So for anyone with the patience to follow my blog, you know I’m not very good at keeping up with it! In fact, I got so behind on it in 2010 that I haven’t blogged around 15 weddings. The good news is I’ve been really busy, so the time I’ve not spent blogging has been time I’ve been shooting and editing. The bad news, however, is that there were some fantastic couples I photographed that you haven’t gotten to see! So, I decided the best way to show you was to do a slideshow incorporating all of the weddings I didn’t get a chance to blog. Then I’m going to make a very concerted effort to blog this year all the way through starting with the lovely wedding I shot in Savannah last week.
In preparing this slideshow, I was reminded again of how fortunate I’ve been this past year. I think I must have been the luckiest photographer in Atlanta as well as Columbus, Tifton, Destin and all of the other places I photographed weddings. So a big thanks to some wonderful couples! I wish you all the very best in life and look forward to photographing your children!
If you’d like to watch it in HD (which I highly recommend, because the photos look amazing), just click the HD on the screen and follow the link to Vimeo. Also, make sure you click that little full screen icon next to the HD!
Katie & Nick outside the Metropolitan Club
Still playing catch up from the summer and spring weddings here in metro Atlanta, this is the wedding of Nick & Katie that was held at the Metropolitan Club in Alpharetta. We watched the weather minute by minute and, literally, street by street to decide at the last minute that the wedding needed to be moved inside. It didn’t end up raining, but the risk of having the guests come rushing inside the minute the bride came down the aisle, just didn’t seem worth it for anyone. It was a lovely wedding, anyway – inside or out – and we got to move outside for some post ceremony photos. I met Katie and Nick back in the fall when, if you’re a regular blog reader you may remember this, we went to Leita Thompson Memorial Park for their engagement photos. The trees were amazing looking and it promised to be a great shoot. In the end we got great photos, but not before we walked about 1.5 miles! I didn’t remember how to get to the lake, so we went into the wrong entrance. Oops. But it all worked out and the wedding was a really great day.
The Metropolitan Club is actually in an office park in Alpharetta, but they do a really nice job and offer a surprising array of photos ops. The lobby area has a great red sofa and a beautiful bar. When the wedding was moved indoors, they did a great job of making the setting very elegant, with very cool reflecting marble floors.
The reception offered a couple of really fun moments. Nick refrained from shoving cake in Katie’s face – a good thing – but then turned around and put cake into the face of the maid of honor – someone he’d known for a long time. She reciprocated and it was a bit of a cake free for all for a minute or two. Then there was the tussle between two friends (both petite and adorable) for the bouquet. It was all in good fun and the crowd was very supportive of the newly weds. Enjoy the photos and I promise more soon!
Click first photo to view entire gallery.
First dance at an outdoor wedding
In my never ending attempt to catch up with all my weddings and engagement shoots from this year, I seem to have made it to the late spring. There are many more ahead and I’m going to make an effort to blog them more frequently, because there were some amazing weddings this year! Meredith and Bert and their families put on a spectacular backyard wedding in Westpoint, GA. I hesitate to even call it a backyard wedding, because it was VERY elaborate and beautiful! First off, they got married at the Westpoint Presbyterian Church, which is a lovely church with dark wood beams, cathedral ceilings and lovely stained glass. Add to that the amazing work of the florists and designers - Nectar and Co. – and it was a truly beautiful day. If you’re looking for fabulous, over the top flowers, then you really should give these guys a call. They’re out of Macon, GA, but they work all over the state, including weddings here in Atlanta. After the ceremony, where Meredith wore her Mom’s wedding dress from back in the 60′s (and looked adorable in it!), they came back to the house and gardens – which they worked on for over a year – to the reception in a giant circus style tent, again, decorated with flowers from the folks at Nectar & Co. There were several hundred people at this wedding, so when I say giant tent, I mean giant tent. In addition, they added little food stations all over the garden, including one where they were deep frying catfish and hush puppies. Yum! At that point, Meredith changed into a cute little cocktail wedding dress (something I’m seeing more and more of these days) to dance the night away.
If you read my blog on a regular basis (and I’m sure wish I posted more often!) you know I really like the band The Maxx out of Atlanta. They did an outstanding job at this wedding and as usual, they just kept the crowd dancing and coming back for more. It was truly a joyful evening and Meredith and Bert’s wonderful family and friends made it even more special. All the best to those guys! They’re now (like three of my couples in the last couple of years) living in Washington DC and I’m sure looking forward to the cold winter ahead.
Atlanta Wedding Photography
Katie & Michael have been a terrific couple to work with. You may remember them from back in the fall when we did their engagement session at Piedmont Park. They live in Atlantic Station, so they decided to stay close to home and have their wedding at Twelve, which is a beautiful modern hotel here in Atlanta. Katie, being my most organized bride ever (and I have some very organized brides vying for that medal!), worked it out with a nearby office building to use their penthouse for our portrait session and it was a perfect Atlanta day with the skyline in the background. She also allotted three hours for the first look and formal photo shoot, which was heaven! I should do an entire blog post on what we can accomplish in that amount of time! Anyway, their families were a joy with lots of absolutely adorable little nieces and nephews. The ceremony venue had beautifully dramatic lighting and part way through, while the singer was singing to them, they did a little spontaneous slow dance from the sheer delight they had at getting married. But clearly from the reception, dancing came naturally, because everyone joined in and looked like they knew what they were doing. I wish them all the best and expect to see them happy for many years to come.
Click on the first image below to view photos from this lovely Atlanta wedding:
You may remember back in February when I shot Antonio and Shakera’s engagement photos in Atlanta on a day that was soooo cold my fingers were numb for half an hour after the shoot. But we had fun, didn’t we guys? These two are such fun to hang around with that even that cold weather didn’t dampen the shoot. Well, their wedding day, back in May, was one of those stunning Atlanta spring days and they were just as fun to work with. Shakera, a self described diva, just turns on the charm any time a camera is pointed in her direction and Antonio has a wonderfully dry wit (my favorite kind) and can switch from totally cool guy to life of the party in a split second. Their wedding was at Pristine Wedding Chapel in Jonesboro, GA. It’s a lovely venue with a lake and bridges and fountains. We got a late start (although no worries, I’m always early), which happens at a lot of weddings. Even with a good timeline, things don’t always go as quickly as everyone hopes. I tell brides to schedule hair and make-up a good hour (at least!) earlier than they think they’ll need. Those who heed my advice are always grateful in the long run. For some reason, that always takes longer than the estimated time and pushes everything back. But even at that, it worked out fine (it always does, btw). The ceremony was beautiful. The chapel at Pristine is exactly that, pristine. It’s all white lights and marble and has a kind of magical look about it and the reception was an evening of true family togetherness. They had a lot of love and support at that wedding and I wish them all the best in their future together!
Click thumbs below to view images:
Okay, I’m playing catch up again, but this time I’m really going to get through all of these spring and summer weddings. Somehow or another it’s just wrong when my website is more up to date than my blog! Rachel and Martin got married on a beautiful day in May at the Payne Corley House in Duluth, GA. It’s a lovely venue with a great bride’s room, a groom’s cottage and a really well developed outdoor ceremony space. I highly recommend it. It also has the coolest tree of any venue in all of Atlanta!
These two guys are so interesting, with a blending of their American and French identities and families. They had a great representation from France at the wedding and overall it made for a fun atmosphere. I’ve had a rash of really smart couples lately and these two certainly fit that bill. Rachel just finished her MD at Emory and Martin is about to start grad school in Physics. Whew! Very interesting to talk to, though. Kind of tickles my inner scientist.
In addition, I had a very fun surprise that day. I looked across the room at the officiant and realized it was Dawn Williams, a woman I had know for years in Los Angeles. I sat on the board of her non-profit, J.U.I.C.E. I had no idea that she and her husband, David (who I also know) and their son had moved to Atlanta. It was great to catch up and she did a wonderful ceremony for Rachel & Martin. If you need an officiant, go check her out. Her website is www.seventhsenseproductions.com and she’s an interfaith (and bilingual – maybe even trilingual) minister. She’s terrific and tailors each ceremony to the couple.
Enjoy the photos!
Erin & Bahair are one of those couples who both look so good it’s hard to take a truly bad photo of them. So they were a total joy to photograph at their Peachtree City wedding. Add to that the threat of rain on their wedding day was 70% at one point, then miraculously cleared to a stunning day with bright blue skies and all of the sudden, we went to perfect weather. Erin’s Mom, Fran, had spent countless hours sewing the amazing white curtains that hung from the wedding arbor (the venue has some smaller ones, but they wanted longer ones that would billow – totally great call, as they looked stunning). I could have stood for a long time and photographed the wedding site, alone, but add a nice looking wedding party and beautiful couple and it made for a great day of shooting. Bahair is Egyptian and Erin is of Irish descent, so the reception had a number of very cool tributes to their origins, including a Gaelic prayer by Erin’s uncle. Enjoy the photos and I’ll work at getting all the rest of my May weddings blogged soon!
Click first image below to open gallery:
Leading off the Spring wedding season this year was Lindsey & Chris who got married at Kimball Hall in Roswell in late April. It’s a lovely location, both inside and out, which was fortunate because a massive storm forced the entire day indoors. But nothing was going to dampen the spirit of their wedding and the love that just poured from their family and friends. The photo above was one of the loveliest moments I’ve ever witnessed at a wedding and I don’t think there was a dry eye in the house. Lindsey’s mother was giving her toast and said that all she had ever wanted was a daughter (I’m tearing up just remembering it!) and that Lindsey had been the best daughter she could ever have imagined having. It was so heartfelt and sincere and I loved the image above of Lindsey’s and Chris’s reaction. Enjoy the rest of the photos from the day as it was a really beautiful one!
Click first photo below for gallery:
So, in the spirit of seriously trying to get my blog up to date, I think it’s time I posted Michelle and Matt’s engagement photos from our Cator Woolford shoot last month (yeah, I did say last month). They brought along Michelle’s dog, Ella, who very much enjoyed the gardens, even if she could have cared less about the photos! Those who know me (and have been to my house for a consultation) know that I have three dogs (a small, medium and extra large) who sit somewhat patiently behind the french door to the kitchen while we meet. There are permanent snout marks on the glass panes that just aren’t worth cleaning off every day. So, as you can imagine, I’m always more than happy to have the couples I work with bring a long their canine friends to the engagement shoot. Michelle number 2 (as I called her), Matt’s sister was kind enough to come along as doggie walker so we could get some shots that were a little more couple like. Check back in the fall to see Michelle and Matt’s wedding photos from their wedding at Holy Spirit!
Click first image to see photos.
Okay, so I admit to being the lamest blogger in the business…but I’m a busy photographer, so that must count for something, right? I hope so. Obviously, spring has sprung (and will be past altogether too soon for my taste) and it’s seriously wedding season in Atlanta. It’s such a fun time of year for me. I’ve been working with these couples for 6 months to a year, we’ve shot the engagement shoot and sometimes a bridal and boudoir as well and I’m getting to know them and feel really excited on their wedding day. I sometimes even tear up a little as they walk down the aisle or have their first dance. It’s true, I’m a hopeless romantic. Why else would I go to multiple weddings a weekend? Anyway, the couple in this post, Shan and Craig are lovely in every sense of the word. We shot their engagement shoot at Shan’s parent’s house out in Conyers where Shan’s mother’s flowers were in full bloom. It was such a nice evening and they even got to play a little basketball! Craig is very very tall and Shan barely reaches his shoulder with 4″ heels. They should be totally adorable on their wedding day. Check back for more from them after their wedding at the Piedmont Room in early June.
Click first photos below to show gallery.
