Category: Wedding

No, for real… it’s not just an SEO term. It’s really just a Wedding Photograph… and a photograph of Minneapolis. What… google? Naw….

Karin and Kris got married this past weekend at the St. Anthony Main Event Center. I’ll post more later, but I I wanted to get something on the blog sooner and I really wanted to share this image.

Non-photographers might not realize this but the 10 minute period right before the sky goes black is a magical time for getting some really striking images; particularly with the style I like to create in.  Unfortunately, during summer, this small window of time almost invariably falls during speeches or the first dances or is when the bride and groom are inextricably buried in a pile of well wishes. (as they should be!)  So I was really happy when speeches ended at just the right time and there was a brief lull before the first dance. I suggested to Karin, “Hey, if we go outside right now for 30 seconds we can create something really cool”.  She was trusting and willing (which is a feat in-and-of-itself given it was a billion degrees outside) and said, “If you think it’s worth it – let’s do it!”.   Having previously scouted the place I wanted to make this photo and already having a lightstand set up, I responded with, “Give me 2 minutes…. it’ll be worth it. 😉 ”

And it was.

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Kristina and Aaron have now been married 3 times.  I was lucky enough to be there for the second and third times.

An Indian Canadian meets Wisconsin girl, live in Shanghai, China, marry in Wisconsin move back to the US, marry 2 more times (this time on the top floor of the IDS Tower at Windows on Minnesota), donate wedding money to Jakarta Schools, and watch a video of wedding #1 during wedding #3. The whole thing is confusing enough that I think it’s best if I just stop typing and let the images speak for this wonderful, laughing, and emotional* couple.  😉

*You know how wives laugh when their husbands cry? Yeah, Kristina is all about that. 🙂

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After the wiener-mobile sighting during their engagement session last fall,  I thought nothing could top the strange ‘new experience’ excitement of that  .  I was wrong.  This was my first time shooting at the Varsity Theater; all I had previously heard about it was that it was darker than photographing a black cat in a coal mine.  Well, it was dark, but the Varsity  is sick — concert lighting, informal yet classy and quirky ambiance, chance for moody and finessed images, etc… it was just perfect for Pat and Jeff’s musicly-mighty wedding (they picked Heavenly Day, my own first dance song, to walk down the aisle to… stood and listened to Home after the ceremony… and had a rockin’ band roll the party strong, including some cameos from guests. 😉 ) and also provided me with a lot of room to let me creative juices flow…

Pat and Jeff were great — and their family and friends extremely loving, authentic, and kind.  It was a pleasure to work with them and get to be a part of their day … and seeing quite a few people from previous weddings (if you remember, Pat was the maid of honor at Anna and Mark’s wedding) is always a blast.

I also want to thank Preston Palmer, from Brovado weddings, for helping me on this day — it was the last wedding before Colleen returned to full duty.  Minneapolis has such a great photographic community, it’s wonderful to be able to lean on such great professionals when you need a little assistance…

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I always find it interesting that I basically only know people’s “wedding personalities” — one of the most emotional-pressure-cooker, potentially stressful, family-dynamics-laced days in an entire persons life.  How someone acts on their wedding day is, very likely, significantly different than how they act in real life.  For some reason, I don’t feel that’s the case with Michelle and Cam.

I ‘officially’ met Michelle, sans Cam, to talk about their wedding over a drink and some deliciously cheesy-artichoke dip stuff in uptown.  She was so laid back, friendly, and  agreeable — at the end of the meeting we didn’t have hours settled, number of photos, contracts, etc… nothing — but she was like “I trust you, we’ll figure it out” and gave me a retainer.  Being one that fully believes it’s better to trust and be proven wrong than to distrust and be proven right, I was both proud and happy to be working with her (plus I have a little hero-worship towards Cam – seriously, go here and look up his name).  About 3 days later I found out Colleen was pregnant and the next day the doctor told us our due date:  The exact same date as Michelle and Cam’s wedding!   O.M.G.    Long story short, Michelle was the first person (literally the first person) we told about Colleen being pregnant…   I gave her my backup plan ideas and also said I’d refund the retainer and help her find another photographer if she wanted to go that route (I didn’t expect she’d want something as important as the photography for her wedding slightly ‘up in the air’).  To my humbled surprise she returned with nothing but  joyous words of support for our family as well as a reiteration that she trusted me to do right by her and Cam — “and would also be happy if our wedding motivates your little pumpkin to join the world”.   I think it speaks volumes to her character that she would put my families happiness and stability over her ‘big day’.

On the wedding day, Michelle did nothing but back up (and improve upon) my very high impression of her – gracious, social, big-hearted and effervescently happy.

On the wedding day, this was Cam. 😉

hehe. All kidding aside, he truly was all the words and related words on this page (but not the antonyms, of course).  

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Fire Lake in downtown Minneapolis was the setting for the most intimate wedding we did in 2011, and perhaps the most intimate I’ve ever been at.  Kim is the sister of Mark (from Mark and Alyssa’s wedding last year) and brother of Scott (from Scott and Kat’s engagement session…whose wedding is in Chicago next year) so it was a night made even more special (for me and Colleen) by the fact I knew most of the people there.  Both families were so warm and welcoming — they really made us feel like we were just part of the family and happened to be taking photos.  It was only a few hours, but it was still a very memorable night.

We started off at the W, with Kim and Adam and her son, and snaked through downtown in order to get a few of those ‘romantical’ images, and after about 45 minutes made our way to Fire Lake.  Following the short ceremony was one of the most touching scenes we photographed in 2011:  Adam got Kim’s son a surprise gift and told him how special he was and all that emotional stuff. Even I had to suck back a tear…

The night finished with heartfelt toasts all around the table, lots of great food, and maybe a drink or two… 😉

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One month ago today Molly and Nic tied the knot in a beautiful ceremony in Panola Gardens, just north of White Bear Lake. It was a billion degrees during the middle of the heatwave that swept Minnesota back earlier this summer, but Molly kept her cool the entire time — and Nic’s jacket didn’t spend much time on his shoulders.
If I write much more, it will no longer be one-month ago and will instead be one-month-and-one-day … so I’ll be cutting the text short… (lets be honest, no one really cares what I write, do they??) 🙂

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