In my effort to catch up on blog posts, meet four of my fabulous couples who have weddings approaching!

Reilly & Laura will be getting married in July in in Minneapolis with the reception held at this swanky, modern hotel!  For their engagement pictures, we wandered around Ann Arbor and U of M’s campus — where they met.  We followed the session with a lovely dinner with Reilly’s parents who were visiting from Canada and a previous bride and groom, Nick and Lindsey!  Extra engagement shoot perk: chocolate chip cookies!  I’ll let Reilly and Laura do the big unveil of those photos for their guests at the wedding.  ;)

Jen and Chris will be getting married in August at the Walloon Lake Country Club (north of Traverse City).  So honored to have been able to sit in on one of their planning meetings with Alicia of A Day In May Events.  Gives me a whole new level of respect for how much work an event designer and planner puts in behind the scenes!  Jen and Chris squeezed their engagement session in before a long drive back home to Pittsburgh.  A drizzly, cold November day provided the opportunity for great color for about 1/2 hour before we got completely rained out!

Next up is Michael and Andrea who will be celebrating their wedding in Grand Rapids later this fall with the help of the talented team lead by Jodi Bos of In Any Event.  Michael and Andrea flew in from NYC for a few days over Christmas — arguably the coldest days of the year!  We took most of the photos in the unfinished (and unheated) fourth floor of my studio’s building and a record five minute shoot downtown.  Seriously, it was that cold.  To say there were troopers is an understatement.  In addition to the relaxed, easy portraits, Andrea and Michael were totally up for a more stylized, high fashion set (second photo below)!

And lastly, Anne and Brian!  They will be getting married in Leland in August.  I have dreams of their country church and a white distressed wood Art Building that will host the guests for the reception!  After having to reschedule for rain, we ended up with the perfect evening for an engagement shoot that was uniquely them and completely natural.  Alicia will be setting the scene for their event as well!

I’m looking forward to all the moments these celebrations and new friendships hold!  Wedding season begins in just 18 days for another full year!  Thank you to so many who have invited us into these precious days!

Continued…

Flower girl #3 called it quits:

Max’s View:

Max:

Pretty classic if you ask me!  One is picking her nose, the other needs to GO!

The Band (Max’s photo):

The Bridal Party (also Max’s photo):

Right before Christmas, I was able to help out another photographer and friend who found himself a little over his head.  Actually, he’s a highly capable and published photographer but his success has been in the commercial world which is slightly different than the event world.  In the commercial world, the photographer is able to maintain full control and typically has days to test and nail one photograph.  Then in post production, you only need to perfect one photo.  And you can composite until you’re heart’s content.  The most notable commercial shooters simply walk on a set that was built, lit, and tested by a full crew, leaving the photographer to push the button a few times, and finally, turn the images over to a team of photoshop gurus who composite a dozen or more photos together.  Don’t get me wrong, it takes insane talent to get to that level and the final result from the team of specialists is brilliant.  Then you have the commercial photographers who do the whole process themselves.  Pretty sure they’re just crazy.

By comparison, in the event world, we fly by the seat of our pants, have little control over lighting or environment, and have 8-10 hours to capture a complete family and social history of two different people with no potty breaks.  We eat in less than 10 minutes and have stomach cramping afterwards because we didn’t take time to chew.  The camera is an extension of our arm and soul; dialing in manual settings takes as long as tying a shoe and comes just as naturally.  We often do both simultaneously.  Light or the absence of it, doesn’t scare us.  Although we’d still like to slap the person who nixed the bridal room at the church in favor of an extra large nursery with a Noah’s Ark border and florescent lights.  In the basement.  The day after leaves us flat on our backs, unable to move a single muscle.  I’ve never been hung over but I’m pretty sure that would be how it would feel.  After you turn thirty, a wedding makes you feel like you’re pushing ninety-seven years old.  Then we edit 2,000+ images and make them ALL stellar and create albums that make parents weep.  Yes, I really do love every second!

So Dave asked Max to photograph his wedding and being one of his best friends, Max couldn’t refuse.  I’m sure he would have done fine on his own but at the last minute he decided he needed help.  So with a few days notice, I flew to LA to be his second photographer.  I’ve actually known Dave for about 14 years but it was my first time meeting Grace.  She’s one of those people you feel like you’ve known your whole life.  I can’t imagine anyone more perfect for Dave.  She is the definition of Grace.  I was absolutely in awe of the hospitality shown by their friends and family.  I’ll probably still pass on the raw ground beef but I love everything else about the Armenian culture!

The ceremony was held in the same cathedral they filmed the Spiderman 2 wedding (just the interior footage) and reception was held in Glendale at Anoush.  Dave and Max also happen to be in a band that you might have heard in hundreds of TV shows, movies, and radios stations… and if not, you should check them out.

Grace’s brother makes me laugh!  Investigating the bouquet…

Dave’s first look at Grace.  AND he brought flowers.  What a gentleman.

Max’s photo:

Max’s Photo:

My poor neglected blog!  We’ve been slightly busy loving life and enjoying the downtime before wedding season starts back up!  We also have a some big news on the horizon, all in due time.  But for now, enjoy a peak at Sara and Andrew’s intimate wedding at St. Andrew’s in Grand Rapids and reception at the Amway Grand Hotel and planned by another talented friend, Cheri Hall! A special thanks goes to Ryan Prins who I leaned upon heavily at this wedding — we can’t feel wonderful 100% of the time and this was, unfortunately, one of those days for me.  Having a QUALIFIED second photographer who knows me, my approach, and who is attentive to my sign language is priceless.  I photographed most of the photos shown below, but Ryan did a great job of rounding out the bunch.  *Special note: I will not be taking Vicodin for an ear infection EVER again.  My tummy simply cannot handle it.*

One more note: Sara and Andrew are amazing and have stellar friends who are in the medical field (and carry Rx pads on them)!