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.

At least, you hope that’s always the case and honestly I think this wedding fit the bill!

Sarah and Isaiah such a beautiful young couple that are completely smitten with each other. They’re also quite nerdy and I loved that about them, because that wanted that nerdiness to shine out in their wedding and in there photos!

I first got to know Sarah and Isaiah back in the fall of 2014 when we took their engagement photos. The thing I quickly learned about them was that they were up for absolutely anything. They were all about getting the best photos and were up for any challenge or pose or goofiness I could throw at them.

After the engagement session, I knew the wedding itself would just be absolutely a riot!

The day started off at Our Redeemer Lutheran Church in Wauwatosa where Sarah and Isaiah were getting ready and getting married!

I stopped in with Sarah first and she was busy applying makeup to her mother’s face, so I grabbed the dress, bouquet and rings and found a new location to take shots. One thing that Sarah had mentioned in our meetings, was that she absolutely loved stained glass windows, so one of the first ideas I thought of was putting the dress in a stained glass window and taking photos.

This was a little bit trickier without having a hook to hang the dress, but fortunately one of the bridesmaids helped me by holding the dress while standing atop a pew. It was very acrobatic!

I was really happy with how a couple of these shots turned out and after grabbing some more quick shots of the shoes and rings on a red pew cover we headed back to meet with Sarah.

By then she was ready for the dress and after she put it on, I got an amazing portrait of her holding the shoes behind her back and looking over her shoulder. The shot seemed like it was on a whim when I first took it, but later it quickly became one of my favorite shots for the whole day.

After this, I noticed the bridesmaids all huddled up around Sarah and saw a special photo moment in the works. I then encouraged the stragglers to join the huddle and then I jumped above them on a chair and shot some photos of Sarah looking positively giddy with excitement, while the bridesmaids primped and fussed over her.

Running out of time, I quickly ran to Isaiah and set up some quick portraits with him and his brother before the wedding, of them sitting and staring out at the aisles and a couple headshot portraits.

The running didn’t stop, because I then had to turn around again and catch the first look. This first look was a little different. Sarah and Isaiah wanted their first look to be on the aisle as Sarah walked down it, but Sarah also wanted me to capture the first look when her dad saw her coming out of the room she was getting ready in.

Sarah started tearing up at this point and it was a beautifully special moment to behold.

The tears continued when Isaiah saw his bride-to-be coming down the aisle for the first time. I snapped a couple pictures of him wiping away a tear or two.

The ceremony itself was beautiful. The church was a beautiful building with rich reds and browns sweeping across the sanctuary and dotted by the beautiful stained-glass windows.

After the I-do’s we took formal portraits in the main hall where the vows took place and snapped a couple more portraits under and around the stained glass portraits with me using an off-camera flash to light up Sarah and Isaiah. I really wanted to give Sarah a couple portraits of her and Isaiah with the stained glass, because of how much she loved the beauty of the church feature.

This sent us into an intermission for the wedding guests, but the busy portrait time for me and the wedding party.

We actually took the wedding party photos in the exact same spot as the engagement photos, the Menomonee River Parkway.

It was nearly a 11 month span between when we took the engagement photos and the wedding photos and with it being a month earlier in the year (we took the engagement photos in November) we got a noticeable amount more color.

We took a lot of fun photos with the bridesmaids either being James Bonds spies or singing into microphones and stylishly cool photos of the groomsmen. All of these shots had a small pond as a backdrop.

We then walked aways down a path and took some closeups of the bride and groom and some other fun ones with the best man and maid of honor there as well.

After an hour or so, the wedding party was sufficiently cold. It was one of those October days that was beautifully sunny, but definitely a cold, cold day.

So, we headed to the reception, which was all the way downtown at the Hyatt Regency Hotel. This was an absolutely stunning and grande hotel and it was amazing to take photos in the place.

I personally enjoyed the reception, because while it was held in an elegant ballroom Sarah and Isaiah were still able to sneak in some of their beautiful nerdiness. For instance, all of the tables were called different wizarding houses from Harry Potter or other assorted names from Fantasy books.

I also loved the speeches, which can be a rarity at a lot of weddings. The best man’s speech, usually, is for lack of a better word: cringeworthy. But, this best man really brought his A-game and gave the best speech I’ve ever heard.

Isaiah’s speech was also memorable, because it was so touching, talking about how he felt out of Sarah’s league and truly appreciated being invited into and accepted into their family.

The last thing I’ll touch on is that at this wedding, I was able to grab my favorite first dance photo I’ve ever taken and one that I’ll use as my main portfolio shot of the beauty of wedding photography.

As usual, I put an off camera flash across the room to backlight the couple and to give me an interesting flash in the background of my picture, but this time I was able to completely isolate the couple on the dark wall and really simplify the picture. I also highlighted them by using an on-camera flash of my own. Absolutely, my favorite!

Thank you Sarah and Isaiah, for making my job of creating stunning images so easy!