It was last year when Dawn and I photographed Hillary and Philip’s engagement where they were hoping for snow as they were going to have a Winter wedding. Well, they got their wish! After not getting any snow all season, the morning of their shoot we got hit with a snow storm. See that post Here. Well, when it came time for their wedding day, we again were praying for snow, but unfortunately this time our wishes were not granted and instead of snow we got rain, and a lot of it. Well, plan B and C had to get rolled out. All of our locations that we had scouted earlier were for not as they were all outside, except for the backups that were inside. It is good to have backup plans.
We have photographed Hillary and her family for quite some time now, we love seeing the “kids” grow up, in a way they feel like our own. Since it was raining outside, we had to photograph inside, so the first place we selected was the grand staircase in her parents house. We love the staircase but it does come with some challenges that we had to overcome, one of which was how to fit 18 people on and around the staircase. Dawn did an excellent job in grouping and posing the wedding party and I managed to get the lighting to reach everyone evenly.
We also had a few “scenic” locations that we could use at the reception hall, one was actually outside, sort of. Hillary had gotten all the girls fur wraps to wear, with the expectation of them being out in the snow. With all the girls wrapped up, we just had to find a way to shoot outside, so we utilized the large overhang entrance to the facility, unfortunately they were under it but not me, so that shot had rain streaks in it, but I kind of like that look after looking at it now.
The wedding reception was wonderful, for starters one of their signature drinks was our favorite “Bourbon Old Fashion!” Another reason that Hillary and Philip’s reception was so special was that Philip’s parents and brother, along with Philip himself, grabbed their instruments and sat in with the 15 piece band! They were actually very good. Apparently Philip’s parents regularly play in that band, and that band was very good.
Besides the Winter theme, the other theme of the wedding was New Year’s Eve celebration. And what a celebration it was, complete with a balloon drop!
And then there is this image below, I just couldn’t resist putting it in. Dawn and I love interacting with the wedding party as well as the guests, and I try to get everyone laughing so that I we can capture real, honest smiles. To that end, I crack a lot of jokes…most of which are not very good, but they get laughs because of that fact, so I keep doing it. I don’t remember what I said to Philip’s Grandmother but she loved it and this became the couples favorite picture of the day.
