Making our photography dreams come true (part 1)

Remember my obsession with ridiculously beautiful wedding photography that is WAY out of our budget?  Yeah, I remember it too.  I continued my search for affordable photographers in the Wisconsin area, but none of them had the asthetic that I was looking for.  And then I had an idea:

Photography contests!!! 

In all of my blog searching I read about a couple of amazing photography contests.  Unfortunately, by the time I had this idea Feather Love Photography's contest had long since ended, and Chennergy Weddings had already decided on who their "rent weddings" would go to for 2010 (If you don't know about this, check out their site, or read about Mrs. Meatball's (from Weddingbee) experience with them at her wedding.  Simply amazing.)  But have no fear, I began putting the google machine to work and searched high and low for "photography giveaways" and "photography contests".  I found a few contests that were already over, a couple of contests with photographers that were just not my style, and then I found Kara Layne. 

Here is the image I stumbled upon announcing her giveaway:

Kara is a photographer out of Phoenix, AZ who is quickly making a name for herself in the industry.  I love her personality, style, and approach.  She is a photographer who just gets it.  Here are a couple of my favorite images on her blog:

I love the absolute joy she captured here.

I'm a sucker for pictures of toasts.

There was a week left before the giveaway deadline.  I took a deep breath and wrote an incredibly honest email that listed all of the reasons why photography was important to us, why we loved her work, and the many personal reasons why we couldn't afford to pay for amazing photography on our own.  And then I waited.

To be continued...