In June 2010, I shot the awesome wedding of Sandy & Jeff. That was where I met Sandy’s lovable sister Julie, and her and I just clicked. I believe she dubbed me an honorary bridesmaid and has been one of my biggest supporters/followers ever since. Her and I were having talks of booking for her upcoming wedding before she even had a wedding date/venue! Then of course the minute she did, I got an email with this headline. “We did it!!! Please do our photography!!!” And no, I’m not exaggerating the number of exclamation points, haha.

My favorite thing about shooting Julie’s wedding, was not only seeing Sandy & Jeff again, still as in-love as ever by the way, but that Julie was such a happy and animated bride! She has a seriously awesome sense of humor, and that really brought something special/unique to her wedding and her photos. Let’s take a look!

As much as I loved Julie’s myriad of expressions, she had a very soft, beautiful side as well. It was a fun challenge for me to bring out the best of both of these outstanding personality traits in photos. Mike seemed like a pretty stand-up guy as well, and my second shooter and I conveniently took some very similar getting ready photos!

Julie and Mike opted for a first look to give them a little extra time for bride-and-groom photos. This definitely worked to our advantage, as we could have never fit everything in during the half-hour gap between ceremony and reception.

Some of you may remember this orange Lincoln towncar from Sandy’s Wedding, and Julie revisited it for her wedding. My challenge was to use this towncar again, but in different ways than I had done the first time. Throughout the entire wedding, I wanted Julie to have the similar photos she loved from Sandy’s wedding, but I really wanted to make them her own. I think this is something I feel we were able to accomplish very well.

The ceremony was literally less than five minutes long, but we still got a couple of winners!

One nice thing about having all of the wedding-day events in the same location, was that right before the ceremony, I was able to get into the reception hall and really take some time photographing the beautiful details. Usually, I arrive at the reception about the same time as the guests do, and I’m struggling to set up reception lighting and take detail shots at the same time, before the official entrances and first dances.

It was a pretty lively reception, and I had a lot fun photographing it!

I particularly love this next photo! Yep, those are my crazy past clients smack in the middle, then you’ve got the bride’s mom, one of the groomsmen, so many key players all living it up in celebration of Julie and Mike!

To Julie and Mike: Thank you so much for having me at your wedding! It was wonderful to see so many familiar faces, and I truly felt like a guest as much as your photographer. Looking at you and Mike, I can really see that your personalities complement each other beautifully, and that’s the makings of a long happy marriage! Here’s sending my best wishes to you and your whole wonderful family! And please convince your brother to hire me when he gets married, so I can see you all again! 😉

Credits
Hair & Makeup: Natural Concepts
Wedding & Reception Venue: Stroudsmoor Country Inn
Second Photographer: Jim Heine