A rare weekend off

The 8 weddings in 15 days finally passed without a hitch – well, aside from the 8 hitched couples, of course. Half the fun is working with people I already know, which is kind of like a family reunion every time. The other half the fun is getting to work with unfamiliar faces, and I’ve had the pleasure of experiencing a lot of both in such a short amount of days. Ultimately, it’s all about the bride and groom, and I couldn’t have asked for a better bunch to be around on the best days of their lives.

I spent Friday covering Leann and Russ’ wedding and reception at the Omni Severin. Jim of Henri’s Photo in FortWayne and his assistants got some great shots of the bride in the bridal suite, which offered a stunning view of Lucas Oil Field under construction. The ceremony took place in front of a stately backdrop of Greek-style columns, giving the wedding an outdoor feel. The reception was fairly subdued by design, with maximum mingling (and chocolate) and minimal dancing, save for the couple’s first dance under a perfectly-pointed spotlight. I’m getting so used to working with Carrie at the Omni that I hope she isn’t getting too sick of me yet. She was also a guest at the reception I shot at the Conrad the previous weekend. She oversaw three simultaneous events this day without once breaking a sweat or losing that big smile. What a trooper! I’ll see her again in about a week.

My Saturday wedding took place at First Presbyterian in Terre Haute under the watchful eye of consultant Teddy Lenderman and her sharp staff, with Michael Colter snapping photos. The three of us have worked with each other quite a few times recently, and it showed in the way we smoothly shuffled Cathy and Bruce through the day’s formalities. The Terre Haute Country Club provided a scenic backdrop for some fun group photos, one of which I’m especially hoping Michael will let me share. Later that evening, the bride’s father was kind enough to publicly acknowledge me after playing the photomontage I put together for them. It’s always a surreal feeling when that happens, considering how hard I try to blend in and not call attention to myself. DJ Craig James of Ultimate Entertainment also made the trip from Indy, and he did a nice job of moving through a large number of formalities in quick succession without seeming rushed.

Meanwhile, Laurie shot a wedding and reception at the Regions Bank building with consultant Gloria Boyden. Kerri had wanted to book us for quite a long time before we finally became available, so we’ll do our best to make sure we were worth the wait. I don’t know too much about how that one went yet (no news is usually good news), but the bride apparently hit it off quite well with Laurie. They’re both interested in entering the bridal consulting business someday, so it wouldn’t surprise me if this isn’t the last time they’ll work together.

I’ve been hard at work at the studio trying to stay ahead of schedule in editing some of these weddings, hence the slowness in blogging and updating the website. The upside is that several of these couples have gotten the pleasant surprise of having their videos ready upon returning from their honeymoons. The feedback has been as superb as I could have hoped for, but I’ve been too busy plowing ahead to really sit back and appreciate it. Hopefully by the time I shoot my next wedding on July 8, I’ll have all but two of these June weddings edited. Here are the highlight segments for the Wright wedding at the Indianapolis Art Center and the Hammond wedding at the Montage.

I recently purchased a DVD publishing system that automatically copies and prints onto the finished DVDs, and this new toy is showing early signs of making quite an impact on our efficiency at the studio. I don’t have a wedding to shoot this weekend, so I’ll probably take the boys somewhere fun so Mommy can have a rare (for this time of year) weekend to herself.

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