First Meeting Before The Wedding

After a flurry of activity, laughter, hunting for items, water, makeup, and all the things it takes to get the bride ready we were ready for the bride and groom to have their time alone before the ceremony. Off I went to find John and take him to the altar where he would wait for Amber.

What was different this time is that John comes from a large family, and Amber’s family was all there complete with all the grandparents as well.  We had to almost beg to get everyone to leave the sanctuary.  If you look really carefully they are all gathered at the windows watching cameras poised.

It is a hard decision for Studio D. It is a wonderful candid moment for great photos.  Our promise is we will shoot a few images and then leave with everyone else.  It is truly meant to be time alone for the couple.  If the photographers stay, they are not alone.

Amber’s mom is on the right in the window.

John’s mom and sisters with Mom crying. So! We did something we have never done before.  After a few moments we brought both mom’s into the sanctuary and let them go join their son and daughter.

A few moments after that we opened the doors for the bridal party and family to join in and we started the wedding portraits.  Watching John stand quietly after his time alone with Amber with a tear still in his eye his love for Amber was written all over his expression.   He didn’t say anything.  He didn’t do anything.  He just had eyes for her.  It’s called love.

There’s another back story to their wedding.  It will take some time to pull the images, and there are a bunch of images to pull to do it justice.  Image files are archiving in another software program while I type this.  Tonight or tomorrow we will tell you that one as well!    Proofs will be up in a couple of days.

Proofs may be seen by clicking here. Choose amberjohn and your password is the groom’s last name in lower case.

I am joining together with a makeup artist, florist, and a location to do a concept shoot.   Lighting will already be set for another model who will be very avant garde in appearance.   I am looking for a bride that loves to play dress up and will get back in her dress for the camera.

Dates we are considering are the 27 of june and the 11 of july.   Let me have a shout out if you are interesed.

I’d consider more than one based on your love of being YOU in front of the camera.  You come play, and Studio D will give you images to have and hold and PRINT.

You have to have a very strange kind of tolerance for chihuahuas.  They are needy, yappy, pesky little dogs.  They do not go sit in the corner quietly.

Meet Annarainne

She is 6 pounds of dog that believes with all her heart she is a great dane.  She barks furiously at every sound or person.  If a person cannot be intimidated and they pick her up, she pees on them.  Anna believes she is the boss of the whole world.  If she is on the deck she can see for a good half mile, and it is all her territory.  You must not walk in her territory.  Loud barking warns you of your violation.  She hates snow and ice. Associates car rides with the vet.  The vet hurt her as a 6 week old. She has never forgotten. It’s the only person she has ever actually tried to bite.  She burrows under the covers and wedges herself under your side so you cannot move. She growls if you disturb her.  She hates early mornings, and will not get up before the sun is above the horizon.  Hates rubber bands. Loves anything mom eats.

Meet Coco - the younger “sister”

She is long haired and 12 pounds.  She is submissive to Anna most of the time.   She can’t stand for Anna to be out of her sight. Coco has no idea that she too is not petite like her sister.  She bites body parts hacking Anna off to no end.  She doesn’t nibble. She bites hard.  She refuses to go fetch or chase any toy; however, she delights in throwing her body on top of Anna’s favorite toy so it is not visible to the throwing machine called Donna.  This causes Anna to whine loudly until I figure it out.

Why do I mention the chihuahuas?  They are bugging me this afternoon.  Finally I aimed the camera at them.  All is well. They got attention, and now are sleeping … totally satisfied they are MY masters.

You have “gone the extra mile”
Donna — I will cherish the DVD!
(I hope you like wine?!)

Yes, I do like wine, and I love Shriaz.  It’s yummy!  Can’t wait to sample this one!

(pictured left to right… Pat(mom), Emily(sister and maid of honor), and the Andrea(Sleeping Beauty herself)

The rest of the story.  Pat has seen the sneak peek below, and the proof site is up which she has gone through as well.  The bride and groom are big on computers and anything Internet, but because they were headed to a beautiful island to enjoy their honeymoon…..NO computers!  Pat is ready to start printing without them!

The rest rest of the story is Emily came and picked up the DVD for Mom and delivered wine with a thank you note!   We had a great time with Emily at the wedding.  She kept us laughing with her delightful sense of humor!  It was good to see her today even if only for a second or two.

The rest rest rest of the story.  Everyone is thinking the bride and groom will have seen the pic’s before they get back on Friday! We are all thinking they will sneak on the Internet from the hotel.  Be interesting to hear if they did or not!

Pat & Emily………. thank you!   Can’t wait to hear from the newlyweds!  Little do they know, I’ve sent the last one in their sneak peek for a gallery wrap to hang in the Studio!  Give them my love…sure you will hear from them before I do!

“Donna   Thank you very much for the photos.  They’ve made us (Melissa) extremely happy.
Her face was glowing last night.

You’ve truly made her month (at least!!)”

Aw, man!  Both the gift and the note touched my heart.  Granite City has incredible cinnamon rolls which I drool  at the very thought of them.  Sunday brunch and cinnamon rolls!  I recommended Granite City to them and giving them my personal “YuMmY endorsement” as a place to go on Sunday morning.  Never once gave it another thought until I opened this tonight.

Thank you for the gift and sharing you liked the images  I posted on the blog.  You get to see the rest of them tonight!  Since Studio D tries hard to not post without an image……..

Some stories are just fun to tell, and this one I enjoy sharing with the blog readers.  I met Rob the week before Easter at Palmer where he is going through the last months of training to becoming a chiropractor. He is assigned to the doctor taking care of me.   Since I was there 3 to 6 times a week for a few weeks I began asking questions here and there about him… it’s called getting to know someone….others would say being nosey

He asked what I did, and I shared about being a wedding photographer.  Probably more info about being a photographer  than he wanted to hear, but my left shoulder was hurt in the accident.  Holding a camera, working a wedding, and life in general all provided more info about what I did while explaining what hurt and what was making it hurt.

I found out Rob has the girl of his dreams all picked out and they are scheduled to be married pretty soon.

The young man has made a most excellent choice, but I get ahead of myself.  Once I found out they were engaged the wedding photographer in me wanted to know more.  Every visit a little bit more was shared.  I asked if they had done an engagement session with their photographer. Rob explained that they were over 5 hours away from where they would be getting married and where their photographer was.

Long story short….. we got together Sunday afternoon and guess what we did? Duh!

Oh, the sweetness of having the camera pointed at them when Rob shot Melissa this priceless very Rob “look”.   He would have NEVER got it right if we tried to pose it. It would have just looked contrived and  awkward.    He probably would have never even agreed to try for the look for the camera.

I was a captive audience listening to their hopes, plans and dreams for the future while we visited after the shoot.  No crystal ball here, but I am positive as a couple they are strong.  Add to that the feeling that Rob will be very successful in his practice as the years unfold for them.

I love what I do.  Is isn’t work, but instead it is a passion in me.  Getting to peek behind the public mask we all wear is filled with surprises.    Loving another and the emotions that are involved leak out in spite of all attempts to keep them private.  People in love bubble over.  No exception for Rob and Melissa.  She will be his very beautiful bride coming down the aisle, and he will be the tall handsome groom standing at the altar wowed by her beauty as she comes to join hands with him for the rest of their lives.

The million dollar smile was not for the camera. It was for Rob!

Steve, Andrea, Lexie and I got together 9am the day after their Saturday May 30th weddings.  Back in the gown and the tux.   Andrea wore a bird cage veil, a fascinator, and then added a veil.  For the day after shoot her hair was down.  Day after shoots are a lot more relaxed because the gown is already ready for the cleaners. No worries about getting it dirty at this point.  The couple is alone with the photographers with no schedule to keep, and they are riding the huge wave of love from the day before.

The day of the ceremony her hair was up and beautifully tucked in the bird cage. Five Star Salon did a supurb job.

The classic car arrived from Klimme’s to wisk our bride and groom away in fitting style for our bride.

Flowers were by the very talented Damian of Milan Florists.  Two weeks in a row he’s been the floral designer for weddings we have captured.  Lovey, beautiful, esquiste… and he stays to make his presentation to the bride.

We could go on and on with images, but in the interest of not writing a novel………

Quad Cities Trolly wisked the bridal party to the reception and stayed to shuttle guests

Video was captured By Tom’s Videography (great to see him again)

Black Tie Entertainment provided a beautiful love story they are so famous for, and music flowed beautifully.

There were individual cakes on every table with a beautiful chocolate covered wedding cake from Sweet Perfections.

The groom is in love with Barq’s Root Beer in the bottle.  A pallet was shipped from Louisiana or Mississippi..never did get that story fully.  Every guest got to enjoy a cold Barq Root Beer.

Still deep in processing.  It will be a few days before the wedding goes to the proof site.  The couple left us yesterday to drive to Detroit and leave on their honeymoon with assurances they would not be near a computer until they got back.

Our surprise guest at the reception was the Brandenburgs from Brandenburg photography.  They finished their wedding and came to join the bride’s parents to help celebrate.  Great to see them as well!