Bridal/Trash the dress session

A colleague of mine asked me to tag along with her to a bridal/trash the dress session and since I love brides I told her absolutely! So now let me introduce you to this funny bride. Nichole is an absolute hoot! We laughed through the entire session. We started things off at the old Navy Base based off of Rivers Avenue then headed to the very gorgeous Downtown Charleston and finished up her session at Folly Bch for her to trash her dress. The water at Folly Beach must have been around 70* and Nichole just dove right in. All eyes at Folly Beach were on her! She laughed and giggled as the waves kept coming and she was slammed from one side to another- needless to say it was a fun fabulous session.

Enough of my rambling here are a few photographs from her session.

Bridal Session with Kimberly

Not a cloud in the sky and low humidity! That was the perfect Saturday afternoon. Kimberly has been married for now 3 years. She had told me that her bridal portraits weren't really something to wow over and that she'd love nothing more than to redo them. So Saturday we set out on our adventure. We headed to downtown Charleston and started photographing all around. Kimberly and her husband married at the beautiful Palmer Home in Charleston, SC. Let me tell you I had NEVER stepped foot inside that B&B but when I did go in on Saturday my jaw dropped. We knocked on the door not knowing whether or not they'd let us in to redo Kimberly's bridals. The lady was very nice and said we can absolutely go inside and take photos. The photographs are below and are just breathtaking!

If you ever want a gorgeous home to marry in full of not only history but absolutely timeless the Palmer Home is the place for you! I'd highly recommend this location to any bride. The staff was amazing while were there and the view to beautiful Charleston harbor was priceless. Below you'll find photographs of Kimberly around downtown Charleston as well as inside the Palmer Home.

For more photographs please feel free to checkout my Facebook by clicking on the box to your right hand side!

Thanks for looking y'all.







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A Beautiful Family

I had the privilege to photograph this weekend the Eubanks family. I met Jodi through a Facebook Air Force Wife group and she was following my work for a while. She contacted me late last year to photograph her family but because my husband fell ill with pneumonia and she had just given birth I declined and told her I'd gladly photograph her family after July 2010. Jodi contacted me a few weeks ago and asked me if we can set up a session for downtown/ Folly Bch.

Once we met I knew I'd get some great shots. Jodi and Jason are an absolutely fabulous couple! She is a wonderful mother and wife and he is a wonderful husband and father. Their children are gorgeous! Little Austin is just a little darlin' and Mr. Jr. is a funny little man. They're a great family. Without further ado here are a few shots from their session this past Saturday.

Your relationship with your clients

As a photographer I feel like you need to build a one on one relationship with your clients. They are trusting you to capture them as a couple or a family and for you to capture them as they really are in their true persona you have to bond with them. You can take amazing photographs but if you have no story to tell then what was the purpose of you taking that photograph? Was it for the money? Was it to build your portfolio? Those two things should be the last thing in your mind while photographing.

For many years I photographed as a hobby and nothing more. My husband who is my biggest fan purchased my very first camera and told me "I hope this brings you a little bit closer to your dream" I never thought that dream would come true because I didn't think at the time I was a fabulous photographer. I struggled along the way and I learned from mistakes I made but today I am successful and the reason why? Because my fabulous clients all of them have become some of the best friends I've made in my life. Just hearing their love stories makes me smile. I come home anxious from every photo shoot and as I download the photos I smile because I captured that couple just the way they are. I capture them and their love its priceless. I've heard you need to raise your prices- well no not really. I photograph because I LOVE to photograph not to make money. Yes, its nice to get paid to do something you love but when the focus becomes money you lose track of what was it that made you start to photograph in the first place. That's why I stay humble and count every session as a blessing rather than a paycheck. My mission and I've said this numerous times is to give you magazine worthy images for a fraction of the price. And since I have given my clients nothing but the BEST and have been HONEST with them they bless me in return by bringing business my way. An old employer of mine said it best before I went into this business she said to me "Lori, there will always be someone trying to outdo you and try to shatter your business down but you stay humble and you give them the real you the real Lori who cares and loves everyone and you will see the blessings that come out of being yourself" ...to this day I still remember that quote very clearly. I cherish it. I embrace it.

As your photographer I promise to always give you 350%! To always try to go above and beyond for you. I am not in this business for the money. I am in this business to capture your love and take you to that very moment in time 10, 20, 30, 40 years later and you can relive it by just looking at your photograph. That is my motto, my mission! This is who Lori Lee Photography is.

Chad & Sarah Are Married

It seems like its been forever since I've blogged but to be honest with y'all I've been very busy the past few weeks. I had the honor of photographing Chad & Sarah's wedding this past Labor Day weekend. What a fun wedding it was. If you don't remember Chad & Sarah just click on my Facebook link and you may view their engagement session there. They're an amazing couple. Chad & Sarah are high school sweethearts and Chad followed Sarah as she went off to college. These two are so in love you can just see it in the way they look at one another and in the way he kisses her and touches her. She loves him just as much. The day was absolutely beautiful for a September wedding not a cloud in the sky and the humidity was low.

Chad & Sarah wanted to see each other prior to going to the church and my what a moment it was. As a photographer I need to capture that moment that "AH HA" moment but honestly even tho I did capture it I was brought to tears the moment I heard Chad tell Sarah "My God you look so beautiful" and she just smiled from ear to ear. Their love is so unique so pure, so true. I wish them many more years of happiness and love and many blessings from our Lord above.

And finally here are some of the images I captured from their day. If you'd like to view more please go to my Facebook for more photographs and a slideshow.

Meet Andrew

So I've been MIA and honestly its because its been one busy Summer season. Andrew is my friend Cheryl's son and they live in Virginia. A few months ago Cheryl contacted me after having Andrews Senior photos taken by a local photographer she wasn't thrilled she called me up and wanted to know if I could redo his Senior pictures and of course I said absolutely. Cheryl and Andrew drove down 9 hours to our beautiful Charleston, SC. Andrew is joining the United States Navy as soon as he graduates High School this June and his parents couldn't be any prouder! I am proud of Andrew as well. I've watched him grow from this small innocent child to a very mature and resonsable young man. Andrew good luck in your future endeavours!

Andrew's photographs were done in downtown Charleston and others at Folly Beach during sunrise!

I hope y'all enjoy the photos!

Trash that dress!

That's what I told Kimberly once we got to the beach. Hey y'all! I had my very first trash the dress session and it was SO much fun! I really think every bride ought to do that!

Kimberly is an Air Force wife and served in the United States Navy and is now a veteran. She is an amazing person. She's super funny, smart and loves history! Her husband Allan and her share the same passions in life for history and traveling. Kimberly had contacted me to photograph her and her husband since they had not had any professional photographs taken since their engagement and so we scheduled her and Allan but right before our session I get a text saying Allan was not feeling well therefore we would have to re-schedule. Then Kimberly asked me- would I mind turning her couples session into a bridal/trash the dress session. I told her absolutely we could change the session for her. We started off her session in beautiful downtown Charleston where everyone who saw her just awed because she looked beautiful in her gown. We finished our session there- and may I add something? OMG was it HOT! I told her I had NO idea how she did not melt in her gown. It was extra hot outside- awful. We headed down to Folly Beach and to our surprise it was high tide! So yes, you guessed it the beach was gone. The waves were rolling in extremely hard and super fast I had never seen the ocean that angry before. We decided to go a bit further down and finish her session there so she could trash her dress. We got some amazing shots and we even had a lady come up and ask "Dear what are you doing to your gown" and I explained we were trashing the dress she replied "I'm making a bon fire outta mine since I just got divorced" I couldn't help but to laugh at her response! She was an older lady who still had lots of spunk to her. Kimberly did an awesome job posing! She is a trooper. She stood there and took a beat down from the waves as they threw her from side to side.

Enough chattin' for now huh? OK, I'll shut up and post the pics :) Thanks for lookin' y'all.