As a little girl I never dreamed about the day that I would get married, what kind of wedding dress I’d wear or who my Prince Charming would be. I was a “girly-girl” but just not the kind who thought about those things. All I wanted was to be able to grow my hair really long and wear Lee-Press-On-Nails! Neither of which I do now.

The same goes for having babies. Until I caught the baby-bug about 4 years ago I didn’t dream about buying baby clothes or start picking out names. Then as soon as we started planning to have a family I immediately began thinking about my baby shower and maternity portraits! I’ve been excited about these events for many, many months and am so thrilled that quite a few family members, and a lot of good friends, were able to share the excitement with me.

Especially my sister, Liz, who flew in from England and will stay with us until Eli makes his appearance.

Also my Grandma who came down from Michigan.

Here are some of the treats that our incredibly talented friend, and past Kismet bride, Bunny, made for us to enjoy! All of which were fantastic!

Our theme for the baby shower was “nothing disposable”. All the decorations were handmade and/or reusable, like this alphabet banner for Eli’s room.

And one of my favorite things, the cloth diaper cake that my dad engineered!

A big thanks to everyone who helped make the shower so special and wonderful!

And now for Part 1 of my Belly Portraits – the Water Theme!

I can’t tell you how many times people have asked me when I was going to post my Belly Portraits. With only 2 weeks to go until my “guess date” I know I’m cutting it close, but our planned “maternity leave” only recently started and we still haven’t taken all the portraits we have planned. Hopefully I’ll have the rest up before Eli arrives.

Swimming has provided incredible relief from the largeness and body ache I’ve been feeling lately and that’s one of the many reasons we’re planning a water birth.

My sincere appreciation goes out to my amazing husband, and photographer, Curtis. I love my Belly Portraits and can’t wait to do the rest!

Emily

Kismet Photography

It seems like in our business things are always connecting in ways we would least expect. That’s why we are firm believers in the word Kismet, which means destiny and fate. Things are meant to be and always come full circle.

Back in 2008 while photographing a wedding in Boone, NC we met Amanda, who was a bridesmaid. Little did we know we would cross paths with her again almost 3 years later. Her and her husband moved to Greenville and are now expecting their first child. And what perfect timing to reconnect with a former Boone resident as we will be going to Boone again next weekend for a wedding!

Any day now baby Liam will make his debut!

Emily
Kismet Photography

I started photographing baby Declan when his mom came in for our Growing Belly Series, starting in her 16th week of pregnancy. I love not only being surrounded by other pregnant mommas and photographing their bellies, but watching them grow and change from session to session.

It’s so amazing to see what their baby looks like after many months of waiting. Here’s Declan at 10 days old.

Emily
Kismet Photography

Our pregnancy makes it’s debut on the blog!

For those of you who don’t know yet, we’re expecting a baby boy, Eli, who is due in September. Curtis and I could not be more excited about meeting our baby in the near future. Eli will most likely share his birthday month with yours truly along with a handful of other important people in our family. Talk about a lot of cake in one month!

Besides working hard creating beautiful wedding images for our couples we have also been busy turning our once empty storage room into a nursery. After things are a little more complete we will be posting pictures.

And now on to other bellies…

Our first pregnant momma, Pucci, who has already had her precious son, inspired me with her colorful, dramatic belly-dance costumes so we had to incorporate her hobby into the portraits of her baby belly.

At-home maternity portraits were perfect for our second momma, Melissa, who’s baby boy will be here later this month.

Can you tell her and her husband are Greenville Drive fans? They also had a Drive onesie and matching bib!

Our Maternity Portrait sessions are tailored to each woman to fit her style and personality as well as where she feels most comfortable. Another option for your Maternity Portraits is an Underwater Portrait Session.

As pool season is beginning, now is the perfect time for an Underwater Session at our pool (or yours). And, for a limited time, our Underwater Maternity Portrait sessions are only $75 (normally $100). You can make this session all about you and your belly or if your partner is willing to take the plunge, they can join in too!

Our summer availabilities are going quickly so call or email us today so we can talk about your Maternity Portraits.

Emily
Kismet Photography

Boy do we have a lot to blog about! As of March we entered what photographers call the “busy season” so we’re slowly catching up on posting some of our favorite portrait sessions and weddings.

Christine and Stephen, who both attended Valparaiso University, are getting married in a couple of months on a 30+ acre property in Boone, NC. Being the outdoorsy people they are we were looking for a park setting with large trees for their Engagement Portraits. (You’ll find out soon why the big trees were important). And Paris Mountain State Park fit the bill.

This is a slacklining wire. Slacklining is a balance sport that uses nylon webbing tensioned between two sturdy anchor points, aka the trees.

They both make it look so easy!

We can’t wait to see you both in July for the big day!

Curtis & Emily
Kismet Photography

Being wedding photographers, primarily, sometimes we don’t see our couples again until they start a family. Baby Carter’s mommy and daddy are a Kismet couple from 2009 and we got to meet their little bundle of joy when he was about three weeks old.

Looking at his images makes me all ooey-gooey inside thinking about what our baby, gender undetermined for another 5 days, will look like and who he/she will take after. As a child I was bald for quite some time and I hope baby Snyder comes out with gorgeous locks like Carter’s!

Here are a few of my favorites from his session. Enjoy!

Our “Baby Bits” Canvas Wraps are custom designed to coordinate with your nursery theme and colors.

Emily
Kismet Photography

We knew from the get-go that Jennifer and Zach’s wedding was going to be unique and memorable! From the quirky, re-purposed decorations they had in mind, to the character of the Woodburn Historic House, where the ceremony and reception will take place, to the fact that there’s a dungeon downstairs and not to mention they are friends with several of our past couples-turned-good-friends, it all adds up to a wedding that we are really looking forward to in May.

As we’ve said many times, our Engagement Portrait sessions are intended to capture each couple’s unique personalities and interests. For these two lovebirds that included some vintage vinyl of completely non-mainstream bands (I mean have you heard of Margot & the Nuclear So and So’s?!) and Winslow, their adorable pup. Oh yeah, and beer!

Thanks to Blue Ridge Brewing Co. for letting us use their place.

Curtis & Emily
Kismet Photography

We’ve had an absolute blast photographing all the adorable babies for this portrait contest and now is when your fun begins! The voting is open for Kismet Photography’s 1st Annual Cutest Baby Portrait Contest! Here are several ways you can cast your vote:

1) Check out all the adorable babies below and cast your vote by clicking the “Like” button below your favorite. Feel free to leave a comment but remember that we are only counting the number of likes.

2) Then head over to our website (handy link: www.kismetphotography.us) and click on the “1st Annual Cutest Baby Portrait Contest” banner and follow the super-easy instructions.

3) From our website you can click over to our Kismet Photography Facebook page (or click HERE) and click “Like” at the top of the page. Then navigate to our “Cutest Baby Portrait Contest” photo album and click “Like” on your favorite.

4) All the above voting options require a Facebook account but if you don’t have one, don’t fret. You can email us at info@kismetphotography.us with your choice in the “Subject” line. Only one vote from each email address will be counted so please don’t spam us.

It’s that simple! The winner of the contest will receive, in addition to bragging rights, a 15″ Wall Portrait of the winning photograph as well as a Gift Certificate for One Free Family or Child’s Portrait Session (a $300 total value). Remember, the voting ends at Midnight on Saturday, March 19th so tell all your friends and family to get their votes in before then.

And now…prepare for cuteness overload…

Addison

Annabelle aka “Belle”

Carson

Nicholas

Sarah

Sophia

Trinity

Curtis & Emily
Kismet Photography

Think you’ve got the cutest baby around?! Then why not enter your adorable child in our 1st Annual Cutest Baby Portrait Contest. Kismet Photography is hosting a FREE contest and all you have to do to enter is schedule a FREE portrait session for your baby to take place on or before March 12th.

After your baby’s session, we’ll select the most adorable portrait and feature it on our website, blog and Facebook page so all your friends and family (and anyone else that thinks your baby is cute) can cast their votes by clicking “Like” on your baby’s portrait. The baby with the most “Likes” after one week will be declared Kismet Photography’s 1st Annual Cutest Baby! In addition to bragging rights, the winner will receive a 15″ Wall Portrait of the winning photograph as well as a Gift Certificate for One Free Family or Child’s Portrait Session (a $300 total value).

Their is no cost to enter and no obligation. All we require is a model release allowing us to post the portrait(s) online. For this particular contest we are limiting the age to 2 years old. Families with multiple children under 2 years of age are welcome to enter more than one child.

Remember, your FREE portrait session must take place on or before March 12th so don’t delay, call (864) 350-2338 and schedule yours today! Or email us at info@kismetphotography.us. Session availability is on a first come, first served basis and may fill up quickly.

Let the Contest of Cuteness begin,

Curtis & Emily Snyder
Kismet Photography

On May 29th we’ll be at the Victoria Valley Vineyards watching two of our good friends say their vows…through the view finders of our cameras that is. We feel honored to be a part of Christy and John’s wedding because we have watched their little family grow over the past couple of years and have grown close to them as friends.

As always we try to mix in each of our couples’ personalities into their Engagement Session. For John, a die-hard comic book fan, that meant photographing in his version of heaven on earth, his favorite comic book store! A big thanks to Richard, of Richard’s Comics and Collectables, for letting us take over his store to create some awesome photographs! Like this one…

Our favorite is “Troll John” in the bottom right! What’s yours?

Then it was time for Christy to do something she enjoys, like baking (or perhaps the subsequent spoon-licking!). Note John doing his other favorite activity, playing video games, in the background.

Of course we couldn’t leave their adorable little boy Conner out of the mix. After all he is one thing they BOTH love… a lot!

They had the great idea to simulate their bedtime ritual…(get your mind out of the gutter)
Just a little Nintendo DS play to wind down after a hard day.

While it would be entirely cool for a wedding ring, John’s Green Lantern ring was just a prop.

Can’t wait until the wedding!

Curtis & Emily
Kismet Photography