Wedding Photographers Knoxville TN Watson-Studios

Knoxville Family Photography

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 11:34:30 -0500

Hey Y'all! I decided it's Wednesday kids-day here at Watson-Studios. Even though we're normally covered up with weddings and not posting too many family sessions, we LOVE doing them, especially now that we have a little one too! Here are some fun photo shoots we did this fall! Enjoy! :)

These were in our Christmas card. More of Wyatt soon!!

The end! xo

Lily Barn Wedding: Aly + Doug

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 23:03:54 -0500

You've heard me say it before and I'll say it again, we work with the best brides out there. I don't know how we get so lucky but if you're smart, sweet, and kinda sassy you're my girl ;). Our next bride Aly is no exception... and neither is her husband Doug (ok, not sassy but definitely as great of a guy as they come). Aly and Doug tied the knot this fall at the goegeous Lily Barn in Townsend, TN. Aly and Doug's friends and family were amazing and the day was crisp with fall mountain air -- and I'm fairly certain it was *perfect* in the way sweet Aly and Doug had always envisioned. It was an honor to shoot their wedding, they are such a great couple, and just one of the reasons we love what we do!

Here are a few of our favorites!

Love Aly writing a sweet note to Doug

I love this bouquet! Whimsical Gatherings did the gorgeous flowers. Look at that beautiful bride/smile/eyes! Oh how I love a girl on her wedding day! So pretty!

Aly and Doug had some cute details! Allison Gaddis of Live, Laugh, Love Weddings coordinated the planning and design.

Love both of these. Aly I think you're gorgeous!

I think this flower girl is a future super model. Look at Doug, how sweet.

The best part of every wedding

Married yay!

They're a really cute couple, right!!?!

And that's the end for this post! Cheers y'all! :) Thanks so much Aly and Doug, you're the greatest! xx

Tennessee Engagement Photos - Jeni & Billy

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 12:18:56 -0500

Almost every fun memory I had from ages 13 to present include this next bride. My BFF Jeni is getting married! Woot, woot, y'all!

We are soooo excited for them and for their wedding this year in Hood River, Oregan. I've never been to Hood River but all I can say is that with Jeni and Billy it's bound to be amazing! Jeni and Billy are both total adventurers. They live, they travel and they experience the outdoors in a way ordinary people only dream about. They live a kind of life we all wish we had a little more of... Working as Ski Patrol on Mt. Hood all winter and guiding whitewater rafting trips all summer, I seriously live vicariously through Jeni!

I'm not going to go on and on on my photography business blog about how much they personally mean to me a but I do want everyone to know that it's a lot! I grew up spending every weekend at Jeni's house, taking every spring break together from 7th grade through college, we went to college together, were roommates, skied for Lees-McRae together but way more than all of that she's been a constant friend and someone I will cherish for the rest of my life!

I'm definitely going to have to dig through old photos before her wedding post --- so get ready for some 1990s neon pink and green ski attire... anyone remember something called Hot Chilis!? Oh yeah. :)

I love these pictures, we did them sort of on a whim... this is how I see Jeni and Billy! A perfect match!

Enjoy!

Billy really did all of the heavy lifting for these pics. We just walked up on top of this hill, Billy started singing and playing his guitar (he's soooo GREAT!!), the wind started blowing and the rest was so easy. From now on I think I want live music at every shoot! :) LOVE the one on the right.

I really love this one

(love)

And, just for fun we did a little experiment, this was our first engagement shoot with Wyatt in tow! Jeni comes home to Knoxville twice per year and she always has a full scheule. We were rained out on the day we were suppose to do it and so this shoot was literally like let's jump on the car and do it right now!! So along came Wyatt in the Ergo and it was great, I think he even napped for part of it. LOL :)

I can't resist, here's more!!!

Michelle & Christopher's wedding on Style Me Pretty!

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 12:25:28 -0500

One of our FAVORITE weddings is featured on Style Me Pretty today!

Check it out: http://www.stylemepretty.com/2012/01/18/linville-wedding-by-watson-studios/ ... and our post on Michelle and Christopher's wedding here.

Congrats Michelle and Christopher and their gorgeous venue Eseeola Lodge!

Blackberry Farm wedding photos - Kate and Brandon

Mon, 09 Jan 2012 14:09:41 -0500

One of my many (many! - lol) New Year resolutions is to be a fast blogger. Meaning once we get the gallery ready for an engagement shoot or soon after the event for weddings. So, even though we still have tons of stuff to blog from this fall, I'm fast forwarding for a moment to a shoot we did right before Christmas, you have to start somewhere right? But, don't worry we're still going to post all of the awesome weddings we did in the Fall of 2011 and we will roll through it this winter!

Now, meet Kate and Brandon, a lovely couple from Birmingham, AL, whose wedding at Blackberry Farm we are thrilled to be shooting this fall! They came to town for a visit right before Christmas and we got to spend a few hours with them talking about the wedding and shooting their engagement pictures! So sweet, so cute, here are a few of our favorites! Enjoy!

Blackberry Farm was all decked out for the holidays and that wreath on the barn was the biggest I've ever seen in my life! Probably 10 feet tall, it was gorgeous! Kate and Brandon were total ringers for the pictures - we hardly had to give them any direction.

It was chilly outside but a great day for photos, I love all the fallish colors.

This building, which looks out onto the pond and horse fields, is going to be incorporated into their wedding. Love it!

This shoot feels sooo much like fall to me... but it was winter! The colors they wore were prefect for the scenery! So, take note! Even though it is winter, there are still great times to do photos!

The end! Thanks Kate and Brandon! We had great time and can't wait for your wedding!! Happy Monday everyone!

Southern backyard wedding: Rachel & Cody

Thu, 22 Dec 2011 16:30:52 -0500

It's 9:00 Thursday night and as of right now I *think* I have all of my Christmas shopping done!... but nothing wrapped. Not a bad deal at all! I'm soooo excited for Christmas since it's Wyatt's first and our first as parents. Nothing could be more special and this year we have sooo much to be thankful for. 2011 was a whirlwind full of blessings! We truly have the best clients in the world, thank you for a wonderful year, we wish you so much love this holiday season!

As we do every year, we will be closing up shop next week but still answering emails... so definitely let us know if you just got ENGAGED! (Congrats!!) and need to check our calendar! ;) We hope you all have a wonderful week and Happy New Year!

Although this isn't the last wedding we have to post from 2011, (far from actually), it is definitely a great one to end the year on! We absolutely loved this backyard southern soirée and we know you will too! :). Rachel and Cody originally booked a venue in town but a few months before the wedding Rachel's creative, wonderful mother pitched the idea of having it at their house... she showed up to dinner with Rachel and Cody with sketches and drawing of what it could be... and it was great!! I'm sooooo in love with this kind of super personal wedding. As a photographer it just makes it that much more special, plus they just had sooo much pretty stuff for us to photograph --- and y'all know we love that! Following the pictures I will include a little blurb I had Rachel write about her wedding in her own words.

I don't think I need to go on and on... I think this is just one of those weddings where the pictures really do speak 10000 words... or at least that's always our hope!

Here are some of our favorite shots of the day! xx

Well I said I wan't going to say a lot but just a note about chairs. Chairs end up in sooo many pics and Rachel found some great, rustic brown chairs at Rentals Rentals in downtown Knoxville... Good chairs are always hard to find I just want to tell everyone in need of something rustic about these, they looked great!

Aren't these just amazing!? That might possibly be my favorite bride bouquet this year.

Below, our (amazing, former) intern Cassie took the photo on the right! Love it! Atta girl! ;)

SO many details.

I really couldn't get enough of that bouquet it was wrapped in her grandmother's handkerchief and burlap.

This is all of course before the ceremony. They didn't see eachother. Cody is SO cute! :)

This is just moments before the ceremony. Rachel + her dad.

This is my favorite, favorite, favorite! And that reminds me I need to make sure it makes it into her album before I send it off!

love

love even more

the ceremony

YAY!! Married!

Their dog Opie = such a great little prop ;)

This is my other favorite!

first dance

We love a rowdy reception :)

another night shot

The END!! Congrats Rachel and Cody, y'all are the bomb! Everyone else, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!

From Rachel: After getting engaged on black friday, we felt the pressure to get a venue booked immediately. We found a place in Lenoir City that seemed to fit our idea for an outdoor wedding and put a deposit down in January for out upcoming wedding in October! A close friend of my Moms was enlisted to help with all the flowers (she used to own her own shop) and the planning began!! Four months out from the wedding my Mom came to me with an idea to have our wedding at my parent's house. She and her friends had drawn all these sketches and cut pictures out of magazines to present this "presentation" to my fiance and I about why the wedding would be perfect there. I was nervous about the time line, but work started immediately and I couldn't believe how much work my Mom and all her friends put in to making our backyard the perfect spot. We have an old barn and dairy barn that were both transformed completely by two contractors!! Two bathrooms were put in the dairy barn and what used to be the milking parlor was redone to serve all the food. The area where the cows used to walk out became our dance floor with a little bit of pressure washing and four posts draped in Christmas lights! My old soccer coach built our arbor that we were married under and also the window boxes that hung on the barn. It was so amazing how everyone in my small town wanted to help and contribute to make this such a special day. One of my childhood friend's Grandfather handled all the parking, ladies from church made these amazing drapes out of linen and burlap for the barn. My Mom and I have the same taste, so we had a blast planning, collecting, and decorating for this big day.We wanted each table to be different with buckets, pots, pewter pieces, and various textures of plants. The whole theme for this day actually came when we were shopping for my dress. I found a belt that was handmade and we both fell in love with the colors and bead work. So we bought the belt, and then found a dress to fit the belt:) I love all earth tones and mustard yellow so the color palette was easy and it was really important to me that everything have meaning behind it. I carried my Grandmother's handkerchief in my bouquet and Cody and I wrote our own vows. A close friend in my church married us and my cousin provided the music with a guitar and banjo. All in all it was a gorgeous day to be surrounded by so many family and friends...and even more special that it could be at the house I grew up in!

http://www.cateringconnection-sweetwater.com/ - provided all the amazing food: fried chicken, shrimp and grits, country ham biscuits, friend green tomatoes, cupcakes and fried apple pies

http://www.rentalsrentals.net/ - the rustic brown chairs for seating and mustard napkins

http://www.alloccasionspartyrentals.com/ - tent and tables

http://www.soundforce.net - amazing dj! :)

Knoxville Maternity Photos - My friend had her baby!

Wed, 14 Dec 2011 10:27:10 -0500

In honor of my friend Ashley of Ashley Hoskins Photography having her baby Jackson over the weekend --- and man oh man I cannot wait to get my hands on that little sweetheart!! -- I'm posting a few photos from her maternity shoot! We got to know Ashley and Justin a few years ago when we did their engagement shoot & wedding. Since then we've become great friends. Love you guys can't wait to meet Wyatt's new baby BFF!

Knoxville Engagement Photos: Crystal & Justin

Fri, 09 Dec 2011 13:07:19 -0500

We have got some GORGEOUS portrait sessions from this fall to share. We are working on so many exciting things right now I need a clone of myself and two of Dan to actually get it all up on the blog! This is gosh, just a sweetheart of a couple...meet Crystal and Justin. As Crystal and her mom and Dad were were sitting in our little office I fell in love with them immediately and was crossing my fingers under the table the whole time they would want us for their wedding this spring. We met Justin later, on the day of this shoot, and what a great guy. And, what an amazing couple!

Hooray for the weekend!!

And as always, here are some of our favorites!

Could they be any cuter in the one on the left? or the right for that matter.

Crystal you're gorgeous!

Cute little legs, boots, quilt... and perfectly placed ring :)

And now you know their date :)

So sweet!

I could pretty much photograph these two every day of the week and be happy.

Looouuvvee the laying down one!

I think this one might be my favorite! The end! :)

Knoxville Engagement Photos: Carrie & Kevin

Wed, 23 Nov 2011 00:03:38 -0500

This is going to be a cute but quick post because I'm gearing up for my favorite holiday tomorrow! Hooooray!! But first I wanted to leave y'all with some Fall goodness... Meet Carrie and Kevin, a super cute couple we're working with next year. I just love this shoot and I'm completely convinced these two can't take a bad picture... and I must say Miss Carrie looks a little like another Carrie... Underwood!! Just saying that's what I think :)

Hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving! xo

I think this first one is my favorite!

See what I mean ;)

Love this one too!

So cute

Happy Thanksgiving y'all!

Castleton Farm Wedding: Kendra & Cody

Mon, 14 Nov 2011 23:59:50 -0500

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I just love this wedding! Right away when we met Kendra in person for the first time I knew her wedding was going to be a piece of cake! She's just my kind of gal. We totally clicked and I could tell right away that she would put all of her trust in us and that we would have no problem making great pictures together! She and her husband Cody were so laid back and absolutely wonderful to work with. On the day of their wedding it was warm and windy and I just love how all the colors seem to swirl around in so many of their photos. I am loving the portraits and the emotion in the ceremony pics most of all. Y'all, I could shoot this wedding every day of the week and twice on Sundays!

Here are a few of our favorite images from their wedding at Castleton Farms in Loudon earlier this fall!

Love the pairing of these two

And that shot on the right

Gorgeous!

I would give my right arm for that skin! :)

I love this picture of Kendra on the left

Right-- Whenever we're done taking pics of the bridesmaids and groomsmen we always ask if they have any special requests. Even though I didn't take this picture I'm fairly sure this was a 'special request' and it really made me LOL when I was going through the pics after the wedding! So funny. That's the kind of picture that's funny and cute sitting in a little frame on a bathroom sink, I think.

Jamie Walker of Bangs and Blush does great wedding day make up! If any of you are looking for someone you should totally check her out!

I really love these ceremony shots!

Kendra + Cody

I just love the one on the right

Some night shots!

Congrats Kendra and Cody -- thank you so much for having us on your special day! Y'all were so.much.fun! xoxo

Published Fall 2011

Wed, 09 Nov 2011 12:47:21 -0500

We are sitting pretty over here at casa Watson!! We just shot our last wedding of 2011 this past Saturday and we are just sighing a little sigh of relief. Whew, we made it through another great year!! And best of all we made it with a baby!! I *think* if we can make it through this year we can make it through any year and that's certainly an amazing feeling to have :).

As I look back on the jobs we had this year one thing I notice is that they just keep getting better and better. This past fall we had so many brides being truly creative with their weddings making it all the more fun for us to snap away. We've got tons of great stuff heading to our blog in the coming weeks and others to be considered for publication in magazine and blogs. It's always such an honor to colaborate and be featured on a wedding blog or magazine. This Fall we've had several great features come out and I know more to come from all of our creative brides this year!

Paige and John's fabulous Blackberry Farm wedding was featured in the Fall issue of Weddings Unveiled Magazine. Our posts from their wedding are Here, here, here and here! :)

Once a wedding is on Style Me Pretty it often gets picked up by other publications near and far. Lindsey and James wedding, which was featured on Style Me Pretty this fall is making it's way around the world! Her flower idea was featured in Flowers, a UK magazine and also on a blog in the Netherlands!

Likewise, Robin and Paul's wedding in Beverly Hills, one of our favorites from 2009, was featured on I Do Venues.

Ashley and Nate won the cover contest for the cover of The Pink Bride Knoxville! Their wedding at the First Apostolic Church of Knoxville is one we will never forget from 2010! I just went back and read what I wrote about their wedding and I'm laughing at myself... I still don't think we've ever done a wedding with that many guests, we will never forget it. We just loooove Ashley and Nate and their engagement and bridal shoots too! Congrats guys!

Today, Heather and Dustin's wedding is being featured on Style me Pretty - Georgia. Here is a link to the post. Their wedding took place at a new favorite venue, the Inn at Serenbe, just south of Atlanta!

Happy Halloween!

Mon, 31 Oct 2011 15:05:56 -0500

A Wyatt update is long overdue so I thought what better day to do that than Halloween. I'm so excited about all the holidays coming up, sooooo much more fun with a baby!! He's the absolute best thing we've ever done and we're both totally 10000% obsessed and in love with this little man. It's so hard to believe that it's already been seven months!...it seems like yesterday he looked like a little alien! We've been all over with this little guy, he's a great traveler. Here are some recent photos!

Happy Halloween!

Dan wanted Wyatt to be a pirate for some odd reason so I made him a little costume.

These are from our trip to CA --- can't wait to show y'all that wedding!!!

My boys ;)

My new Facebook profile pic :)

I just think this one is funny... we use this carrier all the time.

No clue where the blue eyes come from...

These are from NC...

We look forward to seeing this little face every morning!

Another from Halloween! Wyatt and his cousins Jack (14 months) and Baylor (8 months).... This picture is nothing to brag about but let me tell you it is about impossible to get a good shot of these three... Just imagine 3 crazy moms in the background singing and dancing and practically standing on our heads to even get this. LOL....

Gettysview Wedding: Blair & Bryan

Tue, 25 Oct 2011 11:13:51 -0500

Every time I blog a wedding it reminds me... I LOVE WEDDINGS!! And I'm just in love with this next couple. Meet (again) Blair and Bryan. Y'all may remember them from their super cute engagement shoot last fall. I loved that shoot!! I loved what they wore, how they looked at each other, and I love, love love this picture from it! Sue me, it has to be an all time favorite... and my office severely needs it in canvas ;)

With Blair, we got to do an engagement & bridal shoot, giving us a chance to get to know her, Bryan and her mom Trish even better before the wedding. I loved getting fun things in my email from them and her mom sent me pictures from their engagement party and we always love getting wedding invitations like theirs in the mail... and now it's all over!! So sad, it's the only part about my job I don't like... when the wedding day is over and the couple moves on with the next chapter of their lives.

So here goes... Blair and Bryan's big, fun day... Gorgeous wedding, gorgeous couple! Enjoy!!

Blair had her invitations done by The Happy Envelope. They are our favorite!!! The most amazing invitations we've ever seen and low and behold they're local! Check them out here and be sure to check their blog...or stop by their super cute shop in downtown Knoxville!

Loved (gasp!) Bryan's bout!! He's a fly fisherman and I loved the colors, feathers, everything!

This may have been a (happy) accident

I love this shot of Blair and her father just moments before the ceremony AND the flower girls going down the aisle.

Blair and Bryan were married at Central Baptist. Notice how they stood sort of facing the everyone while the minister had his back turned away from the guests. You know we loved this, it was so great for pictures!

I'm so excited Blair is getting this in a big canvas! It's my favorite too!

And this one just gives me chills. L-O-V-E the way he's looking at her! So romantic! He was totally like this at their engagement shoot. It really stood out to me.

This was the cutest thing I've ever seen. Bryan brewed and bottled his own homemade beer for wedding favors! I'm not a huge beer person but of course I had to try one when I got home and it was really good!!... His last name is Begbie and the bottle labels looked totally profesh!

Blair and Bryan had their reception outside at Gettysview Country Club. Our favorite DJ, Jim Ogle, did the lighting for the reception... and it looked amazing! He's the best and we looove him!

The end!! Congrats Blair and Bryan! We love you guys!!

Seeing beautiful

Mon, 17 Oct 2011 00:26:18 -0500

Over the years we've worked with some pretty amazing people. Although you see them on our blog as 'bride and groom' many are very extraordinary in their day to day lives. One of the most amazing is our longtime family friend and past bride Lydia Criss Mays. Here is my favorite picture of Lydia from her wedding in 2005...

Since then Lydia has done extraordinary things. In addition to completing her Ph.d in Early Chrildhood education she co-authored a children's book, The Long and the Short of it, A Tale About Hair. Here is a little bit about that:

Recently featured on CNN and awarded the GOLD Mom's Choice Award and a BRONZE in the 2011 National Health Information Awards, The Long and the Short of It: A Tale About Hair was chosen because it unpacks a subject often ignored when young children are losing their hair to cancer treatments. At the heart of it all, this is a story about giving and receiving. "This is the story of two little girls, Isabel and Emma, and their hair, which sometimes was long and sometimes was short and sometimes was not. Isabel wanted to grow her hair long to be just like her cousins. They had long hair that flowed when they danced. But when Isabel's long-haired friend showed up at school one day with very short hair, Isabel discovered a whole new way of thinking about hair - and giving. Emma wanted hair, period. She had lost her hair during cancer treatment. The doctor said it would grow back, but Emma wanted hair now. She did not like bald, she did not like bandanas. What she liked, and wanted more than anything, was hair. Then, out of the blue, almost like magic, she instantly had hair again. And like Isabel, she learned about giving - and giving back."

Recently Lydia has embarked on another project: See Beautiful. It's a movement to empower women to see the beauty they inherently possess and to see the beauty in the world. It reminds me to stop for a second and take it all in, and I love it!! I hope (my good pal) Oprah or Ellen (:)) picks up on it and it becomes something huge!

I was chatting with Lydia a few weeks ago and just thinking about how I'm so lucky to "See Beautiful" in my job because boy do I get a front row seat every Saturday ;). Here is a little more about that. We also have a photo featured on the See Beautiful website as it's one of my all time favorite images... It means so much to me because it is of our good friends Jenna and Adam during their ceremony. Looking at that photo takes me right back to the moment they said I do... and looking at Jenna's face reminds me of the serious and wonderful commitment marriage is.

So for today, here's my See Beautiful: After so many years of being a wedding photographer I am still in awe of the beauty of couple in love. It is truly amazing. Here's a little sneak peek from Blair and Bryan's wedding coming soon to this blog!!

Happy Tuesday!

Knoxville Engagement: Caitlin + Brandon

Thu, 13 Oct 2011 23:32:19 -0500

It's almost the weekend y'all!! YAY! And I'm double excited because I'm shooting what will be a super fun wedding tomorrow in Madisonville! Woot, woot, Rachel and Cody here we come! I seriously have been looking forward to this wedding all year!

Something else that makes me want to jump up in the air and click my heels: 2012! We have met with and booked so many great couples for 2012 my head is starting to spin! It looks like we've got a really fun year in the making! One of those insanely cute couples is Caitlin and Brandon who are getting married next June. Here are some of our favorites from their engagement shoot!

Have a great weekend!

We do a lot of shoots at my mom's farm and this is one of them. For this shoot we decided to incorporate some of the horses just because they were in a good spot and the light was just perfect.

*favorite*

This is Gracie...she's a mess

Really love the one on the left :)

The end!! Caitlin and Brandon y'all were great!!