I first met Angel & Jason (a.k.a. The Fretz) at Hilary & Brian’s wedding in Athens, GA last year. With Angel, it goes back quite a bit farther. As it turns out, her mother and I worked at the same company back when she was in her early teens (maybe younger) and we probably met at least once back then… but fast forward all these years and you realize how small the world is sometimes.
They wanted to do their engagement session where they first met. So off we went to the dive bar of dive bars, the 5 Paces Bar which is a block from the St Regis right in the heart of Buckhead. They let us have the run of the entire bar since they weren’t open just yet. We had this idea to pull off their take on the Dos Equis Most Interesting Man in the World and this is what we came up with. As you know, the Most Interesting Groom in the World can’t have just one Angel, he has to have two. I posted this sneak peak photo a few weeks ago (I’ll probably make another blog post about exactly how we did this shot):
If there’s one thing I try to do, it’s capture images that look natural and compelling as if you just stumbled into a moment. To do that, as a photographer, you have to work with or against the lighting available to you, and in some cases create the scene entirely on your own. This was all three! Now shooting in a dark bar has it’s own set of challenges, but when you have afternoon sun streaming in both entrances it’s even harder to make it look like a dimly lit bar.
This is the spot, right in between the back door and the bathrooms where they met for the first time…
I’ve gotten to know Eliana Baucicault with ellyB Events through our work in the Atlanta wedding industry so I was happy when she introduced me to Erika and Leroy. Eliana and I have worked together on a few occasions but this was our first wedding together and she did a fabulous job keeping everything running smoothly. But I’m getting ahead of myself…
You may remember Erika and Leroy from their engagement session earlier this year. One of the most important aspects of their wedding and photos for Leroy was that he wanted to make sure that Atlanta was represented. With that in mind, they chose the Ventana’s rooftop venue for their reception location. I’ve shot at Ventanas a number of times but this was my first wedding there so I was uber excited.
And this is why… does the view get much better than this?
My good friend and amazing photographer, Shawna Herring, was on hand to 2nd shoot with me. It’s been a long time coming so I was absolutely delighted to have her along.
Enjoy a few more photos…
As usual, there’s a whole host of vendors that are working together to make a beautiful wedding like this take place.
Every once in a while you come across one of those couples that really make an impression on you… and this was one of those couples. I’ve known Ballie’s mother from previous times I’ve shot at St Peter Chanel and I was truly excited when she inquired last year about me shooting her daughters wedding. But once you meet their parents and family it becomes obvious where they get it from.
Baillie is the very picture of class…
My associate Huy Cat was on hand to 2nd shoot with me. In fact, he shot the image above. Here are a few more images from Baillie & Nick’s beautiful wedding day.
I first met Erika through Eliana at ellyB Events earlier this year and they were one of many couples looking to get married on October 10 of this year… or better known as 10/10/10. When we were brainstorming ideas for their engagement session it was important to Leroy that we did it in an area known as an Atlanta landmark. So what better place than Centennial Olympic Park, Atlanta’s standing tribute to the 1996 Olympic Games hosted here in Atlanta!
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 knew from the day that I met Jennifer and Jeff that I wanted to shoot their wedding. Pretty much the entire wedding day confirmed what I thought when I met them… Jennifer was all about having a fabulous time on her wedding day and Jeff was going to make sure that happened. From the kids to the family to the guests, everyone had a great time!
This was the first time that I had covered a wedding at the Biltmore Ballrooms since their electrical fire the day before the last wedding I shot there. This was also my first time working a wedding with Ashley from Ashley Baber Weddings. We had worked other events together where Bold American had asked me to shoot decor imagery, but never a wedding together. As I suspected she would, she did a stellar job and made everything flow smoothly. [As an aside, I'm going to do a blog post soon about why you absolutely need to hire a wedding planner if you are a bride getting married.]
Check out these shoes that Bryan Scott shot. Do they have attitude or what?
Okay, I have to admit that this isn’t the most artistic picture in the world, but wanted to include it because I was so impressed with the job that Celso’s did. This cake was immaculate!
Isn’t Jennifer STUNNING!
Here’s the exit shot that I’ve talked about before and that I’ve grown to really love and appreciate…
