Event Design: Rooted in Love Weddings, Hair: Jaya Loo, Makeup: Danyell Weinberg, Invitations: The Paper Mint Press, Silverware: BHLDN, Lanterns: World Market Cost Plus, Venue: Private Estate

]]> http://katenoelleblog.com/a-winter-wedding-styled-shoot/feed/ 4 http://katenoelleblog.com/new-year-new-look/ http://katenoelleblog.com/new-year-new-look/#comments Fri, 13 Jan 2012 05:21:20 +0000 knoelle http://katenoelleblog.com/?p=4613 Hello! And Happy New Year! It’s 2012, which means lots and lots of NEW is happening. January is such a fun time…. it’s a time for reviewing the highs and lows of the previous year, taking notes on how to make the new year better than the last, and my favorite… dreaming. It’s an exciting thing to witness evolution of thought, being, and goals. Where I was, I am no longer.

I’ve been listening to Elevation Worship’s “All Things New” a lot lately…. and I’ve adopted it as my mantra for 2012. Last year was intense in both amazing… and not so amazing ways. But looking forward at the open road ahead, I can’t help but have hope and peace that whatever comes, He is near and deeply involved in the world around me. Hope is an exciting thing.

And with that, I’d like to share my ALL NEW website!! This has been a work in progress for quite some time… involving lots of soul searching and self-realization. It’s been almost 4 years now that Kate Noelle Photography has been in existence. Whoa…. (having a moment)

So, while my dream and vision have remained the same, my website’s look and feel has changed to reflect the changes I’ve undergone in the past couple of years. I’m excited at the unending spectrum of possibility this year holds, and I hope you’ll continue to journey with me on this crazy adventure of living life to the fullest.

Here’s a shot Christopher took of me at a shoot recently…

And here’s the all new look of Kate Noelle Photography’s Website! Head on over to www.katenoelle.com to check it out!

There are all new galleries featuring some oldies, but mostly new images…

There’s a new “Connect” page where you can find every possible way to connect with me via social media…. I hope you’ll find me so we can be friends!

And I’m also excited about an all new “Word on the Street” section where past clients have laid out their experiences with me as their photographer…. I love my clients!!

]]> http://katenoelleblog.com/new-year-new-look/feed/ 1 http://katenoelleblog.com/march/ http://katenoelleblog.com/march/#comments Fri, 01 Apr 2011 03:05:15 +0000 knoelle http://katenoelleblog.com/?p=3211 I was at Fedex today, sending a package. As I was filling out the form, I asked the lady if it was March 15th, because that’s what day I thought it was. She gave me a weird look and, half annoyed, she said, “yeeeaaah… it’s the 31st of March today.” Awesome. The whole month of March slipped past me without even leaving a note. I suppose that’s what I get for moving to a new place, planning a wedding, and working like a mad-woman. I do have SOMETHING to show for the big black hold of crazy in my schedule, and that is…. I finally got my wedding invitations out! Woohoo! (as I wipe blood, sweat, and tears off my forehead with the back of my wrist) I’m super excited about the way they turned out, and I’m uber relieved to know that I can move on and continue planning the smaller things now that the bigger ones are taken care of. Here’s the final product! What do you think?

Along with the invitations, Chris and my wedding website is FINALLY finished! After 3 months of being “under construction”…. everything is finally there. When you get a minute, check it out! (click the photo below to visit our site!)

And for those of you going through wedding photo withdrawals…. I’ve got two fresh new weddings and a bunch of portraits to be sharing with you soon!

I always feel guilty when I buy new things. I feel guilty because I don’t NEED that new cardigan. (But But But…. I DID leave my favorite sweater at a wedding last September and I’ve been cold ever since.) My adventures this past month with 6 Items or Less have been enlightening.  I wore only 6 items of clothing for the past 30 days. Two pairs of jeans, two t-shirts, a tank top, and a black sweater. It’s been quite the challenge, living in such a fashionable place, but I’ve learned something from it all…. that Fashion is mostly just a State of Mind. As hard as it was some days, it was also that much more freeing by the end, knowing that I CAN be content wearing the same thing for 30 days straight. I WILL be content with what I have. Here’s a few shots my friend Erin took of me to document this experiment…

I wrote an article on the 6 Items or Less Website….. you should check it out. Happy Friday!

You can read the full article here.

I wanted to share a few “creative” projects that have been my challenge in the past 10 days….

1. My OWN Save the Date Cards. The problem with being in the wedding industry is I feel like people EXPECT greatness from me in anything regarding weddings. So when I’ve been trying to decide on colors and themes and places and flowers and photographers and invitations and caterers…. it’s been so hard to remove myself from that unnecessary pressure in order to make a decision that reflects Christopher and Me… and not what I think other people expect of Christopher and Me. So, finally, I finished the design for our Save the Dates and I feel pretty good about it. What do you think?

2. My OWN Wedding Website. I’m finally getting excited about my wedding day. I’m in the middle of putting together our wedding website… but I love it so far… and it’s been so fun being “the bride” in all this! I’ve still got a lot to go, but I’m stoked.

3. 6 Items or Less. My good friend Holly in Heels turned me on to this challenging social experiment… and I’m excited to say that I’m DOING IT! Click here to read my first blog post about it…

So all this to say, January 2011 is a time for new beginnings, and I’m fighting hard to challenge myself creatively, to find and establish who I am creatively aside from the world’s perceptions… and, hopefully, become more like who He created me to be. Happy Monday!

What if your discs came packaged like this…

And upon untying the bow, opening the cute little brown boxes, and peeling back the crispy tissue paper…. you discover some custom designed cases for your discs? What a novel idea…

They’re labeled and customized with your desired style… and if you have a lot of images, you get several… all labeled with their Volume number….

And instead of keeping them on your cluttered desk where they’ll get mistaken for the disc of pictures you took from Aunt Mildred’s 90th karaoke birthday party… you can neatly place them in your bookshelf next to the other novels. PERFECT!

I’m a big fan of being creative with how you store and use pictures… and, as always, finding a more creative way to do things makes life that much more exciting…

A couple weeks ago, Christopher and I sat in the clubhouse at Forest Home talking about life and lessons and the challenges of living on the road less traveled… all pretty light a fluffy subjects (not). It’s a wierd season of life for both of us… feels sort of like a staging ground… or a change of tides. Do you ever have those season in your life? So who knows where the wind will blow or what He’s got up his sleeve for the next chapter of the adventure. I suppose I’ll know in all good time… and when I find out, I’ll be sure to keep you posted. But for now, here’s a few pictures from the same afternoon at camp with Christopher… we made a ship at the craft cabin and it’s my new favorite desk decoration! More weddings and fun shoots to share in the coming weeks!

In case you find the “how-to” portion interesting….

It was all really quite simple. I found the shades of paper I wanted & cut rectangles, glued them, printed the “note from betsy” cards onto Card Stock and cut them, sewed them with goldenrod needle point thread, and cut the corners off some square doilies and sewed them on as well. I glued the squares onto some cream off white textured square folded notecards, bought some yellow envelopes and BOOM! Betsy Greeting Cards! Many thanks to Paper Source for their awesome selection of paper! Aaand Happy Birthday Sweet Girl!

For me, other art forms like painting, drawing, sculpting, and music inspire new creative juices. When I’m feeling particularly unmotivated… I pull out my art box and create SOMETHING… and I love it!

I spent an evening recently at Laguna Beach’s famous Pageant of the Masters and Festival of the Arts media night. A friend, Ernie Castello, invited Christopher and I to attend for the 2nd year in a row and, let me tell YOU… it was SO COOL! If you get the chance to go to the Pageant of the Masters…. take it! It’ll change the way you see art…. and it will totally fill your creativity cup as well!

The evening began with a preview into the Festival of the Arts, known as California’s Premier Fine Art Show. It was voted “Best Arts Festival” by the Travel Channel this year… and it’s the longest running outdoor fine art show in California! Basically, tons of artists set up outside on this really nice patios area and there’s mini art classes and demonstrations…. you can even talk with the artists themselves! Here’s some shots from the Festival…

The second portion of the evening consisted of a behind the scenes tour of the Pageant and we learned about each step by step process from the backdrop design, to the costuming, to the actual placement of real people into the live works of art. Here’s some shots from behind the scenes…

ps… this dress was hand-painted to look identical to the one in this picture…

For each piece of art being shown in the pageant, the cast is painted to look exactly like their characters look in the original masterpiece.

See if you can pick this guy (above) out in the following masterpiece named “Prince’s Day” by Jan Steen.

Here’s some more shots of the cast being painted…. this guy is going to be one of the characters in the famous “Etruscan Dancers from the Tomb of the Leopards.”

Once they’re painted and costumed up, they’re placed by the stage artists into their backdrops…. very intricately, I might add.

This is the final presentation the audience would see… how cool!!

“Bon-Ton Burlesque Poster”

“Coffee and Donuts”, by Scott Moore.

Many thanks to Ernie for hanging out with us, inviting us, and just being plain awesome.

This night was so rejuvenating for me. I loved soaking in the artsy atmosphere and brushing shoulders with the oldies and newbies of the art and media world. Maybe one day I’ll be half as good at creating as these amazing people…..

It was back in December 2009 when Christopher and I sat down one night to watch Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, the first of the very popular children’s series. As the plot began to unfold, Harry Potter experienced Hogwarts, School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, for the very first time. Christopher turned to me and said, ” I want to go to Hogwarts SOOOO BAAAAADD!” I laughed at his child-like candor… and then the creative bug bite me…. How could I recreate Hogwarts for Chris? Is there a way to incorporate a birthday into the Hogwarts experience? Where do I get an owl? Can Muggles even have a magical party? Chris is turning 25 next year… I wonder if it could be a surprise party?…. and it went on… and on… and on… until April rolled around and I found myself immersed in creating the magical world of Harry Potter. For all you blog readers, you probably only noticed the fact that I was not blogging as much as usual…. and for friends, family, and Christopher, you probably only noticed that I was a little distant. For 4 months I planned…. and on April 17th, I pulled it off with the help of friends and family.

Here’s how the whole plot unfolds….

Christopher was taken out for a “Man-Date” by his friends Jason and Trevor. They shot guns at a shooting range, ate some ice cream…. and as Trevor distracted him with tantalizing conversation about cars… Jason made a beeline for the Irvine Train station. There, he confusedly followed Jason and Trevor to the station platform…. Platform 9 3/4 to be exact… and Christopher found 3 things out of the ordinary. The first being a handful of his friends waiting for the train… the second being a big green trunk in the middle of the walkway…. and the third being a letter addressed to him.

He opened it to find that he had been accepted to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry!

Aw… look at him! He’s still sooo excited, he can’t stop reading his acceptance letter!

The Train, Hogwarts Express to be exact, arrived and they all excitedly got on and traveled about 15 minutes to Hogsmeade (Santa Ana Train Station) where they were escorted to Hogwarts in carriages drawn by invisible Thestrals (cars). This shot, by Rita Skeeter (Amanda Patrice) is my absolute favorite from the evening… I love how it totally captures his anticipation and curiosity….

All the first year students….

The carriages left them at the front entrance of the castle… and who should appear, but Dumbledore’s assistant… ME! I led them into the great hall after giving them a quick pep talk…. and they were brought in to take part in the sorting ceremony in front of the rest of the school.

The great hall was decorated in its usual splendor… sporting banners from every house, an enchanted ceiling that was the exact visual of what the outside sky looked like…. and candles silently floated overhead.

The tables were set with the finest gold plates, goblets, and silverware there ever was… and each place setting had a unique class schedule, some Berty Bott’s Every Flavor Beans, a chocolate frog, a quill for writing, and a single sheet of parchment.

Candles, white flowers, and peacock feathers adorned the tables along with some vintage style jars and vases….

Even Hedwig, the owl, decided the party was worth attending… (and yes… it’s a real owl)

As the first year students lined up, the sorting hat (my dad) sang the annual Sorting Hat Song and each student placed it on their heads to be sorted into their houses.

Here’s what the backs of all the Sorting Cards looked like…

Christopher was more than happy to be sorted into Gryffindor…. the house he had told his classmates he hoped to be in.

Dumbledore gave his beginning of the year welcome speech and the students were dismissed to their classes. Yes, I said classes. Each house had a different schedule and they were to report to each of their classes together as a house.

And here’s what all the class schedules looked like….

Potions was taught by Professor Severus Snape (Trevor Clinard) in the Dungeon, where the classes learned about and mixed their own potions. I believe a love potion was being tested on…

Care of Magical Creatures was taught next to the Whomping Willow by a friend of Hagrid’s, Professor Ninnymuggins (Jeff Clinard) , who was joined by none other than Sirius Black himself. Together, the professor and Sirius Black taught about unicorns, hippogriffs, dragons, and phoenix’s. I even heard rumors of a real dragon’s egg being used as well! I also heard that Christopher does a very good impression of a Hippogriff…

Herbology was taught in the greenhouse by Professor Pomona Sprout (my mom)… and in Herbology, they learned all about growing magical plants (cilantro, basil, and poppy plants), their uses in the Wizarding world, and how Dragon poop acts as the best kind of fertilizer there is. Students were allowed to take home their newly potted plants.

Transfiguration was taught by the formidable Professor Minerva McGonagall (my Aunt Karen) in a classroom. She taught on the art of changing one thing into another…. and each house was required to take turns transfiguring play dough into different objects.

Lastly, Muggle Studies was taught in the Room of Requirement by Professor Hermione Granger (my sister Melissa), who was standing in for Arthur Weasley. Professor Granger taught on the possible uses for Muggle objects and why they were unnecessary in the wizarding world. Here are some of the Muggle Objects used in the class…

Oh! And I musn’t forget to mention that the houses were competing for the House Cup throughout the night. So as they went through classes, they were given opportunities to win points for their house, and answer extra credit questions for extra points. Aaaand…. in the middle of the 1st class…. 2 of the school’s  Snitches got out of the Quiddich equipment when Filch was cleaning it…. so the houses were set loose to find them…. each 150 points to the house that found it.

Chris’ family came down from Norcal to surprise him… he was so excited they were there!!!

Here’s the House of Gryffindor…

The House of Ravenclaw…

The House of Slytherin…

And the House of Hufflepuff….

As classes drew to a close, the sun began to set to the west and the enchanted ceiling glowed beautifully in the twilight…

Food was served by two of Hogwarts finest House Elves (Penny Steele and Sheena Halim-Machmur)…. and the winner of the House Cup was announced! I believe Slytherin was the winner….

Cupcakes were served…

And as the birthday boy tried to give his birthday speech…. he found himself speechless… wordless… and utterly blessed.

Many Many Many thanks go to all those in attendance… Thank you so much for making Christopher’s 25th Birthday one to cherish forever! Your presence and participation meant the world to him… THANK YOU! Here’s some more shots from the party…

I think he liked the party…

A special shout out goes to Amanda Patrice, who volunteered to be the party photographer…. Amanda… you saved me. Thank you so much for all these beautiful pictures! I couldn’t have done this without you! And a BIG thanks goes to Trevor and Holly Clinard for volunteering their fab home for the party! Your hospitality was VERY appreciated…. I’m honored to call you two friends!

Happy 25th Birthday Christopher… you are loved by so many people! I pray this 25th year of your life will become just as surprising and adventurous as this party was!

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