
Details of Lainey's beautiful dress and shoes! She used her grandmother's handkerchief to wrap her flowers as her something old...
A beautiful day to match a beautiful bride… A great group of friends and family, warm & welcoming. A lovely country club setting for the reception. A hopping dancefloor… all add up to a wonderful, unforgettable wedding! Congratulations to Jen & Jason, and a thank-you for making us a part of your special day.
We love compliments on our work, and the biggest compliment we can receive is being booked to photograph a wedding because the bride & groom had spent the day with us at a previous wedding, experienced our personality and shooting style, viewed the results, and decided that they, too, wanted us to be the ones to capture their wedding for them. Such was the case of Jaclyn & Scott, a wonderful couple who had attended two previous weddings that we photographed, and knew that we were the studio for them… They chose a beautiful day, with both the ceremony and reception the the Yodeler Lodge in Ellicottville’s Holiday Valley Resort.
Kelly and Scott came us from a rather enthusiastic referral from her maid of honor, Kristin, sister of a groom we photographed three years ago. I remember Kristin lending her fun-loving and energetic spirit to her brother’s wedding party, but Kelly & Scott’s crew needed no prodding. We had a large portion of the middle of the day to shoot group formals, and we worked it to the max: Ralph Wilson Stadium, City Hall, and the marina….
The ceremony was held at St. Gabriel’s Church in Elma, NY, officiated by the “energetic” Father Dan, who, it turns out, taught me in grammar school…
We had a four hour block of time between the ceremony and the reception, so we had plenty of time for plenty of options for the party formals. Scott has Bills’ season tickets, and thought we had an inside track on being allowed into the Ralph to shoot on the field. Turns out that the field was occupied by the drum & bugle corps weekend, so our best laid plans were in doubt. We walked up to the security building, banged on the door, and Steve Tasker (future HOF-er) opens the door, sees our bride & ecstatic groom in their dress & tuxedo, nicely posed for photos with us, and let us into the parking lot instead for some football inspired formals. I think Scott was in heaven…
…Then off to Buffalo City Hall and Niagara Square.
…I hear a splash!! Oh oh, Jamie’s in the fountain…
…so all the ladies piled in…
Off to the marina…
The reception was held at Banchetti’s in their new outdoor tent.
The speeches were some of the best I’ve ever heard- Kelly and Scott were very good sports as their friends roasted them over the fire…
I arrived at Tarrah’s house the morning of her wedding expecting to take beautiful photos of her and her ladies. What I didn’t expect was to hear her say, “We have a bit of a problem!” Oh oh…. Now, I’m quite used to (and take great pride in) being able to think on my feet to deal with unexpected obstacles, changing light conditions, etc., but hearing the word “problem” always gives me pause… “I sprained my ankle last night!” Ppppph! No worries, just lean on your trusty photographer, and we’ll take our time… We hobbled over to the Asa Ransom House for the pre-wedding formals, and she was thrilled. Between my shoulders, her wonderfully helpful ladies, and eventually, her new husband Benjamin, we had a wonderful, if a little slowly-paced wedding day…
…It began to rain just as we were leaving church… what to do? Straight to the reception to wait it out or go to the park where we wanted to shoot the party formals to see if it stops? Look to the trusty cell phone with internet access- I love my droid! Dial up the weatherchannel.com, look at the radar, looks like it’ll rain for about 2o min then stop for a bit, then some more rain… CHECK! We drove to the park, waited the storm out in our cars, then shot when it stopped. Perfect timing!
The reception was outdooors, under the tent at Glen Oak Country Club.
Sabrina & Pat are being married in a few weeks, and we met at the reception site, Genesee Country Village, in Mumford, NY, to scout out wedding day photo locations and snap some engagement photos for use in their reception signature matte. Playing up the 1800’s theme of the site, they chose to dress the part, with Pat in a cappy and suspenders… I kept reminiscing back to the days of watching Little House on the Prairie, and kept throwing around references to Charles Ingalls, Nellie Olson and Doc Baker… Our tour guide seemed amused by my antics, and did me one better by saying that the actor that played Almonzo Wilder was making an appearance the following week… Looking forward to the wedding day, shooting in front of the lovely architecture, and sampling the homemade beer from the on-site brewery
Aimee and Adam Snyder came to us, as they are friends with one of our former brides, and simply loved her photography and finished album. We told them to trust us, that their wedding would look just as beautiful as our previous work… Come the big day, held at Westwood Country Club, Williamsville, NY, and Aimee and her twin sister Kim(ee) were looking lovely, and seemed cool as cucumbers. The previous evening, at the rehearsal ceremony, I got to meet and “warm up to” the flower girls, so they were all smiles for me on the wedding day. Have you ever seen such cute little redheads? The little one, 6 yrs old, told me she was, “Sarah…. with an h…” so her big sister introduced herself as, “Kaitlin…. with a K.” So cute…
Sarah & Eric Soehnlein had a wonderful wedding day, with the ceremony at Christ the King Chapel on the Canisius College campus, formals at the Erie County Historical Society and the reception at Brierwood Country Club…. Sarah was a bit worried about the weather, as the forecast called for rain on their special day- we found bad-weather locations for formals just in case. So, I cashed in some of my karma with momma nature, and performed a wonderful sun-dance on the night before the wedding. The thunderstorms arrived Friday evening, petered out by the morning, and by the time of the ceremony, the sun was shining bright, with a light breeze blowing…
Vanessa asked during her autumn wedding if I’d be up for photographing her “trash the dress” once the weather turned nice again in the spring. So, on a warm April day, we decided to go for a dip in chilly, 52 degree Lake Erie and “drown her gown.” What a trooper she was, plunging bravely into the cold water, joined by her husband Mike to help her along and fluff her dress. I’ll admit I rolled up my jeans a la Huckleberry Finn and waded up to my knees to get the right composition and angles, and cheered her along as she waded ever deeper, even laying down in the water and putting on a smile to hide the fact that she was freezing…

Getting ready to trash the dress.

Looking serene before the big chill.

Looking beautiful even when feeling so cold...

Vanessa's braver than me, I'm not afraid to admit

Walking on water.