Spring Wedding at The Patrician Banquet Center

April 28, 2014 Steve Vansak

Bride and groom inside the gazebo at The Patrician Banquet Hall.

Andee and Mike had a wonderfully green colored Spring wedding at The Patrician Banquet Hall in Schererville, Indiana. In typical Midwest fashion the temperatures got chilly but not enough to prevent us from some outdoor images near the gazebo. The sun was shining bright and hearts were warm.

Our day started with getting ready at the bride and groom's home with non stop laughter from Andee and her bridesmaids. Her two sisters were in the wedding party with close friends on hair and make up. Add in a bit of hermosa and all was well.

The bride shares a laugh with her sisters and bridesmaids on wedding day.

Andee's sisters were there for her thoughout the day and their card to her was a wonderfully nice touch...

The ceremony was held indoors at The Patrician and was filled with family and friends with lot's of love and laughter throughout.

The groom places the ring on his bride's finger at an indoor ceremony at The Patrician.

Sun streams in during an indoor wedding ceremony at The Patrician Banquet Hall.

Andee and her two sisters paid tribute to their mom by posing with her photo in a frame as well as some mementos. She had passed away just a month ago but was in the room in spirit. It's moments like these where I'm reminded of how important photographs are in people's lives.

The bride and her sisters pay tribute to their mother.

When family photos were complete, I took the bride and groom outside for some photographs at the gazebo behind The Patrician. Soon it was dinner time with dancing and fun to follow.

The bride and groom gaze at each other in front of the gazebo after their Spring wedding.

Before the party started (and trust me - it was a party), the night began with some wonderful speeches from the maid of honor and best man as the bright sun shone upon the head table.

A speech from the maid of honor before dinner at The Patrician.

A kiss at the reception after cutting of the cake.

After first dances on the darkened ballroom floor, the night kicked into high gear with beer pong.

The bride and groom share a laugh during their first dance.

Father and daughter dance in the spotlight.

Grandma tries her hand at a little beer pong.

The crowd came ready to party!! I can report that all miraculously and successfully rose up from the dance floor after this shot...

The groom proves he's ready to work hard during the dollar dance and earn his money...

Andee loves her green and she loves her frogs. We combined them all for a fun ring shot...

I hope you have enjoyed this sneak peek of Andee and Mike's Spring wedding at The Patrician in Schererville. Many more images to come, especially from the reception where the fun moments just kept coming one after the other. Good times....

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The groom lifts his bride triumphantly into the air at their wedding reception at The Patrician.

Spring Wedding at The Dream Palace in Lynwood, Illinois

April 7, 2014 Steve Vansak

The bride and groom during their first dance at The Dream Palace in Lynwood, Illinois.

Melissa and Anthony were married this past weekend at The Dream Palace in Illinois. Our day started at the home of Melissa's parents in Beecher, Illinois. If I could pick a few words and phrases to describe their day they would be "pink", "emotion", "friendship", "firefighters", "Converse All Stars", "real" and just plain fun. Let's see what I'm talking about...

The bride's shoes are pink Converse All Star sneakers decorated with her wedding jewelry.

Melissa is a self described "laid back bride" and I agree. She was so great to work with as were her bridesmaids. They welcomed me into their hair and make up area and let me bump elbows with them to get my shots. I really appreciate that. Everyone was super casual, but I could tell there were some great friendships in the room and that these emotions were going to show throughout the day and I needed to be ready to capture them.

Pink wedding flowers get delivered at the home of the bride.

The wedding dress awaits the bride as it hangs in front of a window.

Everything was all laughs until it came time for our lovely bride to get into her dress. It was at this moment that the significance of the day really sunk in and the bride and her maid of honor were overtaken with happy tears. The beautiful window light illuminated the veil as tears turned to more laughter and then back again.

The bride wipes away tears in an emotional moment while getting ready for her wedding.

The maid of honor and great friend of the bride chokes back happy tears.

An emotional moment for the bride on wedding day.

After Melissa put on her sassy pink All Star Sneakers, we took a few shots overlooking the vast Illinois farm land.

An outdoor wedding portrait of a bride before her Spring wedding holding her pink bouquet of flowers.

The bridesmaids show off their pink Converse All Stars.

Our next stop was to meet the firefighter groom and his fireman posse of groomsmen. We took shots inside and outside the Lynwood station and then we were off to The Dream Palace for the ceremony and reception.

A group of fireman on their friends wedding day in front of a fire truck at the Lynwood station.

Melissa was simply giddy as she walked down the aisle with her Dad as Anthony smiled when she approached.

A father gives away the bride during a ceremony at The Dream Palace in Lynwood, Illinois.

The groom reacts as he sees his bride for the first time.

Melissa and Anthony did a traditional pouring of the sand with a unique twist by using a picture frame as the destination.

The bride and groom pour sand into a picture frame during their wedding ceremony.

After the ceremony, my assistant and I immediately took family photos, wedding party photos as well as couples shots. We also took detail shots of the decorated hall and then it was party time.

The newly married couple gaze into each other's eyes after being pronounced husband and wife.

I love to capture real emotion and I found this throughout the day and once again during the reception at Dream Palace. The love shown throughout the first dances with parents was just wonderful. I hope you enjoy viewing these series of images as much as I had photographing them.

The bride tears up during the first dance with her Father.

Father and daughter hug emotionally at a wedding reception at The Dream Palace.

Mom give her son the groom a kiss on the dance floor at his wedding reception.

I hope you enjoyed this sneak peak of photographs from Melissa and Anthony's Spring wedding at The Dream Palace in Lynwood, Illinois. Please stay tuned here or visit the Region Weddings Facebook page for more updates.

Michigan City Wedding: Sneak Peek

May 19, 2012 Steve Vansak

Natalie and Greg were married just last week in Michigan City. The above image is from Washington Park beach where the bride and groom huddles up to keep warm. This is just a sneak peek with many more wedding photos to follow,

The day started out at Bullettes Hair Salon in Chesterton, Indiana with the bridesmaids toasting champagne as our bride Natalie was getting her hair styled.

Natalie's dress was waiting for her at her parent's home in Chesterton which was a flurry of activity with make up and dress and tux fittings, etc.

The mother of the bride certainly looks happy as she assist her daughter with her wedding dress...

The Catholic wedding ceremony took place at Saint Stanislaus church in Michigan City. This vintage church has a spectacular view from the balcony...

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The Father of the bride beams with pride as he walks his daughter down the aisle...

We took family photos within the church and then went to Washington Park beach where the groom requested a shot of him and his new bride with the NIPSCO power plant in the background. The billowing smoke and ominous clouds made for an edgy backdrop for the spiffed up groom and beautiful bride...

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The reception took place at the Senior Center banquet hall within Washington Park. the groom and his mother share a few laughs on the dance floor...

A little later in the night, the happy couple took to the dance floor surrounded by friends and family.

Be sure to subscribe to this Journal via RSS on the right side of this page and to like SBV Photography on Facebook for more updates and images from Natalie and Greg's wedding in Michigan City, Indiana.

Angela and Mike's Spring Wedding: Sneak Preview

May 7, 2011 Steve Vansak

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This is a sneak preview of Angela and Mike's Spring Wedding with many more photographs to follow as I have just started editing the images. The photo collage above is their spectacular wedding cake along with them taking their first dance at the Celebrity Ballroom at the Radisson in Merrillville, Indiana.

We started the day at Angela's parents house in Hebron, Indiana where I got some quick portraits of the bride and her bridesmaids just before we were off to leave for the church.

The house in Hebron was just a few minutes from St. Elizabeth Ann Seton church and had a terrific four seasons room that let in a lot of natural light for this photo of the the beautiful bride.

This room also doubled as the hair and makeup center. Big enough for a couple of hair stylist, some bridesmaids, orange juice (wink -wink), a photographer with two big cameras and apparently from all the shrieking, a spider as well!!

Angela's mom was a great hostess to me and all the girls. She was always running to take care of things, but I finally got a quick shot of her with her daughter...

Literally minutes before heading to the ceremony, I gathered the girls underneath the weeping willow tree in their Hebron backyard. Watch out for those branches!!

Soon after the above photo, I arrived at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton in Valparaiso, Indiana and captured the groomsmen and the groom in this walking shot along the cornfields behind the church.

Wedding are always a race against the clock, so we managed to sneak in a few formal shots of the guys inside the church, including this one of the groom...

Pastor Mike at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton was terrific and allowed me very free reign on where I could photograph the wedding from. In this photo, the bride is beaming as she walks down the aisle arm in arm with her father. Look at the detail in that dress!!

After formal shots along the lakefront in Hobart, we ended the night at the Celebrity Ballroom in the Radisson Hotel in Merrillville, Indiana. Here are some shots of the bride and groom during their first dance...

Here is one of many crazy dancing shots. Here I actually got on floor of the ballroom and shot up at the partiers who more than willing to mug for the camera...

So why just a sneak preview? Why not show the whole wedding now? For professional wedding photographs I shoot in a different kind of format that yields high quality images. Although it is digital, I have to "develop" every image in the digital darkroom for maximum detail and sharpness. Right now all the images are digital negatives awaiting development. However, I work pretty quickly so in 10 days or so all of Angela's and Mikes wedding photos will be in a gallery online for all to view.

I urge you to "like" SBV Photography on Facebook and to sign up for the RSS fee right here for updates. In the meantime, let's take another look at that spectacular wedding cake...