Family Vacation // Outer Banks, North Carolina (Part I) // Film
I decided to jump on the bandwagon and try my hand at some traditional film photography, and took it with me on our family vacation to the Outer Banks in North Carolina. These frames are from my first two rolls of film ever.
Thanks to my sister for this frame of our family!
I love the process of shooting film, but I'd say I gotta keep practicing.
Maggie + Bill // St. Louis Wedding Photography
I grew up in St. Louis, but I don't think I've ever lived there. What I mean is that I've never spent more than a few days at a time in St. Louis as an adult. I've never experienced many of the things that make St. Louis the great city that it is. Sure, I've been to plenty of Cardinals and Blues games, and I've been up in the Arch way too many times to count. But there's so much more to St. Louis that I wish I knew. The Hill. The Landing. The Loop. The Rams? If you remember from their engagement session, Bill is the "little" brother of my best friend Joe (the really hairy brother in the group, you'll know it when you see him). Mindy and I both absolutely love the Bubenik family, so obviously it was a huge honor to be there to photograph Maggie + Bill's wedding. It was awesome to catch up with so many old friends too.
We started at Maggie's parents house...
The guys got ready at the church...
As we were scouting out locations, we found this killer little spot sandwiched between a few buildings and a parking garage. We were shooting in the middle of the day, and it was blazing hot, but this little shaded area gave us some great soft light and some relief from the heat.
With the exception of Harrison, the best man, all of these guys are brothers. And they're huge.
Then, across the street, we found the holy grail. This little walkway between two of the buildings had this absolutely killer rainbow awning. And adjacent to that was a great water feature, and some benches, and some shade. It was perfect and really meshes with Maggie + Bill's personalities. They were loving every minute of it, and you could just see both of them relax and come out of their shells a bit. This is them.
Yeah... it was hot.
Joe's daughter Evie was the flower girl, and I swear this little girl cannot get any cuter.
The reception was at The Malt House Cellar, literally one of the coolest spaces I've ever been in. Such a great vibe, with the stone walls and exposed wooden ceilings (it was in the basement), it was an extremely casual reception, but everyone was having a great time (and if you ever go there, you HAVE to try to Beer Cheese Fondue. AH-MAY-ZING).
Maggie + Bill // St. Louis, Missouri // July 9, 2011
Flowers: Emily Testrake
Dress: Blushing Bride
Tuxes: Blossoms Bridal
Ceremony: Hanley Road Baptist Church
Officiant: Jon Hessel
Reception: Malt House Cellar
Caterer: Moulin Events
Cake: The Cakery
DJ: Complete Music
Photobooth: Park Avenue Photographers
Definitely another case of friends-turned-clients-turned-even-better-friends. Congratulations guys.
Kaitlin + Eric // Columbus Engagement Photography
Hello from the Outer Banks in North Carolina! We're having a blast, and can't wait to share some of our photos from our trip! In the mean time we've got another great engagement session for you! This has to go down as one of our most favorite engagement sessions ever. Not necessarily because Kaitlin + Eric are more awesome than our other couples (seriously, we love all of you), but because we got to shoot something new. Something we've never photographed before. And it was the weekend of the fourth of July. And they fed us. And we love food... like a lot.
Kaitlin set up a session at a friend's house where she wanted some photos of her and Eric cooking together. They love to cook together, so it seemed fitting. Their friends have a beautiful house just outside of Columbus, and after our little chocolate chip cookie and chopped fruit and vegetable session (which was admittedly inspired by The Sprouted Kitchen), we had the privilige of sticking around and having a huge meal with both of their families. Everything was just ridiculously delicious, and we had a blast getting to know their families and friends.
We want to say a huge thank you to Kaitlin + Eric for having us come crash their Independence Day party with their families, and most definitely for the delicious food and great company.
Check out these shots, and try to tell me you're not craving some cookies. (Also, I wrote this post before vacation, so no, I'm not working on vacation... yet)
Ashley + Bryan // Cincinnati Engagement Photography
Today's Friday, which means we're on the road to vacation! We're headed to the Outer Banks in North Carolina for a week, but we've got a few posts in the queue to keep you entertained. Meet Ashley + Bryan. They set up a darling little picnic at the spot where they got engaged in Devou Park in Covington, KY. I love these guys because they're so easy to talk to, I feel like we just get along. In fact, we ended our session with me telling Bryan that I was confident he could change the oil in his car himself, and I gave him a step by step walk through. Yes, believe it or not, even though I'm an artist and like to be creative, I actually do all of the work on my own car. I'm a man, man.
Anyway, back to the point. We really enjoyed spending some time getting to know Ashley + Bryan, and we can't wait for their wedding this December at the Contemporary Arts Center in Cincinnati. You have NO idea how excited we are for that.
Kelli + Brian // Columbus Engagement Photography
Kelli + Brian are awesome. Downtown Columbus is awesome. Winning combination? I think so. Kelli has this sweet smile that shows up when she looks at Brian, and it was clear how much she adores him. As my friend Holly would say, these two have "the Love." Stay tuned for their wedding in October.
Molly + Nick // New Philadelphia Wedding (Part II)
Click here or scroll down for Part One. Last week Mindy brought you Part One of Molly + Nick's wedding. Now it's my turn. I wish I could've brought this to you a little sooner, but it's been insane around here lately. Prime wedding season, engagement sessions, and vacation coming up... it's been nuts. All good things, because it means we're busy, but I can say for sure that we cannot wait for our trip to the Outer Banks this coming weekend.
Where do I even start with Molly + Nick? Well, how about at the beginning... Molly heard about us from a friend of hers who had gotten married last fall. The best part is that her friend didn't even have us as her photographers. We were already booked when she asked us, so we had to refer her to some of our friends. Despite that, she sent Molly our way, and thus began the long journey of booking these guys. Let's just say that Molly is picky. Like, REALLY picky. And she asked us about anything and everything except maybe our social security numbers. Some people might think this was annoying, but it was quite the opposite. You see, I could tell Molly knew what she wanted, and that she wasn't going to settle for second best. We went back and forth, and in the end she agreed that we were the right fit for them, but I think there was still some hesitation somewhere.
And that lasted until we did their engagement session. We've talked a lot on here lately about our process. We like to meet couples up front, and we include an engagement session with every wedding. I know I've said it before, but we have a purpose behind almost everything we do, and Molly was a perfect example of the trust that we build with our couples at the engagement session. She was so thrilled with her photos, and sent me a million emails about how thankful she was and how she couldn't believe she ever had second thoughts, and how we were "the real deal."
So you can imagine, that come the wedding day, her and Nick were both so excited. They had planned this day for so long, and on top of all of the details, they had photographers they could trust and that they felt totally comfortable with. We worked very closely with Molly to develop a great schedule, which gave us plenty of time to get some really stunning photos. (Also, I can't forget to mention that Molly ended up taking my advice and had Brett and Drew from Timeless Pictures come to do their wedding video. Those guys are brilliant, and we really feed off of their energy and creativity)
Alright, on to what you've been waiting for. I'm so happy with these, but I have to admit, I think Mindy might have given me a lesson this round, her pictures are absolutely amazing. You'll probably notice pretty quickly that Mindy spends time with the ladies while they get ready, and that frees me up to go spend some time with the guys. In this case, a quick round of golf!
This could be one of my favorite frames ever. The guys were all set up in this crazy football formation, and they said, "let's pose like we're chasing Nick with the ball." We tried it, and it just looked lame. So I said, "Why do you guys go back there about 100 feet and actually chase him?" Boom.
Loving the lines on this garage door!
After the ceremony we headed over the to reception hall, which was ridiculously amazing, but we had to sneak out and grab some shots before the sun set. Mindy said it perfectly, these guys just fell into place. None of these shots were posed, what you're seeing here is real, natural love. And they have it by the truckload.
Okay, I lied. This next shot was kind of posed. Brett (one of the videographers) asked Molly to run into Nick's arms and spin around. That was all he said, and they ended up doing this. It's also my favorite frame of the day.
Yes, the groomsmen picked Molly up and were throwing her in the air. Priceless!
And finally...
Molly + Nick // New Philadelphia, Ohio // June 25, 2011
Flowers: Forget Me Knot
Dress: Dreams to Realities Bridal
Suits: Robert's Mens Shop
Cake: Litty's Cakes & Cookies (Best cake of the year so far!)
Ceremony: First Baptist Church of New Philadelphia
Reception: Kent State University Performing Arts Center
Caterer: Trax Diner
Videographers: Timeless Pictures
And I have to throw one more shout out to our friends Brett and Drew from Timeless Pictures. These guys are so awesome to work with, and their wedding films are first class all the way. Keep an eye on this post, I'll be linking their video here once they have it finished!
