Baby Be Mine!
February 1, 2008 | Filed Under Lauren & Danté, Wedding Photography, Weddings | 6 Comments
To wrap up Lauren & Dante’s wedding, I wanted to share the slideshow of their whole wedding here! Such a fun and fabulous night — I hope you enjoy it! Be sure to check out the other posts about their wedding to get the whole story behind it all.
You can also view their slideshow on its very own page.
Thank you again to Elaine for her fantastic assistance with this wedding. Some of the photos in the slideshow were taken by her. Music by Babyface - “Everytime” and by Michael Jackson - “Baby Be Mine”.
The details:
Church: The Woodlands United Methodist Church, Coordinator: Sue Pagel
Reception: Shell Learning Center at The Woodlands Resort and Conference Center, Coordinator: Jennifer Wright
Flowers: The Blooming Idea of The Woodlands, Contact: Mary McCarthy
Cake: The Woodlands Resort and Conference Center
Dress: Watters Brides, purchased at Ventura’s Bridal
Tux: Men’s Wearhouse
Hair: Amine’s Coiffures, stylist: Kevin Matta
Makeup: L’Avantage
Lauren & Dante - The Details!
January 28, 2008 | Filed Under Lauren & Danté, Wedding Photography, Weddings | 4 Comments
Lauren & Dante’s wedding was so full of many wonderful details! They did a fantastic job of carrying through the color theme of green & brown, adding in a wonderful blue that I adore for the tables that just really made everything pop! When they opened the doors to the reception, it was a breathtaking sight!
The photograph on the right was taken by Elaine.
The cake was made by The Woodland’s Resort & Conference Center, and it was both stunning and delicious! And Lauren’s flowers were just so incredible. They were provided by The Blooming Idea of The Woodlands. I would have never thought to go with green flowers, but they were amazing!
Dante proposed to Lauren in Chicago, where her family was from originally before moving to Houston many years ago. Her grandgather shared the amusing story about how they came to Chicago to visit and he thought Dante was going to propose at a Cub’s game — and then didn’t! He did propose while there though, at Lincoln Park.
The theme for the wedding was Chicago, with all of the table signs having names of famous locations on them. The green theme continued with the centerpieces, also provided by the venue.
Their favors were Jones Soda Root Beers, personalized with their photo on the bottle. So cute! Of course, we couldn’t resist getting some photographs of the rings with the bottle and with the Lincoln Park table sign. We had so much fun with the macro shots of their rings!
The details:
Church: The Woodlands United Methodist Church, Coordinator: Sue Pagel
Reception: Shell Learning Center at The Woodlands Resort and Conference Center, Coordinator: Jennifer Wright
Flowers: The Blooming Idea of The Woodlands, Contact: Mary McCarthy
Cake: The Woodlands Resort and Conference Center
Dress: Watters Brides, purchased at Ventura’s Bridal
Tux: Men’s Wearhouse
Hair: Amine’s Coiffures, stylist: Kevin Matta
Makeup: L’Avantage
Lauren & Danté, The Reception - The Woodlands Resort & Conference Center
January 22, 2008 | Filed Under Lauren & Danté, Wedding Photography, Weddings | 2 Comments
Part 2 of yesterday’s post, the reception photos from Lauren & Danté’s wedding! (Be sure to check out the shots of the Ceremony and read about how we ended up photographing their wedding at the last minute!) In the photograph above, the guys asked me specifically to get a shot of their shoes. When I met with Lauren & her mom after the wedding, I asked her why. She explained that Danté had promised the guys that they were going to have nice shoes, nothing shiny and no fake alligator skin look. In the end, they ended up with shiny shoes that had fake alligator - both things combined!
Dante hugging Gary, Lauren’s father, before leaving the dance floor and the start of the Father/Daughter Dance.
Dante dancing with his mother, as Lauren hugs her mother in the background.
The band, photograph taken by Elaine.
I don’t remember now what they were singing, but somehow the flowergirl ended up on stage dancing along with the band!
Photograph taken by Elaine.
Lauren’s grandfather, sharing the story of how Danté proposed to Lauren in Chicago in 2006 - NOT at the Cubs game, as he thought was going to happen! This photograph and the one below were both taken by Elaine.
Dan, our connection that brought us in at the last minute to the wedding, is the groomsman on the right in this photo. Dan, you ROCK!
Photograph taken by Elaine.
I love this one! Probably one of my most favorite action shots ever! Lauren hadn’t told anyone that her throw bouquet was actually several individual flower stems. Right before she threw the bouquet, she took off the ribbon holding it together. As she threw it, it went several different directions, catching everyone off guard! She quickly spun around so she could see what happened!
Elaine’s view of the everyone catching the bridal bouquet!
She wasn’t posing for this - she was talking with someone, and I loved the graceful way she was standing there and the beauty of that bow!
The details:
Church: The Woodlands United Methodist Church, Coordinator: Sue Pagel
Reception: Shell Learning Center at The Woodlands Resort and Conference Center, Coordinator: Jennifer Wright
Flowers: The Blooming Idea of The Woodlands, Contact: Mary McCarthy
Cake: The Woodlands Resort and Conference Center
Dress: Watters Brides, purchased at Ventura’s Bridal
Tux: Men’s Wearhouse
Hair: Amine’s Coiffures, stylist: Kevin Matta
Makeup: L’Avantage
Lauren & Danté, The Ceremony
January 21, 2008 | Filed Under Lauren & Danté, Wedding Photography, Weddings | 4 Comments
Lauren’s dad, checking the time as everyone dried off their flowers to get ready to enter the ceremony.
I’ve already written about the story behind Lauren & Danté’s wedding, so now it is time to get into the photos! Be sure to check out the post about how we ended up photographing their wedding - getting the call to be there 15 minutes before the ceremony was set to start. Also, you can view the photos of their Reception, and coming up in future posts will be the details and the slideshow.
I’m so glad that we were able to be a part of their wedding. They are such fun and fabulous people, and we all agree that it was really just a matter of what was meant to be - we’re so lucky to have made such great friends! (Lauren, we can’t WAIT for your birthday party! It is going to be so much fun!)
The details:
Church: The Woodlands United Methodist Church, Coordinator: Sue Pagel
Reception: Shell Learning Center at The Woodlands Resort and Conference Center, Coordinator: Jennifer Wright
Flowers: The Blooming Idea of The Woodlands, Contact: Mary McCarthy
Cake: The Woodlands Resort and Conference Center
Dress: Watters Brides, purchased at Ventura’s Bridal
Tux: Men’s Wearhouse
Hair: Amine’s Coiffures, stylist: Kevin Matta
Makeup: L’Avantage
Lauren & I both loved this photo - it just seems to wrap up the sense of the emotion of the moment. It is a “mistake” shot, and not everyone likes it - but we both do. I think it is just the sense of the whole experience and the energy of the moment that it captures.
Lauren started to get a bit freaked out before the ceremony. Considering how stressful the day was with her original photographer not showing up, it is surprising it took her that long! She started doing deep breathing to calm down - and then her dad joined in by blowing on her to help her out. Which was, of course, rather hysterical and made us all laugh! I think that was when the coordinator came out and told us we were making too much noise. Oops!
These two photos are a great example of how Elaine & I work together on a wedding day. I almost always stay with the bride up until the time that she heads down the aisle; then, just as they close the doors before the bride enters, I slide in and speed walk down the side aisle to get the shots of the groom as he sees her for the first time. Meanwhile, Elaine has been inside at the center aisle, photographing the bridesmaids as they enter, and getting these shots. Together, it makes a fantastic blend and we are able to capture so much more. It also takes the stress off of both of us, just in case a flash doesn’t fire or something like that, the other one is able to get the shot because we are both taking photos.
Meanwhile, this is where I was. Danté’s first look at Lauren as she came down the aisle. (I talked more about these photos on my previous post.)
Elaine’s view of Lauren’s entrance. My view is the photograph below.
More tomorrow from the reception, along with the slideshow!
Defining Moments
January 16, 2008 | Filed Under Lauren & Danté, Wedding Photography, Weddings | 16 Comments
If another photographer was to judge this photograph based on the normal standards, they would probably think it was a terrible shot. It is completely blurry and isn’t well framed at all. This photo itself is not a good indicator of the quality of our work as photographers. However, it is one of my favorite photographs of 2007, and I feel it is a great indicator of who we are as photographers because of the story behind it.
Lauren & Danté planned their wedding on November 10, 2007 for over a year. Matter of fact, they booked their original wedding photographers in August, 2006. When it comes to weddings though, things sometimes don’t go as planned. I know November 10th didn’t follow the plan for Elaine & myself, and it definitely didn’t follow the plan for Lauren & Danté. Their photographer, for reasons that are still unclear, did not show up.
Elaine & I spent the first half of November 10th photographing the wedding of Mercedes & Tim, as was planned. We started shooting at 8am, and the reception wrapped up a bit early and we were on our way home by 4pm in the afternoon. I decided to go to Elaine’s house to download her photos from the day (I do all of the post-processing of the photographs), and as I was downloading photos, Elaine decided to check her email and Twitter messages. Turned out, it was perfect timing - our friend Mark Austin had sent us a message asking if we were available to shoot a reception that night. Confused, we started making phone calls so we could get the rest of the story and work out the details.
Dan, the owner of BarStool magazine - who we have done shoots for in the past - was in Lauren & Danté’s wedding. And when it was determined that the original contracted photographer was not showing up, he started making phone calls which lead him to us. When we learned all of this, I pointed out to Elaine that if my photographer had not shown up at my wedding, it would have been the worst thing possible next to my husband not showing up - the car was still loaded, we were in “wedding” clothes, and I simply had to do it. I could not possibly leave them in such a bind. She agreed, and we were off.
One problem? We were about 30-40 minutes from The Woodlands, and the wedding was originally scheduled to start in 15 minutes from the time we got off the phone. We took the fastest route possible to get there, on the phone with Dan and the coordinator much of the way, and they held the ceremony for our arrival.
We are always treated very graciously by guests at a wedding, and have been complimented frequently for our professional attitudes and how we treat all the guests, but this wedding? We were treated the entire night like superheros, from the minute we arrived. As we walked in the door, I had my camera in my hand ready to start shooting - and the photograph above was the result of me practically throwing the camera over my head to get the whole scene. Lauren is there, about to hug Elaine who is in front of me. Tami, her mother, is giving us the “you scored!” move in the background. Morgan, one of the maids of honor, is reaching out to hug Elaine too. Everyone and everything is a mixture of emotions, and I still get a warm fuzzy feeling when I look back at this photograph.
It still breaks my heart to know that there is a vendor out there that don’t follow through with their commitments. It makes me feel great though to know that we were there and able to be a part of their special day. The entire experience has made me so very thankful that we could be there for them.
Which takes me to the second photograph.
Elaine & I have known each other for years, and in my opinion, we make a fabulous team while photographing weddings. As the ceremony begins, Elaine takes her place inside the venue and photographs everyone as they come down the aisle. Meanwhile, I stay with the bride until the last possible moment, capturing the emotions that are happening out there. Then, right as they close the doors to prepare for her to walk down the aisle, I enter and speed walk up to the front of the aisle to capture the expression on the groom’s face when he first sees her enter.
This is Danté, at the moment that he first saw Lauren.
What makes this photograph so important to me is not just in the photo itself, it is in what Danté told me a few weeks later. One Saturday, Mike (my husband) & I were out Christmas shopping at The Woodlands Mall. I had talked to Lauren earlier that day, and we had discussed maybe getting together for dinner. After dealing with the crush of the mall, I called Lauren and learned that they were heading over to Morgan’s house. (Morgan, the maid of honor from above.) They were having a Wii party, and we were invited.
As the evening went on at the party, Danté & I were talking about the wedding and all that happened that day. He brought up this photograph, and told me that it was one of his favorite shots. He said how he could feel how happy, nervous, scared, joyous he was at that moment - all the emotions rolled up into one - as he looks at it now. That it captured it all for him. But the best part? He told me, “I never saw you. I never saw either one of you (Elaine) - I didn’t even know you were there. I had no idea that you took that photograph until I saw it later on.”
Seriously? That makes me, as a wedding photographer, so happy. That is my goal. To capture the moments that no one else realizes are happening. To be unobtrusive while taking photographs, blending in almost as another guest. To see the little things that you will otherwise forget someday. To see it all and to gather as much of it as possible with my camera. When I have done that, I know I have done my job to the best of my abilities. When the wedding day is over, and anything remaining is packed away, the photographs are all that are left. Knowing that we are responsible for that? That years from now, our photographs will be full of cherished memories? Well, I can honestly say it is the best job in the world.
This one day, in the end, was a turning point for so many reasons in what I do - I can’t even put it all into words.
I’ll share more photos from their wedding over the next few days, but I felt that so much of what I do is wrapped up in these two photographs, they deserved a post of their own.
