•  I met John and Erika a LONG time ago via a (now defunct) Flickr group called Exposure Cleveland.  I only made it to one outing since my wedding schedule takes up most of my Saturdays but it made me happy when we met back up and they hired me for their big day.  It’s a huge compliment to me that photographers hired me for their wedding.

•  The weather was so, so, so perfect.  Fall in Ohio is anything BUT stable and you never know if it will be 80º and sunny or 30º and snowing.  I’ve had both in October.  Heck, even in the same year!  John and Erika lucked out with an amazingly beautiful day without rain and abundant sunshine.  It was a tinge on the cool side but like true Ohioans, they were elated it wasn’t snowing!

•  Erika may hold the worlds record for the quickest getting ready for a wedding ever when she got to the church, I may have also had a hand in helping a bit with the makeup.  Photographers wear many hats the day of a wedding!

•  I haven’t been to Punderson since I was a little kid, I forgot how beautiful it was there and they couldn’t have picked a better venue for a fall wedding.  So beautiful and the leaves were zinging with color!

•  Finally I have to rave a bit about the bridemaid dresses and their flowers.  SO AWESOME!  They were all different fall-inspired colors and so darn pretty.  To top it off the bouquets were wrapped with ribbon that coordinated with their dresses.  Bonus?  The florist took pictures of the flowers for the wedding the night before and posted them on Facebook to get everyone excited, such a fantastic idea!

Wedding Vendors
Cake: Sweet On You
Ceremony: St Mary in Hudson, Ohio
Florist:  Bouquet Studio
Reception/Catering: Punderson Lodge and Manor

Photo Location
Punderson State Park

I loved that this church was another one that wasn’t crazy restrictive when it comes to where the photographer can be.  I was able to capture the sweet looks between John and Erica through the ceremony.

 

They kept up with the tender moments during the ceremony as well.

 

I love this image of Erika wiping a tear, aww!

 

After the ceremony we headed to Punderson for some portraits before the reception started.  The trees were so beautiful!

 

One of Erika’s must-have portraits was one of them sitting on the chairs behind the manor overlooking the lake.  This is my favorite image from the whole day!

 

I loved the mix of the bridesmaids and groomsman here.  The dresses also pop so much!

 

It never fails that I love the images that get the bride giggling!

 

Did I mention how muddy it was?  The week prior was nothing but rain, rain, rain and the whole area was a soupy mess.  Erika managed to say mud free though, thank goodness!  However, I think that even if she had got a bit muddy, images like this are worth it, such a gorgeous backdrop for a reception!

 

Such a classic autumn portrait!  I don’t think we have many days like this (especially weekend days!) around here left.

 

I loved John’s shoes!

 

John’s three brothers were his groomsman.  I asked them to make him laugh… I learned to never do that with a group of brothers again when they punched John in the stomach.  LOL!

 

When I turned around from a shot, I saw the girls liked up like this without Erika.  I had to toss the bride in too and it became another favorite from the day.  Again, raves for the multi colored dresses and the awesome bouquets!

 

Every now and then I take a shot for me at a wedding.  This was my shot “for me” this day, isn’t the scene beautiful?

 

John played nice but it was a close call!

 

Erika’s Mom gave a lovely and heartfelt toast during the reception.

 

Since I knew they were photographers, I knew they wouldn’t freak out if I dropped their rings in the champagne – something I’ve been wanting to do for a long time!

 

The first dance was so sweet!

 

John spun Erika around the dance floor after their first dance, making her a bit dizzy but laugh really hard.  So fun!

 

One of the funnier bouquet tosses that I have seen, it bounced off about 3 different people before falling to the floor where one of the bridesmaids lifted her arms back and wasn’t touching it!  I also loved that Erika brought ALL women out on the dance floor so she didn’t single out any single ladies – who DOESN’T want pretty flowers?!?

 

Thank you John & Erika for hiring me for your special day, it was such a great day!