While the focus of the wedding is on the bride and groom, getting fabulous photos with your family and friends is also probably high on your list of priorities. The perfect wedding party shot can be difficult, as your photographer has to contend with a very large group of people, making composition and posing more difficult, as well as some potential personalities difficulties. Here are a few quick tips to ensure your wedding party pictures are everything you hope for:

1) Acquaint your party with your photographer’s style.  While doing an engagement session with your photographer is often a great way for you to learn more about how he or she works, your girls and guys obviously generally don’t have a chance to meet with and shoot with the photographer prior to the wedding. If you are hiring a non-traditional or more artistic photographer, it may be a good idea to send your party a link to his or her site prior to the wedding. I find that when I want to do some non-traditional poses or more quirky shots, bridesmaids and groomsmen almost always are better at working with me if they have seen some of my work before and have a rough idea of what the finished product might look like. Just as great trust between you and your photographer can lead to better photographs, anything that can be done to encourage trust between your wedding party and the photographer can help immensely.

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I have been so busy with wedding season that I have fallen behind a bit on sharing lovely weddings with all the fabulous EAD readers. But I am so happy to be able to share a truly stunning and inspirational wedding from Labor Day weekend with all of you.

Crista and Bill were married at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) here in Chicago. I was so excited about this wedding, as it was one of the last before a wonderful exhibit by Olaffur Eliasson was taken down (if he ever exhibits in your city, please go!). This was my favourite exhibit I’ve seen in a long while, and I couldn’t wait to shoot in such a colourful and inspiring environment.

Bill and Crista are both creatives, and Crista did a beautiful job pulling together a gorgeous event that felt relaxed and artistic.  It was also an incredibly emotional day, with Crista and her sister crying throughout the day–it was really lovely and sweet, and I was so happy to be able to share in the day along with my second photographer, Frank. Also, a big thanks to the amazing team at Kehoe Designs for designing the stunning florals that perfectly played off the rainbow of colours in the exhibit, while not being overkill. Really wonderful job; highly recommend them for very creative and unique displays and bouquets (we were all swooning over the succulents)!

Opening a present from Bill…

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After being rained out during one of the apocalyptic rainstorms we’ve had recently here in Chicago, Jill, Mike and I rescheduled and thankfully had a lovely day to work with, although we did get a taste of true summer temperatures. Jill and Mike love nature, so we planned a session a bit outside of the normal urban sessions I tend to shoot. We had a delightful time wandering through beautiful fields, talking about running and the merits of city vs. country, while trying to avoid fish and snakes.

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Dan and Mary, Dan and Mary….where to begin? During sessions, a couple’s willingness to be open really impacts the photographs. I feel very lucky to have a close relationship, more of a friendship, with most of my clients, which leads to more natural photographs that help to showcase the relationship between the couple. That said, I can think of three couples I’ve shot who were just staggeringly open, and really willing to let me document how they really, truly are, and Dan and Mary were one of them. When this happens it is incredibly humbling for me and makes me feel so lucky to do what I do. I told Dan and Mary they need to start giving consultations to other couples on how to be uninhibited; maybe I’ll ask them to write some tips… They are getting married this September in a lovely wedding at Volo filled with great food and their closest friends.

With that said, thank you so much, Dan and Mary, for spending some time shooting with me. I hope you love these as much as I do.

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Sean and Jess were married two weeks ago in Madison, where they had what was both a very fun and very emotional wedding in their home state. With a ceremony in downtown Madison and a reception on the shore of Lake Monona, it was a lovely celebration that I was honored to be a part of. I spoke to Sean and Jessica on the phone a few times before booking, and we always had such great rapport-Sean and Jessica are both fun, kind and have a great, sarcastic sense of humour, traits that I personally saw for the first time back in March when I shot their engagement session in Brooklyn, their home base now.

Thank you again for choosing me to share in your day, and to be allowed to experience two new cities as a result of being your photographer (somehow had never been to Madison or NYC before this year!). Hope you love the photos! Thanks also to Luis Bueno for driving up to Madison with me, doing a great job shooting groom’s prep and details.

Ceremony - St. Patrick’s Church

Reception - University of Wisconsin, Memorial Union

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Ed. Note: Jess is a friend of mine and I was thrilled to help her choose Olivia to shoot her Minneapolis wedding!

Jeff and Jess…where do I begin? I’m sure someday I will get a couple that is just “nice,” a wedding that is “fine,” a day that is just “average.” But until then I think I shall wax poetically about all my couples, as I really am so touched by how unique, special and intimate all of their events are.

Jeff and Jessica were married on June 5th just outside of Minneapolis in beautiful Minnetonka Beach, Minnesota, with prep and reception at the Lafayette Club. I went to Minneapolis as a kid and absolutely loved it, and this trip was no different. Minnesota always strikes me as such a special place-the people are so kind, the scenery is so beautiful, and everything seems just a bit more calm. When Jeff and Jess first talked with me, they had been planning an event in downtown Chicago. As months went on, however, they ended up deciding to switch it to Jessica’s home state in hopes of creating a wedding that felt more like them. The three of us were in a car together after they were married, and we all remarked how strange it would have been for them to have been married in the city-something about the Minnesota location just felt perfect for their day, and I am so thrilled they switched it and humbled that they brought me along.

I know true destination weddings can be a bit of a heady affair, but a “regional destination” wedding is such a lovely idea-a great way for your friends and family to take a little minication without too much of time or financial commitment. It was simply splendid and probably my favourite wedding I have ever photographed. I am very eager to get back to Minneapolis, so if you or a friend are planning an event (or even just want a session there), please contact me, and I can offer some special travel rates.

Jeff and Jessica are truly two of the kindest people I have been able to work with, a sentiment a few other vendors I spoke with shared. I became fairly close to them by the time the wedding date approached, and I was so happy to be able to share in their day. I had so many favourites from this wedding, so prepare for a lot (particularly a ton of Jess-I couldn’t help myself! So stunning.).

And many thanks to Debbie Oakland in Wisc./Minn. for helping me out on this wedding and shooting many of the details and groom’s prep below.

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I always hope that having lovely wedding photographs inspires my couples to integrate more shoots and more photography into their lives after the wedding. While I love photographing weddings, I always think it such a shame when couples forego photography for years and years (I am guilty of this myself!) just because the wedding is over. I have always been a fan of having a session done on a random day just because you are in love, and you would want photographs to commemorate the everyday love and style of your life. Realizing that it can be quite an investment, though, having an anniversary shoot is a wonderful way to have a more relaxed session once every year or two. An anniversary session is also a great opportunity to visit some other locations with your wedding photographer, or try out the perspective of another photographer that you might love.

Two of my old friends, Jeff and Kristin, were married last year in a beautiful Southern wedding in Louisville. I was unable to photograph the wedding, but they had many gorgeous, romantic, nature-influenced photographs, so for their anniversary celebration in Chicago, they decided to mix it up and take some photographs in a more industrial area to complement their wedding images.

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I recently spoke to a new acquaintance of mine who was married several years ago (before I was even shooting weddings!). She discussed how displeased she was with the photographs, and how looking at them made her sad. What a tragedy to have such disappointing photographic memories of such a happy day. After speaking to her, I thought about a few steps brides and grooms can take to ensure they are thrilled to pieces with their wedding photographs, as they should be!

LOOK AT THEIR PHOTOS…AND NOT JUST THE PORTFOLIO
The portfolio on a photographer’s site is the best of the best. They are the images the photographer is most proud of, but they often don’t represent every wedding they’ve photographed, or they don’t showcase the full set of images that will be delivered to the bride and groom.  At the very least, take some time to peruse the photographer’s blog to see what kind of work they are shooting week in and week out. While most photographers I know are very consistent in their work, I have occasionally come across some who showcase stunning work on their main site, but pop over to the blog and out of focus, poorly toned photos are de rigeur. If possible, you may also ask to see a full set of wedding images, to get a better sense of what a final photograph looks like, and what constitutes a full set of wedding images.

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Sara and Pat were married about two weeks ago in the Chicago suburbs. They were referred to me by the wonderful Adam and Emily, who had a wonderful celebration at A New Leaf and were one of my favourite and sweetest couples from 2008 (Part I, Part II). I thought that any friend of theirs would be enjoyable to shoot, and I was so happy to be right on the money with the assessment.

I really love shooting the big, “fabulous” city weddings that we are so fortunate to get here in Chicago, but I also love to have my calendar filled with a few intimate, relaxed, and down-to-earth weddings, which was exactly what Pat and Sara’s was. These are the sort of weddings that are honestly the most humbling for me to be a part of–they help to remind me why I love what I do, and what a gift it is to be included in such intimate celebrations. Pat and Sara were so calm and laid-back the entire day, and it really was a relaxed celebration of their relationship, friends and family.

Sara’s lovely dress was by the always fabulous Dame Couture, who also made my favourite dress of last year, that of the lovely Sam. Sara’s was based on the design of her grandmother’s wedding dress, and it was lovely.

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Although the weather has been lovely lately here in Chicago, we’ve had many days of rain this spring, and overcast skies fell upon us for Terri + Brian’s engagement connection session. We decided to go ahead with the session, though, and I’m so glad we did, as the colours were popping and we were able to create several delightful photographs before the rain started to pour. Terri and Brian are a lovely couple, with Terri’s calm and kind nature perfectly complementing Brian’s fun and outgoing personality. I am so thrilled to shoot their wedding here in November. I hope you enjoy!

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