Hi all!

Last month I had the amazing privilege of being able to shoot the wedding of an old friend in Rochester, NY. Jen and I shared the same dorm hall in college. I remember her always being so kind and always smiling. She always had so much joy.

She has such a heart for the Lord, and after visiting Egypt with some of our closest friends, God also gave her a heart for that country.

I had such an amazing time getting to know her family and Mark, and seeing their amazing house, it was all such a blessing to be a part of!

Thanks you guys!

Well well well,

Long time no see little blog. How I missed you! Man, I am REALLY slacking with this whole "blogging" thing. I almost forgot what it was. Someone asked me last week if I blogged and I thought they were asking me if I knew how to do some swedish dance. Just kidding. Lame joke.

On Memorial day weekend, I had the privilege of traveling back to my home state of New Mexico to shoot one of the most beautiful destination weddings I've ever seen.

Madeline and Jay are both live in Texas. They met in college after Jay saw Madeline in a crowd and yelled something really romantic out like, "Hey YOU! I know you!" That little story made me laugh.

These two are SO creative! Madeline MADE her own wedding dress, and it was absolutely amazing. This wedding had a very Victorian feel to it, and it was even a little Steampunk inspired, which I LOVE! Jay had on a really timeless vest, while both of their mothers were decked out in Victorian garb. It was amazing.

The wedding was set at the beautiful Pecos National Monument, and let me say folks, after living in New Mexico for over 20 years, I'd never visited this place and it was absolutely stunning. I could have spent all afternoon there just hanging out and taking pics.

For the short time that I got to spend getting to know Jay and Madeline and their family, I really loved it all. What a great and creative couple, and I was seriously honored to be able to be a part of their wedding day.

Congrats you guys, and happy 4th. I hope you like the pics. :)

Let me set the scene for you.

Nashville, TN

The Historic Cedarwood. Towering trees, a huge mansion, rolling hills and a huge red barn. This was the amazing wedding I had the privilege of shooting for Gary and Coburn!

I met Gary when he came down to Santa Fe to help serve Youth With a Mission. He's a very handy guy who loves horses and he's a generally outdoorsy type of guy.

Gary met Coburn while he was working at a barn where Coburn rode for the Auburn Equestrian Team. Apparently they really hit it off because they're married now... ;)

They went on their first date on August 18th, 2007, which is awesome that they know the exact date of their first date. It had to have been really special!

These two are great. Very fun loving, and totally in love. I don't think I've had a bride and groom who loved looking into each other's eyes as much as these two. My favorite part of the day was watching their faces light up each time they saw each other. So fun.

On to the slideshow! Have fun getting to know Gary and Coburn, and enjoy reliving their special day with them!

Let me first say, I've been looking forward to doing this wedding for MONTHS!

Jenny & Steven are absolutely one of the funniest couples I've ever met. You can really see that they love life, they love being together, and they make me want to live life to its fullest! I felt like their whole ceremony was a celebration!

They met 3 years ago on July 4th, and I'm pretty sure Steven has been making Jenny laugh every single day since that first day they met.

And lets talk about photogenic. Seriously, they're so much fun to shoot. Jenny comes up with the cutest ideas and I love it! I wish I could bring her on all my shoots so she can tell me some cute poses!!! ;)

Anyway, I hope you all enjoy the pictures, and the slideshow.

A special thanks to Dominique (Dominique Elise Photography) and to Chris Chappell for both of their awesome second shooter skills!!!

Ooooohhhhh yeeeeeeeaaaahhhh, for the first time ever, we did video at a wedding. Its a surprise to Jenny & Steven, so this is the first time they're hearing about it. But I hope they love it. It was just a little video that we did, trying to capture the essence of the night, in the midst of taking some fun pictures!

Enjoy!!!

Hi everyone!

Well, a few weeks ago I had the privilege of shooting a gorgeous wedding in Maine. I'd never been to New England before, and let me tell you, its like a whole other world compared to the one I'm from. It was GORGEOUS. I've never seen so many different colored trees before! Absolutely amazing.

Anyways, let me tell you about my bride & groom. Hilary and Joel are two amazing people. Just from the handful of times that I'd gotten to talk to them, I can see that they have hearts of gold. They both love the Lord and are passionately involved in outreach. I loved their ceremony. Everyone took a few minutes to worship God in the midst of the entire ceremony which was awesome. It was so cool seeing Hilary & Joel up on the alter totally focused on God. So so cool. One of my favorite parts of the weekend was watching Joel look at Hilary. I can't help but smile every time I think of his face, or see a picture of him looking at her. They're both so IN LOVE! I had a blast shooting with them, and can honestly say that it was an unforgettable experience.

Thank you both for your hospitality, and for the absolute privilege of shooting the two of you. Also a special thanks to Hilary and Joel's families for all the amazing accommodations!

On to the slideshow, I hope you all like it!

Hello Blog World!

A few weeks ago I had the amazing opportunity to fly out to Baltimore and shoot an old friend's wedding. Carolyn and I met back in 2003 when I was attending Liberty University. Right away I could tell that this girl was F-U-N. She seriously is the life of the party. Whenever she was around, she kicked it up a notch and made whatever she was doing a party. I love her.

When she asked me if I would consider shooting her wedding I got so excited! I knew it was gonna be a nonstop fun time the entire time I was with her.

Let me tell you, Daniel and Carolyn's wedding party are insane! I loved all of them. They are surrounded by amazing friends and family that love them very much. I enjoyed meeting and getting to know them all!

So on to the slideshow, I had so much fun shooting! I hope everyone enjoys it!

Hey Everybody!

I had such an amazing time at this wedding! A few posts down you may have seen the recent couples' shoot I did with Matt and Amy. Well, its been kind of a whirlwind batch of photoshoots with them, but they're just so darn photogenic, I had to torture them with a couples' shoot and their wedding day pics all in the same week. ;)

This couple is seriously amazing! With just the little amount of time I've been able to spend with them, I can totally tell that they have a blast together. Their wedding day was so fun, and it was full of just family and friends spending time and enjoying each other's company in the moment.

Matt is a cowboy, and Amy is a city girl and its so awesome to see both of their styles and personalities collide. They really compliment each other very well.

I enjoyed every moment I got to spend shooting them, and I'm really glad I got to know them a bit, and share in their special day.

Enjoy the pics and slideshow!

Hey Everyone!

What an intense spring 2009 has turned out to be! I've been shooting quite a bit lately, almost on a biweekly basis and its been wonderful!

Last week I shot the wedding of some wonderful new friends Bobby Lee and Tish. They hired me pretty last minute and right off the bat I knew I really liked them.

They have a beautiful home in the hills right outside of Santa Fe where they decided to hold their wedding ceremony and it was awesome!

Although it rained for most of the day, the wedding, which was an outdoor wedding, still turned out really well.

I brought along one of my best friends, Dominique (of Dominique Elise Photography), and we had so much fun shooting their wedding and hanging out getting to know some of their wedding guests.

It was all so much fun, and I really hope everyone enjoys the slideshow.

On a side note, the song for this slideshow was sung by Tish's son Bobby. She requested that it be on the slideshow! I hope you all like it!

Long time no see everybody!

Wow, its been over a month since I last posted a blog!!! I don't think I've ever gone this long....

Life has been WAY crazy! But don't worry, in the coming days I have a few other blogs to post from different shoots and misc. events, so that'll occupy at least 2 minutes of your day if you're bored.

I spent this past weekend up in Pittsburgh, PA shooting the cutest wedding! Omar and Elizabeth are a perfect couple! Talk about having two people absolutely meant for each other, these two are definitely it! We had such a fun time in the damp cold weather shooting pictures, and we managed to not get ANY mud on Lizzie's wedding dress, so that was a plus for us. ;)

Also, Pittsburgh is possibly my all time favorite city, so I always love visiting and getting to see all my friends who live out that way....such a blessing. This weekend was pretty much perfect except for right now I feel like I could actually fall asleep on my computer...so I'm gonna keep this blog short!

Here's my slideshow from the wedding yesterday, and on a side note, I promised the families I'd have the slideshow up yesterday evening, and I couldn't because the internet was down! So I apologize to you all dearly! I hope you enjoy the slideshow!!!

Hey Everyone,

Today was AMAZING! Recently, I reconnected with an old friend of mine named Amelia. Amelia and I go waaaay back, and we recently discovered that we both went into the wedding business. I, obviously a photographer, and Amelia a wedding planner under her own company called Southwest Occasions.

She's been so gracious in allowing me to shoot as her photographer and today was my first wedding with her. Let me just say, the location was gorgeous. We were at this amazing resort called El Monte Sagrado in Taos, NM. The views, atmosphere, EVERYTHING was so beautiful.

The bride and groom were both from New York, and most of the guests had flown down to New Mexico for the wedding. Let me just say, this couple is gorgeous. I couldn't have asked for a better looking couple.

So on with the pictures. Sorry to say there isn't a slideshow, but I was able to edit a few pics tonight and thought I'd post them. :)

Soooo, it seems like forever ago, but in May I did a Wedding for my good friend Nichole, and actually, it was my first official wedding. I've learned so much since then, and its only been a few months! Anyway, I've been super late in getting a slideshow up about this wedding, and finally finished everything and decided it was due time for one now!





In other Danette news, my good friend Andrew Barlow helped me put up my website this week. Its pretty basic right now, but more will follow. You can find galleries from all of my weddings and sessions on it. You all should check it out and leave comments on how talented and kind Andrew is for doing this for me! danettechappell.com

This year has already been CRAZY for me! I've done 4 weddings and I just started my business last week. How did that happen?!

I've been to Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, North Carolina, Virginia, Colorado, Pennsylvania, and Chicago and we're only halfway into the year.

I'm looking forward to what is next, whatever that may be, I don't even know yet!

Anyway, I thought I'd write up a quick blog, I haven't written one in a couple days, I hope all is well with everyone!

Blessings!

Hey everybody!

Its been a crazy week! I'm happy to be home, but catching up with life as usual after two weeks in another life is a little daunting! Its been great though. After I flew home from Chicago on Sunday, I headed to a gorgeous wedding up in Hyde Park. It was so pretty! I think it was even prettier to see the New Mexico landscape after being in a different state for so long.

Will & Isabel are gorgeous people! They make such a beautiful couple, and they were wonderful to shoot! You can really tell that they love their family!



Here is a little slideshow from the day:

So, I'm a bit blog happy on my first day as a newbie blogger, but thats okay, maybe you're really bored.

So like I said, I shot a wedding this weekend with Sarah Barlow, and it was awesome. The church was huge and gorgeous and all the decorations were incredible. I've put a quick slideshow together to show everybody how fun it was shooting this wedding.

One thing to note about the slideshow, I was with the groomsmen before the wedding as they got ready for the ceremony, so I have a whole lot of pictures of the guys and none of the girls, but it was still a ton of fun!

Enjoy!