I love finding moments from a different point of view. When you were a kid, did you ever find yourself fascinated with looking at reflections through windows, or maybe in a pond, and seeing two worlds at once? You could see through the window inside the house or through the pond and the life underneath, but you could also see the outside world that was being reflected when the light was perfect. I loved finding those realities as a kid and I love finding them as a wedding photographer!!!

Recently, I had the opportunity to pop in on a wedding my Las Vegas associate, Rudy Ortega, was photographing at Canyon Gate Country Club in Las Vegas. Having camera in hand, I was ready to find a few artistic moments. The scene above is of the bride and her father walking to the door inside the club house to the patio outside where the guests are seated and wedding party waiting for her arrival. Standing outside on the patio, I am shooting into the window, looking inside. You are looking at a reflection off the window of the scene outside, the bride and her father are not a reflection. I was able to catch this moment as Alexis and her dad happened to be walking into a pool of light from the sun shining through the window, allowing both the inside world and out side world to be seen simultaneously.

Do you like the photo? I would love to hear your comments.

Prior to their actual wedding day, I had not met Emily and Christopher in person. They are good friends with my daughter and son-in-law, Ashley and Jeff, and I was excited to be asked to photograph their wedding because it’s a rare to see a wedding in Michigan in the month of January! Not only did this wedding turn out to be great, but Emily and Christopher were tremendously easy going and very obviously in love! There are not many more key ingredients needed for a photographer like me to capture spontaneous and creative photos. Getting ready photos began at Woodside Bible Church in Royal Oak, Michigan. The couple decided to see one another prior to the ceremony so that we could get some outdoor photos of the two of them downtown. We had a great time near the train depot as Emily and Chris braved the cold weather in their formal attire! After the beautiful ceremony, and a few more outdoor photos with the wedding party, the couple were joined by their family and friends for their reception at Lakeland Manor in St. Clair Shores. Enjoy some of my favorite highlights above and below. Also check out the highlight slideshow after the last photo.

I submitted over 200 of my most favorite moments from all of my 2009 weddings to three great wedding photographers that I respect very much. They are Asgeir Bollason of Asgeir Fotographica, Michael Erdkamp of Memories By Michael, and Michael Andrews of Michael Andrews Photography. I want to thank each of them for taking the time to help in selecting my very best moments of 2009.  They are displayed above and below and are not in any particular order. You can see the entire collection of 210 photos on a slide show set to music by clicking here.

I had such a great year and terrific brides to thank for making it possible! To each of you, I cannot thank you enough for the honor you gave me to photograph your weddings! Thank you for allowing me to be me on your special day! Every single wedding was different, from your personalities, to your locations, to your celebrations! I had so much fun and was able to find new and exciting images at each wedding! I wish each of you, and your husbands, a wonderful and prosperous New Year! All my best! Enjoy the show below:

Three days before their wedding, I get a call from this cute sounding gal with a southern accent. She tells me that she and her fiance, Nick, are flying into Vegas in a couple of days, and was I available to photograph their elopement? Not only that, but they are wanting to take some photos out at Valley of Fire, wanting to walk around the strip after the ceremony, and “oh yah, we want to get married on a helicopter, do you have a problem with that?” All I could do was laugh! I am thinking to myself: I’ve had such a fun year with great weddings in Michigan, Chicago, Florida, California, Boston and Las Vegas, a wedding in a helicopter over the Strip is one heck of a way to end 2009!!!!

My only criteria to the couple was that they better know how to have fun! Well, that was the last requirement I needed to make with Lori and Nick! Talk about fun? They must have invented the word!!! This couple, who flew in from Mobile, Alabama, were soooo much fun, that my job was as easy as it gets! I started with them at their suite on the 57th floor of Trump Towers where I photographed them getting ready. From there, we jumped in an Expedition Limo and headed out to Valley of Fire for some cool portraits just as the sun was hitting the horizon! We literally had about 20 minutes to climb up the rocks before heading back to Vegas to catch the helicopter. The nuptials took place somewhere between the Stratosphere and Bellagio, and the couple – who met sky diving (go figure) – were hitched! We circled back over Mandalay Bay and headed for the landing pad. After a few more photos in front of the helicopter, we drove over to the new City Center to see what we could find for some fun post-ceremony photos. We found a few backdrops in the City Center mall and caught the tram to capture a final portrait in front of the fountains at Bellagio.

Enjoy the photos below! This was a first for me! I hope its not the last, I was in photo Heaven!

This was such a great wedding! I am so glad LeeAnn and Jack flew me to Boston to photograph their celebration! Enjoy the slideshow below that combines both their “day before” photos and wedding day story! All the other details can be found on last months blog entry.

I have been very fortunate over the years to have clients who have celebrated their weddings at one of the top venues in metro Detroit, the historic Oakland Hills Country Club.  This December, I was given the wonderful honor to photograph the prestigious country club’s President’s Ball. It was a beautiful and classy event, completely decorated for the holiday season!  In addition to providing portraits for the incoming and outgoing officers, I spent the entire festive evening capturing images of the celebration.  The night was meticulously overseen by OHCC’s Director of Catering, Margarita Garcia.  Decor was provided by one of Michigan’s finest, Ralph Bellisario of Bellisario Florist.  Music was provided by metro Detroit’s premier band, the one and only Simone Vitale Band.  Enjoy some of the highlights below.

I had such a great weekend photographing LeeAnn and Jack’s wedding! It was my first visit to Boston and I just added it to my list of favorite cities in the U.S. Arriving a day before the wedding, I met up with the couple at my hotel near Boston Commons. We spent three hours walking around the city and getting really great portraits, utilizing the city scape and unique Bostonian architecture. The wedding day was beautiful with photos of LeeAnn getting ready in her condo. The ceremony followed at the historic Old State House where their toasts and cake cutting also took place. The celebration, which included guests from all over the world, continued at Davios of Boston for a fabulous dinner. Enjoy the great photos below, which include the day before photos and some cityscape photos captured the day after the wedding.

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Photos and Highlight Slideshow are combined on this post below of Hailey and Joey’s exciting wedding. The entire day of photography, which included Hailey’s getting ready photos, the ceremony, reception and “after” party, all took place at the beautiful Knollwood Country Club in West Bloomfield, Michigan. This was my second wedding in 30 days where the couple’s dog took part of wedding party photographs! The wedding could not have been as elegant and successful had it not been for the planning and decorative expertise of Dee Dee Hoffman of Dee Dee Hoffman Party Design.  Other top notch vendors included favorites of mine, Todd Skog and his talented staff of  Todd’s Room in Birmingham, MI, Alex Bitoff and his awesome staff of Fifth and Main Productions for video, and Simone Vitale and his star-laden Simone Vitale Band for entertainment, the florist was Breath of Spring in Bloomfield Hills, the cake maker was Patisserie Parmentier, the Rabbi Harold Loss of Temple Israel performed the ceremony, and the cantor was Cantor Smolash.  The evening ended with a night club-like “after party” with DJ Whip.

Below are some of my favorites from the day.  Be sure to scroll to the bottom of the post to see the highlight slideshow of the entire day!  Enjoy!