•  It feels like I’ve been looking forward to this wedding for-ever!  It really wasn’t that long but I adored these guys so much that the time between our first meeting, their engagement session and their wedding was MUCH TOO LONG!  🙂

•  The weather ironically followed suit with their engagement session, rain rain and more rain but as soon as we arrive for pictures, no rain (!) then rain threatened shortly after leaving.  They are definitely blessed by the rain gods.

•  Carrie and Matt, you two seriously are just too wonderful to work with.  Even the silly stuff you both just rolled with.  Thank you for being you… and being awesome all day.

•  Confession time.   I may have caused a bit of a ruckus about 3 minutes before Carrie walked down the aisle with the Reverend.  It was worth it but it GUTTED me to do it.  Here’s the thing, I respect any and all wishes of the house of worship and its leader when I am working, within reason.  When they are speaking, it is their place to say what I can and cannot do.  There has been weddings where I couldn’t photograph anything from the moment the priest spoke until the end when they kissed and I haven’t said a word.  However for Carrie’s wedding, I was told not too many pictures (ok with that), not to be obtrusive (I’m fine with that) and to stay at the back of the church… which I needed clarification on.  Even in the strictest churches I’m generally allowed to photograph from the front of the aisle and then move to the back of the sanctuary once the bride is down the aisle where I am happy to play until the ceremony is over.  However, originally her priest said no, I had to be at the VERY back of the church for the whole ceremony.  Which meant no aisle shots at all and that to me was worth telling the bride about because, to me, that’s one of THE most important shots.  Not the BACK of you walking down the aisle but you and your fathers faces.  So I told Carrie and she was upset which then made the Reverend change his mind ASAP.  HE WAS SO MAD but you know what, I’d do it again in a heartbeat.  Turns out that a few photographers in the weeks before their wedding had practically danced on his head and he was worried if he gave me an inch that I would do the same.  Once Carrie was most of the way down the aisle I skedaddled to the back and stayed mostly hidden for the remaining of the ceremony.  Sometimes… you have to stand your ground and get what your clients paid for.  As I always tell my clients, let me be the bad guy.  That day, I was.  However… totally worth it.

•  Finally, THE COOKIE TABLE!  Dear me, this has been my FAVORITE thing this year and I knew that going to Youngstown I would be treated with a heckuva cookie table and this one was one for the record books!  I love to see that this tradition (generally a Pittsburgh-area thing) is spreading west because I think it’s such a great idea and the PERFECT favor!  I was lucky enough to score a box to take home and it was yummmmmy!

Wedding Vendors

Bridal Gown:  Augusta Jones via Jacqueline’s Bridal
Cake Artist: Clarencedale Cake
Ceremony:  First Presbyterian Church of Youngstown
DJ: Music Man DJ Services
Florist:  Flowers ‘n All
Reception:  Mr. Anthony’s
Stationery:  Holly Schafer Design
Transportation:  Fab Limousines
Videographer:  P&C Productions
Wedding Planning:  Heidzillas 

Carrie’s parents dressed up their dog, aka Carrie’s “sister” as a bride on her wedding day.

I’m still laughing.  This was hilarious!!!  She wasn’t a fan of the veil but loved her dress!

One thing I always love about working a wedding with Heidzillas is that my brides and maids ALWAYS eat lunch the day of.  I know it doesn’t seem like a big deal but trust me, it is a HUGE deal because by the time you’re done with the ceremony you’re starving and generally starting to drink.  Drinking on an empty stomach… not so great of idea.  Starting pictures after that – especially with a wild bridal party… NEVER a good idea.  Trust me.  😉

I adored all of the stationery and paper goodies at Carrie’s wedding, so elegant yet unique!  Holly Shafer did an amazing job!

After lunch the ladies were whisked off to the church to get ready – which is a great idea so you don’t have to worry about wrinkling dresses.  Here is Carrie’s Maid of Honor helping her get dressed.

Love, love, love this image of Carrie!

Now remember that fight I had to get to the front of the aisle for pictures of the processional?  While Carrie and her Dad’s pics were awesome, this is the picture that was worth fighting for.  LOVE the way Matt is looking at Carrie when he sees her for the first time.  🙂

Back in my place for the remainder of the ceremony and I was *very* frugal with the images captured because I was worried if he heard my camera he would shut me down (which he threatened to do).  Luckily I was good and didn’t get in trouble (whew) and was able to capture moments like this.

First kiss!

Bubbles may be an old standby but they are still my favorite way to exit a ceremony.  Especially when the wind is perfect like it was this day!

The entire bridal party at the VERY popular Fellows Riverside Gardens at Mill Creek Metroparks in Youngstown.  I loved the ladies grey dresses with the pink pops in the flowers!

LOVE!

So… the Fellows Riverside Gardens are *very* popular in Youngstown for weddings since they are one of the few places to go and they are free.  There was a wedding taking place and at least 5 other bridal parties running around.  Thankfully the area is large and most of the time we were all able to work around each other and stay out of each others way.  There’s always one idiot (perhaps the one that danced on the altar at First Presbyterian?) that just walks through your shot and doesn’t care.  Here I’m being photobombed but when I looked down at the screen, I started laughing.  The groomsman unknowingly made this image even more hilarious – so much so that I kept the photobomb and it became a favorite.

When I told them why I was laughing – people walked through their shot – they turned around and started (silently) giving them hell.  Another favorite with these guys!

They then turned their fun on the groom which got another favorite in my book.  These guys were too much fun!

The ladies meanwhile were being good and beautiful waiting where there wasn’t mud!

Often, it’s those in-between moments that are my favorite and here’s one I snapped while they were getting into position still.  Love!

The gardens are so pretty!  We kept laughing though about how different they looked than when it was all decked out in semi-horrific pumpkins from their engagement session.  Yep, they did their wedding AND engagement session in the sane spot but I wouldn’t have it any other way as both days were perfect but we got totally different looks from!

I love the way they laugh together!

Classic portraits with a twist… love!

I seriously can’t stress enough that this is why you want to put ample time in for pictures!  Here we are, meandering around and getting great images for them.  They weren’t under much of a time constraint.  Despite having to do a lot of zig and zag’ing due to the other weddings going on and photoshoots we still were relaxed and able to get what we needed.  We even finished up early so the bridal party had a long and fun ride back to the reception that took a bit longer so they were able to have a bit more fun.  WIN!

THE LIGHT!  Seriously the light was amazing.  I actually had started out with them taking it from the other angle but I didn’t like the look as much and switched and BOOM!  Love this portrait so much, favorite!!!

Once back to the reception, the Maid of Honor ended her toast with gifts, his and her sweatpants for cuddling up together with on Friday nights.  Awww!

Loved their champagne glasses… and this toast.

I always tear up when there are Father of the Bride toasts and this one was a tear jerker, so so sweet.  I adored Carrie’s parents!

Their first dance was so sweet, loved every minute of it.  Yes, I’ve said love a LOT in this post!

The rings!

If you want to see even more from this lovely wedding, make sure to check out their Facebook Album and like my page along the way to keep up to date on the latest shoots!

Thank you SO MUCH to Carrie and Matt!  Please get married to each other every year like Mariah and Nick so I can have that much fun again, OK?