Sara Renee - Nashville, TN & International Destination Wedding & Portrait Photographer

Kristin & Sean // Married // Chattanooga, TN Pt. I

Sara Renee — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 16:00:12 +0000

The first time I met Kristin and Sean was about 3 minutes before we started their engagement session in downtown Chattanooga and I immediately liked them! During their engagement shoot they told me some of their wedding details/locations/etc and I got super excited about their October wedding at St. Paul’s Church and their reception at the Read House in downtown Chattanooga, TN.

Their wedding day was everything I had daydreamed it would be, and more! Without further delay here is Part I of Kristin and Sean’s wedding!

Lacey // Portraits // Nashville, TN

Sara Renee — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 15:48:07 +0000

When Lacey and I had our consultation over Skype, I got all excited. She is an artist and had concepts and thoughts and personality! All things I love.
Lacey needed photos for her new Worship album titled “Without” that will be coming out soon, and wanted something with a sort of barren feel to it. Since it’s “winter” (the quotes are there because earlier today I was wearing a SUN DRESS!) the trees were barren and I thought that might make for a nice background. And so we headed out to Radnor Lake out in Nashville and made these photos!
I had a great time with Lacey, and can’t wait to check out her album when it drops!

These next 2 shots were actually just random test shots I snapped when Lacey was fixing her hair. I think they’re pretty cool! #vogue

Thank you Lacey for coming out to Nashville for this shoot! You’re awesome and I had a great time getting to know you.

Shadow/Mentor Sessions for Aspiring Photographers.

Sara Renee — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 01:02:37 +0000

I posted a before & after photo combination on facebook earlier in the week and it seemed to rouse up a lot of interest. So I whipped up a few unedited vs. edited photos to show.

Post-processing is (first of all) very fun! And it’s so important! I know it’s a huge time consumer and that’s why a lot of photographers are out-sourcing their photo editing to other companies…but it’s such a personal thing! I can’t imagine letting someone else determine the colour temperature of my photo or doing any other kinds of edits. No way. No way. No way! The way you edit a photo really makes a difference.

I get a lot of questions about the way I shoot, edit, and my workflow so I offer Shadow/Mentor Sessions for aspiring photographers. These sessions cover both the photoshoot (posing, picking backgrounds, shooting), and the post-processing workflow after the shoot. If you’re interested in these sessions use the contact form to hit me up and I’ll send you all the information about it!

So these photos are the RAW file (straight out of camera, no edits), and then there’s the file after it’s been through Lightroom & Photoshop.

I look forward to helping anyone who is interested!

One Year Anniversary!

Sara Renee — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 16:04:36 +0000

This month marked my first year anniversary for supporting myself solely through photography. (!!!!!!!)

At some point I’ll tell you how I got started in photography, but for today, I’m showing some images from my first rolls of film (7 years old) and celebrating the fact that for one year now, this is my only job. It’s more than full-time and I LOVE it.

Happy One Year!

Kristen & John // Married // Part II Warrenton, VA

Sara Renee — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 18:17:41 +0000

If you missed the first part of Kristen & John’s wedding, check it out here.
And now up is the final chapter of their lovely day.

Thank you to the Black Horse Inn for running such a beautiful venue! Thank you weather for holding up! Thank you to both Kristen & John’s family members and friends for being so happy and fun!
What an awesome day!

THE END.

John & Kristen // Married // Warrenton, VA // Pt. I

Sara Renee — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 17:16:46 +0000

There are going to be a lot of familiar faces in this blog post. First of all, the bride and groom: Kirsten and John were featured in this blog post with their engagement photos. We had tooled around Chespeake Bay, Maryland and Woodbridge, VA for their engagement photos, and then I headed to Warrenton, VA a few months later for their AMAZING outdoor wedding. Second of all, you’ll see Sarah and Andy whose engagement AND wedding photos I took (Part One and Part Two.) And then you’ll also see Kristen’s sister, who you haven’t seen yet, but whose wedding I will be photographing this summer. You know, just keeping it in the family!

Kristen and John picked a pretty incredible and beautiful venue called the Black Horse Inn and to sum everything up: the venue was great, the flowers were beautiful, the bridesmaid dresses were classy, the crowd was fun, the horses were hungry (no really, there were actual horses), and the love was fierce! All in all, this wedding was fabulous and I was thrilled to be a part of it. Giddy up and take a look!

I love big rings like this! Kristen, this is one of my most favourite rings I’ve ever seen!

And now starts the mother-daughter cryfest! Soooo sweet!!

These next 3 photos make me so happy!

This is Kristen & her sister Laura. Laura is getting married this summer and so you will be seeing her wedding photos later!

And here are Andy & Sarah, whose wedding I photographed in June! They’re so great!

Stay tuned for the final chapter of Kristen & John’s wedding photos!

Chancey & Micah // Married // Cleveland, TN

Sara Renee — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 19:10:46 +0000

Chancey and Micah, also known as Clancey and Michael, had an awesome wedding in downtown Cleveland, TN. (You might remember them from their engagement session this summer.)
They were married at First Presbyterian Church (what a beautiful interiour!) and their reception was at the Old Woolen Mill.

Let me explain the “Clancey & Michael” name thing. As they were pronounced man & wife, the pastor presented them as Clancey and Michael, instead of Chancey and Micah. It was HILARIOUS! Everyone was looking around like “huh??? what? did that really just happen?,” and it is now a running joke.

This wedding was beautiful, fun, and a pleasure to be at. Chancey’s dress was amazing, her flower arrangements were bold (I love the bold!) and colourful, and her dress was stunning.
Come on and take a look!

We did Chancey & Micah’s First Look at Nina’s Mausoleum. If you live in Cleveland you knwo where this is. It’s a super creepy story, but such a pretty background!

Thank you to Chancey & Micah/Clancey & Michael for having me be a part of your wedding! You two are awesome!

Ally // Portraits // Nashville, TN

Sara Renee — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 16:57:00 +0000

It was a grey, pearly looking day outside and the weather was far too warm for what is expected in January. My friend Ally and I decided to meet up, get coffee, and just drive to wherever the car took us. I wanted to shoot some personal photos (I really don’t do that enough) and get Ally in front of my camera. So, about Ally- You’re probably going to notice that she’s super pretty and her smile is amazing. But what you might not be able to tell in the photo is that she also has this sparkly, shining heart that encourages everyone she is around. She’s incredibly sweet and being around her is so pleasant! I expect that you’ll look at these photos and think “Look at that smile, I’d totally be friends with this girl!!”

And so, my friend Ally and I took an afternoon to explore the abandoned Tennessee State Prison. Apparently it’s where The Green Mile, Ernest Goes to Jail, and several other movies were filmed. It is an AMAZING building! It looks more like a mansion/castle from the front.

I’ve lived in Nashville for over two months and am just now getting out to explore. Shame on me! I’ve just been so busy catching up on wedding editing….I am ALMOST caught up, and that means I’ll be taking time to get more acquainted with Nashville. This old prison was soooo neat. It had some great textures and backgrounds for photos.

Meet my friend Ally.

There were these super creepy birds (I think they are vultures?) and man-oh-man! I was spooked!

Right? Can you see that inner beauty shining through (in addition to her outer beauty)?! Ally rules.
I’m so glad to know her!

Stacie Ann & Nic // Married // Elm Creek, Nebraska Pt. II

Sara Renee — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 16:33:13 +0000

As mentioned in Part One of Stacie Ann & Nic’s wedding post, we had an entire hour after the ceremony and before the reception for bride & groom portraits. It was amazing!!! We drove over to this awesome abandoned house and shot all around it. The first part of this post is those portaits. What a fun time.

And then we headed back to the reception site (which was literally right next to the church- seriously, smallest town ever!) for some more fun times.

Check these cuties out!!

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Cutest, hand-made cake topper ever?? YES!

There was a photo wall for all the guests to get their photo taken, and then Stacie Ann had made this twine/laundry clips set-up for everyone to attach their photos. And then, at the end of the night– Viola! The first wedding wall art for Nic & Stacie to hang up in their home!

See that one in the middle? That still hasn’t fully developed? Yeah- that’s ME!

This is Alison and her family. She is the total sweetheart who slipped me a note under my hotel room door telling me how great it was that I was Stacie & Nic’s wedding photographer.

Apparently it is a tradition on Stacie Ann’s side of the family for a bride to be pushed around in a wheel barrow on their wedding day.
WHAT?!?!?!
Yes.
This really happened.
#awesome

Of course, we’re ending this post with a SALUTE!!!

Thank you so much to Stacie and Nic and their awesome friends and wonderful family. I had such a good time with everyone! Thank you Thank you Thank you!

Stacie Ann & Nic // Married // Elm Creek, Nebraska Pt. I

Sara Renee — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 16:07:28 +0000

Stacie and I “met” on myspace years ago. She said that when she got married, she wanted me as her wedding photographer (which, looking back on my wedding photos from back then, was a BIG compliment!). Early October 2011, I finally had the huge honour of flying out to Elm Creek, Nebraska to be Stacie Ann & Nic’s wedding photographer.

Because it’s such a small town (I mean, really….have you ever heard of Elm Creek? To give you an idea of it’s size- there’s only one grocery store. It’s a local, family-owned grocery store downtown. ONE grocery store!!!) I had to fly in a day early. I took that day to get some paper work done, go see Taylor Lautner’s movie “Abducted”, go Halloween costume shopping at a store near my hotel, and get to attend Stacie & Nic’s rehearsal dinner.

At the dinner Stacie Ann & Nic passed out gifts for their 10 billion friends that traveled in from out of state, and I got one too!!! Stacie is a DIY-or-Die bride and sewed all the girls these super cute, reversible tote bags with an Anthropologie mug with our initial on it. (see photo below).

Stacie & Nic’s friends made me feel so welcome! One of them even slid a note under my hotel door after the wedding, telling me how happy they were that I was able to come be a part of Stacie & Nic’s wedding. Man! Everyone was so nice!

And then I see this comment that Stacie made on one of my bride’s websites….

It’s just all so nice!!! Ok. So you get the jist of how awesome this DIY wedding was. Stacie Ann made just about every little thing that was humanly possible. Check it out. Part One, coming at ya!

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The next few photos are from the ONE grocery store in town. It’s adorable!

Oh, right. I forgot to tell you. Not only did we do a First Look (which gave us AMPLE time to get all the portraits done before the ceremony), but Stacie scheduled it so that we had an entire HOUR between the ceremony & reception for Bride & Groom portraits! What a dream! As a photographer herself, Stacie knew how important those portraits were.