Back in May, I had the great pleasure of photographing the wedding of Mary and Alex.I first met Mary and Alex through Mary’s sister, Sarah who married the previous year in a lovely ceremony at the South Shore Yacht Club in Bay View, a community I’m quite fond of and live in. It’s in the south side of Milwaukee along Lake Michigan.
Photographing Sarah’s wedding, I of course, left with some images of Mary. Notably, I remember shooting a lovely shot of Mary dancing with her niece, swinging her around in a circle along the dance floor. I remember the shot, because Mary had a look of pure happiness on her face and both her and her niece’s hair was swinging straight out, showing the movement of the dancing.
It was one of my favorite shots of the reception and fortunately enough for me, Mary liked enough of my shots from that day to hire me to shoot her own wedding this May!
Seeing and being around this family again was an absolute thrill for me. They were so kind and thoughtful, something that readily shown through in my interactions with them. I also have to give a major shout-out to Mary and Sarah’s mother who was one of the kindest and most helpful ladies I’ve ever worked with and I’ve worked alongside and photographed some amazing and lovely people.
The down-to-earth kind personalities came through in the wedding. It was small, intimate and incredibly sweet-hearted.
The only guests were immediate family and because of this, I felt especially honored to be allowed to reserve a seat inside their close-knit world and be able to glimpse and be a part of that intimate celebration.
Like her sister, Mary was an absolutely beautiful bride and thanks mostly to my subject, I was able to capture some great bridal portraits the ceremony. Some of these shots are already in my ongoing portfolio and should be there for a long time!
I would also be amiss if I didn’t say I also was able to grab a few moments before the ceremony with Alex and captured some fun moments between him and his brother and used these photos as ideal game plans for future wedding shoots.
My favorite moment came after the ceremony when all the guests grabbed their significant others and began to dance impromptu immediately after the newlyweds walked back up the aisle. It was a fun and special moment that my photos didn’t come close to justifying. They were eight or so people in multiple generations dancing for the fun of it, all in Mary’s parents’ home in Elm Grove.
After the dancing, everyone went into the kitchen where Alex’s dad brought an old liquor that I believe was whiskey distilled from his father (that’s coming from my own limited memory and made be some variation or another).
He had opened and toasted with the drink at all of his son’s weddings and he wanted to continue the tradition with Alex and he even gave me a shot as well. 🙂
Continuing the theme of special family traditions, we then traveled down to Elm Grove Village Park for our family and couple portraits.
It was the same park where Mary grew up playing soccer and there were wonderful scenic bridges, rivers, trees and a gazebo to act as backdrops. Before the weekend, as a backup, everyone brought umbrellas in case of rain and even though it was a perfectly sunny and beautiful day we brought out the umbrellas anyway and used them in a couple photos. Everyone had a lot of fun!
The day ended at Eddy Martini’s on Watertown Plank Road in Milwaukee where I took my exit.
It was a wonderful day!
Note: for more or different photos check out my Facebook Page: Mary & Alex
