When the perfect couple gets married, sometimes one celebration isn’t enough. On the heels of a couple of other receptions, including one at Wrigley Field in Chicago, Barri & David celebrated in style with local family and friends at the Broadmoor Country Club. Guests were welcomed by a life-sized cardboard cutout of the couple from their wedding day, along with elegant decor by Coby Palmer and the jazzy sounds by the Wendy Reed Band. I enjoyed catching up with the largest collection of former clients I have ever seen at one event. Special thanks to Dave Cohen of Goldberg Photography for getting some impromptu headshots of yours truly, as well as Leslie Jones for the referral.

I just spent four head-spinning days at my first WEVA Expo in 13 years, delivering what turned out to be a very well-received presentation on marketing and learning about new tools and techniques that I cannot wait to put to use.
I was invited a couple of months ago to give this seminar to videographers from around the world at WEVA (Wedding & Event Videographers Association) Expo 2009 at the new Orlando Hilton. Having never spoken in public before, I was fairly nervous heading into my Tuesday time slot. The room was packed, and despite a few glitches early, I could sense that the content was resonating with the audience, which gave me the energy to keep going. It was such a relief to see them laughing, participating, taking notes throughout – as far as I could tell, no one was checking e-mails or zoning out.
A nice-sized crowd came up to me afterwards (20 or so compared to the usual 5-10 at the other seminars), some of whom stayed around to chat for another half-hour, and a lot of people stopped me throughout the day to ask questions or give wonderful feedback. (One frequent Expo attendee even wrote “best WEVA seminar ever” on her Facebook wall – blush!) It was clear that they were hungry for information that they could use right away to help their businesses in these tricky times, and I’m so glad that my objective of packing the presentation with as much of it as possible paid off for them.
In addition, I attended many other presentations that reinvigorated me creatively, and I played with a lot of “toys” in the trade show that I will be making room for in my budget. So I overcame a lifelong fear, gained some cool ideas, hopefully helped a lot of people, and made many new friends in the process. What a rush! Needless to say, I’ll be back for WEVA Expo 2010…

My fourth out-of-town wedding in a month brought me to beautiful Valparaiso for Ashley & James’ wedding at Calvary Church and reception at Sand Creek Country Club. The ceremony was a nice testament to the couple’s faith. After some fun photos on the way with the photographers of Kindle & Foster, we headed to the club, which was magnificently decorated by Jeffery Walter and later magnificently rocked out by The Connexion Band. The surprise groom’s cake was a highlight of the evening, as was James’ showstopping turn on the drums. Special thanks to Valpo Mayor Jon Costas & his gifted wife Sharon (who played beautiful cocktail & dinner music on the keys, and whose daughter Ashley’s wedding I shot in May) for referring their wonderful neighbors to me!

Photo by Jamie Carlson Photography

The sign says “You’ll Like Linton,” and I did, as I traveled south to capture Kim & Darren’s wedding at First Baptist Church and reception at the Elks Lodge. The day started with some fun golf coverage, continued with preparations at the hotel, then culminated in a beautiful ceremony at the church. The reception rocked, with Ty from Grapevine Entertainment presiding over some great music as well as a few surprises, and the consultants of Black Tie Events kept the weekend’s many details steering in the right direction.