Hanging with Jerome, a.k.a. a formal apology to Jerome Bettis.

For those of you that have not heard (translation - anyone left on earth that we have not managed to brag to), Mirage Photo just had the pleasure of shooting a destination wedding for Kelly and Stuart in Saint Thomas (US Virgin Islands). It was everything you would have hoped it would be... Beautiful couple, wonderful families, gorgeous setting, and on and on and on. I will get some photos posted very soon. Still trying to recover from a "slight" sunburn and sleep deprivation on the journey home. Speaking of the journey home, I thought it might be fun to share with you a little excerpt from an e-mail I sent to my buddy Devin (who happens to live in Charlotte, NC and is a fantastic up-and-coming photographer whom I cannot wait to work with if we ever get the opportunity)

"By the time we made Charlotte last night, I was exhausted and quite sunburned and running late after sitting on the runway while they tried to move a plane at the gate. Just wanted to let you know why I did not call. Then... as we are getting off the plane and headed to our other gate, I end up standing next to Jerome Bettis at the counter in the LIDS store. He is buying a Detroit hat while I am trying on sunglasses. I looked up and just about fell over. I know he could see the surprise on my face, and I am like,,, "hey…what’s up". At the same moment I am looking up to the NFL hats and considering buying a Steelers hat to have him sign it, when the guy behind the counter is like,,, "holy *##@)& (rhymes with fit)... I just sold “the Bus” a *&%#&##@ (rhymes with mucking) hat…. And I am like,,, wow.. that was awkward.. so I did not say anything else. Then low and behold he is sitting at the gate across from us so Samantha went up to him and asked if I could get my picture with him because I am too big of a #$%#&%$#@@ (sounds like, uh.... virginia, sort of) to ask him, and sure enough, HE DOES IT. Is that weird?? I really don’t get many brushes with greatness but I thought that was pretty damn cool. And then he is like,,, "thanks for keeping it real in STL, we should hang out sometime because you take really cool pictures",,,, actually he did not say that at all but that is what I am going to tell everybody."

So that is my Jerome Bettis story.... In all honesty, it was very cool and Mr. Bettis was a real gentleman to accommodate us. I felt horrible because after we interrupted him at the gate, he was swamped by other folks wanting pictures and autographs so if by some freakish chance he should read this, then I would like to formally apologize for inconveniencing him. He truly went out of his way to be nice to us and I am quite certain the majority of famous people in the world would be not so polite. Thank you!!! (in case he does end up reading this) I was a big fan when he played here is St. Louis (and L.A.) and he was always a class act in Pittsburgh, not to mention one of the greatest running backs in NFL history, 6 time Pro Bowler and Super Bowl Champion. No offense Sweetness.

Use Mirage Photo, become famous....

KASSY ROCKS!!!!
How lucky is this girl? She has a great photographer shooting her wedding and got to go head to head with Tim Ezell on FOX2 this morning. What more could a bride want? I don't know that we can actually make you famous, in fact, we really did not have a thing to do with Kassy getting on TV but I am a firm believer in riding the coattails of those that are more fortunate and famous than me.

Check out our super fun bride whoopin some booty on FOX2.



We love Kassy (and her fiance Jon). They thoroughly entertained us during their engagement shoot and we cannot wait to shoot their big day in November.

If you want to meet us in person (and possibly the world famous "Cake Dive Kassy") we will be photographing the cake dive this weekend for Saint Louis Best Bridal, signing autographs (not), in addition to showing off our work at our booth at the show. Stop by and say Hello. In case you can't view the video, we are going to be at the Chesterfield Mall at the Saint Louis Best Bridal Show from 11am until 4pm on Sunday.

Jenna, party of one, your blog is now ready.

Another whole month has passed since I have posted a single comment or update. Can it really be that hard... log in, type a password, start typing. It is the kind of thing my 5 year old could be doing. Truth be known, I have never been accused of being as smart or gifted as most 5 year olds seem to be.

Congratulations to our Blog Contest Winner - Jenna. She is the really cute girl with white dress in the attached photo, along with her supporting cast of characters from the recently released short film called "101 Things To Not Do In Your Wedding Dress".

She opted to go with a local portrait session instead of running off to Europe like we had hoped. Jenna got married June 28th of last year and still follows our blog.... I think that is very cool. I honestly thought that I just typed this blog as a means of self motivation and decompression. I had never really considered the reality that folks might be out there reading it. I thought we would have to come up with some imaginary bride to win the contest because I just didn't think anyone would go out of the way to read a photography blog site. (Don't you think someone should have come up with a better name than blog anyway... seriously.. it is just not the most attractive thing to say. It sounds like something that belongs in the garage... "hey son, run out to the garage and grab the blog for me, it's hanging on the wall between the handsaw and the weedeater". I am sure there is some truly meaningful reason behind it but I can probably live without knowing it. Maybe I should just punch it into Wikipedia and find out, but then I will spend the rest of the day searching the internet for more worthless trivia that I will never have any use for. I mean, really.. how often does it come up in conversation... "I wonder where the word BLOG came from?" It would be kinda cool to be able to throw out the answer.... Oh hell, here I go... if I do not get back to this before next month, my apologies.) I am off to research...

That wasn't so bad... OK, check this out....

A blog (a contraction of the term weblog) is a type of website, usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in reverse-chronological order. "Blog" can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a blog.
Many blogs provide commentary or news on a particular subject; others function as more personal online diaries. A typical blog combines text, images, and links to other blogs, Web pages, and other media related to its topic. The ability for readers to leave comments in an interactive format is an important part of many blogs. Most blogs are primarily textual, although some focus on art (artlog), photographs (photoblog), sketches (sketchblog), videos (vlog), music (MP3 blog), and audio (podcasting). Micro-blogging is another type of blogging, featuring very short posts.

Back to reason that I brought you all here today. Congratulations Jenna. Jenna called the day after the last post was entered, mentioned the contest and WON!! With her permission I will post a picture or two from the portrait session once it is completed. Speaking of posting....

I have some other great ideas for contests that I totally plan on putting together in the future, so please check back in like... oh.. say 2012. At my current pace I should be running another contest by then.

Class Dismissed.

A quick thank you and a huge shout out to all of our brides from last year. Your wonderful reviews and kind words have earned us a spot in "the Knot" as a "Best of Weddings" wedding photographer in the Midwest for the second year in a row. We cannot thank you enough but we sure would like to try so.... for the first 2008 bride (or groom) that calls us and mentions they saw this offer on our blog site, we will do a free portrait shoot at the location of your choice. Preferably somewhere like Europe but if it is just your backyard, we completely understand. I know this goes without saying but please call Samantha at 636-577-1074 as I will be cleaning this post tax season office for the next two days. On your mark, get set..... GO.

Now back to more of us braggin' about our bad selves. If you are a soon-to-be bride that is trying to narrow down your vendor search, then pick up a copy of this edition of "the Knot", it is on newsstands now (did I mention that we are in it) and it really is a great resource for all things wedding. Some of my favorite vendors are mentioned in this years selections.

I am really disappointed in myself, I truly wanted to blog more and here it is, April 15th already. We have some great photos that we need to drop on here in the days ahead... I think I will finish up closing out the books from last year and finally be on top of everything (wait for it)(wait for it....) HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHA. Man, that's funny!

More to come...

I love my mom.....

With Mother's Day right around the corner I thought I would post this in honor of mothers all around the world. I bet this would translate into any language and be just as funny.



I think everyone should call their mom's right now and tell them thanks for everything they do, have done, and will do.

I don't think folks visit blog sites to hear about business but just in case you do.... thanks to everyone that came by our booth this weekend. Thanks to Jodie over at the Ameristar Casino for putting on a great bridal show in conjunction with Saint Louis Best Bridal. They really make you feel welcome, well... except for the security guard that confiscates every one's drivers license when you arrive. Not such a bid deal when you get there but when you have 100 or so vendors leaving at the same time... giant pain in the keaster. I am always impressed with the staff at Best Bridal. They truly go the extra mile for both the brides and the vendors.
If you need a really elegant ballroom with fantastic food and great service for your reception, or any event really... call Jodie Parker. She is the Event Meeting Manager and can be reached at 636-940-4384. I highly recommend them.


We are really looking forward to meeting with
those of you that book a consultation with us
during the show. For any of you that are still
looking, give us a call so we can talk about how
we can help you have a remarkable wedding day. I hope that we hear from you soon. We are on the verge of booking that last remaining open dates that we have in 2009 but at least call to see if we have your date available. It will only hurt a little bit, I promise.

For any of you blushing brides that wanted to attend and couldn't, please come visit us at the 4th Annual St. Louis' Best Bridal Cake Dive on June 7th at Chesterfield Mall. It should be a really messy time. There is nothing better than seeing brides have a giant throw down in the middle of 50 pounds of cake icing... but enough about my plans for this weekend. Seriously, come by and say hello even if you already have your photographer, heck... even if you are already married. We just like to visit with people and talk weddings.

MIRAGE PHOTO is doing our own stimulus package..... ONE STINKING PENNY AT A TIME!! In a desperate attempt to rid the office of unwanted supplies, we managed to track down some very attractive yet quite obsolete stamps. Realizing that folks would not catch our blatant attempt at mail fraud, we decided to pre-stamp our return envelopes with these relics. Low and behold, our first bride we attempt this little scheme on catches us red handed and was forced to lay down the law. It seemed only fair that we allowed them to short their wedding deposit check by a penny in an attempt to hide our shame. Those of us at Mirage Photo hope that you will put that copper coin to good use. Tip a DJ, make a wish in a passing well, lay it on a railroad track and see what cool shape it becomes after a thousand tons of American Metal run it over. Use it to penny a door shut and lock a roommate in a dorm room for hours until maintenance can come and free them. Or do like I do, toss it onto the center console of your car where it can turn green and sticky from sitting in the sludge from spilled beverages. I am truly glad that we could do our part to turn this economy back around. You can't tax us for $798 Billion without first stealing a penny.

Not quite sure what will happen when postage goes up to 44 cents later this year. I suppose there will be a lot of $399.96 deposit checks sitting around because heaven knows, I won't be smart enough to get to the post office in time.

2009 Bride's Choice Award Recipient

Look at us being all famous and wonderful. We have sweet AND delicious photography!!! Special thanks to Wedding Wire for selecting us and all of our wonderful brides (and grooms) that voted for us. You all rock. Thank you, thank you, thank you.....