Turntable Tuesday | Frank Sinatra, Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas

It's funny but I think sometimes Christmas starts to bring out the vinyl lover in all of us... and I love it! My husband and his family always had records when he was young (though like most everyone as he got older they slowly made their way to crates in the basement only to be rediscovered later). My family never had records to discover them as an adult has been such a wonderful experience for me.

My husband and I both have always been into music but when we first started getting into records heavily a few years ago one of our first purchases on this journey was a vintage Magnavox record cabinet from one of my aunt's Pack Rats Estate Sales including some of the warn vinyl within it. This purchase occurred just before the holidays when we were in the process of purchasing our home and staying with family. Frank Sinatra's Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas was one of those records and once we started playing it everyone loved it and wanted us to keep playing it. Now this album has turned into one of our favorite Christmas records! 

This album is more of a compilation as it is Frank Sinatra and friends... such said friends includes the likes of Sammy Davis Jr., Dean Martin and Rosemary Clooney!  Of course I adore the vintage art on the sleeve and label plus it has countless classic holiday favorites like Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas, The First Noel, Jingle Bells, Silent Night and more! Do you love playing classic records as much as we no around the holidays?! What is your favorite?

Credits | Author: Krista & Photography: Fornear Photo

Fornear Photo Friday | Kaitlin & EJ's Northwoods Winter E-Shoot

Happy Fornear Photo Friday friends! Now that Winter is fully upon us we have several couples this season that are going to brave the elements for some amazing winter engagement photos! Matt and I love shooting these not only because they look awesome but it's a real contrast to our couple's summer or fall wedding photos which makes it a lot of fun. 

One of our winter engagement shoots from last year was Kaitlin & EJ's (who have since gotten married this past October and you will probably see soon here too!) Shooting at Kaitlin's family's cabin located in Three Lakes, Wisconsin we hung out with both Kaitlin and EJ entire families that were all there spending the holidays together. We sipped hot chocolate, old fashioneds and road on backs of snowmobiles across the frozen lake to one of our shooting locations... it was a blast!

We love working with our couples coming up with creative shots for their engagement and wedding sessions and Kaitlin & EJ thought of tons of great winter wonderland ideas including the sweet little Chapel in the Woods. 

We couldn't have been more excited as to how beautiful these photos turned out that we couldn't not share them. In a few short weeks now that we have tons of snow up here in the Northwoods and the snowmobile trails officially open for the year this afternoon, we will start our winter engagement season so I know I will have many more great shoots like this to share!

Credits | Author: Krista, Photography: Fornear Photo

Thirsty Thursday | Allagash, Black Ale

After reading a post made Stouts & Stilettos made on Facebook about the 12 Bucket List Breweries Everyone Should Visit I realized I had a beer in the fridge from one of said breweries.... Allagash's Black Ale! Until now sadly I don't think I have even had a beer from Allagash... thank God for our travels, yah!

After cracking open the Black we could smell the aroma of how awesome it was going to be and boy did it NOT disappoint! Such a unique Belgian Style Stout it has the amazing chocolate, caramel and roasted flavor you would expect from a stout and the distinct sweetness of a Belgian... it was amazing!

Such a small bottle of the Black packs a punch at 7.5%. After trying this I can't wait until I can get my hands on much more Allagash and I am certainly going to have to add this Maine brewery to my must visit brewery bucket list starting now! 

Credits | Author: Krista & Photograph: Fornear Photo

Turntable Tuesday | The Beatles, Magical Mystery Tour

I am sort of surprised now that I realize it, but this is actually my first Beatles post. My very first Turntable Tuesday post was on one of George Harrison's solo albums but I have never done a "Beatles" album... well now I will have! As many of you know, sadly yesterday December 8th was the 34th anniversary of John Lennon's death and just two weeks ago was the 13th anniversary of George Harrison's.

Slowly we have been building our Beatles collection and when my husband came across an Original Master Recording of the Magical Mystery tour a few months ago it was a no brainer to swipe it up. Over the winter when we were in Vegas we went and saw Beatle's Love at the Mirage and if you haven't seen it.... WOW! I know this might sound corny but it was like a religious experience. The show was emotional, beautiful and amazing in every single way. So many of the songs featured where from the Magical Mystery Tour now that I think back on it. 

Countless hits from this 1967 album include songs every single person probably knows like Magical Mystery Tour, Penny Lane, Hello Goodbye, All You Need Is Love, Baby You're A Rich Man, I Am The Walrus and my personal all time favorite I remember as a child from the Beatles cartoons (do you remember those too?!) was Strawberry Fields Forever. 

Playing this album in the Original Master Recording format is like listening to a clean brand new record, it's so awesome. Venture back and give this one a spin!

Credits | Author: Krista & Photography: Fornear Photo

Fornear Photo Friday | Liz & Paul's Northwoods Wedding

WOW, I can't believe the amazing year that Fornear Photo has had, it's almost hard to believe the 2014 season is almost over! We have just one wedding yet to shoot left (plus several engagements) for the year (including this weekend in Chicago actually) but I can't get over how many awesome brides and grooms we have worked with. Honestly, we are beyond lucky!

One of the countless awesome couples we worked with were Liz & Paul! We met through our love for craft beer at a beer festival (as did they themselves too and we even shot their engagement shoot at the location they met!) Like almost all of our clients I am now happy and proud to not only call them clients but friends for life!

Their wedding took place at Black Bear Lodge in St.Germain, Wisconsin here in the Northwoods. So much thought went into their rustic wedding from the loon cake toppers to the sapling wedding favors, it was beautiful!

The guys were decked out in their finest bowties and the gals wore lovely shades of peach and coral. Surrounded by family, friends and craft beer Liz and Paul were married among the pine overlooking Little St.Germain Lake. We stayed into the night where awesome bites were served including Wisconsin cheese, beer, cocktails and laughs were all shared as well as some sweet dance moves by all on the dance floor!

Getting to know Liz & Paul is to know how much they truly are madly in love with each other and are really meant to be... it was a pleasure getting to be part of their special day!

Credits | Author: Krista, Photography: Fornear Photo, Reception: Black Bear Lodge, Catering: Jessica's Cucina, Cake: Pam Pearsall, DJ: High Volume Entertainment, Dress: Desiree by Christos, Shoes: Soludos, Veil: Custom made by Hazel Faire, Headpiece: Ashlee's Headpieces, Bowties: The Tie Bar, Flowers: arranged by the bride from Lori's Flower Cottage 

Thirsty Thursday | Goose Island, Proprietor's Bourbon County Brand Stout

This past week was Thanksgiving meaning last Friday was Black Friday. For those of who think Black Friday is only about the deals you find on electronics and toys, think again! In the past years a few different breweries have taken to Black Friday to release some of their most sought after brews, one being the precious commodity that is Goose Island Beer Company's Bourbon County Brand Stout variations. 

Goose Island is a popular Chicago, IL brewery that has since got bought up the big boys of Anheuser-Busch / InBev and is what some of us in the industry call sellouts *sad face* but I digress. Personally I think for the most part many of Goose Island's beers are mediocre at best with the Bourbon County beers being the exception... they are phenomenal!!! Released on Black Friday every year they sellout within hours. 

Normally there happen to be three beers that are available for nationwide release and two others that are only available in Chicagoland as a huge "thank you" to Chicago for supporting Goose Island over the years. I was lucky enough to have gotten one of the 2013 Chicago only releases, the Proprietor's Bourbon County Brand Stout which was an amazing rye whiskey barrel aged stout with toasted coconut. With a year on it, it was incredibly smooth and delicious, especially for being a hefty 14.1% ABV there was hardly a trace of booziness to it. In solidarity with the folks that were in line at midnight awaiting the Black Friday 9am release we drank in celebration with them (and were even able to score a few of the nationwide releases in the Northwoods to boot... yah!) 

Hope you had a great Thanksgiving weekend everyone! Let me know if you tried some fun beers over the weekend!

Credits | Author: Krista & Photograph: Fornear Photo

Turntable Tuesday | Pink Floyd, The Endless River

Why hello!!! I know it's been awhile friends, in fact a LONG while! What can I say, life and work has been ringing nonstop. Needless to say we are finally in the home stretch of wedding photo editing and beer festivals for the year so I hope to be back with regular blog posts and some new things to come in 2015... yeah!

Back to Turntable Tuesday... in case you didn't hear November was quite the awesome month for new albums this year and Pink Floyd's The Endless River just happened to be one of them! We are HUGE Pink Floyd fans in our house so this record was preordered pretty much the second it was available to do so.

Sadly The Endless River will officially be the last true Pink Floyd album to ever be released. The good news is that it is in most part outtakes from the recording sessions during the making of our personally beloved Division Bell. Largely instrumental (ok all but one song is), it is beautifully arranged and fantastic to listen to in general, regardless if you are a Pink Floyd fan or not in my opinion. This has been spending a great deal of time on our turntable since we got it, if you haven't checked it out yet you really need to today!

Credits | Author: Krista & Photography: Fornear Photo