Blog - Page 23 of 24 - Rachel Kaye Photography

Alisa + Jason {Grand Haven Proposal + Engagement Photography}

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CONGRATS ALISA AND JASON!!!!

Epic Proposals win again!!! Jason contacted me at the beginning of October wanting to propose to his girlfriend Alisa on my family farm! I was beyond excited! We sent numerous emails back and forth discussing details and plans and came up with the idea together of carving ‘will you marry me’ in pumpkins! I carved all the pumpkins and set up the little display above (its dark so you can see the lights!) and then just waited excitedly in the woods for them to come. I also had set up my tripod to take video in order to capture the moment! My dad was even in on the proposal and told them to go a certain way to be sure it was a surprise. I don’t think Alisa believed it for a long time! She thought Jason was playing a prank on her and it was adorable.

After the epic proposal moment we ventured off for a little engagement session (can I say AGAIN how much I LOVE doing engagement sessions right after proposals? EVERYONE IS ALL SMILES :D)

I am so excited for them! Alisa is almost done with school and will be joining Jason in Nebraska!! (yay!) so it seemed right to venture into the corn field (where they did the most adorable thing ever..check out the GIF later) and do a few things around the farm to capture this amazing evening for them!

Thanks again Jason for asking me to capture this once in a life-time moment for you and Alisa! I am so excited for you both!

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Tags: bethke farms, fall engagement, grand haven engagement photography, west michigan engagement photography

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Anna Class of 2015 {Chicago Senior Session}

I have known Anna since…well you know I really don’t know. Her parents are theatre friends of mine and I just like always remember her being around!!!! She has grown up to be an AMAZING young lady. So talented (yay fellow artists!) and her family is like family too me! I was so excited when they wanted me to do Anna’s photos earlier this year. We kept planning something epic and amazing but timing just wasn’t working out. Anna didn’t want the traditional ‘Grand Haven’ Senior photos (and who can blame her! beach + lighthouse so overdone) So i was even MORE excited when she wanted to come romp and play with me in CHICAGO!!! My other home! YAYYYY funny enough I had a wedding the night before in Holland so I happily made the drive and we did a SUNRISE session.

Man sunrise is perfect in the city.

No one is around. LIKE NO ONE. (in city terms this is) It made for some perfect backdrops starting out at the Art Institute and then we headed over to Wicker Park where she was staying in this fantastic hostel w/ her rad parents and sister. We even went to the farmers market and had some fun w/ plants (everyone knows I love me some plants!!!). Anna. You rock. This session. FAV ever….seriously so magical. Can we do it again!?!?!

These are just some of my FAVS if you wanna view the whole collection head on over HERE.

Tags: chicago senior photography, grand haven senior photography

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Ali + Jake + Sovaya + Little Dude {Grand Haven Maternity Photographer}

Meeting amazing people can sometimes be hard. But when you do AMAZING weddings you get the chance to meet some really amazing people. I haven’t even blogged Heather + Randy’s wedding yet (it will be happening soon! i find weddings DAUNTING to blog but now that i have BLOG STOMP dear god it will happen much sooner than i expected) it was magical. And then I was like HEY i know these people……. both Ali and Jake were in the wedding party and I kept oddly thinking I knew them (I actually learned this BEFORE the wedding day since I had the fun chance to capture Heathers bachelorette party! so no i wasn’t that awkward about it the day of… I mean maybe I was….Eh I probably was awkward about SOMETHING :))

Flash back to a few years of Pumpkin Smash at the farm (we do this every year after the farm closes….stay tuned for more on that in the future I have a feeling some epic photos will be happening this year) and I realize they have been coming to this for awhile now. Thanks to Kyle + Emma my psuedo family (not blood but who cares! grew up w/ Kyle) for being friends with these two and Heather + Randy for bringing them back into my life in even more magical ways.

So obviously when Ali is like HEY do you do maternity photos? I am like NOT YET! LETS DO IT!!!!!!! And agreed to let me work my magic on them to welcome their new little guy. This hardly touches on the images I took since many of them ARE SUPER SECRET (aka: they reveal the growing dudes name! we are keeping that a secret!) so this is all I can share (for now) CANNOT wait to meet little guy. Sadly they likely won’t be at the smash this year since Mr. Dude is due right before Halloween! SADNESS but this just means we have to hang out more mmmk?

Basically what I learned from this session are 2 things 1) i love these three (four?) even more than i thought i could 2) i love taking photos of pregnancy. Like how freaking gorgeous the whole growing a human thing is. I DIE! Love it so much!!! Couldn’t be more excited to watch this family grow!!!!

Tags: fall maternity, grand haven maternity photographer, maternity, west michigan photographer

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A Knight in the Woods {Rosy Mound Park, Grand Haven MI Lifestyle Photographer}

There is something wonderful about re-connecting. Finally seeing someone you knew long ago when you were both MUCH younger and meeting up again. I have been following CR since we did a show together back when I was in college, and he was just a wee little high school dude. Watching him grow in his art and following him on social media. Social media is really strange… you feel this connection with someone you may have known long ago by watching them post their greatest (and sometimes their worst) but never really actually getting to see the person makes this weird sort of anti-connection. So when I saw that CR was in Grand Haven the same day I was I basically forced him to meet up.

Funny enough CR has now moved to Chicago (where I also live as well) and is training to be a knight for Medieval Times. (thus the title). I am pretty stoked for him, he also got a puppy (YAY PUPPIES) and another job (excuse me if I get this wrong CR) doing stuff for an event company I may just run into (ya know being in the wedding industry and all). Its amazing to have seen him coming from doing childrens theatre with me to training to ride horses (which he has already done for 2 summers doubling as a stunt guy in a really rad show in Ohio) and doing exactly what he went to school to do and has dreamed of.

CR and I both notoriously have ADHD and ran around the forest like a couple of goons just being weird. I was playing with a rental lens and there was something freeing about not being HIRED to take some photographs. I just got to play and have fun and kept that up with the post-processing. We put away our social media and actually socialized and that was pretty awesome. Can’t wait to run into him at the dog park in the city, or see him being all Knight like. Good Luck CR i know you got this.

Tags: chicago photographer, grand haven, mi, rosy mound, west michigan photographer

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Kristin + Matt {Grand Rapids Engagement Photographer}

I really like telling stories through pictures. A LOT. Sometimes I am not so good at coming up with the right words to describe how the day went, or the shoot felt but thats OK. Afterall, the point is to document the day and tell a story THROUGH PHOTOGRAPHS. And like…I am OK WITH THAT. That is what I am here for!

Kristin is my best friend. Hands down one of the most genuine beautiful people I have ever known with the biggest heart and a HUGE smile to go with it. For about a year after I met her I still hadn’t met Matt. I joked all the time with her saying she ‘made him up’ or that he really was her fake boyfriend but once I FINALLY met him it was like oh yah. I get you two. Its pretty much perfect. THEN when she told me she was engaged I got even more stoked….like so stoked. THEN she asked me to be in her wedding and it was like SQUEEEEEE yesssss of course girl! NOW she is getting married AT MY HOUSE. Like hello backyard/farm wedding magic is about to happen!!! I cannot wait. And seriously guys these two are the coolest. Millie is also the cutest little dog ever. She steals the show. I was so happy to capture this day for them and a little behind the scenes look at their day to day life. I am like SUPER used to taking photos of brides getting ready but getting ready for an engagement??? That was just to special. LOVE IT. Millie was super helpful for that too.

After we took Millie on a walk at their FAVORITE park to take walks in we headed back to their house and played with bubbles…then headed to Osgood brewery (a favorite place for them) and had a few beers. I even got MY photo taken. Super thanks to Tim for being my second in command this day! He was good at Millie monitoring when I just wanted the two of them alone! Love you guys! Can’t wait to be a PART of your big day and be on the other side of the lens for a day.

i have stared at this gif for so long. Matt is like a bubble MONSTER. Poor Kristin and her ONE lonely bubble….. haha!

Tags: animated gif, engagement gif, gif, grand rapids wedding photographer, wedding gif, west michigan wedding photographer

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McDonald Family {Never Stop Getting Family Portraits! Grand Haven, MI Family Photographer}

So I pretty much am in LOVE with this whole session. When I was trying to go through all of the photos I sent the McDonald family I had a really really tough time picking my favorites! When Nicole’s mom contacted me to do family photos when the whole crew would be in town I was STOKED! I spent a lot of time with her daughter Nicole in High School getting into lots of trouble and I couldn’t wait to see their new amazing home and lake McDonald. ALSO i knew there would be lots of dogs and well, I love dogs. Sally above is pretty famous (her adventures are chronicled by Tricia and is called ‘Life with Sally’ ). And all the other dogs are pretty rad too. (Check out this sweet GIF of Lyle shaking it). He started off his session totally right in my mind by getting his brand new bandanna all wet with a little swim.

I spent a good chunk of time just hanging out with these 5 and getting to know their family dynamic a little more. I just loved goofing around and capturing real life as it happened and making fun ‘poses’ seem not so posey. I am a firm believer that family portraits should NEVER end even when your all grown up! I think they are even more fun honestly, no little kids crying or not looking at the camera. I just had to deal with Mike not really wanting to smile for real (and lemme tell you he was a tough nut to crack! but i finally got him to GENUINELY smile! WINNING!). They are also the coolest family I know 🙂 the all wore their raybans (well Nicky borrowed mine 😉 but they looked real good on him) and looked pretty B/A in my opinion.

I am also SUPER pumped because shortly after this Nicky and Nicole (check out how cute they are at the end of this roll of photos) announced their ENGAGEMENT! WOOHOO!!! I am excited to go celebrate their engagement with them in New York in Novemeber and take some ‘official’ engagement pictures and maybe even a bridal (YAY DRESS SHOPPING). Like I said Nicole and I are good friends from High School. She booked her date for next summer and I was so pumped. Then i looked at my calendar and realized one of my OTHER BEST FRIENDS is getting married the exact same day….. 🙁 how I wish I could clone myself and be in two places at once….. SO i am doing all I can to still be involved with their day and Kristin is so kind to share me a little. And thank goodness for wedding photography. I can’t wait to see who they choose (of course I am giving all sorts of recommendations!) and see the photos.

I just announced my fall mini sessions and if you have a family with adult kids this is the PERFECT way to get a great set of photographs to fill your walls and keep the memories coming. Also little kids really are awesome too. Just hit me up rachelkayephotography@gmail.com for more info! Can’t wait to take your photo at Bethke Farms this fall!

Nicoles brother Jake and boyfriend Nicky were my first subjects 🙂 they are so hilarious together. I am sure they are pumped to be ‘brothers’ too. It seems right. And apparently they were both itchy at the same time (see above ;))