A huge thank you to all the couples and families who I have worked with since I began this photography business in 2004. It has been wonderful working with all of you and making so many friends through my work.

- This blog is filled with sneak peeks and slideshows from all of my weddings and photo sessions.
- To get a little glimpse into my family life and see some of my personal pictures and what I'm up to lately, visit bykrista.com.

NOTE: I am no longer booking new weddings at this time. I am still booking family photo sessions on a limited basis.
Contact me for more information.

happy thanksgiving

November 19, 2006 – 10:25 pm

Had a delicious early thanksgiving dinner at my parents house today.
Turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing …

Is your mouth watering yet?

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

By kristajean | Posted in personal | no comments         |

in their own words

November 15, 2006 – 12:27 am

Time again for the “in their own words” feature of the blog. I started this after my 2005 season had wrapped up and loved all the participation from my awesome clients. So, I decided to make it an annual thing. Now that all my 2006 weddings are done, I’m looking forward to reconnecting with my couples again, especially those whose weddings I shot at the beginning of the year. It feels like ages ago.

So … if I photographed your wedding, engagement or family pictures this year, email me with some of your favorite pictures and why each image meant something special to you. 🙂 I’m looking forward to hearing from you!

This is a really great family that I took pictures for last year. Michelle sent me her favorites and then wedding season hit and I stopped doing this feature for a while. So I thought I would let their photos be the first. Here they are, in Michelle’s own words.

This is a rare moment where my children can be in such close proximity to each other and still enjoy themselves. Who knew a pumpkin possessed actual magic power?

This photo is special to me because it represents the wonderful love that my parents have for my children. My mom is trying to calm down Andrew as any great Grandma would do and my Dad is just smiling away at how unpredictable the kids can be. They are the best Grandparents!

Here is a nice photo of my family, everyone is smiling and cooperative…well almost eveyone!

By kristajean | Posted in in their own words | no comments         |

christina + alex • album design

November 9, 2006 – 12:20 pm

Just finished a fun album
design for Christina &
Alex. Click on the picture
to check it out. 🙂

By kristajean | Posted in slideshows, weddings | 2 comments         |

the betser family | caledonia michigan family photographer

November 3, 2006 – 8:14 am

A couple weeks ago, I was able to photograph this family, whose pictures I took last year, too. They are so much fun and always laughing together, which makes my job so easy. Loved getting to do their pictures again and meeting the new addition to their family. And the girls are so cute and have grown up a lot since last year. That’s always fun to see. 🙂 Here are some favorites from their shoot:

[ a sweet shot of mother and son ]

[ didn’t I say they were always laughing together ] 😀

[ what a cutie pie. love this shot. such a proud daddy. ]

[ the girls ]

[ such a fun moment ]

[ helping the baby to smile ] 🙂

There were a lot of fun shots, too many to post here. The girls doing their best diva poses, lots more laughter, even a shot of daddy with baby’s binky in his mouth. I told him I was posting that one on my website. 😀 Had so much fun! Can you tell?

By kristajean | Posted in families | Tagged | 1 comments         |

happy halloween

November 1, 2006 – 11:14 am

I hope everyone had a safe and fun Halloween evening! Ours was chilly, but a great time. I haven’t had much time this year to share anything other than work, so I thought I would share a few pictures today.

[ my kids. the fairy princess and darth vader. ]

[ things I saw on green st., the most popular place in Hastings to trick or treat. ]





By kristajean | Posted in personal | 2 comments         |

erinn + kevin • engagement | hastings michigan engagement photographer

November 1, 2006 – 10:34 am

This is my good friend, Erinn, and her new fiancé. They recently got engaged and I couldn’t be happier for them. We went out to dinner with them and talked wedding 🙂 and Kevin is really cool. So fun and easy to talk to. These two are always laughing together. They are a perfect fit! Easy to see God made them for each other.


[ this one is so very sweet ]


[ a walk in the park. the colors were just starting to hit their peak ]

Congratulations, my friends! Can’t wait for the wedding next June. 🙂

CLICK HERE for a little GUESTBOOK ALBUM I made for them.

By kristajean | Posted in engagements | Tagged , , | 2 comments         |

new slideshows

October 30, 2006 – 2:56 am


CLICK this image for
Lindsey & Kevin’s slideshow!

CLICK this image for
Terry & Julie’s slideshow!

By kristajean | Posted in slideshows, weddings | no comments         |

kevin + lindsey • 10.21.06 | hastings michigan wedding photographer

October 25, 2006 – 11:11 am

I was so very excited for Lindsey and Kevin’s wedding reception. They were actually married in Puerto Rico earlier this month, but had this great reception planned for family and friends. Lindsey and I have become good friends over the past year and a half or so since she hired me. I shot their engagement pictures last summer at Tunnel Park in Holland and they were so fun to work with. Lindsey loves photography and even came with me to two weddings this year to assist when Heidi couldn’t. She’s a really sweet and fun person and I’m so thankful to know her and call her my friend. Without further ado …

some details …
[ the flowers – made by the amazing Janna – were gorgeous ]

[ the dress ]

[ lindsey looked so beautiful ]

[ we walked around the huge metropolis of Hastings in the rain and took some fun, relaxed pictures ]

[ I’m siiiiiiiiiiiingin’ in the rain! ]

[ I have been dying to use this cool mural on the side of our movie theater in town and they were totally up for it! ]

[ the colors were still gorgeous around here this weekend. downtown by the fountain ]

[ the cake ]

[ they took some dance classes and actually choreographed their first dance. it was very cool. ]

[ a couple sweet moments during their slow dance ]

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!!

People, places & things:
Reception and catering: Monterey Center (catered by Monterey Grille in Caledonia)
Flowers: Janna Jackson – email her
DJ: Brad Eley (616) 243-5300

By kristajean | Posted in weddings | Tagged , , , , | 4 comments         |

julie + terry • 10.14.06 | lakeside michigan wedding photographer

October 22, 2006 – 6:55 pm

Julie and Terry were married at the historic Lakeside Inn in Lakeside, MI. I took my husband along with me to assist for this wedding and we had a great time. We arrived on Friday evening for their rehearsal dinner at Weko Beach in Bridgman. The sun was setting as everyone enjoyed a delicious dinner catered in by Cravings, who also catered the wedding. So yummy! I don’t often photograph rehearsal dinners, so it was fun to be there and meet family members the night before the wedding. We stayed at the Inn along with Julie & Terry’s family, the bridal party and other friends and enjoyed a breakfast buffet in the morning before I started shooting the girls getting ready. I immediately fell in love with all the of the details Julie put together for this wedding. The cake, the flowers, etc. They hired some extremely talented people to help make their day perfect. I will list them at the bottom of this post after all the pictures, so … here we go! Some pictures from the wedding.

[ Lakeside Inn ]

[ some detail shots ]



[ how cool is this cake?! ]

[ Julie getting ready ]


[ the groom ]

[ moments from the ceremony ]

[ i love this shot of Julie. she looked back at me and I thought it looked so cute that I asked her to do it again. such a pretty smile.

[ newlyweds ]

People, Places & Things:
Ceremony & reception: Lakeside Inn, Lakeside, MI, 269.469.0600
Caterer: Cravings, Lakeside, MI, 269.408.1460
Wedding coordinator: Jody VanBogelen, theorganizedpartner.com, 269.760.9991
Minister: Rev. Brian Tuttle, 810.964.1385
Florist: Melody Horn, Three Oaks Florist, 269.756.9860
Cake: Truffles, 219.879.1233
Videographer: Wayne Harvey, 574.234.5670
DJ: Frank’s DJ Service, 269.253.3357

Congratulations, Julie + Terry! 🙂

By kristajean | Posted in weddings | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 1 comments         |

reem + greg • slideshow

October 22, 2006 – 4:12 pm

Click the image
for the sneak peek
slideshow from
Greg & Reem’s 10.7.06
wedding in Grand Rapids.

By kristajean | Posted in slideshows, weddings | 5 comments         |