I absolutely loved this wedding.
It was almost unexpected how it came about, because it was late in 2014 and the wedding season was almost over when I got a last second call from Sarah to shoot her wedding day.
Because it was late in the season, when Sarah called and asked about shooting a wedding in less than a month, I fortunately had the date available!
With it being such short notice, a lot of the planning was actually a whirlwind of activity. We only talked on the phone once where I jotted down some quick notes about where to meet, what time things started and the fact that Sarah had two small children she really wanted to include in the wedding day and wanted them to be a big part of the wedding photos.
When the big day came, we met at Studio 890 in Elm Grove where Sarah and her daughter were getting their makeup done. They both looked absolutely lovely and the daughter and mother were mirror images of each other with their beautiful blonde hair.
At the salon, I was able to catch pictures of Sarah and her daughter getting their hair done and caught reflections of them looking in mirrors at themselves and the beauty technician behind them. I also snapped a fun picture of Sarah’s daughter sitting all by herself on the couch reading a beauty magazine with dozens of other beauty magazines on the coffee table in front of her.
I thought that scene was absolutely adorable and I loved grabbing that picture.
From there we went to Sarah’s parent’s house and I mentioned this in an earlier post when I shot the wedding of Sarah’s sister; but I really cherish Sarah’s mother. She is such a neat lady! So kind and easy to work with. I know mother’s of the bride can get a bad rap, but this lady was so awesome, she should trend a new stereotype!
At the house I cleaned up many of the necessary pictures of the bouquet, the rings, the announcements and the dress. I also took a few portraits of Sarah with her son and daughter. I was especially proud of a portrait I took of Sarah and her daughter leaning in to each other with their foreheads touching and the window streaming in light behind them.
The day only got better as we then traveled to the South Shore Yacht Club in Bay View and that was an absolute scenic SPOT for a wedding. It was out over Lake Michigan with yachts and docks surrounding the building. I still have a shot of Sarah and Bob walking on the dock in the late evening with the sun setting and just letting the scene do all the work. There was nothing else I needed to do, because it was so gorgeous and so captivating.
We took many portraits on Bob’s yacht and in the cabin and on the deck hanging on to all the sailing lines and it was just one of those days, where everything seems to be so scenic and you’re living in a vacation meets reality kind of life.
They had the wedding upstairs inside the yacht club and the place was tailor made for parties. The wedding itself was small with probably only 40-50 guests, which was a more intimate sized wedding. They had several different greetings which I really enjoyed by the front of the door with cards describing how they met and each other separately.
We also, of course, took more portraits of Sarah inside this dark wooden stairwell. Here we grabbed a closeup of Sarah’s face, which is still one of my most favorite wedding images ever; one that I use as my main advertisement when talking to new clients and attracting new clients toward inviting me to photograph their own wedding! Such a simple photo, but still just perfect.
I also took a portrait of Sarah framed in a doorway with the sun behind her and in every wedding since then I’ve duplicated this effect of trying to take a portrait of the bride in her white wedding dress and letting the sun shine through the dress behind her. Everything is sparkling and shimmering and it just makes the bride just glow with white light!
After the wedding we had the speeches, the toasts, the food, and the cake and of course the dancing.
You could tell right away that the guests loved to dance and there were many kids at the wedding that loved to dance as well. I spent a long time capturing so many fun pictures of guests dancing the night away with a multi-color strobe light splashing many different colors on the people’s faces!
By the end of the night, I felt uniquely fortunate that Sarah found me on such short notice and had me spend her wedding day with her. With it still being my first official season as a wedding photographer, I was able to take that wedding and use so many of the photos and lessons I learned in the following year.
