We are about to bring you some hotness on a cold December evening. We’re really excited to show you Liz and Scott’s engagement session tonight!  These two were troopers in the bitter November cold (even though Lisa had to borrow Scott’s gloves) especially since their initial engagement session was cancelled because of the freak October blizzard. Gotta love Albany sometimes. I think you will agree the pictures were definitely worth braving the cold. We have to give extra props to Scott (the groom, as I’m not talking about myself in the third person here ) because he had been up since 4 A.M. for work.

Liz and Scott met at the St. Patrick’s day parade in Albany and have spent almost every day together since then. It was only natural that they would consider getting engaged but they had a ten year plan. So, of course, Liz was completely surprised when one day at the waterfall in Thacher Park,  Scott got on one knee and proposed. I think we can all guess what her answer was! Naturally, when it came time for their engagement session we had to go back to the place where it all began!

Obviously, since it is a Scott Kretschmann Photography engagement session, there is a gorgeous couple, some pretty light, sprinkle in a little bit of Lipstick n’ Lashes magic and BOOM! One engagement session served up hot (on a very cold day). We hope you enjoy these photos as much as we enjoyed taking them and keep checking back for more to come! Also don’t forget to show your favorite photo some love by clicking the button below the photo!

You just have to get this shot when shooting at Thacher. Love the look Liz is giving Scott!

Albany making a guest appearance in the background.

You’re about to see some serious hotness in some AMAZING light!

I love this one, feels like we’re spying on them a little bit!

Oh yeah, this is how we roll.

Sometimes we really love a classic black and white.

The Facebook teaser, and our favorite picture. Make sure to like our Facebook page if you haven’t already to be the first to see their wedding photos!

These two are so cute together!

The leaves may have been gone already, but these two brought some gorgeousness to the scenery anyway!

Liz rocking the model look.

Oh yeah, there’s that killer light.

Had to try another killer black and white – it just looked awesome with the light.

Seriously, how cute are these two?

Off to Downtown Albany to bring the Scott Kretschmann Photography signature After Dark Session to an engagement session! It was so cold down there, but so worth it to get these awesome shots!

The lights, the cobblestone, the impending kiss….perfection.

We had to finish it off with the signature shot to show off the bling!

Liz and Scott, thanks so much for hanging out with us, braving the elements, and rocking it out for these photos. We hope you enjoy them as much as we do! We can’t wait for your wedding at the Canoe Island Lodge in Lake George this coming September!

Well folks, we’re finally almost caught up with our fall engagement session backlog – we had so many sessions in October and November, it was INSANE! We definitely won’t complain about being busy though, as we had some great sessions with some amazing couples. Fall in Upstate NY is always our most beautiful time of year, so it’s no surprise that it makes the perfect backdrop for engagement photos. Anyway, on to Kate and Kevin’s session!

Kate and Kevin are very in sync as a couple, which is something that just kind of happens when you have been dating since high school. Their first kiss story has to be the best one we’ve had yet. It was their one month anniversary, and Kevin said he really wanted to give her a kiss, so he opened her hand and placed a Hershey’s Kiss in it. Smooth huh? Suffice it to say he got his kiss shortly thereafter. That definitely tops the list of best first kiss stories! Like all good romance stories they kept in touch through the time and distance of college with Kevin making the long 5 hour trips from Rochester to White Plains every few weeks to see Kate.

After Kate graduated law school and passed the bar (this apparently a test and not a place to drink) they moved to Cortland. After living together for two years Kevin decided that it was time to seal the deal with a ring!  It started with a trip to a bed and breakfast in Ithaca where little did Kate know he was a man with a plan.  After asking for her parents for permission and having her mom try on the ring (how cute is that?) his plans were in place.  Kevin actually texted Kate’s parents throughout the proposal so they could be involved.  After a trip to the spa he took her to a great restaurant complete with roses and after getting back to the bed and breakfast, he got down on one knee and asked her if she would do him the honor of being his wife. I think you can guess what she said!

Which brings us to their engagement session in Albany. After much brainstorming and discussion we decided on a trip to downtown Albany and then a super secret spot where we love to shoot. Kate made a stop by Lipstick and Lashes (ladies, for your wedding hair and makeup, you want to use them, trust us!) to get her hair and makeup done then we were ready for an unforgettable engagement session. It was a little chilly, but the light was perfect and we still had a blast and got some awesome photos. Check them out and be sure to vote for your favorites by showing them a little “love”

Gentlemen, if you don’t know how to properly dip your brides and brides to be, you need to take lessons from Kevin. He rocked it. So smooth.

Oh yeah, there’s the light I was talking about.

We love reflections just a little bit.

How hot is this one? Seriously! That’s a model look right there.

Late fall in Albany, you HAVE to play in the leaves!

A little dancing…can you tell we were having fun?

These two were so goofy. We loved it.

In this next one, Kevin is practicing for his GQ cover shoot.

Kate wanted to be dipped again. Kevin obliged. The light was perfect. Need we say more?

Here are a couple of shots with the Cathedral of All Saints in the background. It’s a GORGEOUS church, and in case we forgot to mention it, it’s also where they will be getting married in July!

Golden awesomeness

Off to one of our favorite spots to shoot in Albany. The sunset light is always KILLER there!

This was our Facebook teaser. Make sure to like our page to be the first to see their wedding photos! It is also one of our favorite e-pics of the year, and I totally think when we redo our wall art in the studio this winter, this one is going up there.

These are SO perfect.

A nice one for mom and dad:

As there is a bunch of snow on the ground at our house right now, we are totally missing this gorgeous fall color.

We hope everyone enjoyed these, and make sure to click the love button under your favorites! Kate and Kevin, we are so excited for your wedding, and we can’t wait to show off all the joy and magic of that day right here! Thanks so much for braving the cold and spending the afternoon with us. We had such a great time, and we hope you love these images as much as we do!

We are so excited to post this session! When we met Michelle and Mike we hit it off right away. In fact our consult lasted until midnight, and you could tell we’d be really close pretty much instantly. Michelle has actually been helping us out as our assistant at our photo booth this fall as well! Lisa loves working with our brides to plan their engagement sessions, so she had been planning this one for a while. When Michelle mentioned wanting a fall session, Lisa automatically went into planning a very fall engagement session. We thought nothing would scream fall in Upstate NY more than a session at Indian Ladder Farms with its amazing apple orchard.

Michelle and Mike are doctoral students in sociology who met at UAlbany, so they are extremely busy and we are lucky that they managed to find some time to squeeze in a session. We think it was well worth it though for their day off and we managed to get just a peek of some pretty fall foliage. It was a holiday weekend so the place was crowded but we managed to shoot around it and you can’t even tell that the place was packed. Not only did we get to munch on some apples but we crawled in apple crates and drank apple cider. It doesn’t get much more fall than that! Lisa also decided they should do apple themed save the date pictures, which we absolutely love.

We are so excited to shoot Michelle and Mike’s wedding in May at Riverstone Manor. We can’t wait to meet all of their family and friends and be a part of their special day. Michelle and Mike, we hope you enjoy your pictures and that reflect the love you have for each other. Make sure to leave some love for the happy couple in the comments section!

Gonna start today off with our Facebook teaser for this session. Normally the first 30 minutes of a session, the couple is still getting used to us and being in front of the camera, but Michelle and Mike got right into it. It was awesome. Make sure to like our page to be the first to see their wedding photos!

So sweet:

How cute are these two? And the light….so perfect.

Even with the awesome light, we had to do some great black and whites too!

Nothing says fall around here like some fresh picked, ripe apples.

Then, we found the perfect spot, with the most perfect light ever:

Fresh pressed apple cider? Yes please!

We just had to have a little to drink while we were there:

You’re going to get not one, but TWO bling shots today!

This was Lisa’s idea. I love it.

That “Indian Ladder Farms Green” is so iconic in this area.

Yeah, here’s the bling again. Mike did well.

Just as we were finishing up, I saw the red tree. Just couldn’t pass it up!

I think they both picked pretty well!

Michelle and Mike, thank you so much for the AMAZING time, and we are so excited about your upcoming wedding! We had so much fun on this session, we know we’re going to have to go back to Indian Ladder again!

Like macaroni and cheese, Kelly and Brian just belong together. When we first met Kelly and her mom last year we instantly clicked. Brian was working, so we didn’t get to meet him at first, but we knew any guy marrying a girl as great as Kelly must be pretty great himself, and one day after an e-shoot down in Manhattan, we met up with the two of them for dinner to get to know him a little better, and as they say, the rest is history. We started their Scott Kretschmann Photography experience with an amazing session on their home island of Manhattan. This was one of our favorite e-sessions ever, full of color, light and lots of fun. Once we had photographed their engagement session we knew that their wedding would be an amazing event and we weren’t wrong!

We started off getting ready at Kelly’s parents’ house, where the girls finished off hair and makeup. The bridal party was so relaxed and fun it really set the tone for the whole day. While Scott headed off to capture Brian getting ready, Lisa stayed with the bride and her girls as they traveled to the Old Daley Inn on Crooked Lake in Averill Park, just outside of Albany. We LOVE shooting at Crooked Lake because the gorgeous lakeside venue and their staff are amazing. Big props to Stephanie and Janice, who trusted Lisa’s artistic vision and moved a COUCH out to the edge of the water. They seriously went above and beyond all day to make Kelly and Brian’s day special (as they always do). Here are some of our favorite images from the pre-ceremony festivities as well as their touching interfaith ceremony in the great room at the Crooked Lake House. We hope you enjoy!

Kelly had a really hot pair of green Manolos to add a little pop to her dress!

They also made a good backdrop to show off her bling.

The gorgeous Rosa Clara dress from the ladies at Lily Saratoga:

What can we say, we’re a sucker for little touches like these personalized hangars.

Kelly’s mom was getting a little teary eyed even as the makeup was being applied. We’ll see more from her later

Does anyone remember Georgia from part 2 of Kelly and Brian’s engagement session? She made an appearance here and just had to give Kelly a sendoff on her way to the Crooked Lake House.

Meanwhile, downtown…

Kelly got Brian this SWEET watch as a wedding gift.

These two really did think of every detail, right down to the custom Kippahs.

Brian is a pretty accomplished drummer. I caught this shot of him in the hotel before we left, but it won’t be the last time you’ll see him drumming. Just stay tuned for part 2!

Back to the Crooked Lake House!

After the ladies helped Kelly get dressed, her mom came in to see her for the first time. It was such a beautiful, touching moment!

I just love the reaction from the girls as well:

Let’s not forget about dad!

Then it was time for some fun with the ladies by the lake. The couch rocked, thanks Janice and Stephanie!

The serious shot:

AND the fun shot. This is SO Kelly:

The gorgeous bouquet from The Floral Garden:

A few before the ceremony with our gorgeous bride:

Time to rush the girls inside so we could get the guys out to the lake!

Brian looking like a GQ model:

Of course, the ladies wanted to see what the guys were doing outside!

Have you ever wondered why you need two photographers at a wedding? Well, wonder no more. This was Lisa’s shot as Kelly was walking towards her father, getting ready to walk down the aisle:

And this was mine:

Kelly was so excited to see Brian:

The Great Room at the Crooked Lake House with its awesome wood beams and massive stone fireplace:

Husband and Wife:

After the ceremony was over, we took them outside for a GORGEOUS sunset session that you won’t want to miss. We’re going to leave you in suspense though, so stay tuned and check back soon for part 2!

We are back with the second half of Tehra and Juan’s wedding! We ended with their photo session around the Capitol and then a walk to the ceremony. Their ceremony was held in the lobby of the Palace Theater at the bottom of the gorgeous staircase. The entire theater has beautiful staircases, amazing paintings on vaulted ceilings, and gold detail everywhere. In short, it was a pretty spectacular location for a wedding. After a very beautiful ceremony, a great first kiss (or two), a jump over the broom and some family pictures Tehra and Juan headed off to their cocktail hour. They thought of every detail from the signature “Coltinez” cocktail to the biscuit bar supplied by Nicole’s Catering to the beautiful tree created by Anthology Studio that was a breathtaking centerpiece in the middle of the room. The biscuit bar was our personal favorite, still being southerners at heart!

The reception itself was held on the stage of the theater, which was bathed in gorgeous purple lighting with amazing details. The entire theater was just overflowing with ambiance. After a dramatic reveal of the stage and introductions it was on to the first dance to remember. Tehra and Juan like to dance and they chose an upbeat song for their first dance. That was the kick off to a great night filled with fun. There was even an impromtu flash mob by the bridal party during dinner that got everyone on their feet. Tehra and Juan danced the night away and sent all of their guests away not just with great memories but also with some goodies from the candy bar with such yummy treats as jerk popcorn and flavored marshmellows. Thank you Tehra and Juan for picking us to photograph your special day! And now, on to the good stuff!

The gorgeous grand staircase decorated for the ceremony, complete with monogram:

Pretty awesome room for a ceremony, huh?

Lisa always likes to hang back with the bride and dad just before the walk down the aisle and always gets some great reactions. LOVE this one with Tehra’s dad dancing to the fun processional music, and I love the look she’s giving him even more!

A beaming bride and a proud father:

Seriously, could this room be any more perfect and elegant?

A classic Juan reaction:

With this ring:

Here we go!

The cocktail hour biscuit bar with jams:

Custom cocktails really add that extra touch to any cocktail hour:

This tree in the cocktail space was just incredible:

The entire wedding was vintage movie themed, from the tickets as save the dates, to the movie title table names, to these totally cool place cards:

The event space was amazingly elegant thanks to  Anthology Design Studio, Total Events, and most of all Taia from Inspired Occasions to pull it all together. It was probably the most unique, beautiful event space we’ve seen all year!

A great dinner by Nicole’s Catering:

A totally yummy cake from Zachary’s Pastry Shoppe:

Tehra and Juan are not a slow first dance type of couple, so they totally rocked it out. Thanks to our assistant Erik for this one:

It was not without its tender moments there, which as always, is Lisa’s specialty:

After the toasts, we headed out to grab a few more shots right before the sun went down:

Back inside for a view of the entire theater. The stage was bathed in purple, and the entire place looked incredible.

Tehra and Juan really got down, and the night was filled with dancing:

A great shot from Lisa of the Father Daughter dance. Love the emotion in this one:

Did I say the one above was a classic Juan expression? Nah, THIS is a classic Juan expression, and a little break dancing:

Yep, he’s a character:

The snack bar for the guests as they were leaving. Candy, flavored marshmallows, and jerk popcorn. It was pretty awesome.

Time for our signature After Dark Session!

I kid you not, after we got done taking this next shot, we tried to get them to move on to the next pose, but they were so into each other that they didn’t move and didn’t seem to hear me at all. It was SO romantic, we just let them be for a minute

Here it is, the facebook teaser. hadn’t seen it yet? Probably because you haven’t liked our page. Click here. You know you want to. One of our favorite little touches was that the marquee even said congratulations to them!

And of course, we’ll finish with a few from the Kretschmann Photo Booth. Party time? I think so.

Yes, you read that right. It’s the ginger mafia. Plus one.

And of course, the happy couple.

Thanks so much for visiting and we hope you enjoyed all the hotness that was this blog post. We worked with some of our favorite vendors, the couple was A-MA-ZING, and it all turned into a fabulous wedding. Thank you again Tehra and Juan for letting us be a part of it all.

Tehra and Juan are one of those couples that you are drawn to the instant that you meet them. They have such different personalities, but they just work perfectly together. We have rarely seen as much expressed love and emotion on a wedding day as these two showed us. From their First Look all the way to the last dance, Tehra and Juan expressed so much joy on this day that we just know the rest of their lives will be filled with an amazing deep, abiding love.

Tehra and Juan had a wedding full of amazing details and special touches. Of course with Taia Younis of Inspired Occasions as your wedding planner you are sure to have a beautiful wedding day right down to the last detail, and they really thought of everything. From the movie ticket save the date to the art deco invitation, this was a wedding full of rich colors and beauty. From the moment we arrived we were welcomed as part of their family and everyone was so warm and inviting.

As we arrived, Tehra was finishing her vows.

And then it was on to mom for a little proof reading

The fabulous shoes:

The Swarovski crystal necklace added a little extra bling. On a side note, Lisa is easily distracted by sparkly jewelry

We absolutely LOVE the little details like the custom dress hangar. Ladies, this is a cool little detail you can add your day that adds SO MUCH to your dress pictures!

Beautiful flowers from Anthology Studio

Even all the bridesmaids and the flower girl had custom hangars. Totally awesome touch.

Tehra’s engagement ring was really awesome and unique – it had a HUGE ruby, and I think this ring may have given Kate Middleton a run for her money!

Juan, looking suave and not at all nervous about their first look. Looks can be deceiving though!

Tehra and Juan had probably the most amazing first look we have ever seen. It was the most emotion we have ever seen on a wedding day way more than even a bride walking down the aisle. We had SUCH a hard time picking which photos to blog from their first look, so we’ve decided that it will get its own blog post soon! For now, here are some of our favorites. Words can’t do justice to these emotions, so just watch their faces and enjoy!

After the first look was over, it was time to head off to the Empire State Plaza for some photos. First, the bridal party for a little fun. We’ll get back to them later.

It was SO hot on the Plaza that day. Can’t really tell if it was from the sun or the smoking hot couple though.

We just love playing on this sculpture in front of the capitol building.

Such a great, intimate moment, Lisa’s specialty.

Lawyers during the week, models on the weekend? One has to wonder…

Thanks to our assistant Erik for this one and for helping us out that day!

SO cute. These two were so excited to become a Mr. and Mrs.

Hard to go wrong with an awesome black and white, and our “unique” Albany architecture.

Back to the bridal party with a little change in location!

Let us introduce you to the ladies!

A little classic and stylish…

But also a whole lot of fun!

Time for Juan and the guys:

Love this next shot. The walking shot is always a winner.

Yeah, they look like they’re taking over this town. Watch out Albany…

From there, they walked to the Palace Theater together to prepare for the ceremony. Suddenly, the entire crowd, including the Bride and Groom, burst into song. I think all of downtown may have started hearing “Going to the chapel and we’re gonna get married.” It was awesome.

Want more? Well, we’re going to have to keep you in suspense. Part 2, including the ceremony and reception, coming your way soon!

Tara is a local photographer who has been helping us out by assisting at weddings and running our photo booth, and she thought it was about time she and her boyfriend Karl spent some time in front of the camera. We spent some time in downtown Albany, went back to their place and had a little time in the park with their dog Finnegan, and then headed just outside of the city to one of our favorite spots with the most killer sunset light. We blogged our favorites from this session, and now we’d love to show off the rest of it! Check out this slideshow, and check the link afterwards to see all the images and order prints!

We’re now offering a photo booth to bring along to your wedding! Want fun photos of all your guests at your wedding reception, but tired of boring shots of people sitting at tables? We bring along another photographer, a cool backdrop, some lighting, and a box of props. Your guests get crazy, have fun, and you get all the images after the wedding!  Check out some of the fun photos we had from our photo booth at Erin and Matt’s wedding this past weekend!

The crew from Inspired Occasions:

Erin and Matt giving a little thanks to Inspired Occasions for the great wedding they received from the Bridal Idol contest.

And, of course, Lisa getting attacked by the said Inspired Occasions crew

If you’re interested in adding the photo booth to your wedding, let us know! To see all the images from Erin and Matt’s wedding photo booth and order prints, click here!

Welcome to part 2 of Tara and Karl’s portrait session from Albany, NY. If you didn’t check out part 1, click here to hear the story! We’re going to continue from the perfect little spot we found just outside of town. It had an amazing sunset and was totally perfect for this session. Yes, it might have said it was off limits, but the light was too perfect not to shoot there. Minor details.For those of you who have not been a Scott Kretschmann client you may not know that all of our shoot planning is done by Lisa and the client. Tara and Lisa worked diligently over the period of a few weeks to plan outfits, locations and props. As you can see it all came out beautifully! When they were discussing props Lisa had a vision of them romantically nestled up in a quilt. When the quilt in the grass trend becomes the thing this summer remember where you saw it first… Here are a few more of our favorites for you to check out!

They brought the  quilt that Tara’s grandfather’s aunt had made, it’s a family heirloom, so we wanted to get a few shots with it.

Another prop was the sign that Tara made herself. It read “I had always known it was you.” How perfect for the two of them.

These two are just too comfortable with each other. Love it.

This next one was out Facebook teaser. Had you liked our page, you would have seen it already!

The light just couldn’t get any more perfect than this.

LOVE!

A few more headshots for her website:

Tara used to be a cheerleader at Marist, so Karl tried to pull out some mad cheerleading lifts. It didn’t really work, but what we got was great!:

Yeah, so, it may have been off limits, but it was TOTALLY worth it.

Thanks for stopping by – feel free to leave some comment love below!

It’s an unfortunate reality that as photographers, we have hard drives filled with beautiful pictures of everyone but ourselves. Instead, we usually have to make do with photos that we are tagged in on facebook, and the occasional awkward “over the head arm stretched out” self portrait. Lisa and I talk a lot about how we wish we had more great photos of ourselves, or how we wish we had photos as good as what we give our amazing clients. We see this with lots of other photographers as well, so we were honored to get to do a couples session for Tara from Tara Wiley Photography and her boyfriend Karl. We started off in downtown Albany, took a few shots with their dog Finnegan in a park right by their house downtown, and then headed just outside the city to get some killer sunset shots. We got so many photos from this session that we wanted to blog, we’re going to make two posts out of it, so come back tomorrow for more!

Her red hair really glowed with the setting sun.

You’re going to hear this over and over again, but I LOVE THIS LIGHT!!!!

She also needed some new headshots for her website, so we hooked her up.

Next stop, the dog park, with their beloved Finnegan McFurryface, or just Finn for short! He had about zero attention span, but we did get a few great shots.

Yeah, this was about the ONLY time he actually stayed on the path.

Such a cute little family.

Yeah, Finn loves his people.

Then, it was off into the countryside to catch the killer sunset. One of the things we love about Albany is that you can seriously drive about 10 or 15 minutes from the city and have a beautiful country scene.

Yeah, there’s that light again.

Seriously, how cute are these two?

If you guys liked that, just wait till you see what’s coming your way tomorrow. Seriously some of the most killer light, ever!