To start this series off, we’re starting with the gorgeous album from Sarah + Zack’s wedding at Manakiki last May.  Below is the info of the album, the product images and a few teaser spreads from the album as well!

Album Stats

Size: 12×12
Material: Saturday Night Special
Cover Upgrade: 3 image indent
Pages: 30
Page Style: Thin
Paper Type: Luster
Images: Chosen by client
Image Count: 82

I was kind of skeptical of the leather choice but when I got the album in I practically swooned!

Interior shot of the middle page, I love how this paper reflects the true colors of the images.

Closeup shot of the indented cover.

One of my favorite spreads from the album.

Another gorgeous spread from this album of their cocktail hour.

"Corey Ann is a Wedding and Portrait Photographer in Northeast Ohio. Her work has been featured in books and magazines across the country. You can read the original blog post here Product | Sarah + Zack’s Album."

“I really thought that planning a wedding from out of town would be somewhat of a nightmare. I thought it would be challenging to meet with vendors over the phone/internet with limited trips back to Ohio. To be fair there are decisions that maybe going back I would have changed. But hiring Corey was not one of those changes. From our first conversation we completely hit it off. I don’t think all brides realize how important it is not just to love your photographer’s work but to also like them. You will be spending almost as much time with your photographer on your wedding day as your new husband. Ladies, that is a fact so better darn well like the person on the other side of the lens.

Corey is a dream to work with, not only is she an amazing photographer but she’s so quick on her feet. One of my bridesmaids had dress issues while we were getting ready and Corey stepped right up to the plate and helped get it fixed. It’s her personality and charm that make you comfortable working with her and that’s why it’s so easy for her to capture your wedding day with elegance.

I cannot recommend Corey enough, but if my words aren’t enough here are some of my favorite images from our wedding day.”

My bridal party of six represented four different states and not one of them represented the state I currently reside in. For me to spend time with any one of these six on their own is a huge blessing for me but to have them all in the same room is unheard of, especially considering that most met each other for the first time at our wedding. Every time I see this image I think of just how lucky I have to have these women in my life.

Picking a florist was the most difficult decision I made during the wedding planning process. I ended up booking someone three weeks before our wedding without meeting the florist or seeing any of her work. I blindly trusted the recommendation of both Corey and our DOC Heidi. I couldn’t be happier with how the flowers turned out. This is why picking the right vendors for the most important things pays off in the end.

We took the pictures from our first look at a Vineyard and while we were exploring we found the cutest while building that had a similar architecture to our wedding venue. I love the flag hanging in the background, it’s patriotic and fitting as we got married over Memorial Day weekend. I also love how the different bridesmaid dresses look here. I let each girl pick out her own dress so they could stay true to their own style. The guy’s grey suits with orange tie complimented them perfectly, while bringing a little orange and green to our day, Go ‘Canes.

It took me months to find the perfect pair of orange shoes.I finally found them at Bloomingdales by Via Spigia. They provided the perfect pop of color, best seen in this picture. Zack and I had this blown up into a canvas print for our bedroom and it’s one of my favorite images of the day.

Zack’s younger sister loves weddings. We wanted to make our wedding day extra special for her so we looked for ways to incorporate her into the ceremony. One of the things she did was walk down the aisle with her dad. They are both beaming in this photo and I love that the little things we thought of made the day special for her too.

It goes without saying that planning an outdoor wedding in May in Ohio is a big risk. I don’t think we could have asked for a better day. This image is of our cocktail hour and when I see it I think back to just how perfect the weather was that day.

Zack’s best man blended the heartfelt with the funny. In this photographer we are laughing about me dragging Zack to every gay club in South Florida to hang out with me and my friends early in our relationship. Supporting equal rights has always been important to Zack and I and I’m glad he was able to incorporate that into his speech as not everyone in the room feels the same way we do. We hope that one day we’ll be able to support him at his wedding in the same way.

One of the things I remember most vividly about our wedding was everyone dancing. Our family and friends from Ohio to Miami to New York City were able to mingle on the dance floor, some of them were quite friendly and found there way all around the dance floor. The crowd even booed when the DJ tried to play a slow song or two… sorry grandma! #bigfun

I’m so glad that we did a first look. The images we took in the Vineyard are some of my favorite images from the day. We were able to attend our cocktail hour and mingle with our guests instead of taking off for two hours. I can see why some people wouldn’t want to do a first look but I am so happy with our decision.

I love this image of my brothers, our ushers, waiting for guests to arrive. This image captures there personality to tee so much so that I often wonder what they were discussing when this photo was taken.

Almost everything about our wedding was perfect and it’ would be silly for me not to say that Corey and Heidi were not a huge part of that. Even though they were both hired only for the day of the wedding they were so helpful leading up to the wedding. I used to always think it was true you get what you pay for… but with Corey it’s not you get so much more..

"Corey Ann is a Wedding and Portrait Photographer in Northeast Ohio. Her work has been featured in books and magazines across the country. You can read the original blog post here Brides Talk | Sarah."

•  All summer I had been pretty lucky with rain.  Either it was barely sprinkling or we were able to work around the rain we got.  Crystal and Brant weren’t so lucky and it poured for most of the day, moving their outdoor ceremony inside.  They almost had to move the reception in from the tent but Crystal fought for that to stick and it ended up working out perfectly.

•  I loved how their bridal party incorporated so many family members – a trend this year that I absolutely LOVE.  Brant’s son was his best man and his Dad was also part of the groomsman.  Crystal’s sister was her Maid of Honor.  It makes a special day that much more special.

•  I am in LOVE with the details from this day.  The colors were the perfect bright spot of an otherwise gloomy day.  They were so fun and cheerful!  Seriously LOVED!

•  Crystal was a dream bride to work with, she never got stressed or fussed about anything despite the rain.  She also was game for going outside to do some pictures even though it was raining.

Wedding Vendors

Cake: Wild Flour Bakery
Ceremony/Reception Venue & Catering:  Sammy’s at Manakiki Ballroom
Ceremony Music: Pete Cavano
DJ:  DJ Mark Guthrie with Jerry Bruno
Florist:  Hosanna Designs

Sometimes in hotel rooms I have to get tricky to get a shot of the gown.  The lighting in hotel rooms is notoriously awful and with the rain we didn’t have a lot of sunlight streaming in.  I made it work though as I LOVED the mirror in the room.

I love when bridesmaids jump in and help the bride!  Here is one putting earrings in and another helping with the bracelet while Crystal just focuses on being gorgeous.

The ceremony was moved inside but it was still a gorgeous location to get married.

While Crystal and Brant greeted guests, I zoomed downstairs to get pictures of the ballroom before things got fussed with by guests.  I LOVED the cake!!!  It matched their invitations perfectly and was just so fun and pretty.  I didn’t get a chance to nab a slice but I heard rumors that it was divine!

One of the most creative escort cards I have ever seen, pinwheels!

How adorable are these centerpieces??

You would never guess that it was raining outside of this tent!  Again, I love the pops of color!

While the guests found their way to their seats downstairs, I nabbed the newlyweds for some quick portraits outside.

Easily my favorite, probably because I was a bit obsessed with Crystal’s earrings!

They are so cute together!

Cutting the yummy cake!

Crystal’s sister/Maid of Honor gives an impromptu speech that was absolutely perfect.

I adored how Brant’s ring had etched detailing on it and you all know how much I love peonies!  Win!

First dance

This is by far my favorite father/daughter dance shot of the year.  I immediately put it up on my slideshow on my website.  It may not be there now – I’m getting a new one – but it’ll be back!  LOVE!  Sniff!  :)

Thanks to you both for hiring me.  I had a lovely day playing with you two and I hope that you enjoyed your day!

•  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.