Wedding | Rebecca + JB | Westfield Center, Ohio

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• Since Rebecca and JB booked me over the phone we never had the initial client meeting. When they were both in town early in the year I met up with them at their event site and I got to participate in the taste testing of the food! I have to say that was one of the neatest client meetings I’ve ever had as photographers rarely get in on that! YUM (and yay!).

• I love hearing how my couples met and fell in love. Their story is another one for the “aww” books. They knew each other for years and were part of the same crowd in college but never dated in college. When JB was in the town where Rebecca lived after graduation he decided to look her up and the rest is history!

• The ceremony was outside and during the vows, someone teed off right behind where the ceremony was taking place. Later the pastor mentioned that their shot went into the sand and it was karma! Ha!

• It always makes me smile when the families on each side get along. Their families took it to a whole new level! It was so wonderful to see how much of a blending of two families this was! The Moms gave a speech together welcoming everyone to the reception (the Dads did later as well). Everyone just was really excited to be a part of each other’s families. So lovely to see.

Wedding Vendors

Ceremony/Reception/Catering: The Blair Center at Westfield Center
DJ: Big Ear Entertainment
Florist: Accent Floral & Gifts

Rebecca got ready at the Inn and it’s a GORGEOUS place to get ready.  So lovely!

I adored Rebecca’s shoes, aren’t they amazing?

I played with the girls for a bit in the gorgeous shade near the Inn.

I headed over to where the guys were at and started their pics.  These guys were hilarious and had all the poses they wanted nailed pat – starting with the “Olan Mills” pose.

Then they wanted to do a pyramid…

Then they finished with the ever popular jump (and what a jump!).

The ceremony was gorgeous and one of my favorite elements was the quartet singing during the ceremony – which included the groom’s father and sister!

Rebecca is stunning!

Ta-da!

I loved their getaway ‘car’!

We were able to play around on the course for some couple portraits after the ceremony.

Their first dance was perfection!

The mothers gave a wonderful speech greeting everyone to the reception.

The speeches by the bridal party were equally as wonderful but the Best Man brought down the house.

Not only did he make everyone laugh, but he also made everyone cry as well.  That’s a good speech!

During dinner I was able to do some ring shots, these poker chips were in the colors of the wedding so it was fate!

In lieu of a traditional cake, they opted to have a dirt cake instead which was DELICIOUS!

The father daughter dance was beautiful and sweet!

The dancing was absolutely crazy and fantastic!

We finished the night with some outdoor shots incorporating the lighting at the Blair Center!

Tags: big ear entertainment, Blair Center, blue, golf course, Green, Wedding, Westfield Center

Wedding: Sarah & Zack

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•  Hold onto your seats, this is going to be a LONG post!  Grab a Coke and a cupcake because you’re going to be sitting and staring for a while.  Oh and drooling, did I mention drooling?

•  Sarah booked me last summer and we had a great time during their engagement session and it seems like I’ve been counting down the days to this wedding for a lifetime.

•  The wedding colors were orange and green – as a tip of the hat to where the bride and groom met, their alma mater University of Miami.

•  I don’t play favorites but I have to say, Sarah’s dress is probably my favorite dress EVER.  I’m a sucker for flowers and details… and Sarah looked STUNNING in this dress.  STUNNING.

•  Fun fact: Sarah bought her dress from Wedding Atelier in her current city (NYC) and her assistant there was none other than Project Runway’s Carol Hannah!

•  Sarah originally had a really awesome idea for her photo location for their first look but it ended up not being available and after much deliberation we ended up with the vineyard.  On the way there, we had to drive through the coolest iron bridge and the entire bridal party was begging to go back!  I LOVE old bridges so I was stoked that the bridal party was actually MORE excited than I was to go there!

•  While I may bop my head a bit or do a bit of a booty shimmy, I don’t dance at weddings.  However Sarah’s Dad didn’t dig that idea at all and this was the first time I ever have danced at a wedding (with the Father of the Bride at that), even if it was for a brief moment!

•  Their wedding party was so fun – they even created a hashtag for twitter to keep track of each other through the events.  It was #BIGFUN to see what they were doing and their twitpics.

•  Both Sarah and Zack had a person of a different gender on each side, Sarah had a Man of Honor and Zack had a Best Woman (his sister).  I love that people are starting to mix genders when it comes to sides!!!

Vendors:

Catering:  Sammy’s
Cake Artist:  Wendy Kromer
Ceremony/Reception:  Manakiki Ballroom and Courtyard
DJ:  Big Ear Entertainment
Florist:  Prestige Floral
Stationery:  Bride
Wedding Planner:  Heidzillas

You should know by now that I love colored shoes, and Sarah’s shoes were just so perfect!  LOVED the hot orange!

Hubs was upstairs with the guys while I was with the girls.

Sarah sent me a spectacular list of shots she’d loved seeing online and this was one of the shots she really wanted.  Luckily, no champagne was spilled on the photographer

Sarah, you are gorgeous.

They did a first look, which I always always love.  I understand why NOT to do one… but I so so love when my couples choose to do one.  This setting was so beyond perfect.

Oh and see Sarah tromping through the weeds like a trooper in her dress and heels?  She won my heart for this.  That’s my kind of girl!

*happy sigh*

Yet another image that Sarah loved, inspired by my friend Anne Ruthmann!  This was NOT easy to recreate on a super sunny day!

Group hug!!!  I adored the style of this bridal party.

On the way to the first look location we had to drive through this bridge.  EVERYONE loved it and we took some time to go back to it on the way to the ceremony/reception site.  I’m SO glad we did, how cool is this bridge – AND the fact that the green matches the color of the bridesmaids gowns?

My favorite!

The guys waiting to make their entrance to the ceremony.

Zack seeing Sarah getting ready to walk down the aisle.

Sarah getting floofed by Heidi at the top of the stairs.  This is a GOOD picture of being in the image but not distracting, Heidi’s arms match up with Sarah’s and you can’t even tell that there’s someone behind her!

The reader during the ceremony, he did an amazing job!

A full view of the ceremony, this location is gorgeous!!!

Their ceremony pics are some of my favorite ever.  The light was perfect!

Exchanging the rings.

Instead of a unity candle or anything of the like, Sarah and Zack did a wine box ceremony, which was a first for me.  In it there are letters they wrote to each other and a bottle of wine.  They lock it at the ceremony and open it in 5 years to read the letters and drink the wine.  I LOVE this!!!

The kiss… which is one of my favorite kiss pictures ever.  Hot tamales!

The gorgeous cake by Wendy Kromer that matched Sarah’s flower details on her dress… exactly!

The tables and centerpieces were GORGEOUS!

The entrances by the bridal party was over.the.top.  A round off and a high jump by the best man/matron of honor was the icing on the cake!

The toasts were beautiful, funny and heartfelt.

The first dance is always a “awwww” moment for me!

The rings on the centerpieces for the cocktail hour that the brides father made!   SUCH a creative bunch!

Sarah may be the only bride I’ve ever had toss her own bouquet and not a bouquet made for the toss!!  LOVE!

The rest of the night this group rocked the dance floor!

The DJ played “Hang On Sloopy” which got a lot of boos from the crowd as they are almost all University of Miami albums.  They were quite excited when the DJ played “Soldier Boy” which is THEIR song.

Tags: big ear entertainment, bridge, Green, heidzillas, manakiki, ohio, orange, outdoor ceremony, prestige floral, sammy's, Vineyard, Wedding, wendy kromer, willoughby