Snow.
That was the first thing I thought of when I was asked by Tara about shooting her January wedding in Michigan. Well, it was probably a mix of “Damn, that’s going to be cold” and “there’s going to be a lot of snow on the ground”.
Tara is Todd’s older sister – my friend who flew me to Michigan last summer to photograph his wedding. Tara and Matt loved my work on Todd and Jessica’s wedding so much, that they contacted me about a month after Todd’s wedding and booked me for theirs.

So, I prepped myself for a cold Michigan winter wedding. I was trying to think of as many different ideas to do with the snow as I could. But, unfortunately a sudden change in the weather melted most of the snow before the wedding. However we were able to do a few winter-y shots. And honestly, having this shot above works perfectly to say “snowy wedding”.

I had another fun weekend with the DeLand family – and the Gerhardt’s were tons of fun as well. It felt like going to see my own family members the way that I was welcomed back and everyone excited that I was there. Matt’s family had heard a lot about me and were all very interested to see how I would handle his wedding images.

I’m very happy with how everything turned out. It was cold (for me), I’m not going to lie. It’s been three years since I’ve been through a Michigan winter – and it was a warm 34 degrees while I was there, too! I’m going to share quite a few images below… so be ready for a very large update.

I leave home again tomorrow, this time to the Bay Area to shoot Nicole and Will’s wedding in Santa Clara. So I’m currently prepping for another trip, packing, and gettin my gear ready… and I’ve only been home 24 hours. Check back in another week for an update on their wedding!

Even the rehearsal dinner was beautifully laid out.

I try not to over use black and white in wedding photos. But moments like this seem to look better unsaturated.

The first kiss… Such an important shot, and the priest almost made me stand to the side during the ceremony “and just redo the shots afterward”. It took a few minutes of talking to convince him to let me kneel front-and-center like I always do. Shot actually looks pretty good for not being allowed to use flash, too.

This was a shot that Matt and Tara already had in mind and asked me about. I was shocked because I just had talked about this same shot with good friend, and incredible wedding photographer, David Esquire a few days before I left for Michigan.

The standard dip shot I do with a lot of my clients. It was under 30 degrees out while we shot these. Matt and Tara did great with braving the cold weather for shots.

First dance as husband and wife. Tara looked so happy.

The Daddy-Daughter dance.. both Tara and her father got a bit emotional at the end.

And speaking of dancing… that’s Grandma Gerhardt gettin down to Cha-Cha slide…

After 57 years of marriage, you still see so much love in Grandma Gerhardt’s eyes when she looks at her husband.

I think I may have confused Tara when I asked her for her rings. But she was pretty happy with the results when I gave them back.

Matt barelyyyy stopped dancing the whole night.

One last dance of the night, and a last kiss on the dance floor before the party ended.

Tara, Me, and Matt

Todd, Me, and Jessica – can’t believe it’s been six months since their wedding already

The end of the night, walking back to the hotel after making a short appearance at the after-party when everyone went to the bar to keep the party going.

Todd, Kent, and me the next day.
Kent was mine and Todd’s Photojournalism professor at Central Michigan University. I’ve been lucky enough to see Kent a few times since moving home to California and even had the pleasure of speaking in one of his classes during one of my trips.

Thanks for reading this far if you made it through the whole post! More images will be on my blog and portfolio later. Now, time to keep packing for my trip to the Bay Area tomorrow!

Peace!