I was honored to watch these two join their lives together and to spend the evening with their loving families. I know they’ve got years of good love ahead of them–as Kira sang in their wedding, “their love is here to stay.” Enjoy the sneak peek and slideshow, you two–more to come soon!

And a big gigantic thanks to my good friend Jamie Lawler for flying out from San Diego to Wisco to be my second shooter at this wedding, and for letting me be a part of many of her “Midwestern Firsts”: first cheese curd, first fish fry, first firefly, first taste of custard….the list goes on.

To purchase a DVD or iPod copy of Melissa and Bora’s slideshow, go to www.weddingsbyvantage.com/melissa-and-bora and click on the CD icon at the bottom right of the screen. See more Vantage Photography work at our website.

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As Sara told me ahead of time, this wasn’t like a typical wedding: it was a Love Rally. Friends and family came from all over the country (many from Sara and Rob’s now-home of North Carolina) a couple days before the wedding to kick back and relax at Camp Furgustahls: they were treated to opportunities to play tons of games, take a dip in the Mississippi River (until they got caught by the Ranger, that is), go hiking on the nearby trails through the forest and even participate in a Camp Furgustahls Talent Show. And on the day of the big event, Sara and Rob didn’t spend their morning primping and prepping–they spent it with their guests playing in a basketball tournament at a local gymnasium. As you can probably already figure out, there isn’t an ounce of pretentiousness to Sara or Rob: they live for the moment, focusing their energies on enjoying their time with family and friends. Freaking awesome. I spent a good portion of my time behind the camera…but I also got to play and laugh (and play some kick-arse games of Koob!!). Thank you, Rob and Sara, for including me in your Love Rally–it was such a pleasure. Enjoy your sneak peek and slideshow!

Rob’s parents were celebrating their 45th wedding anniversary the same day that Rob and Sara were married. Hence, the “4″ and the “5″.

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A huge thank you to Jamie Lawler for shooting with me that day and for being, per usual, awesome.

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The wedding was gorgeous, thanks to the wonderful ladies of Luxe Events. You might remember Jenny and Cara from the portrait session I did with them last summer….these two women are FABulous people and extremely talented. Those of you who follow this blog know that I don’t usually post a lot of detail shots from my weddings, but I couldn’t resist on this one…Jenny and Cara did such an awesome job.

A gigantic, bigger than the universe, bajillion times over THANK YOU to my awesome second shooter, Dexter Lo, for hanging out with me for the day. Dexter, you rock.

Pernille and John, enjoy your sneak peek and slideshow–there’s more to come!

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But ultimately, our wedding wasn’t amazing because of our cake (and our cake really was very good): our wedding was amazing because we were surrounded by the people we loved most in our lives as Michael and I publicly committed our lives to each other. As a growing family, we laughed together and we cried together. We celebrated together.

In the midst of our celebrating, our photographer, Marc Williams, took a photo that I will forever cherish. It wasn’t a picture of my shoes or the flowers and it wasn’t even a picture of me and Michael: it was a picture of my parents. This photo, to me, sums up the the things I love most about them: my dad, microphone in hand with the smile on his face that he gets after he’s made a joke (probably a pun), his face filled with intense love and pride for his daughter and new son-in-law; my mom, laughing that loud, throw-her-head-back laugh of hers that I’ve heard all my life, looking to her friends and family to include them in the joke, and simply enjoying the moment. Marc gave me this moment to hold in my hands forever. He gave me an amazing gift.

This image is why I shoot weddings.

I want to capture these moments for my couples. I want to give them photographs of one of the happiest days of their lives, photos they will cherish for the rest of their lives. I want them to look at the photos I took and be flooded with the emotions they felt that day, even if they’re looking at their photos fifty years after the fact.

I always say that if I can make someone cry tears of joy when they look at their photos, I’ve done my job. Marc did his. I am forever grateful.

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Get up high

Get down low

Even if you look like a goof…

Happy shooting from Vantage!

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Original post can be found here.

PHOTOGRAPHY
By Cody Ellerd

Photography by Cody Ellerd (right-hand photos) and John & Joseph Photography (left-hand photos)
I consider myself a pretty good amateur photographer. I’ve taken a couple of classes, I have a nice Nikon D60 and, as a professional travel writer, I’ve even had a few of my shots make magazine covers and pages. If you didn’t budget for a professional photographer at your wedding, I’m the friend you might call to take pictures.

So when Seattle Bride sent me to the late-winter wedding of Vicky Wu and Chris Nicoll to shoot alongside Joey Hong of John & Joseph Photography, a local award-winning team of two brothers who have been shooting commercial, fashion and wedding photography for more than eight years, I was curious to see how well I could keep up with a seasoned pro.

From the moment we started shooting in the bride and groom’s hotel room, I was floored. “Vicky, look down at your shoulders…put a gentle smile on your lips. Chris, look straight at my lens—no, smile. Relax your forehead.” Joey’s attention to such minute detail went way beyond “Say cheese” and brought out the couple’s absolute best. He knew how to manipulate the room’s light and reflective surfaces in ways I never would have dreamed of, transforming what I thought was an unremarkable setting into a photo studio with endless possibilities.

Joey commanded family portraits with a gentle control and confidence that only comes from years of experience. He had the right flashes and steadiness of hand for getting great dance photos, while I snapped shot after blurry shot in a mild panic that my precious memory space was quickly dwindling. I was giving it my best, and in a few instances it showed: an inside shot of Vicky simply glowing in the window’s natural light; a close-up kiss in the sunlight where the couple wore the sweetest smiles. But when those spontaneous moments that are here and gone in the blink of an eye happened, Joey caught them with lightning speed, while I lost many of them to improper focus or exposure.

I now disagree more than ever with the digital-age adage that “now everyone is a photographer.” Tens of thousands of dollars in education, equipment and experience separate me from the pros. Professional photographers, like any other artists or business owners, need to spend money to make money. When you hire them, you’re helping them pay for their investments.

“Photography is a very equipment-intensive business, and the equipment is expensive,” says Scott Squire of NonFiction Weddings, a Seattle-based photography team with 10 years of experience. To each wedding, he and his partner bring six or seven top-drawer lenses, a handful of strobes, three camera bodies, one backup and innumerable accessories. (In contrast, if my equipment had failed, my backup would have been my camera phone.)

Staying on top of new technology in the digital age is its own challenge, one that takes a professional commitment and expense. “The rate of change [in digital media] can be stupefying,” laughs longtime Seattle-based wedding photographer Sharlane Chase. She keeps up with the flow of information at annual weeklong workshops and seminars, and it shows in her final product.

On a side note, like all of you reading this magazine, I also happen to be planning my own wedding. My fiancé and I are on a tight budget and had planned to take a gamble and hire an amateur photographer friend. Now? We’re determined to find a way to get a pro.

Vicky and Chris would have been pretty disappointed if I had been their only photographer. If anyone ever does ask me to take pictures at their wedding, I’ll be happy to show up with my Nikon, and I may even take the best disposable-camera shots of the whole night. I just hope someone like Joey is there, too.

“This image is so painfully inferior,” says our rogue photographer Cody Ellerd about her image. “My angle is bland while Joey’s is creative. His is crisp and perfectly exposed, while mine is washed out and grainy. Joey knew exactly how to take advantage of the sense of motion created by this cool backdrop.”

“The couple was getting a little photo fatigued,” Ellerd says, “but Joey turned it into a beautiful and intimate shot. I thought there was enough light, but without using a flash and spoiling the cool light bouncing off the building behind them, I couldn’t get my hand quite steady enough.”

For this “exit shot,” the clarity and color of Joey’s shot versus Ellerd’s is evident.

“Notice the white car in front of Chris and Vicky,” Ellerd says. “Joey magically made it disappear—I’m not even gonna try.”

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