I just loved everything about this wedding.  Deb and Jerry are such a wonderful couple - plus, they were high school sweethearts, which I just think is the cutest!  They were married at the Potawatomi Inn - a super-cool, rustic lodge right across the Indiana border. 

I don't think I've ever done this before, but I am going to blog this whole wedding in black and white.  I always deliver a good mix of color, black-and-white, and creatively toned images - but this series I've chosen to feature here seemed particularly suited for black and white.  For isolating emotion and emphasizing a photojournalistic feel, I truly feel that nothing beats a strong black and white image.  But don't worry Deb and Jerry - I also captured lots of vibrant color photos as well ;-)

Deb is just stunning - if Michele Pfieffer and Mila Jovovitch had a love child, she *might* be this lovely

ashleigh and christopher are such a cool and laid-back couple.  i've been looking forward to their wedding all year!  the big day came and went last weekend at the Henry Ford Museum, and went off without a hitch ;-)

a few quick vendor shouts:
hair: luigi @ luigi bruni
makeup: Amani Mokdad
flowers: Sebesta Design
band: Chateau

I started off the day with Ashleigh at the Ritz, for all the "getting ready" action
here's luigi working his magic:
HOTT HOTT shoes - seriously, to die for.

I'll be honest - I was a little bit nervous for this wedding.  this was one of the biggest weddings I've ever photographed (in terms of size of wedding party and number of guests), so I knew there was going to be a LOT going on!  Plus, the weather was not looking good....

BUT the wedding gods smiled upon me and it was a great day.  Sam and Agatha's friends and family were the nicest group I could have hoped to work with, all of their vendors were spot-on, and we wound up with a gorgeous day!

Here's some of my favorites:

Getting ready bright and early at Agatha's house

oh my goodness.  I am still recovering from this amazing wedding!  17 hours of shooting, 500+ guests...and a wedding cake you have to see to believe.  I've only just begun looking through the nearly 4000 images captured, but here's just a few that jumped out at me - i'll post a much bigger preview soon!

This was such a fun wedding to shoot - not just because tim and andrea are a rad couple (which they are!) but also because they are friends of tommy and mine.  The whole story of Andrea and Tim is a little serendipitous - they met as neighbors.  I actually got to know Andrea right around the time she moved in next door to Tim, and it was also right around the time I was starting my business.  So, it's pretty cool to see how far we've both come ;-)

Anyhow - great story aside, this was an awesome wedding - it was truly a community effort.  Andrea and Tim have an incredible group of (multitalented!) friends, who all came together to make this day happen.

on with the photos!  the ceremony, appropriately enough, was held in the backyard of the house where they met as neighbors.
   

I shot this intimate, mid-week wedding last month, and have been so slammed I never had a chance to blog it!  I had a moment this afternoon and thought I would share a few images. 

The wedding was held at Teacup Weddings in Dixboro (just outside Ann Arbor), a charming little venue perfect for a smaller event. 


aren't they cute!
here's their adorable daughter
and their brand-new arrival - so precious!
seriously, those freckles are to die for!

sean and katie's wedding was a wonderful day.  there are so many beautiful images that I had a hard time narrowing it down for the blog!  but here are some of my very favorites!

getting ready at St Johns
gorgeous!  and yes, her eyes really are that blue!  no photoshop here!
my gal Patty from luigi bruni rocked out Katie's hair.  Makeup by Tiffany (MAC at twelve oaks macy's). 
katie with her mom and sisters - love this!
saturday started off kind of rainy and yucky - but sean and katie took it all in stride and didn't miss a beat!  I LOVE this image. 
Sean is a rockin' graphic designer - so I was not surprised to see some great typography on their programs!

love the funky socks all the guys wore.  I'm such a fan of fun personal touches like this at weddings

sean's vows
ceremony at First United Methodist in Plymouth






back to St Johns for some portraits with the couple before they entered their reception (in the Galilee room)...
favorite:


are you freakin' kidding me?!  so gorgeous. (katie's bouquet by kate schmidt)


this one was a happy accident.  my flash didn't fire.  but I dig it!

sean + kate - what an amazing day.  So glad I got to work with you two.  Hope you're having a wonderful time in St John (i love that you got married at st johns and are honeymooning in st john)!

*just* got back from this incredible wedding!  It's 11:47AM, and here I am in the studio, drinking a beer and looking through all my images ;-)

Sean and Katie - i just couldn't send you off on your honeymoon without a little peek!  You guys are probably still tearin' up the dancefloor right about now, but I know you'll see this soon.

Have an AMAZING honeymoon - tommy and I just adore you both!

XOXO

lot's of excited people waiting for these photos!  whew - what a great day this was!  Heather and Joe are such a sweet couple - high school sweethearts who made it work!

They were married Saturday at the Pine Knob Carriage House in Clarkston, which is a lovely venue.  I started the day with heather at her parent's house, to shoot her getting ready...

i loved her cute 'bride' gear!




i know, i posted this one already!  it's just so pretty ;-)
with the girls...


and the guys (can you spot Joe's twin?!)

the ceremony was really nice - here comes Heather with her Dad - I can't tell who's got the bigger smile! 




my take:

tommy's take:
some portraits w/the couple...

this is one of my faves!


really elegant cake...
loved her candy buffet - super-classy!
heather has the greatest smile!  it lights up the whole room ;-)
first dance
dancing with dad...
how do you not adore a bride who has *this* much fun at her party?!
kelly from rent-a-dj kept the party movin'

love this shot tommy snagged from outside!  I can totally see this as the final spread in the album...

joe + heather - hope you guys had a fantastic day - you and your families were a delight to photograph!  enjoy the honeymoon!

xoxoxx

I just came across this fantastic piece in Seattle Bride Magazine - it's a great read and really illustrates why it is so important to hire a good professional photographer photographer for your wedding.  enjoy!

PHOTOGRAPHY By Cody Ellerd Photography by Cody Ellerd (left-hand photos) and John & Joseph Photography (right-hand photos)   I consider myself a pretty good amateur photographer. I've taken a couple of classes, I have a nice Nikon D60 and, as a professional travel writer, I've even had a few of my shots make magazine covers and pages. If you didn't budget for a professional photographer at your wedding, I'm the friend you might call to take pictures. So when Seattle Bride sent me to the late-winter wedding of Vicky Wu and Chris Nicoll to shoot alongside Joey Hong of John & Joseph Photography, a local award-winning team of two brothers who have been shooting commercial, fashion and wedding photography for more than eight years, I was curious to see how well I could keep up with a seasoned pro. From the moment we started shooting in the bride and groom's hotel room, I was floored. "Vicky, look down at your shoulders...put a gentle smile on your lips. Chris, look straight at my lens--no, smile. Relax your forehead." Joey's attention to such minute detail went way beyond "Say cheese" and brought out the couple's absolute best. He knew how to manipulate the room's light and reflective surfaces in ways I never would have dreamed of, transforming what I thought was an unremarkable setting into a photo studio with endless possibilities. Joey commanded family portraits with a gentle control and confidence that only comes from years of experience. He had the right flashes and steadiness of hand for getting great dance photos, while I snapped shot after blurry shot in a mild panic that my precious memory space was quickly dwindling. I was giving it my best, and in a few instances it showed: an inside shot of Vicky simply glowing in the window's natural light; a close-up kiss in the sunlight where the couple wore the sweetest smiles. But when those spontaneous moments that are here and gone in the blink of an eye happened, Joey caught them with lightning speed, while I lost many of them to improper focus or exposure. I now disagree more than ever with the digital-age adage that "now everyone is a photographer." Tens of thousands of dollars in education, equipment and experience separate me from the pros. Professional photographers, like any other artists or business owners, need to spend money to make money. When you hire them, you're helping them pay for their investments. "Photography is a very equipment-intensive business, and the equipment is expensive," says Scott Squire of NonFiction Weddings, a Seattle-based photography team with 10 years of experience. To each wedding, he and his partner bring six or seven top-drawer lenses, a handful of strobes, three camera bodies, one backup and innumerable accessories. (In contrast, if my equipment had failed, my backup would have been my camera phone.) Staying on top of new technology in the digital age is its own challenge, one that takes a professional commitment and expense. "The rate of change [in digital media] can be stupefying," laughs longtime Seattle-based wedding photographer Sharlane Chase. She keeps up with the flow of information at annual weeklong workshops and seminars, and it shows in her final product. On a side note, like all of you reading this magazine, I also happen to be planning my own wedding. My fiancé and I are on a tight budget and had planned to take a gamble and hire an amateur photographer friend. Now? We're determined to find a way to get a pro. Vicky and Chris would have been pretty disappointed if I had been their only photographer. If anyone ever does ask me to take pictures at their wedding, I'll be happy to show up with my Nikon, and I may even take the best disposable-camera shots of the whole night. I just hope someone like Joey is there, too. "This was such a cute moment, totally unscripted," Ellerd remembers. "They bumped fists and it was clear it was a little habit of theirs, one that conveyed their friendship. Joey was right there to catch it while I was fumbling with my focus ring." "This image is so painfully inferior," says our rogue photographer Cody Ellerd about her image. "My angle is bland while Joey's is creative. His is crisp and perfectly exposed, while mine is washed out and grainy. Joey knew exactly how to take advantage of the sense of motion created by this cool backdrop." "The couple was getting a little photo fatigued," Ellerd says, "but Joey turned it into a beautiful and intimate shot. I thought there was enough light, but without using a flash and spoiling the cool light bouncing off the building behind them, I couldn't get my hand quite steady enough." For this "exit shot,"  the clarity and color of Joey's shot versus Ellerd's is evident. "Notice the white car in front of Chris and Vicky," Ellerd says. "Joey magically made it disappear--I'm not even gonna try."