Category Archives: weddings

Miriam and Paul’s Wedding Photographs

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It has been a rather busy week and I got side tracked with a couple of other projects. So please forgive me for not getting a new post up sooner. On the personal front, the family is anxiously awaiting our new arrival. We have nowhere to put the baby but I don’t think that will stop him from coming when he pleases.

Meghan has spent all week at summer camp. I drop her off at 9:00 and pick her up at 3:15. She is having a lot of fun. One day when I picked her up, the kids were working on lanyards… When I went to camp, we called it boondoggle. I still have a box of the stuff hanging around the house. The kids, especially Meghan were surprised at all of the different stitches, knots and braids which I knew how to do. Somehow, I think I will be spending a morning at camp teaching them how to work the strands.

On Thursday, my new camera lens arrived. It lets me do some cool special effects. I can’t use it all the time but there are a couple of times during the wedding when it will provide a neat effect.

Yesterday I photographed Miriam and Paul’s wedding. Miriam had some absolutely stunning flowers. See for yourself:
Photograph of Mirriam's wedding bouquette.

Then there were a couple of times I was able to play with my new lens. See how much of the church is included in the photo!
Photo of Mirriam and Paul's wedding ceremony.
Now I just need to practice with this lens a little more to see what else I can do with it.

Jenna and Chris’ First Draft is done!

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I just finished the first draft of Jenna and Chris’ wedding album. There were so many great images, that I had a hard time decided what shouldn’t be included in the album. I guess that Jenna and Chris will have to tell me what to do next.

You can view the album at http://www.mmpix.com/Webpages/showpages/Jenna.htm

If you have not already done so, you will be prompted to install the Photodex Presenter in order to view the album. I hope you enjoy it.

A Wonderful Day for Jenna and Chris’ Wedding at Indian Lakes

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I’m sitting here waiting for the files from Jenna and Chris’s wedding to be complete their backup and thinking back on today. It was wonderful! We could not have had a better day for a wedding. Everything was perfect. While I had mentioned that I wanted to try using mylar with the flowers, I couldn’t find any. I used aluminum foil instead. Totally cool Take a look at the results! Just wait until you see the other photos with the aluminum foil. As you can see from a very small sample of the over 1000 photos we shot, it was a great day, from start to finish!
Photo of the wedding rings and flowers from Jeanna and Chris' Wedding
Photograph of Jenna being strapped into her wedding dress
Jenna looking beautiful for her wedding day portrait
Chris' wedding portrait taken on his wedding day
Photograph of Jenna and Chris on their wedding day at Indian Lakes.
One of Jenna and Chris' wedding photographs
Wedding photo taken at sunset at Indian Lakes
Wedding photo taken at sunset at Indian Lakes

Jenna and Chris’ Wedding is Saturday

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I spoke with Jenna earlier today and finalized the details for Saturday’s wedding. It seems like just yesterday Jenna, Chris and I first met at Chris’s apartment in Lombard. Looking back it really was last September, 8 months ago! Wow does the time fly and there have been many changes.

The most important changes since I first met Jenna and Chris are my Certified Professional Photographer Wedding Endorsement, this blog and some of the new ideas I’ve got for wedding photography. For instance, just this past weekend, I was at the Schaumburg Art Festival and picked up an idea from a fine art photographer that I’m excited to try. That is using mylar as a background to create irregular reflections in the background. I can’t wait to try something similar with the rings, flowers and invitation! If I can find some mylar between now and Saturday, I’ll show you the results.

Getting back to my conversation with Jenna, I think that the two most important pieces of advice I have for any couple on thier wedding day is:

1) Just enjoy the day, no matter what happens!
2) Get a lot of sleep Wednesday and Thursday nights before the wedding.

Cost and Value

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I received some lower quotes so I was just wondering what the difference was in pricing. I am comparing right now, but I do want quality photos.

You have no idea how many times I hear something like this. Invariably the person who says this books with the seemingly lower price photographer only to pay more in the end.

My brother, Rick, owns ProScapes, a landscaping and snow removal company located in Central New York. ProScapes is not the least expensive company in the area but they are one of the best! Actually, I’m quite proud of my little brother’s accomplishments!

Anyway, one day Rick told me he lost a landscaping contract for a local restaurant. The previous general manager had been transfered and the new GM went with the low cost provider. Rick didn’t seem the least bit upset. He said this is a cycle he goes through with some of his contracts. Eventually, the manager would realize the low cost provider did not provide the same quality or level of service as does ProScapes. Eventually, Rick would receive a call from the manager asking for a quote to fix landscaping damaged by the low cost provider and take over the contract. The low cost provider ended up costing the restaurant more money in the long run.

With wedding photography, the low cost provider can end up costing you more. For instance 6 or 8 hours of photography coverage may not be enough to fully cover your wspecial day. Especially when your DJ decides to have your first dance at 8:30! Your album package may include 60 units but the sample album you loved is 120 units! All of these extras can make your “low cost” photographer cost you much more in the end. After all of this, you still need to take into account the qualifications of your photographer. After all, you will have your photographs for the rest of your life!

Wedding Day Tips

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Earlier this evening I met with Michelle and Ryan who have a July 15th wedding planned. We spent about 2 hours scheduling the events for their special day. I want my clients to have an unforgettably wonderful day. A little advanced planning goes a long way. Towards the end of our conversation, Michelle’s mom asked me for any words of wisdom I might have. After a little thought I gave them several. I decided I would share some of them with you this evening.

  1. Once your wedding day begins, there is no more planning you can do. So enjoy your day!
  2. Delegate people to handle problems for you. Traditionally this was the job of the maid of honor and best man. Sometimes you’ll want somebody who is not in the bridal party to be able to act on your behalf.
  3. A week before your wedding, test drive all of your routes. This includes where you are getting ready, to the church, and to the reception hall. Look for any signs of immenient construction which you’ll need to avoid on your wedding day.
  4. Call the town to determine if you need a permit for outdoor photos or if there will be any special events which might interfere with you plans. This is especially true for Rosemont (permits needed) and Long Grove (special events).
  5. Provide only clear liquids to drink when getting ready, spills will not be seen on the wedding dress.
  6. If you must have doughnuts for snacks, make sure they are not powdered with sugar. It gets all over the guys tuxes and is difficult to remove.
  7. Finally on the topic of breakfast snacks, make sure everything is cut bite sized. This avoids spills and drops.
  8. Have the guys get their tuxes as early as possible on the day before the wedding. When they get back to the house, try everything on to make sure you have everything. If something is missing, the tux shop will have time to retrieve the missing items from the ware house.
  9. Ladies, have your nails done the day before the wedding. It takes less time to fix a chip than to have your nails done.
  10. Test your hair style the week before your wedding. Also take photos of your hair in case something happens to the stylist you are planning to use.

PS. Happy Birthday to my Dad (who stopped counting birthdays 30 years ago!)

Lot’s of hard work

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I just completed the initial album design for Cara and Michael. This means my album design backlog is now less than a month. Currently, I have one initial design to complete and three album redesigns which were requested. Hopefully, I can knock these projects out in another couple of weeks.

In the meantime, I’ve got several office projects to complete. Including cleaning the office, completing my business plan for the upcoming year and writing some articles for the state professional photographer’s magazine.

Furthermore, I’m thinking about creating a special line of parent albums which will be orderable via my website. The parents will select a predefined number of photos and they will be placed one to a page. However, that means making some changes to my website’s on-line ordering system. The work never ends.

Finally, I also need to create a couple of new sample albums. I’ve been selected as a preferred vendor at Starved Rock and Pheasant Run resorts. I’d like to create sample albums specifically for those venues. In addition, my current samples are getting just a touch out of date. I really think that Cara and Michael’s album will make a nice sample with some minor adjustments. You can view their album
By Clicking Here

Anyway, here are two of my favorite spreads from their album

Wedding Photos from Cara and Mike's Wedding at Mission Hills Country Club

Wedding Photos from Cara and Mike's Wedding at Mission Hills Country Club

Kim and Mark’s Wedding

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Late last week, my friend Michael Fisher from Studio West called. He unexpectedly found himself short a photographer for his studio’s Saturday wedding schedule and wondered if I could help them out. After making sure my schedule was clear, I said “of coarse!” Even though other studios/photographers are competitors, I try to help them out when I can. I do it for the couple and I never know when I’ll need a favor returned.

Anyway, our bride and groom were Kim and Mark. They were a really nice couple. The wedding was held at the Kemper Center in Kenosha, Wisconsin. The reception was at the Eagle’s Club, also in Kenosha. What a beautiful day for a wedding. Not too hot, not too cold and just the right amount of sun. Kim and Mark were great to work with. With the permission of Michael at Studio West, here are 4 of my favorite photos I took at their wedding.

Kim and Mark's Wedding Photos taken at the Kemper Center in Kenosha, Wisconsin
Sometimes, I get lucky and I’m in the right place at the right time.

Kim and Mark's Wedding Photos taken at the Kemper Center in Kenosha, Wisconsin
We were by Lake Michigan which brought back memories of my own wedding.

Kim and Mark's Wedding Photos taken at the Kemper Center in Kenosha, Wisconsin
Notice Kim’s reflection in Mark’s sunglasses!

Kim and Mark's Wedding Photos taken at the Kemper Center in Kenosha, Wisconsin
Even the sunset cooperated with us. All in all an absolutly perfect day for a wedding!

Jenna and Chris’ Engagement Photo

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Jenna and Chris' engagement photo

Jenna e-mailed me and said:

Chris and I love all the engagment photos you took! We decided to pick number nine as our engagment picture.

Jenna and Chris had scheduled their engagement session in late March. Somehow, we managed to get one of the first really nice days of the year. We had a real fun session at a local Lombard area park. The photo they picked(and shown above) is actually one of the first ones I took and it was in Jenna’s back yard! Don’t these guys make a lovely couple? I can’t wait for their wedding June 3rd!

As a reminder to my current clients, if you have not yet scheduled your engagement session, the spring time with all of the blooming flowers is a great time of year for engagement photos. Please call to schedule your complimentary engagement session today.