Here’s my favorite shot of the couple…

I asked them to sit on the bench and just be themselves while I played paparazzi. When I returned, they said they were trying to figure out where I had gone to. This is where I went…

It just so happened that a kite festival was taking place in the park… how cool is that?

We made a little jaunt over to Atlantic Station and snapped a few few cool images at the new monument they built.

By the end of the session Leroy was all loosened up, playing casanova and hamming it up. I had to include this one!

Erika and Leroy, I can’t wait for your wedding in just a few short months!

I first met Valerie when she was a bridesmaid in her sisters wedding a couple years ago and have looked forward to shooting her wedding ever since. They’ll be getting married soon at the Ritz Carlton, Downtown Atlanta so it provided a great opportunity to grab some interesting portraits of the two of them. I’m saving some of my favorite locations at the Ritz for their wedding images. I can’t wait to see what we come up with at the wedding!

So here we go…

And just fyi, there was no “posing” in the image below…

Rewind… when Sarah contacted me about their wedding next year she told me something that’s always nice to hear: she had come across my site years ago, and had saved it because she knew she’d eventually need it. I’m glad she did because it has been an absolute pleasure getting to know them and their family the little bit that I have so far. They invited me up to their beautiful family home on Lake Burton for their engagement session a few weeks ago. What a beautiful area!

I don’t think I’m going to say much more and just let the images speak for themselves…

One of my favorites aspects of my work as a photographer is that I get to capture people in ways that they’ve never seen themselves or even imagined themselves. These two are for Christopher…

I can’t wait to see the two of you again!

This is the chapel where the wedding will take place. Much of the grounds are just as beautiful so you can imagine that my brain was racing thinking of all the shots we could get on her wedding day. Just amazing!

As it turns out, it was scorching hot and we were all dealing with the heat as best as we could… lots of water and breaks in the shade… they did fantastic!

I loved the light on this one.

In case you’re wondering why they look so relaxed in the image above…

The family has a cabin just around the corner from the school, so we went back there to relax and get a few photos.

Then a quick visit to the lake near the cabin before I headed back home.

Abigail and Peter, I really can’t wait for April to roll around and see what the day has in store for you. And thank you for being such gracious hosts!

The other is the cover of a book. My first actually. I just got a few of them in the mail and I told Vicky when I saw her the other day that I’d send her a copy. She’ll get a kick out of it and I’m sure her friends will harass her about it.

And I can’t even read it… It’s a german translation of a book by Christopher West, “The Love That Satisfies.” They contacted me last year after seeing Vicky and Jason’s engagement images on my blog. I mean, they are both stunning, passionate, and madly in love so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that someone would want to use them on the cover of a book about… uhm… “marital love”.

, destination Germany

Every step of the way since then. Jenny and Dave have been perhaps the nicest couple I’ve ever met, and THAT’S saying a LOT! I was emailing Lysa after the wedding and here’s what she said: Ben, you are DA MAN! I can’t believe what great shots you get. Thank y… oh wait, wrong part… here it is:

That had to be the nicest couple we’ve ever played for. So incredibly thoughtful from the start to finish.

And that pretty much sums it up.

Here’s a few from their engagement session the week before the wedding.

My associate, Huy Cat, was on hand to second shoot and Brian, who’s always THE MAN, was assisting.

Speaking of …, I’m going to do something I’ve never done before. All these photos have something in common. I’ll tell you what that is after you see the images.

Here’s the secret: every single one of those photos was shot by Huy or Brian. After every wedding we get the same two compliments: someone will say “man, you guys were everywhere… working hard”, then somebody else will say, “I can’t believe you get those photos, I hardly saw you the entire night.” My personal opinion is that it’s nearly impossible to do a wedding justice with just one photographer. Sure you can do it, and sure you’ll get “most” of the same images, but you end up sacrificing moments. The moments between the “important” parts. Sometimes it’s those moments that a bride cherishes forever.

That’s why with every wedding collection you book, you’ll get 2 full-time photographers covering your wedding, and during the important parts, probably 3, since my assistants can shoot too. In the end, I shoot 60-70% of the images but I process every single one myself — I don’t farm it out to some worker in a third-world country or a kid on the west coast.

Okay… sorry for the tangent. — back to Jenny and Dave.

Check out the slideshow… and don’t forget to watch it full-screen with the icon in the bottom right corner.

Enjoy!

Ben Vigil — Skotti & Tony (part 3) is up next…

What was different about her request was that he was getting ready to deploy to Iraq for a year and they wanted a few photos before he left. I was more than happy to oblige and I’m honored that I had the opportunity to do this for one of the men that give so much to serve our country.

They have not set a wedding date and won’t until he returns, so say a prayer for him and all our military that they return safely to the ones that love them.

Ben Vigil, honored

When Amanda asked if they could being her I thought it was an awesome idea.

I wanted this one image because I’ve never had a pair of sunglasses that I REALLY like, so I’m always a little bit envious of people with killer shades.

It’s the guy that usually needs a little convincing by his bride-to-be prior to the shoot. And it’s also the guy that realizes “wow, this isn’t such a bad deal after all. We can shoot THESE kinds of pictures any time you want, Ben.”

I just LOVE the look on her face! She’s like: “are they done yet?”

Ben Vigil, stay tuned for… Monica & Rich

It turned out to be a really hot day but they were so very low stress and easy to work with especially in the “down” moments when I’m [supposedly] not snapping away, like this one.

This one is so cute to me.

They had a blast poking around in the water and it actually took quite a while for them to get up to the waterfall and back without killing themselves.

Love the light on these!

Ben Vigil, can’t wait until December.