There was no shortage of fun-filled activities for Jessica and Marc’s guests to enjoy.  The reception was complete with carousel rides for all of their guests, cotton candy made on-site, a gelato cart, late-night pizza from Silver Beach Pizza and a photobooth.  The highlight of the evening, however, was a surprise special guest arranged by the bride.  Marc is a graduate of Michigan State and all of his family members were HUGE State fans.  The Michigan State mascot, Sparty himself, made a grand entrance mid-reception and spent several hours dancing with guests, squeezing into the photo booth and taking rides on the Michigan State carousel horse.  It was an evening not to be forgotten by all who attended.

Reception Venue : Shadowland Ballroom

Event Coordination : Stella Event Design

Floral Design : Crystal Springs

DJ : Blake Eckelbarger, The Music Place

Lighting Design : Mod Events

Photobooth : Mod PhotoBooth

The ceremony was followed by a trip with the wedding party down to Tiscornia Park, one of St. Joe’s most popular wedding photo destinations.  It was a mostly overcast day which made for better mid-day lighting conditions at the beach.  We concluded our portraits with the newlyweds with a trip to Notre Dame to capture a few of the photo hot spots on campus before heading to a lovely reception at The Blue Heron at Blackthorn .

The reception was adorned with beautiful flowers and details by Beikmann Associates Floral.  Sheri Beikmann and her team put together some incredible floral designs which are always a pleasure to photograph.

St. Joe is just a short drive up the 31 Bypass from South Bend and it was a great day to take in the best that two different communities have to offer.  Congratulations to Amanda and Garrett!

Last Monday night I had the opportunity to attend the Twin Cities Camera Club’s January meeting in downtown Saint Joseph to judge the members’ photo submissions this month.  The Camera Club was established in 1933 and has almost 90 members ranging in experience and photography interests from throughout Southwest Michigan.  Judging one of the Camera Club meetings is always a fun experience in the winter when things slow down a little.  Last week’s photography topic was “creative”.  Members entered a variety of images from portraits to landscapes and architecture.  The above image was created by club member, Jim Lynch, and was among many beautiful photos presented at the meeting.

We had our first beach wedding of the season this past Saturday.  Cindy and Chris were such fun to work with.  This was the first beach ceremony I’ve photographed right in my own back yard at Hagar Park in the Lake Michigan Beach area at the very northern edge of Berrien County.  It was unseasonably cold for mid-June, but Cindy and her bridesmaids braved the cool weather for lakeside pictures.  The reception was held at Cravings Catering‘s new reception room at their Cassava Restaurant in downtown St. Joe.   Lighting design provided by Mod Events really tied the couples color scheme together for a beautiful reception.  As always, the flowers by Crystal Springs Florist were lovely.  We’re off to a great wedding season!

So I never, and I do mean never, have my camera in the car with me when something incredible happens with the weather… until today.  I had just picked up my 4-year-old from preschool and was heading to Saugatuck for a shoot via a detour through St. Joe due to some insane construction traffic on I-94 when some unreal fog rolled in off of Lake Michigan.  The same thing actually happened last week when I didn’t have my camera in the car with me, but I guess today way my lucky day.  Luckily, I also had another competent adult in the car with me or the whole leaving my kids in the car by themselves at a public beach so mom could run out on the pier and take some fog pictures might have been problematic.

The fog was patchy along the way but Saugatuck had its own amazing fog as well.  Thanks to Jami for watching the kids in the car and for not being too mad that I jumped out of the car instead of telling her to run out on the pier with the camera.  She did, however, get a nice tree shot on her iPhone.

I forgot how much fun it is to shoot for myself.

What a fun couple.  I had the honor of attending Beth and Cesar’s rehearsal dinner at the Lost Dunes Country Club in Bridgman, Michigan the evening before the wedding.  The highlight of the evening was a roast of sorts where I was able to learn all about how Beth and Cesar met and fun little stories courtesy of their siblings and friends about their lives before they met.

We started out the wedding day by spending several hours at the bride’s parents’ home where she finished getting ready.  In the meantime, the reception tent continued to be set and we were able to see all the details come together before heading to St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in downtown St. Joe for a lovely ceremony.

It was another beautiful event coordinated by Jessica Pennington and Brittany Johnson of Stella Event Design in St. Joseph, Michigan and exquisite florals by Modern Day Floral of Grand Rapids.

Check back soon for part 2 including incredible views of Lake Michigan and a party not to be forgotten!

The rustic charm of the Blue Dress Barn in Millburg, Michigan was the perfect setting for Amanda and Mike who chose Southwest Michigan for their October 24 nuptials.  Resident photographic artists, Melissa and Jami, did a fantastic job photographing the event.  The couple started the day with a beautiful and unique ceremony at the Veranda in St. Joseph.  I must say, this was the first wedding we’ve ever done where the bride and groom chose the theme song from Peanuts for their recessional.  Surprisingly, I don’t think Mike’s adoration for Snoopy had anything to do with their asking us to document the big day (I, too, am a huge Snoopy fan and named my childhood beagle of 17 years the same).

It was a pleasure working with Mandi Buckland of Element Event Design who helped pull all the details together for the big event.  And hats off to CK Catering for a fantastic family-style meal that our photographers, Melissa and Jami, said was one of the best meals of the entire wedding season.

The bride wore a lovely blue dress which was, of course, quite fitting for an evening of celebration at the Blue Dress Barn.

It was a beautiful day that allowed us to visit two of our favorite St. Joseph area venues in the same day.

We are officially caught up on all of our 2010 weddings, so check back soon as we have a lot of great weddings to share from the past year.

Also coming soon, check back soon for our new baby sessions… information will be available in the coming weeks.