So let me get back on topic.  Beth & Chris has a gorgeous fall wedding at the Inn at St. John’s. They put a priority on getting great portraits, so they opted to do a first look, which we always recommend.  These two were such a joy to photograph.  Beth has a stunning face.  The camera loves every angle of her.  She certainly made things easy for us. Chris is hilarious and has a super expressive face that radiates emotion. I met up with Beth in her hotel room while she got dressed.

See what I mean?  Stunning.

They chose to see each other for the first time in the courtyard at the Inn at St. John’s.

Is that a happy groom or what?  See what I mean about Chris? I love his expressions.

Beth & Chris – thanks again for choosing us to photograph your day.  You guys were incredible to work with and we enjoyed sharing  your day with you!

I LOVE the expressions in these processional shots.  Especially Alexandra’s dad.

Alexandra’s parents were also married at St. Paul on the Lake and have a portrait in their home from in front of the church, so we had to be sure to get a similar shot to add to their family’s history.  From the church, we headed downtown for some more portraits with the bridal party before going to the reception.

This shot below cracked me up.  It’s not the type of image I normally blog, but I love the spontaneity of this moment.  It’s not uncommon to run into other brides when we are hitting landmark sites on a Saturday.  (One previous time we were at the Fox there was, no kidding, FIVE other bridal parties there at the same time for photos!)  But usually the brides never get close enough to do anything other than shout “congratulations” at each other from a distance.  A bridal high-five in the middle of Woodward?  That’s pretty rad!

The reception was held at Lakeland Banquet & Event Centre in St. Clair Shores.  The room was completely transformed with up-lights and accent lighting, bathing the entire room in a pink glow.  It was really a stunning reception, and a lot of fun to photograph!

I’m still catching up on my wedding blogging, but I have to say, it’s been such fun going back and looking at these images from our earlier events.  I still have a LOT more weddings to get through, so stay tuned!   Big thanks to Alex + Alex for letting us be a part of your amazing wedding.  :)

I love this shot – Sarah, you are so beautiful!

They did their first look in front of one of the carriage houses.  Trevor lit up when he saw his bride.

Their wedding ceremony took place at the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Detroit.  This was our first time there and we thought it was a stunning church.  I have to post two exterior shots because I couldn’t choose a favorite.







After their ceremony, we were only given a few minutes to take photos in front of the church, but we made the most of them.

After the ceremony, we headed to the reception at the Shenandoah Country Club in West Bloomfield.  Emerald City did a great job with the flowers and decor.

Thanks so much to Sarah & Trevor for allowing us to document their day.  We had a great time working with you and wish you both the best!  :)

So you know how I said I have been putting together sets and backdrops? Well the funniest part of this session was that Griffin wanted nothing to do with all that. So we ended up keeping things simple. He seemed happiest laying on his momma’s lap. When you are photographing newborns there are some tricks to the trade – such as feeding the baby right before so he’s nice and sleepy, keeping the room warm (we even pre-warm blankets), and having lots of soft towels and blankets nearby to gently position the baby. Griffin had no interest in all our little tricks. Maybe he was just really excited to get his picture taken- he was super alert for a newborn. He was awake for most of the session, so we were able to get great shots of those beautiful eyes of his.

These adorable hats were all purchased by Griffin’s mom on etsy. (Everyone who sees these photos wants to know about the hats!) We will definitely be getting some to keep at the studio.

Hope everyone had a good New Year, and thanks for stopping by our blog!

Thanks again to everyone involved!  We are always interested in connecting with other local wedding vendors.  If you are a local vendor that would like to work with us, feel free to get in touch via our contact form.

Valerie and K.C. – thanks again for letting us be part of your day.  Your wedding was gorgeous!

We love this bow tie shot.  If it looks familiar, it’s because it’s been on the gallery on our main website for awhile now.  :)

This is also another one of my favorites.  I love that Laura’s dad walked it at just the perfect moment.

Laura and Nico decided to relax at Laura’s mom’s house after the wedding, and we had to get a few photos with their pups.  How cute are they?

Laura & Nico, It was our pleasure documenting your day!  We wish you all the best!

Jackie and Chris were an unexpected booking for us.  They are originally from Oklahoma and have settled in Grosse Pointe while Chris completes his residency.  Jackie is an SEO guru and works part-time as Zooey Deschanel’s stand-in on the hit sitcom New Girl.  Okay, perhaps I made the last point up. OR DID I?!?!  I think the resemblance is quite strong. (Are you guys watching that show?  Andy and I really like it.)

Jackie is pretty awesome.  She’s geeky and she’s a book lover, and she also does something else that’s incredible.  She has a “Pin-did” board on Pinterest.  Meaning, rather than the rest of us, who just use Pinterest to keep track of really cool ideas we never actually get around to doing, Jackie does them, and then reports about how it went.  A Zooey Deschanel look-alike who actually makes the stuff you see on Pinterest.  I know she sounds like a mythical creature, but she’s real.  I have the photos to prove it.  And Chris, well, while he doesn’t craft quite as awesomely*, he is a doctor.  So not a total underachiever either.  :)

*Andy says this is not a fair statement, Chris may craft just as well, but perhaps does not do so publicly.  Perhaps he is a virtuoso at crafting snowflakes out of gauze.  I do not know.

We shot this session over a period of two days – due to everyone’s schedules we were only able to carve out a time to meet when the sun was about to set .  Chris and Jackie elected to do an enhanced e-session with an album, and we ended up with a ton of images.  It was really hard to decide what to blog because these two were just naturals.  I really want to photograph their wedding.  Whoever they hire in Oklahoma for their wedding will find they have a very effortless job.  These two are delightful.

Jackie and Chris – thanks for working with us, we had a wonderful time!  We hope you guys will be sticking around here for awhile.  :)

To get photo-nerdy for a second, I wanted to mention to our photographer friends that we got the new Canon 100mm L Macro lens right around when this session was shot.  (I think Lauren & Corey’s session, blogged previously was the first time we used it.)  We are in love with this lens.  We had the old 100mm and I was kind of ambivalent about getting the new version.  The old 100 is pretty finicky and can be slow to focus, but it is a tack sharp, beautiful lens.  But the focus is so aggravating that we rarely bring it out for portraits and instead use the 135L.  But the new 100 is a glorious portrait lens.  It it noticeably faster at focusing and ridiculously sharp.  And it has I.S.  My poor 135L is now feeling a bit neglected. So if you are wondering if you should upgrade, the answer is YES.

Lauren is the Assistant Editor at a local magazine, and a big time reader – we bonded over our shared love of Harry Potter and the Stratford Festival. Corey is in school studying electrical engineering.  They met in high school and were together for four years before Corey proposed.  Greenfield Village is one of their favorite places to visit – so it made sense to do their engagement session there.  We lucked out with a beautiful day and glorious fall colors.

Lauren & Corey – thanks for spending the day with us, we had so much fun working with you.  I know your wedding is going to be wonderful.  :)

When we have a few spare hours – which isn’t often – Andy and I like to hunt around and find new locations to shoot in.  Our favorite places almost inevitably end up sounding horrible on paper.  Well, it’s a neighborhood of old abandoned buildings, and everything is really run down, and you should probably wear sensible shoes and clothes that can get dirty.  Oh, and watch out for the broken glass.  Doesn’t it sound like everyone’s dream location?  Yeah I know.  But there’s really cool texture and color and – what’s that in the middle of the street?  Is that a homeless person sleeping?  WAIT, look at that ivy/decaying brick wall/bridge about to collapse! Let’s shoot there! Just step over him!

Let’s just keep it real here.  We live in the Midwest.  We don’t have beautiful ocean front vistas sprinkled palm trees.  Or sun-drenched wineries, or picturesque stone buildings from centuries ago.  But we do have a city spectacularly decaying and being re-built simultaneously and that can be interesting too.

It occurred to me one day a few months ago, while I was persistently photographing a bride & groom on a downtown street corner despite the presence of an equally persistent bum eager to derail the whole operation, that my threshold for locations other people may find horrible has apparently gotten too high.  Andy was elbowing me and urging me to finish and stop making everyone uncomfortable, but I needed that shot.  And it was worth it.  (And you know it too, Stephanie, even though I am sure at that moment you were hating me just a little bit!)

So this is all to say, that I REALLY appreciate it when we describe these less than perfect locations and our clients shrug and say “Why not?” instead of doing the appropriate thing, which is to shake their heads and quickly walk away.

Seriously.  Thank you.

Krysta not only was up for whatever crazy, tetanus-shot requiring place we chose, but she demanded grunge.  She and Vlad flew in from DC for their e-session and we set off exploring.  Here are some of our favorites.

Krysta and Vlad were so funny and talkative during their session that it wasn’t until half-way through  that I realized Vlad must secretly be a male model.  We decided to pull them apart for a minute to do individual portraits and once alone, he can basically bore a hole into the camera with his gaze.  See Exhibit A below.

This session was so fun, and we are looking forward to Krysta & Vlad’s wedding next year at the Inn at St. Johns. 

I would also like to say thanks to the people that stop by to read our blog.  In the past month, I’ve had several random run-ins with people who mention off-hand that they read the blog, and it’s always a bit of a pleasant shock.  And then it makes me feel about fifty times more guilty for how infrequently I post.  Andy and I both really appreciate everyone that keeps up with us.