The last thing we did was the bride got into the lake wearing her dress. This was a group shoot rather than just individuals.
This one was nice, but you can’t tell she’s actually in the water. In the one below, she is obviously in the water.
A post in a Facebook group asked for a photographer for a wedding. It was from another photographer who was in the wedding party and was going to do the miscellaneous shots before the ceremony and at the reception, but just needed someone to photograph the ceremony. We settled on a price and met and discussed it. The bride was her sister. The wedding was to be outside at Whitehall Park in Woodway. Their family was mainly biker types, and the wedding was to have that atmosphere. The night before, it rained fairly heavily. I got to the location early to scout things out, and the ground wasn’t too bad. Given the logistics, I decided on three lenses – 10 – 20 f/3.5, 24-70 f/2.8, and 70 – 200 f/2.8.
After the ceremony, all the guests were made to go out into the foyer while the formal portraits were taken and the chairs removed. There were refreshments and a calypso band. Once the ballroom was ready, everyone was ushered back in. The first event on the agenda was the toasts. I don’t remember what the best man said, but it got a reaction from the others.
The bride did not want pictures of the guests at their tables for dinner, and that was fine with us. There were too many guests, the lighting was terrible, and we got to rest just a little. After dinner, they started the dances. The bride and groom danced, then the groom and his mother. The bride’s father was deceased. So, she decided to do four dances, one with each of her brothers. Her brothers came from Puerto Rico. So, it was a special occasion for them. Cindy said that this meant a lot to the bride. So, we concentrated on getting really good pictures of these dances. Again, the lights were down really low. So, focusing was a serious problem. Even at that, this is a picture of the bride dancing with one of her brothers.
The rest of the evening was spent dancing and visiting, and we got some nice pictures of the rest of the reception.
The wedding was in the ballroom of the convention center. It was obviously not the easiest place to decorate. The wedding planner did an outstanding job with what she had to work with. The ceremony was held in the center area, and tables and chairs for dinner and the reception were set off to the sides. After the ceremony, the chairs in the center were quickly removed to form a dance floor for the reception.
Sometimes you capture a moment. This was in the middle of the ceremony. I am not sure of the precise context as it happened so fast. But, the preacher looked up to the heavens, and I snapped the picture. This made for a unique image for their wedding folio.
These pictures look pretty good because they could not find anyone who could turn the lights down. Although it was far from bright sunlight, there was really good, diffuse inside light and that helped us a great deal.
OK this site is now open for business. I am posting this as the first blog post.