happy friday everyone!!
in honor of this beeeautiful day…we share an equally beeeautiful wedding.

it’s friday night the night before the wedding. mindy and i walk up to the bonfire on the beach where the wedding party is partying. we’re not shy. but we’ve never met the bride and groom and pretty much had no idea who we’re looking for. just two names, chris and jessica.

“hello,” says mindy. “we’re the photographers for the wedding. we’re looking for the bride and groom ”
“that’s me!” says chris.

the chatting immediately begins and we rested easy. we were practically friends with them before we even knew who they were!!

the wedding was at bay harbor inn. and if you’ve been there, you have a glimpse into why we were excited to shoot this wedding. feels like another world. a stinkin’ beeautiful one! and the reception was at bay harbor’s golf course. it was our first time shooting there (i hear they actually just started hosting receptions and weddings in the last year)…let’s just say i hope it wasn’t our last!!

we also decided to shoot most of our pictures right on the grounds. partly because we didn’t really have the time to venture into the city. and partly because there was just so much good stuff to shoot on the grounds. but if you know us at all, you know that we love to bring in a little grunge, color, texture and urban decay. definitely no decay there.

but lo and behold…right down the street…was this AMAZING little building that was just about to be torn down. poor thing! so we just HAD to get some pictures there. [drool].

chris. jessica. posting this blog brought back so many great memories. when are we going to see you again???? in the meantime, here’s a few of our faves…

chicago has too many cool people in it!! there i said it.
once upon a time, we could drive there for a day, shoot a session or two and then drive home.
then we met tom and lauren.
how could we possibly be in the city and not try and get together with them every time we’re there?!

let me tell you how we met them….it’s a funny story! one of their co-workers, kelly von ebers (hi kelly!) commented on our blog so we emailed her.
after chatting back and forth a bit, we decided to do lunch next time we were in the city, ya know, just to say ‘hey.’
so on our way to lunch, kelly called and said she had work that had to get done and she wouldn’t be able to make it… but she had some friends that were engaged that we could connect with…
it was like an accidental blind date with tom and lauren!! and we fell in love with them right away!!

then they told us their wedding was going to be at the blue dress barn.
ummm…you had me at hello!!!

let me list the reasons why we love tom and lauren:

1. they’re hilarious!
2. they always tell us that they trust us and we can shoot whatever and wherever we want (let me hug you!)
3. it takes about 2 seconds to be in a great conversation with them … and it could last all day!
4. i’m jealous of how nice they are! (lauren, the way you greeted us and said goodye on your wedding day is easily one of my favorite wedding memories ever!)
5. etc…

loved the venue!
loved the party!
LOVED the people!
and we hope you LOVE the pics…here’s some of our faves

mark and kari…you got the look that we love to shoot! seriously. kari, something magical happens when you step in front of the camera. i can’t even describe what it is. but whatever it is, it’s sooo right. and mark, i only know one other guy that loves being in front of the camera as much as you do. which makes it a whole lot more fun for us on the other side of the camera for sure

and while we’re on the theme of things sooo right, it’s the two of you together. we’ve spent two days with you and nothing could be more obvious than how perfect you are for each other. so congratulations on a perfect wedding. and more importantly, a beautiful marriage!!

mark and kari were married in holland a few weeks back. this was actually our first time shooting dimnent chapel at hope…um…yes please!! beautiful in every detail. seriously amazing. the reception was at alpen rose restaurant just a few blocks away where the service was amazing and the flow through the different rooms felt very quaint and social. then there’s city flats hotel where kari and the bridesmaids got ready. and if you’ve ever been there before, then you know why we were so excited to do a bunch of our detail shots there. seriously, every city needs a boutique hotel [hint hint GR ]

and then there was the photobooth…nonstop! it didn’t hurt that the walls at alpen rose were covered with perfect props that may or may not have found their way into a few pictures!

mark and kari…thank you so much for inviting us to be a part of your day!! now, here’s a few of our faves.

ok. tim and sarah were too much fun. we just have to keep sharing
so without further ado…here’s some pics of their photobooth.

have we mentioned that we love shooting the photobooth? yup. love it.

this wedding was simply beautiful. beautiful people. beautiful details, venues, weather… and to top it all off – tim + sarah got married!

seriously…the architect behind St. Roberts in ada should get some kind of medal. and being in the two story imperial ballroom at the amway grand plaza for the reception, you can’t help but feel like you’ve gone up a few notches in class i could go on and on……

ok, just one more thing…. we were super pumped about the locations we had for the party shots and bride/groom portraits. this place was like a photographer’s wonderland, especially after thinking we’ve scoured pretty much every inch and back alley of grand rapids and discovered pretty much everything there was to shoot. low and behold, we were wrong! but the real credit for finding this fabulous location (named “heaven’s alley” in our GPS!!) goes to our incredible friend, lisa kae who found it while out scouting one day and was kind enough to share it with her friends. she actually told mindy that she might pee her pants when we saw this location and though mindy was super excited when we arrived….. she did manage to stay dry.

okay…… back to tim and sarah. you two are a classy act. from the moment we knocked on the doors of your rooms in the amway, it was clear that this was going to be a beautiful day. your wedding party was soooo nice. and fun. and respectful. heck, it wasn’t even hard to get everyone to look at the camera without talking for just a second for the party shots. that’s unheard of!!

oh…and i forgot to mention…easiest and fastest family pictures yet!!! talk about insanely cooperative and kind people….. the goodness of this day goes on and on…

so here’s a few faves that we pulled to tell your story….. ENJOY!!!!