Heather and Flo's Autumn Wedding Pt. 3

October 26, 2010 Steve Vansak

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I always like to put a few collages together for the bride and groom. The above image consists of Heather's bouquet, their "bride and groom" champagne glasses and a shot taken right after the ceremony.

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Immediately after the ceremony ends is when I like to do group shots with parents, aunts, uncles, etc. I tend to go a little more traditional with these than wedding party shots or couple shots. Grandmas tend to not go for those jump in the air, waving your flowers around images!! :)

After we get all of these, I like to go to another scene with the wedding party. It's important to change scenery for the sake of the wedding album. Imagine page after page of the same background, that can be quite boring.

Getting folks together for formal pictures can be quite the challenge. It always seems like someone is always drifting off somewhere. A word of advice for newlyweds, designate someone to be in charge of gathering family members for the group photos. This will make things go quick and smooth.

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I tend to work large and then medium and then break things down to just the couple. In these shots, I told Heather and Flo to just be man and wife for awhile. I advised them to just be natural, while you know, my assistant and I swirl around them with a gigantic lens and lighting!! Seriously though, folks always get the hang of it as did Heather and Flo.

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Heather gets the award for bravest Bride as she gleefully maneuvered the rocks along the lake in heels!!

Heather kind of just handed the bouquet off to Flo while she hopped across rocks and I thought that was a unique image, the groom holding the bouquet.

This next formal was actually taken before the ceremony at her aunt's house. We found a shady spot in the backyard just minutes before leaving for the ceremony.

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Below is our happy, sun kissed bride!! To view more formal shots, please visit Heather and Flo's Outdoor Formals.

Heather and Flo's Autumn Wedding Pt. 2

October 25, 2010 Steve Vansak

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The above image is Heather and Flo's first kiss as husband and wife. It was taken at the Ravelli bandshell right off of Lake George with family and friends looking on.

They always say the groom is nervous while he awaits his bride, but the shot below proves that brides get nervous as well.

While we were waiting for the ceremony to begin, I captured one of my all time favorite candid kid shots of Lexie and Matthew preparing to make their way in the procession.

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As Heather's daughter starts things off, we have kid brother as the intruder. She happily kept spreading the leaves down the path for mom to soon come down.

Here comes the bride, arm and arm with her mother as the sun bathed them both.

When I met with Heather at the ceremony site a month previously, she mentioned that she was considering walking over a large grassy hill and through the crowd. A very dramatic entrance for sure, but this safer walk down the stone path was probably the wise choice for her mom, the kids and the wedding party.

Emotions begin to take over as the ceremony commences...

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Heather tells me that Flo was also choking up at this point, but I did not capture that and he's not talking!! lol

Here is a wide shot of the entire ceremony area....

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When I got together with the happy couple for their Premiere Night, Flo mentioned how much he liked this shot and they ordered a large print of it to display in their home.

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Mr. and Mrs. Acevedo leave the area as man and wife. Congratulations!!

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In Part 3, we will take a look at some highlights of the formal shots. Click this link to visit the entire gallery of Heather and Flo's Outdoor Wedding Ceremony shots.

Heather and Flo's Autumn Wedding Pt. 1

October 20, 2010 Steve Vansak

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I always say that it's no big deal if it rains because we will just make the wedding images into artsy black and whites or get some great color as wet foliage tends to photograph well after getting wet. That being said, no one is going to argue with an 85 degree day in October in Northwest Indiana!! That is exactly what we got for Heather and Flo's Outdoor Wedding.

This week I will give you highlights with some commentary, starting today with the Getting Ready sessions at Accents on 45th in Highland, Indiana.

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It was quite crowded that Saturday morning with Heather's girls and regular customers. At one point I started to photograph someone getting their hair done when Heather had to stop me as this was not one of her gang. Thanks Heather!!

Heather's daughter was the flower girl who was ready to pose in the morning, but by later afternoon she was about done with me - photographer guy. Great job Mackenzie!!

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Below is a shot of Heather and her little sister getting some reading in before make up...

A bride contemplating the day ahead or hiding from the paparazzi?

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Next stop was her Aunt's house in Hobart, a two minute drive from the ceremony site at the bandshell at Lake George. Here is a quick shot of the dress just before we made our way to the ceremony site.

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To see Heather's complete gallery of Getting Ready shots, please visit her full gallery right here.

Stay tuned for the next segment covering the Ceremony itself.

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Heather and Gordon: Hobart, Indiana Wedding

July 13, 2010 Steve Vansak

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Gordon and Heather had a June wedding at Grace Lutheran in Hobart, Indiana. It's the beautiful white church on Route 51 by the hospital. Click on the image below for a large view.

Hanging out with Heather and Holly and Kavita before the ceremony was a lot of fun. Getting to know them at this time made us all more comfortable and we were able to get natural looking shots for the rest of the day.

While Heather and the girls were getting ready doing their thing, I'd occasionally get kicked out of the room. Time to grab some groomsmen for some tough guy shots.

One of my favorites of the guys...

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Right before the ceremony began I took my place in the designated areas as requested by Pastor Frederick. In this case, behind the last pew and in the balcony. Time to break out the "wildlife lens".