Wendy Mitchell Photography

Bride in a fireman’s carry, showing off her muddy shoes. As good a place to start as any!

This is one of those weddings where things didn’t go as planned, but everyone pulled together to make things happen. Eva & her girls arrived at a rented cottage in Angola-on-the-Lake, in the rain, to discover that Eva had left the key back at her mom’s house in Tonawanda (a good 45 minutes away). Luckily Joel’s mom lives in the cottage next door, so we crashed there til Joel’s brother arrived with a spare key.

When I arrived at Evangola State Park, I found that the ceremony site had been moved under the reception tent, which is not what they had wanted (the plan was to get married cliffside, overlooking the lake, but it was rainy & muddy enough that doing the ceremony outside was just not possible.

Inside or outside, the ceremony was very heartfelt and as Joel teared up, I found out what the best man is REALLY there for.

Hugs & formalities, and a few chilly, rainy posed photos later…

…it was time for dinner, and dancing!

They pretended that the garter toss was on the up & up, but it was rigged from the start, and I think the guy in the green shirt knew it! Joel pretended to toss it, then ran & shoved it right in his shirt pocket.

Fun time with friends & family is what a wedding reception is all about. Mission accomplished! Congratulations to a pair who’s clearly crazy about each other!

This photo is out of order, but I wanted to start the post with the photo that made me say “Awwww” as soon as I took it. Nick said, “Wow! We made the photographer say ‘Awwww’!”

Nick & Arwyn hired me to photograph their small, intimate wedding on Friday evening, and I arrived at her parents’ house in West Falls not knowing exactly what to expect because, as Nick put it, “We’re kind of going with the flow.” I knew I was in for a treat when I went upstairs to see Arwyn and her dad put in fake joke teeth for a father/daughter photo. (Pardon the noise, this was at 6400ISO.)

Arwyn had already gotten dressed before I arrived, but I was able to catch her doing some last minute touchups. This mirror was so old… much more character than anything in my house!

I could tell how much family and tradition meant to Nick & Arwyn… they had each other’s family names engraved into their rings, and Arwyn carried her great grandmother’s lace on her bouquet.

Nick & Arwyn’s dogs are important to them too – we tried to do a family photo of the four of them but with one dog not paying attention and the other dog choosing that very moment to fertilize the lawn… here are some individual shots.

Details, details…

The ceremony was in a small church next door to her parents’ house, and was family & close friends only (there were 18 people in the church, including the judge).

We did a few posed photos on the lawn afterwards. I’m pretty sure neither of them stopped smiling at any point. We also did a photo of everyone in front of Arwyn’s parents’ house.

Then we went to Tempo where they had some cocktails, toasts, a wonderful slideshow, and dinner, at which point I bid my adieu.

Good luck to you both! Congratulations, and I’m sending warm, sunny wishes for your reception!

No offense to all the brides & grooms I’ve worked with in the past, but I think Mitch & Lauren just might win for “most likely to forget there are 30 people standing around watching them” or alternately “most likely to make an adorable-o-meter explode.”

They got married at Lauren’s parents’ house in Jamestown and (after some ominous clouds earlier in the day) it was a beautiful afternoon!

Seeing them stare into each other’s eyes during the ceremony was amazing. It’s the kind of love that makes the rest of the world melt away.

Because it was such a small, intimate wedding, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to get a group shot of everyone, so I braved leaning out a second story bathroom window to get a good angle!

While Mitch was distracted doing a few posed shots, his brother and friends were able to subject his Camaro to certain indignities.

We headed over to the reception and after a few “formal” dances, eventually other people got brave and joined the fun!

Mitch & Lauren – I’m so very glad that everything worked out (perfectly or imperfectly, depending on how you want to look at it) to give me a chance to be part of your wedding day. Thanks for having me, and I wish you both years upon years of happiness.

I just want to start this post by saying how wonderful it is working for such a sweet and obviously-in-love couple!

I arrived at the Orchard Park Presbyterian church, and it was hard to get a good exterior shot… darn quaint village and its tree-lined streets!

Helen told me she picked out her dress the day before the wedding. She said she’d had another dress but it just wasn’t “it” so she and her sister went shopping on Friday… when it’s right it’s right, right?! The dress was simple so she added some great jewelry to jazz it up. She bought the earrings & necklace at Wild Things – she mentioned it three or four times so I figured I should give them a plug!

Her twin sisters took turns making sure she got her makeup on straight since she couldn’t see with her contacts in.

The ceremony was wonderful – very family oriented. Helen’s nephew played the cello before the ceremony began, and her son walked her down the aisle. Sandy’s two brothers and Helen’s two sisters were the wedding party, Sandy’s daughter played the flute, and Helen’s brother did a reading.

Helen and Sandy both jumped the gun at times during the ceremony. They were both so eager to be pronounced husband and wife!

After the ceremony there were some hugs and some laughs, then we headed on to the Saturn Club (after a brief drive-through of Green Lake/Yates Park, which Sandy quickly nixed because it seemed to be prom-orama day)!

They had a live band (which was fabulous!) and a lot of the guests (especially Helen’s side!) made good use of the dance floor!

Congratulations to the happy couple and their families. Thank you!

I am working on loving my 85mm f/1.8. I’m just not used to standing that far away from my subjects, but I’m getting more comfortable with it. It really is a nice portrait lens and I want to have a reason to pull it out of my bag.

My husband used to be an avid golfer (he was his high school team’s MVP junior and senior year) so his sister bought Nathan some plastic golf clubs. I think he’ll get it down soon enough:

He’s my silly little guy. He loves his Tonka truck that I bought at a consignment store for $6!

I bought him new sandals on Wednesday and he loves them, but he’s not used to walking/running in them yet… The scraped knees are from tripping (while running) in a parking lot, and the cuts on his leg are from falling into a pile of brush.

I also took a couple pictures of our perennials that have graced us this year… we moved to this house in July and weren’t really sure what was planted in the gardens!

Starting tomorrow I have 21 weddings in the next 15 weeks, so I don’t expect to be doing that much extracurricular shooting. If you like ogling other folks’ wedding photos though, check back for tons and tons as they’ll be piling up!