Josh and Jessica | Courthouse Wedding

A few Saturdays ago, I photographed a courthouse wedding. Since I had previously done a wedding at the courthouse, I thought I knew what to expect. However, I soon found out that there is a difference between how marriages are conducted on Saturdays versus the weekdays. Due to the sheer number of people that opt get married on Saturdays, marriage ceremony is pretty brief. A few couples are brought into courtroom at a time to be married. In total the couples spend no more than 10 minutes in the courtroom. Ultimately, much more time is spent waiting around than is spent on the ceremony.

 

Taylor & Brian | Wedding

Being a photographer at times means that you have to be willing to be flexible. Last week truly put me to the test when it comes to flexibility. Last Saturday, I had the pleasure of photographing Taylor and Brian's wedding at the Loft & Chapel at Cedar Ridge in Waukesha, WI. It was a pretty nice day with relatively little in the way of hiccups. Having said that, I'm sure you're a little curious how as to how I got my flexibility tested. 

The real test was the days leading up to the day of this wedding. At one point, I thought I would be able pull off having a booth at Dandelion Wine Fine Arts Festival and photographing this wedding. This idea seemed so very foreign about this time last week. I was questioning whether I was going to participate in Dandelion Wine since there was rain in the forecast and didn't think I'd be photographing the wedding since it had been awhile since I had received a response. Since Saturday's weather forecast was improving, I was considering working late and trying to pull together a booth for the festival. Of course, that plan changed once I finally got confirmation on the wedding Friday evening. 

Azuree & Spencer | Courthouse Wedding

Last week, I photographed my first courthouse wedding. Despite doing a number of weddings in the past, I have yet to do preparations photos. I certainly did not expect that this would be one where I'd get much of an opportunity to do so. I ended up being wrong in this regard. As we arrived at the courtroom and the couple got some help from judge and the officer for the final touches for the ceremony. 

The ceremony itself was brief but emotional. The bride welled up with tears of joy the moment the judge began the ceremony. Prior to the ceremony, I had a location in mind for some portraits. The judge helped by reaffirming this location when he suggested it as well. It's always nice when things go according to plan.

Rufino & Linda | Wedding

I'm very late on making this post on here since this wedding happened over a month ago. Getting this wedding was every bit the surprise and unexpected for me. I got the call asking for my photography services on Wednesday for a wedding that was happening on Friday. Additionally, the call was very brief and I got minimal information in regards to the wedding. When Friday quickly rolled around, I was a little nervous and anxious because, well, it was April Fool's day, I was working a few hours at the hotel, and I still didn't even know where the wedding was taking place.

I was very relieved when I got to the venue and found out that this was not an April Fool's joke at my own expense. Both the ceremony and reception occurred at the Southport Beach House in Kenosha, WI. This was a very nice location that I would have never known existed if I had not photographed this wedding. I can really envision how beautiful it can be in warmer weather with having a wedding on the beach and then retreating indoors to the beach house for the reception. However, since this was early April that was not really an option and everything happened inside. 

In the end, it was a very nice wedding day with its fair share of hiccups along the way. For one, the ceremony started later than expected as setup took longer than planned as well as the bride running a little late. Also, there was an amusing mishap as the groom's cellphone went off as he was saying his vows. The final bit of trouble I experienced was when the wedding party wanted to try have their photo taken after it had gotten pretty dark. I tried the best I could to light the scene with a flash but had troubles with my technology and plus they did not want to be out in that chilly April weather for too long. I'm happy that everything turned out pretty well with the wedding overall.