Jamie and Debbie

 

- Jamie and Debbie -

 

This weekend's wedding was located at the beautiful Unicorn Castle, a ways down Deacon Road in Iowa (if you're ever heading there, don't drive too quickly down US-34W, you'll miss it). This was my first time at the castle and it quite literally was 'a castle', complete with shields, knights, elaborate chandaliers - the whole sha-bang. Fortunately for me, my wonderful second-shooter Machaela had been there before (find her on Facebook - Machaela Morrissey). While she took care of most of the set shots for the family and what not, I was allowed to roam the castle and look for picture-esque locations.  

 

 

- My first assignment was shooting the dress. I was having a little difficult hanging the dress and getting a decent shot from the balcony of the castle, so I decided to drape it across a chair and use the window to light it -

 

- The rings were a unique one. Originally I had planned on doing the typical 'bride's bouquet shot', but as I wandered towards the ponds, I spotted this beautiful, vibrant water-lily. After about five minutes of meticulously fishing it out of the water (and away from the disapproving looks of a couple frogs), I was able to get my shot. Notice the size of those rocks! Nice job, Jamie! -

- As with many guys, Jamie was not a huge fan of taking hundreds of pictures, especially when this area of the castle was a humid 95-degrees. However, as we both agreed, it's not that guys don't like taking pictures, we just don't like pictures that don't make us look cool or manly. Fortunately, this 'King-of-the-Castle/Godfather-esque' look worked well to please the both of us.

 

- Unlike many other weddings I've been used to with the 'first look' of the bride and groom, Jamie and Debbie decided to not see each other at all prior to the ceremony. When the shuttles that brought the guests to the ceremony ran a little late, Jamie and I had a lot of time to ourselves.

 Here's Jamie practicing his 'special' face haha -

 

 

- Dude picture -

 

- Here's one of Debbie's formals. Her red lipstick really popped and complemented her red roses. Husker wedding! Go Big Red! -

 

- Debbie really did have an infectious giggle that made for fun times -

 

- Along with being at a beautiful location, we were absolutely blessed with fantastic weather. Notice how the back of Debbie's veil got some nice back-lighting from the sun -

 

- The first kiss as a married couple -

- Ready? Here we go! -

 

 - A backdrop of the stairs leading to the castle -

- First dance, notice all the bubbles in the background! -

- I thought the little girl looking on was a cute picture (ignore the bubble in Jamie's face haha) -

- Can you guess what dance this was? -

- Jamie having a good time -

- I've always wondered how this tradition got started... haha, regardless, it provides for good times -

- Eye of the tiger, here's Jamie getting ready to mark the lucky man -

 

- The happy couple, Jamie and Debbie Harwell -

Paul and Heather Married!

Paul and Heather

 



This weekend's festivities were to celebrate the union of Paul and Heather Merz. After meeting with them, they seemed like a fantastic couple, but little did I know how compatible they were. During the ceremony, the pastor began to tell the story of how they first met. At first glance, I thought perhaps they were high school sweet hearts or maybe met from mutual friends at a local coffee shop, but to my surprise, he revealed that they had actually met playing Final Fantasy! This couple automatically won my nomination for most interesting couple of the century! Best of all, their wedding was peacock themed. Peacocks? Yup! Everything from their wedding colors to Heather's earrings went along with the theme. They even made sure that I took home some peacock feathers!

 

- My idea of 'hiding the air conditioner' haha -

 

- The handsome Mr. Paul Merz and the beautiful Mrs. Heather Merz -

- Bridal party -

 

 

- When I had first talked to Paul, he really liked the idea of the 'Godfather-esque' shot that I had done a couple weeks back. This was their rendition -

 

- Nonethless, they had to mix it up. Here's their best 'rocker' faces -

 

- Best man -

 

 

- Heather and her girls -

 

- Heather and the girls, part 2 -

 

- Heather and the maid of honor having a little fun -

 

 

- I had this idea of a Dragon Ball Z themed shot. Granted, it turned out looking more like something from Harry Potter, Paul still loved it -



 



- He even wanted to replicate it with all of his grooms-buddies (like the word? yup, you heard it here first!) For this one, we thought of Indiana Jones, Raiders of the Lost Ark; face melting -

 

 

- On to the ceremony, we were really blessed with a beautiful backlight. Although a bit challenging to shoot with, with the right angle and a touch of luck, you can get some shots to come out beautifully -

 

 

- The ceremony -

 

- I really love sand ceremonies. Not only do they metaphorically represent something special, but I've always just enjoyed looking at colored sand... haha -

 

 

- Ring exchange -

 

- The new married couple, Paul and Heather -

- Family clowns - I just had to include this one in. When we were doing the family photos, we had a little goofing off between the siblings - Classic stuff, lol -

 

- Grand entrance of the newlyweds! -

 





 





- The first dance; I love capturing the tender moments between the bride and groom during these dances -

 

- As usual, it wouldn't all be complete with my favorite ring shot, this one really embodying the peacock theme that went throughout the wedding -

 

 

 

Jeff and Ashley

 

 

- Jeff and Ashley -

 

Congratulations to the new Mr. and Mrs. Jeff Fryberger! This exciting wedding was never boring from the very second I got there. Scroll down for the complete wedding!

 

- My idea of getting a little creative with the dress shot. The hallway provided me with a great perspective to really make the dress 'pop' -

- I always love to see the details on a dress. With weddings being such a frenzy, most people don't ever get a chance to admire who delicate and intricate these details are -

- The rings (part 1) -

- First look, I'm really enjoying this private moment before everything starts going -

 



- "Think 'the Godfather'", they liked that idea much more than smiling, haha -

 



- The girls on the other hand had no problems looking beautiful as always! -

- The whole gang -

 



- Flower girls - 

- All smiles walking down the aisle -

- The balcony view of the church -

- I'm loving the black and white on this one, it really gives it that classic look -

 - Church formal -

 - An awesome cake (which one I'm talking about is up to interpretation) -

 - The closest thing to a wedding food-fight. 'Surprise!' Mad props to Jeff for this one, haha -

- Dancing the night away -

- The only song they wanted to hear all night was 'Part Rock Anthem', LMFAO, haha -

- 'Have you ever serenaded anyone before?' Jeff's rendition of 'You lost that lovin' feeling'. I think he did it much better than Tom Cruise -

- You'd think 'Jump on it' was playing -

- Garter and bouquet toss winners -

- One of my favorite shots of the evening -

- Ring shot (part 2); Stained-glass backdrop -

 



Jeff and Ashley