Larry's Random Ramblings

What do you get when a theater performance major invites all her friends to her wedding reception? A fun party!

Melissa and Ryan were wonderful to work with and the wedding pictures were great. Walnut Creek wedding chapel in Oklahoma City is a great place for a wedding and and the staff was wonderful as always. And no, I did not add the orange sky to the photograph outdoor photograph. It is the lights of the city reflecting off the low clouds (8 second exposure – don’t try that without a good tripod….)

Links:

Wedding Art.com

General Portrait site

High School Seniors

click on any image to enlarge

Jennifer and Austin had a beautiful wedding at Coles Garden. The weather was a little warm, but tolerable. I loved the picture with the groomsmen and sunglasses. That’s attitude!

Links:
WeddingArt.com
high school seniors (NormanSenior.com)
general portraits (FosterPhotographicArts.com)

Click on any image to enlarge.

It’s always fun to photograph a wedding when you know the family.  Paul – Rebekah’s father – works with me on the A/V team at church.  I actually new a ring was coming before Rebekah!

The wedding was wonderful, but photographs we took between the ceremony and the reception were priceless.  We had a some extra time from when we left the church before we needed to be at the Embassy Suites, so we met the couple at OU for some great pictures.  To top it off, there was a fantastic sunset late in the reception that we captured just outside the hotel with the couple.

It was a blast, and the photographs were wonderful.

Return to WeddingArt.com, NormanSenior.com or FosterPhotographicArts.com

Rebekah Vermilion and Carl Coats

It thoroughly enjoyed working with Adena and Matt.  A wonderful, fun couple.

Outdoor weddings are always somewhat of a gamble in this area.   On the day of their wedding, the thunder would roll and the rains could be seen threatening in the distance, but they stayed away and the wedding went off without a drop leaving us with some very dramatic clouds and a once in a lifetime sunset.

Every year I shoot for the “signature image” – an image that is so impressive that you just say “wow”.  An image that will be used in advertising materials and hang on the wall.  Adena’s wedding provided me with two signature images.

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Adena Achs and Matt Miller

Courtney and Brett were such a fun couple to photograph.  Their wedding was Crossings, which of course is wonderful place to have a wedding.  It was a perfect day for a perfect wedding.  The hardest part was deciding which ones to post here!

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Courtney Shadburn and Brett Bilbrey

One of my favorite images comes from Amanda’s bridal portrait.  Justin was away at marine boot camp, and had written her a multiple page letter every day they were apart.  She wanted to incorporate those in her bridal portrait.  We sat her down on the floor, and then scattered the letters all around her.

The second image was taken after the reception at the Bricktown Canal.  The reflection in the water is from red neon light on the building behind them.

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Normally I would not use a bridesmaid photo as my hallmark image from a wedding.  However, the story behind this is important.  I photographed Sofia’s wedding Edith’s wedding (either side of the bride).  The only wedding I did not photograph of the four of these ladies was Elizabeth.  I jokingly asked her about that.  She took it in good humor, however, it was not a joke.  Turns out she had contacted me about photographing her wedding, but her parents decided to select someone less expensive.  A decision she would later regret.  “  It’s still a sore point.  My parents apologized to me about it.”  Lesson: Choose carefully who photographs your wedding.  You wedding photographs will outlast just about everything (notable exception is the rings) you spend money on at this grand event. You will not get a second chance at it.

The sunset image was actually taken in the parking lot of the church.  I looked around for a good opening to the western sky, and there was none within easy walk. I laid down on the ground and tried to isolate them as much as possible.

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Kristen’s wedding was at 5:00 and her reception wouldn’t be until 7:00.  This allowed us to some time between the ceremony and the reception to get some great pictures of the couple.  It rarely happens that there is extended time for me to work with the couple. Too often the reception follows the ceremony and it is all rush-rush-rush.  I really think that is something of a travesty.  The wedding is about two people, and yet the majority of pictures is more than just the couple.

We had about 40 minutes and the Myriad Gardens was centraly located between the two locations.  First stop was an attitude pose against the skyline.  Next we moved into the field and got some wonderful, romantic images of them together.  We continued on to an area were we could see the sunset and captured a ‘Gone with the Wind’ photo that just gives you goose bumps.  It was a blast the photos were fantastic.

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Tara had seen the photographs I had done for some of her friends (Staci McCart-Johnson and Melissa Richardson-Jones).  The wedding was at the Capitol with a reception at the History Center.  Both of these locations offer wonderful opportunities for creative and fun images.

Tara had one very specific request at the reception.  She wanted a photograph of her and Bryan in front of the large window that looks out at the Capitol.  At twilight.  When you can still see the Capitol.  With the airplane.  No problem.  I looked up what time sunset would be and informed her when we had a 10 minute window for the image.

Whatever it takes to get the shot.

We had a great time and Tara and Bryan loved their photos!

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I had gotten to know the Shelton family when I photographed the double wedding of Elizabeth’s sisters about 10 years ago. Yes, a double wedding – two brides, two grooms and whole lot of bridesmaids, groomsmen and three different families.

Elizabeth’s wedding would not be the large production of her sisters. This is a good thing. Her wedding was at the Dominion House. I had overheard that following the reception, the couple were going to tour by carriage downtown Guthrie at night. I asked them if they were up for some more photographs and they were. We met them in downtown and created some fantastic images on street corner in downtown against the buildings lit for Christmas. What the photo does not show is how cold it was. It was really cold. Maybe 18F.

Anything for the shot.

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