| Kaylee | Eisenhower High School Senior Model Portraits | Class of 2018 |

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I’m so excited to show off Kaylee with you all today. I’ve had a blast working with her as one of our Class of 2018 Senior Models she’s so fun and full of energy! We’ve had a few sessions over the past few months starting with our group model session …

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Then we got some nature in with her first senior session at Rock Springs…

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And I love the Kaylee also wanted to have some images at her high school which was the perfect way to show off her cheerleading too.

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And we got to finish out that session at the Decatur lake (a little nice warm sunshine for you guys on this cold cloudy week!!).

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Be sure to check us out on Instagram (@sjanephotography) and Facebook to see even MORE favorites from her session.

| Jamie + Mike | Married! |

Today, I get to share Jamie & Mike’s wedding (album) with you all! I cannot tell you how much I loved working with these two. You might remember their super fun SNOW engagement/family session… well their wedding day was quite the opposite weather-wise but still full of even more fun and love. These two got the perfect sunny spring day (which was good since their ceremony was outside at the beautiful Fletcher Park Pavilion.

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Ceremony: Fletcher Park Pavillion

Reception: Mt. Zion Convention Center

 

 

| Styles & Smiles | Consignment Boutique Mt. Zion, IL | Small Business Features |

The Details: Styles & Smiles Length of time in business: 2 Years

Hours: Tuesday – Friday: 10:00am-5:00pm Saturday: 10:00am-4:00pm Location: 205 Debby Drive, Mt. Zion, Illinois

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Tell us about your business….what do you do? Styles & Smiles is an upscale clothing boutique featuring new and gently loved apparel, shoes, purses, and accessories for men, women, and children.

What makes your business unique/special? Styles & Smiles is not just another resale shop. We take pride in making the client experience one they will not forget. We personally assist you with all of your fashion needs and will help you find the perfect outfit for any occasion. We provide style with a smile!

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What item/service on your menu or in your shop do you just love and think everyone needs? Name brand clothing at an affordable price and top notch customer service.

In what way have you gone above /beyond in the past for a customer? We appreciate our client’s demanding lives and never hesitate to come in early or stay late to help accommodate their schedules. On occasion, we have even delivered! We also work closely with local charities and donate a great deal of clothing to help support causes such as the Cinderella Project and Northeast Community Fund.

What was the coolest thing you’ve ever had a client do for you? My clients are amazing. One of our special clients, Shirley, brought me an amazing gift one day, a guardian angel. It sits right in front of my store.

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What tool/equipment/or other vendor could you not imagine doing business without? Why? I can’t imagine business without our customers. THEY are our most important vendor! Without them, we would not have the awesome styles and great inventory that we do!

What other local businesses do you love? Why? I can’t imagine a day without Krave or the Black Iron. We love our iced coffee drinks and sweet treats! They keep us energized and help keep a smile on our faces!

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Introduce us to your STAFF: Lori McDaniel is our styling and marketing expert. Lori is a Decatur native and a student at Millikin University. She has extensive background in sales and marketing and flair for design… AND… Lori is an energizer bunny! 

Tell us about you? Why did you choose to do what you do? I am recently retired after years in the world of finance. I Love style, I love to shop, and I love to make people happy. I have always wanted to own my own business, so when the opportunity came up to buy Styles & Smiles, I thought it would be a great way to fulfill my dream, so here I am. 

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What are you passionate about outside of your business? My three grandchildren, Avery, Piper, and Jace, and my children, Clint and Nicole are the loves of my life. When I am not at the store I am enjoying time with them. 

Describe your perfect day… My perfect day would be waking up around 7am to a beautiful sunny day, enjoying a cup of coffee, and chatting with my daughter and grandkids about what we should do for fun. I would bop into the store and see that it was in great hands with my staff, so if I wanted to check out and go fishing or to the zoo or park, I would. About 6pm, settle back at home and hang out with the kiddos, enjoy all the love and the laughter, then sit back and say, “yes, life is good.” 

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See the latest news and items available from Styles & Smiles HERE

See our other past small business features to connect with more businesses in our area:

See more on our Facebook Page and follow us on Twitter @sjanephotog, Instagram @sjanephotograhy, and Snapchat @sjanephotog

If you’d like to have YOUR small business featured for FREE on the SJP blog (or know a small business we should feature) you can find details HERE! These features are 100% free and we’d love to feature you next.

| Morgan | Illinois Festival Junior Miss 2016 | Pageant Photography | Decatur, IL |

Today I’m excited to show off the lovely and talented Illinois Festival Junior Miss 2016, Morgan! I got to meet Morgan when she came along to Payton’s BFF session day this year and was thrilled when she was so excited about that image and experience that she wanted me to create her pageant images right at the end of the reign.

For pageant gals we usually want to accomplish a few things at their session. We need to create a beautiful headshot image first.And while it often has strict specifications for sizing, posing and backdrop for uniform appearance in programs, it should also capture and show off each girl’s unique personality… that’s not always an easy task with a simple head and shoulders shot but I love the challenge. For morgan, beauty lighting was a MUST – look how flawless she is! This let her eyes and smile SHINE brightly while keeping everything else soft and simple and I love our final result.

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Next, we often want to show off they lady’s talents, philanthropies or crowns! We managed to do all three in a few combinations with Morgan here. Clearly her talent is dance and I swear I was giddy and impressed every time she went up on point (in a variety of different poses).

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And finally it wouldn’t be a pageant session if we didn’t show off crown, sash and dress! How gorgeous is that royal blue dress on her. It was such a perfect look we had to do a few more headshots with it too.

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My favorite part of Morgan’s Premiere (when we showed her all her images on our movie screen) was both her and her mom’s reactions to everything and their excitement about, not only these images, but working with me again when it’s time for her senior images soon. I had a blast with her for this little session so I know we will have so much fun on her full senior session (something epic for that dance talent will be needed don’t you think?!?!).

| Payton | Argenta-Oreana High School Senior Model | Class of 2018 | Decatur, IL |

The first of our class of 2018 senior models to make their debut on the blog is our very own Ms. Payton!

2017-08-17_0003You may remember her first moment in the SJP spotlight way back for her sophomore year prom when she won the Neuhoff media prom package which included a prom-day shoot with her date Austin (and we included him in a few of her senior portraits too)!

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From there it wasn’t long before Payton was working as my assistant and modeling for me on a few projects including our parachute dress class in downtown Indianapolis with the Reset Conference. She’s even charmed our own little #BabyB and got to be her swim lesson teacher at fairview pool this summer!

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So basically Payton has become a pretty awesome part of the SJP family (at home and work!) so it seemed fitting she be the first one up on the blog to kick off the class of 2018’s senior year.

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Do you guys remember the ‘trash can image’ ?!? Austin joked when we got out of the car at the park that we had a great location right by the dumpster soooo I accepted that as a challenge to create something fun by it and this was the result:

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Things have been BUSY around here all summer and I have SO many awesome things to show you from all our seniors… so let’s not wait! Check out all of Payton’s favorite images right here right now.

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This year Payton was even named All American Cheerleader! Big congrats for kicking off your senior year with such an achievement.

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And don’t forget to head over to her facebook album to give her some love.