our wedding season this year when I was 8 months pregnant!! But that big baby bump didn’t stop me from fluffing dresses…which I think could be one of my hidden talents. 

And giving directions. (Here’s those non-flattering pictures I mentioned).

And throwing veils. I just love veils. 

Now let’s talk bridal party portraits! Since I grew up as a farm girl, I like to affectionately say that bridal party portraits are like “herding cattle”. Organizing large groups of people is not a task for the faint of heart but can seriously be such a blast when you have a crazy, fun wedding party!! 

And because we have had amazing bridal parties this past year, it’s was one of the most fun parts of our day! Not only do we laugh a lot but we also get to know the best friends and closest family members of our KJ couples which is just so sweet to us! 

And more herding and directing….

As you’ll see for some reason whenever we are testing light, we like to have our mouths wide open. 

Golden Hour! It’s absolutely one of our favorite times to take portraits on wedding days! That golden light! You just gotta love that light! 

From getting ready pictures to dance pictures, we love that we get to be with our couples throughout their entire day! 

And we truly feel so honored and blessed getting to be a part of their special and sacred moments.

We cannot thank all of our 2017 KJ couples enough for letting us capture your wedding day! You each were so amazing to work with and we are thankful to get to know each of you! Here’s to the new year and our 2018 KJ couples!!!