Tracy Bookman Photography

Many of our clients may not know that we also photograph weddings, and have done several at many of the most popular area wedding venues. We’ve done some in some out-of-the-way locations too, like on the top of mountains, on a gazebo in the middle of a pond, and in the middle of a plant nursery!

I love to photograph weddings even though they’re jam-packed events that can sometimes be a challenge to work.

Like the time we photographed an outdoor wedding in Green Mountain Falls, and as soon as the wedding was over and the family portraits were done, it began to rain. The rain went through the bride and groom formal portraits and all the way through the outdoor reception. Rainy weather at night in the mountains is rarely warm. My son, Kramer, and I were soaked by the end of the night, but the camera gear did great and we got some really nice photos from this wedding.

For those of you planning weddings for 2010 or 2011, we have some great new packages. Plus, here are a couple of tips to help you plan for your wedding day, and to make your day go more smoothly.

TIP #1
Be sure to book your wedding vendors 6 - 9 months in advance. The more popular vendors may be booked more than a year in advance. We have a wedding scheduled for July of this year  that was scheduled with us in January of last year. Don’t wait! Tracy had a woman call him yesterday asking about photographing a wedding in 2 weeks! That’s an extreme example, but look around for your wedding vendors plenty of time before your wedding day.

TIP #2
Brides… one of the most overlooked detail of your wedding day is your shoes. No, I’m not suggesting that you get the fanciest shoes you can find. Just the opposite. In fact, I’m suggesting that you get the most COMFORTABLE shoes you can find. I’ve seen brides wear flip-flops. Under that long dress, your shoes aren’t visible anyway, so why not be comfortable? I’ve also seen lots of brides wearing high heels or really tight shoes and they’re miserable all day.

TIP #3
If your’e going to hire a DJ, get a really good one. I’ve seen some DJ’s who just sit behind their desks all night and never engage the crowd. The best ones act as emcees and keep your party moving. If you get a bad one, everything stalls out and your guests don’t know what’s happening, and many of them leave before the important events.

That’s all for now.

Thanks for reading.

-Tracy
The Colorado Springs Wedding Photographer

p.s. enjoy the following show!

Here’s a quick video of Kaitlyn’s 2010 senior portrait session.

This was a great time with Kaitlyn and her mom in Fox Run Park last month. We couldn’t have asked for better weather and the location was perfect too.

If you’re considering doing senior portraits, or even family portraits, Fox Run Park is a great spot. There are 2 small lakes surrounded by trees and grass, and there’s a nice gazebo in the middle of one of the lakes. We’ve photographed 2 weddings on the gazebo.

If you’ve never been there, and you would like to check it out, to get to Fox Run, go north on Academy to Hwy. 83. Take this past New Life Church where 83 turns sharp right and if you keep going straight past New Life, you’re now on Voyager Pkwy. Take Voyager all the way to Northgate Rd. and turn right. At Roller Coaster Rd., turn left and stay on that until you get to Stella. At this intersection, you’ll see a sign for the park. Turn left on Stella and then an immediate right into the park. If you go left at the dead-end, follow the road around until you see the lakes on the right.

Fox Run has 5 miles of trails, sports fields, and a couple of great playgrounds for the smaller children.

Enjoy!

-Tracy
The Colorado Springs Photographer

Not a promising weather outlook for Chris and Pamela's wedding, but everything worked out great!

Recently, my assistant, Heather, and I arrived at the top of a mountain on a ranch west of Colorado Springs to photograph Pamela’s and Chris’ wedding, and this is what we saw when we got to the wedding location. It all looked so dramatic! There was a rain outburst and then it all cleared up for us to get the formal portraits done before the wedding. The weather held out during the wedding also, but as soon as we began to take the family portraits after the ceremony, it got nearly pitch dark, and began to dump on us again.

So, we high-tailed it down to the reception site that they had prepared on their property, and finished out the night without getting too wet!

And who says the life of a wedding photographer isn’t exciting or dangerous?

-Tracy
The Colorado Springs Wedding Photographer

It's time for some catch-up around here!

The last few weeks has been pretty crazy around here. Of course, it always gets that way this time of year. We’ve been busy with babies, HS seniors, and weddings. We’ll have some really fun and beautiful images to post this week, so be sure to check back regularly. I’m going to try to post some new images each day from our recent sessions. Who knows… you might be famous! Or, you might see someone on here you know.

So, we’ve got to scale back the number of sessions we’re doing this week so we can work on the images, prepare them for previewing for the clients, and get orders out to the lab, and deliver orders that we have here for our clients. This all has been kind of on the back burner for a couple weeks while we’ve been busy photographing. We have a few consultations planned and one session this week, but hopefully, everyone will forgive us if we don’t schedule any more, but put all new and incoming sessions on our schedule for next week.

Mallory at her 6 month session in the Here I Grow program from Tracy Bookman Photography

Hey, and let me mention also that it’s just about time for FAMILY PORTRAITS! That’s right! Fall is the time of year when families love to get portraits done to send out as Christmas gifts. It’s a perfect time of year to do it with the cool weather and beautiful colors.

So… of course we’ll be offering a fall family photo special. That will be announced here this week, so keep checking the blog!

Lastly, here’s one of my favorite images from Mallory’s recent 6 month session!

Thanks for reading.

-Tracy
The Colorado Springs Photographer

According to Cynthia, she had a great time and a lot of fun during her bridal session.

We began doing bridal sessions last year, and I love the results.

For those of you who are not familiar with what these sessions are, it’s a time when we go out with the bride before her wedding day to capture most of the bridal portraits that we will include with the wedding images. Normally, we do this on the day that the bride has her practice “up-do” at the salon. That way, her hair looks like it will on the wedding day and all of her wedding images look consistent.

What’s the benefit of doing things this way?

Well, for starters the bride is way more relaxed than she is on the wedding day. She’s not worried about 1001 things which could go wrong or what she has to be doing. She can just relax and enjoy the session.

Second, we have a lot more time. No more rushing around trying to get a ton of great images in 30 minutes before she has to head down the aisle. We can relax, look for the best places to photograph in, and capture the best poses.

Lastly, the photographer is a lot more relaxed (for the above reasons!) 

To encourage our brides to take advantage of this great and fun session, we offer to do it for free for all of our brides. Some of them don’t take us up on it, but some of them do. The ones that do have a great time and get some wonderful images.

-Tracy
The Colorado Springs Photographer

But, we’re very glad you did!

The following is a comment that Marion and Kris posted on our old blog site that I am transferring to our new blog.

Tracy, Kris and I have been married for just over one year now. We recently got on your site to get your mailing address as we were reminiscing over wedding memories and wanted to send you another thank you. We watched the abbreviated version of our slideshow you have posted. Thank you, publicly, for providing us amazing memories we are proud to show others through your photography! It brings tears to my eyes not only to watch what you assembled in the form of a slideshow, but also the photo album you put together. I cherish what you have done for us and will contact you when we need baby photos someday! Thanks again! We love your work.

Marion and Kris
Colorado Springs, Co.

Thank you, too, Marion & Kris, for allowing us to serve you and be a part of your great day!

Thanks for reading.

-Tracy
The Colorado Springs Photographer