Nashville Indie Wedding Photographers | Ulmer Studios

Zach & Ashley | Nashville Couples Photography

ulmerstudios — Wed, 16 May 2012 12:00:50 +0000

Ashley & I (Amber) have been friends since we were in Junior High. Zach is a her crazy awesome beau. We love them to pieces & are so happy to call them friends. Be sure to check out the band Mona. Zach is their bass player. They just celebrated 5 years of being a pair so we went out & celebrated with them! Amazingness ensued.

Happy 5 Years Zach & Ashley!

Jason & Katie | Legacy Farms Wedding

ulmerstudios — Wed, 02 May 2012 12:00:49 +0000

Jason & Katie are some of the sweetest couples we’ve had the pleasure of celebrating with! They were full of laughter & love all day & all night long. Katie’s dress was so incredible & her handmade bridesmaid bouquets & cake decor was just amazing! We love our DIY couples! Legacy Farms was a fabulous venue for their hand-made wedding & the Caprice Palmer of The Enchanted Florist did a killer job on everything floral!

Jason, Katie, friends & family, we hope you enjoy reliving the day!

Jason & Katie,

We had such an amazing day with you & your loved ones!

Thank you!

Just 1 photo | Family Friday

ulmerstudios — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 11:50:53 +0000

So lately we have been making it a point to really put things aside when we are spending time with family. Put cell phones in other rooms, not have an ipad anywhere near. Take the time to be present in the moments that are happening in front of us and around us. As photographers some times we can get too caught up in taking photos that even a camera can get in the way. While we do still carry a camera with us most places just b/c it is an extension of who we are and how we see the world, we make a point to shoot less. This photo is from this week and a hang time at my (Josh’s) folks’ home. Lil girl loves to draw and play hopscotch there. I played along with her and by being in the moment with her I really saw the joy of what she was doing and the beauty of the sun all around us! This is why this one photo happened, because I was present I was living in the moment. It wasn’t about taking a ridiculous number of images, it was about living in the moment and by doing so I understood the 1 photo I wanted to remember this moment by.

If you have kids put everything down and go truly enjoy them with no distractions!

If you don’t have kids, grab a loved one, or a friend and get rid of the distractions and be present!

Ryan & Megan | Cedarwood Engagement Session

ulmerstudios — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 21:23:21 +0000

We met up with Ryan & Megan at their wedding venue, Historic Cedarwood, for their afternoon engagement session. I (Amber) went to college with Megan & hadn’t seen her in about 8 years! It is so awesome to see her so incredibly happy with Ryan! We can not wait to celebrate with you guys! We had such a fabulous time with you!

Thank you Ryan & Megan so much for inviting us to be a part of your big day!

Are Your Expectations Destroying Your Marriage? | Marriage Monday

ulmerstudios — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 12:00:19 +0000

What kind of partner do you expect your fiancee to be once you’re married?

There is research that says leaders get what they expect out of their followers. Instructors were given groups to lead through a 15-week combat command course. They were also given the student’s scores on a test that predicted their command potential. The ones that had scores that predicted awesome command skills later scored higher on an objective achievement tests, had better attitudes and were perceived to be better leaders.

Except when they started the students were matched at the beginning on aptitude.

We get what we expect. At school. At work. And even in our marriages.

Are you, somewhere in the back of your mind/hear/soul, expecting your fiancee to let you down? That he is going to be a jerk when you tell him you exceeded the shoe line item in the budget? That she is going to laugh when you tell her your dream of being a cartoonist? That he’ll hate your body now that there’s a little more junk in the trunk?

There is plenty of psychobabble to go with this concept. Where did your expectations for crappiness and negativity come from? Why do you expect bad rather than good? Who taught you that aiming low was safer than aiming high?

But I’m not really in the mood to go there.

I’d rather just encourage you to try something new. Look at your fiancee and expect something wonderful out of him or her. Believe in them and their ability to be a great spouse to you. Let them know that you believe in them.

And see if your fiancee doesn’t prove to live up to (and maybe exceed!) your higher expectations.

Guest Blogger: Marie Mckinney-Oates

Sibling Love | Family Friday

ulmerstudios — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 16:37:58 +0000

One of the coolest things about having 2 kiddos is seeing their interaction with each other. Lil guy just lights up when his big sis talks to him or is even just in the room near him. She can’t wait till he is bigger so he can run with her and play hide & seek! So excited to watch these two grow with each other!!!

It is really awesome to be a parent!

Nick & Sydney | Nashville TN Wedding Photographers

ulmerstudios — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 12:01:27 +0000

Nick & Sydney are the type of people that when you hang out with them you can’t help but smile! They are both always grinning from ear to ear! We loved getting to know them and shooting their wedding! It was a beautiful wedding at a lovely cotton mill just outside of Nashville!

Nick & Sydney thank you so much for inviting us to be a part of your special day!

Don’t Expect Him To Change | Marriage Monday

ulmerstudios — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 12:00:45 +0000

Today’s Marriage Advice: Don’t expect him to change.

This is advice that typically comes from a jaded wife, and there’s always this tired and desperate tone to it. Like this person tried dragging that mule to the barn and finally gave up. The more I think about it, the more I think the advice, no matter how true, is kind of sad.

What makes it good advice:
Well, it’s true. To get married thinking that it will fix any of his, or the relationship’s, problems is, um, stupid. Marriage has the strange ability to highlight the bad, not hide it. Also expectations of marriage are probably one of the biggest marriage killers, especially when they haven’t been clearly communicated (hello, premarital counseling). More than likely, he didn’t realize that marriage was supposed to “fix” him and will be shocked/disappointed/upset to find out he wasn’t wanted “as-is”.

What makes it not so great advice:
There is a sense of hopelessness to this advice that makes me sad. Marriage is about growing together, and part of that growth means that you’ll both change (and hopefully for the better). Maybe you shouldn’t expect marriage to change your fiance, but you should go into it believing that you’ll become a better person because of it.

Guest Blogger: Marie Mckinney-Oates

Alex & Rachel | Southern Wedding Photographers

ulmerstudios — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 20:55:06 +0000

This wedding holds an extra special place in our hearts. This is Josh’s sister. She has lived across the street from us for the past 3 years and it has been amazing. Now the time has come and she has gotten married to the man of her dreams. While we will miss her living right across the street, we are so proud to see her stay true to her conviction in Christ and finding a godly man in Alex. This wedding was put together by a lot of DIY from Rachel and a lot of hard work & sweat from her sister for all the food! Her dress was made by Rachel and her mom as well!!

We love you Alex & Rachel and can’t wait to see your marriage blossom!

Thanks so much to Donald Yeager for coming out & assisting with us so we could celebrate with our family!

Spend time with couples | Marriage Monday

ulmerstudios — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 12:00:36 +0000

Figuring out social groups is one of the most difficult aspects of being married, especially for newlyweds. Half of your friends may not be married yet, and you just don’t see yourself going out and getting drunk with them anymore. And then the other half of your friends are actually married, but they chose to yoke themselves to people who are annoying/generally unlikeable leaving you not very interested in making time to hang out with them.

Figuring out the couple dating scene is very difficult once you’re married, but that doesn’t give you an excuse to let your social life slide to the bottom of your priority list. Couple friends will be a wonderful source of encouragement during hard times and will be uniquely able to understand the frustrations and wonderfulness that is a relationship. Invest in these relationships as soon as possible.

A sushi date night with our friends Will & Erin last summer.

Spend time with couple friends

S (specific) – Choose 3 or 4 couple friends that you want to invest in this year. Don’t have any couple friends, yet? Name 3 or 4 activities that you can attend or take up that will get you around people you like (and you thought marriage meant you could quit dating, ha!) ow often will you attend the activity or make a date with your couple friends?

A (agreement) – Are you both down for this? State how investing in couple friends would help your relationship.

R (realistic) – You don’t have to be best friends with these people. Your best buddy can still be your almost-always-drunk fraternity brother. No problem. But having a group of friends that are in relationships and understand married life is still important.

T (time) – How many months will you commit to making couple friends a priority?

Practicing what I preach:
We try to spend time with at least one couple friend a week, even if it’s just touching base with friends at church. This is one of the biggest ways we invest in our community.

Guest Blogger: Marie Mckinney-Oates