Tiffany’s sister, waiting to get ready.

Tiffany’s reaction to seeing her hair.

We did a private “first look” session in downtown Madison. The foggy weather and old stone on the gym worked together really well!

While I was busy photographing the groom with the rest of the bridal party, my second shooter, Kathy L. Phy, did some wonderful portraits of Tiffany alone.

Tiffany studied theatre in college, and you could definitely see her stage-manager side coming through. The lighting in the ceremony was challenging to photograph, but it looked AWESOME!

They took the time to do both communion and foot washing during the ceremony. It was really wonderful seeing how important their faith and their desire to serve each other is to both of them.

Tiffany is from Hawaii, and one of the traditional elements from that culture that they incorporated was the banzai toast, which is much more enthusiastic and interactive than other toasts I’ve seen. There is a call and response part that everyone really got into!

This response from the guests was captured by my assistant, Zofeen Khan.

Tiffany also folded a massive amount of paper cranes to use at the reception. These two ended up on the cake and hundreds (do you want to share an exact number, Tiffany?) were strung from the ceiling.

Tiffany and Alec, thank you so much for inviting me to spend this day with you! I can’t wait to see your marriage grow further from this wonderful beginning!

I just love how the cabinet behind her brings out her eyes in these next two shots!

Amanda, I had a great time! I hope you enjoyed yourself, and love the photos

For the rest of you reading this: I always post an album of my shoots on my Facebook page as well; I definitely recommend checking it out this time – I had a much more difficult time than usual deciding between some of the different photos. Let me know if you agree with my picks!

Example No. One:

They die-cut letters so we could take a shot for their Save-the-Date cards. I won’t put the photo they’re going to use up on here (you’ll just have to hope you’re lucky enough to get one of your own!), but I got some great shots of them stringing the letters up.  We did the first part of the shoot behind my house/studio, and my cats were quite excited about the venture, so we had lots of company!

I always want to have at least one photograph each shoot that makes me feel like the whole shoot would have been worth it even if that was the only shot I came away with. For this session, this was that image. LOVE IT!

Matt has been one of my best friends since I was in high school (I’m still giving him a hard time for not agreeing to be a bridesman for my wedding – I think that he would have looked great in the purple dress I picked out… ), so I got lots of pictures of him goofing off during the session! You’ll have to ask him if you want to see the rest of them!

For the second part of their session, we headed to downtown Kokomo to get some photos with a different feel to them.

Also, who just shows up with a bag of custom props for their engagement session!? It was lots of fun trying to incorporate them – and I love how the ‘&’ matches Shila’s shoes!

He even picked a flower to put in her hair… How romantic!

And my favorite prop shot!

One of my absolute favorites!

And, thanks to my awesome assistant Zofeen, one of the bride and I with the maid-of-honor (who also happens to be my little sister!).

The rest will be coming soon! Or at least before the baby shows up!

Jenny and her older sister Jamie have been friends with my sister and I for years. I remember in high school when we both played sports in the fall (volleyball for me, cross country for Jamie) that she would always be sitting outside the gym braiding someone’s hair for whatever event they had that evening. So it was no surprise that she was the one doing Jenny and the bridesmaids’ hair!

These next two are for anyone who thought that the “getting ready” process was  calm event!

All of the bridesmaids had purple scarves to wear with their outfits; they seemed to have some trouble deciding exactly what to do with them!

Jenny is a wonderful seamstress – and always has her sewing kit handy! Here, she had a couple of her bridesmaids doing some… last minute sewing thing… (I’m not sure what exactly!) to her dress. She didn’t make the dress, but she did make the guys’ vests as well as turning the girls’ jeans into skirts!

I just love how excited Jamie was when she saw her sister in her dress!

This one is my favorite!

Jamie wanted a picture with her sister, but she was rather busy! (Don’t worry, we got one with her facing me as well!)

Jenny asked my mom if we would be willing to help with the decorations – she just asked for some greenery in canning jars for the tables – we may have gotten a bit carried away…. Anyhow, these are old milk jugs filled with tall grasses & flowers – they were supposed to stand at the entrance to the aisle for the outdoor ceremony, but unfortunately the ceremony was moved into the barn because of the weather (after which it promptly turned nice and sunny).

And of course I have to include some photos of the flowers!

Jenny and Aaron, thanks so much for giving me the opportunity to photograph your wedding! I had a lot of fun – both as a guest and as a photographer!

Walking to their seats for the ceremony…

My friend and colleague Zofeen Khan came with me as my assistant, and took some photos as well. This is one of my favorites that she shot!

I just love how happy Julie’s mom looks in this photo!

It was a windy day, and I wasn’t sure if they were going to be able to light the candles! It blew out right after this photo, but at least it stayed lit for a few moments!

Another photo by Zofeen.

They decided to have people throw tiny marshmallows at them during the send-off; Julie still seemed to not want to get hit in the face, but Jon was trying to catch all he could!

Julie and Jon, thank you so much for asking me to be a part of your wedding day! I really enjoyed the day and spending time with both of you!

We made sure to give the kids plenty of time on the playground!

Ashley’s mom has always had dogs around – either hers, or those of others that she took care of, so it was only appropriate for their dogs to come along for the shoot (and the kids had a pretty good time with them too!).

Adam’s side of the family…

Once upon a time, a boy named Aaron met a girl named Jenny.

They both thought that the other person was pretty interesting,

so they decided to get to know one another.

They spent some time talking….

They spent some time walking…

And decided that they wanted to keep heading in the same direction.

So one day Aaron asked Jenny to marry him – and she said yes!

They were both pretty excited about the idea!

Their friends were excited as well…

And so it began…

And they lived happily ever after…

The end.

Well, except for the wedding part.

Jenny & Aaron, thanks for the opportunity to document this part of your relationship – I can’t wait for Saturday!