Vance and Samantha: Wedding

For those of you anticipating these photos, I apologize for the delay in the post, but I thank you for the anticipation. It has been a crazy few weeks. I have been quite busy with life in general and took a four day hiatus to climb a fourteener in the Front Range of the Rockies (Pikes Peak). It was a nice break from everything; I didn't even take my camera. Just myself and three other individuals hiking in the magnificent Colorado mountains. Since then Laura and I have been busy preparing for the 4th and family. Now, I have a few days to try to work on my existing projects before another busy weekend, followed by two more weddings!
Thursday, the 18th of June, after work, Laura and I hopped in the car and headed to Missouri. That night we arrived in Adrian and stayed with Laura's parents. It was an enjoyable visit. Friday around noon we set out for Hermann, MO (between Columbia and St. Louis). We arrived just in time to check in to our beautiful B&B (Wine Valley Inn) and get to the rehearsal. I was blown away by the amazing live plant decor. There were so many plants in the building including live cut trees; it was incredible. The rehearsal went well and the dinner was great. I did forget to take nice shoes for the wedding so we had to make a late night run to WalMart in the rain... it took about 45 min each way. The next morning started early with the hair appointments and makeup. It was then off to the church to take pictures of the guys. As always, my favorite part of the whole thing was getting to know the people in the wedding. The wedding party and family were great. The wedding was beautiful, and went very smoothly. Vance and Samantha are a great couple, and I am glad I have gotten to know them since their engagement session this spring. I wish them all the best, and I know they will be very happy together.

Laura and I had to leave shortly after the reception to get down to Branson for Seth and Kristen's wedding the following day. It was also a beautiful wedding, however I didn't take any pictures but will post a link to Alec's site once he has them done. (Here are Alec Vanderboom's awesome photos of that wonderful day!) It was so exciting to see those two finally together; we've all hoped for so long. The reception was at the Tea Room at Branson Meadows and was amazing. After the reception we hung out at Steve and Faith's (Seth's parents) condo and spent the night. It was great to spend more time with Nathan and Bethany before they headed back down to Georgia. We had a lot to catch up on and ended up talking late into the night. It was a great end to a great weekend.

Well, I hope you enjoy the pictures.

The Bright's Stellar Wedding - Jordon and Leah

Here are a few of the shots taken at Jordon and Leah's beautiful wedding. Click here to read about this amazing weekend.

This was Alec's schedule of pictures. When it came right down to it, we didn't follow it very much.
The most Beautiful wedding dress. I'm probably a little biased though since it was the same dress that Laura had.










The reception was at the Keeter Center, and it was amazing.

Weekend photo shoot

This past weekend (May 22-23) my camera began to feel like a natural extension of my hand. It started out as a trip to Branson for my first Wedding shoot, but ended up with an engagement session followed directly by the wedding photographs which lasted until 9 or 10 pm.

Jordon and Leah had asked me to take pictures at their wedding last year, but I was a little hesitant having never shot a wedding. They said they would hire another photographer and reassured me that there was no pressure. I was looking forward to shooting with Alec Vanderboom and seeing how he did it. Knowing the lighting conditions were poor in the Chapel at C of O, I purchased an external flash and bracket. I ended up with the Speedlite 580EX II. I showed up early for the rehearsal on Friday night and began messing with the flash. I had trouble getting the flash to calculate the correct strength of the flash. So many of those photos are either completely washed out or too dark. The rehearsal dinner was amazing! We ate at the Macaroni Grill at the Landing.

Saturday morning started early with an engagment photo shoot "booked" the night before after the rehearsal dinner. Stephanie Shannon and Casey Day were a joy to shoot, though I didn't have Laura with me to do all the posing, so I had to improvise. It started raining shortly after starting so we had to wait for it to clear up before finishing. I found some new places in Hollister to take some cool photos. Every location was pretty much a spontaneous decision, since I didn't have time to plan out where we would go. It was a lot of fun, and we finished just in time to for me to head over to the college to get some pre-wedding shots. I had a lot of fun taking pictures and just helping out with whatever needed to be done. It was so much fun to get to be a part of their wedding. It was truly beautiful.

It was mostly a learning experience for me, and I am truly grateful for the oportunity Jordon and Leah gave me. I tried to stay out of Alec's way as much as I could and watch him to see how an experienced photographer does it. Alec is very talented and you should definately check out his photos here, alecvanderboom.com. It was nice to know that Jordon and Leah had no expectations for me. It gave me the freedom to experiment and truly just have fun, learn, and just be a part of the wedding. This may have limited the number of great shots I got, but I think it will always remain one of my favorite wedding experiences as a photographer. I enjoyed talking to the family about Jordon and Leah and getting to meet everyone. The interaction with the people was definitely my favorite part. I especially enjoyed getting to talk to the Best Man, Corey Bright, and the Maid of Honor, Amanda Brandt. They were both very easy to talk to and were very genuine. I wish Jordon and Leah all the best as newlyweds - they are both amazingly real and fun. And I thank them for giving me this chance to learn.