Posts Tagged ‘wedding photographer’

I did my first bridal show Sunday in preparaton for the 2011 bridal season.  A few years ago, a professional photographer friend asked me to assist them at a wedding they were going to photograph.  I hadn’t done weddings for a lot of reasons; I had only recently gotten into portraiture, after being involved in commercial and fine art photography for a long time.  I knew that weddings required stamina and skill and tied up weekends.  It takes a great deal of moxie and preparedness to take on the responsibility of photographing a bride and groom’s very important day!  It also takes a unique set of camera equipment that is expensive and requires skill to use properly. The most important quality of a great wedding photographer is passion. Nothing can replace it.  I knew by my second wedding I was hooked.  It was a natural progression… I’ve cried at every wedding I’ve ever been to and I was born with the last name Love and I’m known for the passion I put into anything I do. Need I say more?  Why it took me so long to come to this is beyond me.  But I’m here now! 

There is nothing I can do to change the current trend of paying more for chair covers than a photographer but continue to do what I do best; creative, artistic storytelling through images.  Nothing that is quality craftsmanship is inexpensive… NOTHING.  I attended a seminar yesterday taught by a great wedding photographer out of the Detroit area.  There are still many of us who believe that making the investment in wedding portraiture is something that will pay for itself over and over again so we continue to share ideas and learn new techniques to guarantee our brides amazing images. 

This image is a prime example of the difference a qualified professional can make in your wedding portraits.  It was 6:00 a.m. the morning after her wedding.  She wasn’t happy about being up that early.  We didn’t need her hair done or makeup on.  We knew before we event got on the plane we wanted this image and dragged this fabric all the way there because the bride wasn’t wearing a veil.  In the end, this image from a destination wedding was worth everything it took to create it. Don’t you think?

I prefer to spend an hour to two hours with a bride and groom before the wedding to create lovely portraits in a comfortable, fun, and often familiar setting.  We want to document the day and tell the story through pictures.  It’s very important because as all of us know who have been married, our weddings fly by and we barely remember them between the adrenalin and whirlwind events.  So it’s up to the wedding photographer to capture all of the emotionally charged moments of this big day so the bride and groom can relive them over and over!

The art-related theme for Meg and Sean began early at the bride’s parents’ home.  I can easily say that the setting there rivaled the University of Michigan Museum of Art, which we would move on to next!  Maureen, the mother of the bride,  is a true artist and has paid attention to every detail in every corner of every room creating the most artistically decorated home and gardens we’ve ever seen.  The bride and groom had a great time playfully posing for us both inside and outside and we captured it all for them.  We were also able to get many great family photos as well. 

J. Love Photography only does a limited number of weddings a year.  At this point, I want to do them myself working tandem with another pro who is exceptional (many of you know Dawn).   Our wedding photography speaks for itself.  So do our albums.  I believe this one day in people’s lives is a story worth capturing from beginning to end. 

It is an investment that comes back tenfold because the collection of images in an album bring people back to the moment.  I know firsthand. 

My husband and I just celebrated our 9th anniversary.  We played the same music we danced to at our wedding.  We drank champagne out of our flutes, and we went through our wedding album page by page, picture by picture.  We were sad at some of the people who are no longer with us smiling at us through the pages.  We laughed at the fun we all had.  And we remembered exactly how we felt that day; happy, in love, excited, and so blessed.  Next year we’ll do the same thing all over again.  The years can’t erase our memories because we have our momentos like our album to instantly transport us back there. 

Your wedding day is too important not to invest in a professional wedding photographer to capture these moments for you!