Here’s a look at Cheryl and Jim’s wedding at Acres of Land Winery in Richmond, Kentucky. The night before the wedding, a storm blew through the area, including a small tornado that knocked out power to the hotel where Cheryl was getting ready. The chef at Boone Tavern, their hotel, ran home, got a portable generator, and ran extension cords up to the ladies’ suite so they could get ready. How’s that for awesome customer service?

More from this wedding after the jump…

One great wedding often leads to another. In the case of Dallas physician Jessica, she heard about me from her friend Neema, whose wedding I shot and Jessica attended in June.

Fast forward to the fall, when Jessica and her fiance Rutu, an engineer, returned to Kentucky for their wedding. An Indian wedding is always an event– there’s nothing like it for sheer size, scope, or color. By now, I’m pretty used to the rhythms of these multiday extravaganzas, and in fact, I’m beginning to see a lot of the same guests… they say I’m part of “the family” now! Since Indian weddings all but require an associate photographer, I was happy to be able to bring in one of my favorites, the emerging Bowling Green photographer Jennifer Creed. For Jenny, it was her first Indian wedding, and she brought a certain amount of wide eyed wonder to our work.

The folks at the Embassy Suites have gotten to be quite proficient at these events, and Amy Stamper and her crew did a wonderful job of giving the ballroom three different looks in less than 36 hours. I also got to work with my good friend Laura over at Destiny Horse and Carriage, who conveyed Ruturaaj to the proceedings in Kentucky style, while surrounded by their singing and dancing family members.

Like a lot of people, I do a bit of end of the year evaluating, at least when it comes to the photography business.

My lovely bride Kristina got me a book by Joe Buissink for Christmas, Wedding Photography from The Heart.  Joe has always been one of the photographers whose work inspires me most, and as I read the book, I started to realize that there are two things I’ve gotten away from over the last year, delivering lots of black and white photographs, and sometimes, turning all the flash units off, and making a natural light photograph, even I sacrificed a little shutter speed to get it.  The two really go hand in hand, because my favorite natural light photographs have always been my black and whites.  Two years ago, I delivered usually about 25% black and white or sepia toned images, and as of late, the number had been a lot closer to 10%.

That’s going to change this year, I think.  While I pride myself on my ability to create light and natural looking color when I need it, I’ve always felt that when you take the color out of an image, sometimes you let the emotion back in.

There are certain moments that you remember for the rest of your career.  In this case, it was about 45 minutes before the wedding, when the groom came up to me and said, “Ian, I forgot to tell you something.  Entire ceremony in Russian.”

I looked at Vlad and fired off the only phrase I remember from my college Russian class 18 years ago.  I think it translates as “I badly speak in Russian.”  Whatever it means, he laughed, so I’m pretty sure I didn’t accidentally ask him for permission to do something unnatural with his Pomeranian.

Luckily, it was a Jewish wedding, and generally, if you follow the cups, you’ll be pretty good there.

Not the easiest room to shoot in– it’s a nightclub where the area the chuppah was in had a black ceiling overhead.  For a less experienced photographer, it becomes difficult because there’s nowhere to bounce the flash.  I got permission from the rabbi (who’s a bit of a camera enthusiast, so he wanted complete details so he could learn my technique) and hid an off camera flash unit in the chuppah canopy– the white silk turned the whole thing into a giant studio light, with glorious, soft, flattering light.

One of the things that sets the full-time pros apart is the ability to make a quality image in spite of the circumstances.

Got to work with a lot of my favorite  vendors this weekend on Lacey and Justin’s wedding, which took place on a gorgeous indian summer day in Frenchburg.    Lacey put a lot of work into this one, coming up with tons of great details, and got a lot of help bringing them to fruition with Deanna Dillender of Great Expectations handling design and lighting, and Jackie Lee of Every Last Detail making things run smoothly on the coordination end, and Tony the Tiger of Tiger’s DJ Services keeping the party going.

Despite the hectic nature of the very full timeline, I’ll remember the lighthearted moments best from this one:  Lacey holding Justin’s ring for the longest time before it dawned on her that she was supposed to put it on him, or Lacey rocking out to her surprise choice of music for her father-daughter dance– let me tell you, Dad’s look was priceless!  Also loved seeing them find a way to get in a pre-ceremony prayer together while still managing not to see each other beforehand, the touch of having their toast with mini Coke bottles to commemorate their first date… so many great moments!

Take a look at some of the first images to come out of the weekend…

Those of you who have talked with me are familiar with the fact I never touch the cake at a wedding I’m working, even when I’m a personal friend or even family of the bride.  Well, for the first time in five years, I left the camera in the hotel room, and I even ate the cake.

The occasion?  My much loved brother Tim and his wonderful bride Nadia got married on Sunday, and for the first time ever, I was a groomsman.  Best of all, my oldest, Caroline got to be a flower girl, got to dance with Daddy at a wedding, grew up faster than her parents ever believed possible.

Not that Declan and Audrey didn’t try to participate– Declan tried to march down the aisle, and when his sister got chatty, he and his twin were picked up and relocated to the back of the sanctuary.  Audrey then chimed in loud enough for everyone to hear, “Bye!”  Later, as Nadia was giving her half of the vows, Audrey sensed what type of life change she was in for, being married to Uncle Tim, because a little voice started insisting, “No, no, no, no, noooooooooo!” (Luckily, no one other than Audrey’s parents heard her.)

Anyway, I did take a couple of shots of Caroline in her flower girl outfit before we left for the wedding.  Enjoy!

John and Brittney were already married by the time I met them– they’re students at BYU, and they got married in a Mormon ceremony in Colorado, but they wanted to have a reception in Lexington as well, and they added a little twist, giving each other their rings in a small, private ceremony beforehand.  I got to spend some time doing a portrait session with them before all of the festivities, as well as covering the event itself…

Was going through my RSS reader this morning while Declan was eating breakfast  (Audrey and Caroline are still sleeping in), and I saw that Photo Business News had a link to a great piece on hiring a wedding photographer. A lot of times, these articles are either dated or don’t really bring you any insight into what real photographers are trying to accomplish in their methods, philosophies, and policies.  Evan from MyDeeJay.com went and interviewed a number of photographers in his market (Baltimore/Washington DC), and the result is one of the best articles I’ve seen on what you need to know about wedding photography and what questions you should be asking a shooter when you interview us during the process.

Even though the photographers he talks to are in a different region, pretty much everything they cover applies in any market in America.  Enjoy!

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I’ll have a couple of additional inside looks at some of my recent weddings going up on the blog shortly…

Some scenes from Neema and Arjun’s three-day Indian wedding in Lexington… those who followed my previous blog may recognize them from their New York engagement session.

…There’s so much to show you from 3 days worth of shooting that I can’t even pretend that a single blog posting will cover it– I recommend you check out the 300+ image extended slide show.

It’s been a great year for great wedding venues, and last weekend was no exception. Bethany and Ryan chose to get married at the gorgeous Acres of Land Winery in Richmond. If you haven’t been there, make the drive down I-75 and check out the tasting room and their restaurant as well. For those of you who like to try something different, I recommend the Vignoles (white wine) and especially the Chambourcin (a red you can chill).

For Bethany, after having her hair done at The Color Room, she went back to the nearby Doubletree Suites on Richmond Road in Lexington to meet up with her bridesmaids and get their makeup done. On one of my first Lexington visits, I stayed at what was then the Sheraton Suites, and it’s still a beautiful hotel– the interior balconies overlooking the lobby are one of my favorite features in any area hotel.

Bethany and Ryan had the actual ceremony in a section of the vineyard at Acres of Land called The Colonel’s Point. With the vineyard right next to you, you have the setup right along this area where the hill just falls away, to a tremendous view. Stunning.

After the ceremony and some formals, Bethany and Ryan escaped into the Barrel Room for a few moments alone and some portraits, before heading into their reception.

It was a beautiful day with a truly delightful couple! Many thanks to Jennifer Creed for helping with the second shooting!

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