continued from the previous post…

This girl can sing.  Blast to the years of flapper dresses and speakeasies… I’m double checking her band’s name.  If you’re interested, follow me on Twitter at @Jen_Kroll and I’ll tweet it once I find out.

Joey and Chris’ swing instructor and friend from NYC.  She fits the role perfectly!

A quick portrait of the back of Joey’s dress while she was greeting guests in the receiving line…

A combination of things that reflected the couples’ hometowns – Saratoga water from upstate NY, Jacques Torres chocolates from NYC, and the champagne and cherries from the Traverse City area.

John Pottenger of Coastline Studios was contracted last minute to run the groom’s solo camera and manage to capture this incredible footage of their first dance!

Another fun thing was that Joey and Chris contracted us to do a photo booth in the corner of the room with onsite printing of 5×7 prints.  Each guest was able to take home a framed photo of themselves as their wedding favor!  Finallly, a favor that doesn’t end up in the garbage!  :)  Props complements of the bride!

And finally, the last dance of the evening…

Chris and Joey — thanks so much for allowing us to share in your celebrations!!

Ceremony continued…

Dominique’s daughter gave a beautiful toast in both French and English (bride’s family is all from Quebec).

Few words for this toast.  You had to be there.  I wept.

In our initial meeting, Tom asked me, “I know you know how to photograph people, but do you know how to photograph horses?”  Even though I grew up around horses at the summers I spent as a “staff kid” at Anchor Point Camp, I hadn’t been around them much with a camera.  Tom asked me to do my homework on what types of lenses are best for photographing horses, so as to not distort the body.  Even though Dominique didn’t ride down the aisle on horseback as originally planned, Ryan and I still did our best to photograph some of the horses in the pastures.

Can’t forget the cows.  :)

Too many lovely details and sweet faces to fit everything into one post…

Cocktail Hour Begins...

Forget the candy bar... bring on the Lucky Charms!!

Another joy -- I got to be a guest too!

One of the advantages to working in this industry is that one gets to know many different vendors on a personal level.  Jill may argue that this also has it’s disadvantages.  You see, Jill works for one of the most notable event planners in the midwest, Jodi Bos of In Any Event.  So when Jill began publicly planning her wedding on In Any Event’s Blog, I know she struggled with vendor selection because the truth is, the talent pool in Grand Rapids is rather deep and the friendships run deeper.  Saying yes to one person means she had to say no to someone else.  I can’t imagine how hard that would have been.  In the end, she chose the vendors that were right for her and her personal style.  Jill and Chris’ team and details consisted of In Any Event for design and implementation, Modern Day Floral, Coastline Studios, MI Photobooth, Milkpod Studio (fabric bouquets), Handbags By Jen, Gwyneth Paige (for letterpress), Julie Strating & Erin Brown on makeup and hair, a stunning Rivini gown and Vera Wang bridesmaids dresses, Calvin Klein on the boys, Peter Spickenagel (classical guitar during cocktail hour 616-334-5712), MiraBella Confections, Grand Rapids Trolley Co, Cascade Hills Country Club, and Westminster Presbyterian Church.  Also special thanks goes to the extremely talented, Ryan Prins, who was my second photographer on this wedding.

I’m truly honored and humbled to be a part of such an all star line up.  The truth is, as artists, we’re all insecure when we’re brutally honest and it doesn’t help that the market is changing and becoming crazy saturated at a ridiculous pace.  I’ve stayed off the trend bandwagon of textures and washed-out, overexposed images believing instead that reality is pretty darn beautiful and doesn’t need to be twisted to create visual or emotional interest.  Nothing against those who shoot and edit that way, it’s just not my thing.  With every couple that hires me, I am so thankful that being true to myself and my philosophy of photography still has a respected place within this industry.  I’m reminded that trends are just that.  Today marks my 11 year anniversary of the first wedding I was asked to photograph (and our dear friends John and Amy’s 11th wedding anniversary)!  I’ve watched a lot of styles come and go, selective desaturation (black and white with flowers in color) and alien eyes (pure white headlights with crayola color) to name a few… I guess I say all this as many of us are in the height of our wedding season to remind my friends to be true to who you are and how you see the world.  People respect authenticity and honesty.

Back to Chris and Jill… I love them.  Lots.

Who needs a flower girl basket when you can have a purse??