Traverse City Wedding Photography | Photographer | Country Club

September 27, 2010

Traverse City Methodist Church and Country Club

Emily and Norm are Married! Traverse City, Michigan in Northern Michigan is on Lake Michigan and there are a bunch of beautiful Wedding locations including Central United Methodist Church in downtown Traverse City. This Methodist Church is beautiful inside and out. The sound is amazing inside the domed cathedral. There are three balconies that surround the ceremony location so that you can create images all around the location.

Wedding flowers were created by floral designer flowers by Marla Courtney Wood.

The bride had here hair done by Pavlova Day Spa and Salon in Traverse City Michigan.

Wedding reception at Traverse City Golf and Country Club

The Wedding reception location, Traverse City Country Club, in Traverse City, Michigan is set amongst lots of old growth oak trees with beautiful views of the greens and fairways. Janet, the Wedding coordinator, is very organized and it was a pleasure working with her. The food is amazing and the drinks are strong, according to the guests.

The Wedding cake was beautiful and really good by Kingsley Cakes.

The Dj was Aaron Wolinski from Avatar Media Productions.

Check out a beautiful Wedding slideshow from this Traverse City Wedding and also the Wedding album that was produced from this beautiful Wedding day by Paul Retherford Wedding Photography, Northern Michigan Wedding Photographer.

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Cake Cutting Wedding | how to cut wedding cake | Smash in face

September 21, 2010

To Smash or not to Smash the Wedding Cake

The Wedding Cake cutting is a trivial experience for most brides and grooms. Since most of my clients are getting married for the first time, this is the first cake cutting. Even if people have been to others Weddings they typically don’t pay attention to how the cake cutting goes. So, here is a quick how to on the cake cutting.

First of all, have the DJ announce that the cake is about to be cut. Welcome family and friends to come up with their cameras to capture a quick pick. Have the DJ mention the location of the cake too. It is also nice to mention the cake designer since they have used their expertise to make a beautiful Wedding cake.

After about 5 minutes everyone should be at the cake that wants to be there. Have the groom stand behind the beautiful bride and at an angle that has the most flattering background. The groom grabs the knife and the bride puts her hand over the groom. The top layer is sometimes saved for the one year anniversary so the couple usually cuts the lowest layer. A corner section will work fine. The bride and groom make their cuts and place two pieces on the plate, napkin, or just grab them. At this point the bride and groom feed each other the cake. This is the decision time for the bride and groom, do you make a mess on the face or be honorable. It is always a surprise to me what is decided in those last seconds. I have had brides and grooms do a full hand slap of cake on the face. I had one groom put a bib on prior to the cake cutting since he knew he was in trouble. It is best to avoid the ear, nose, and hair, trust me, I have seen it.:-) Digging frosting out of an ear is a task.

After the cake cutting the guests typically clap and the bride and groom resume their Wedding day. The cake is taken to get cut up and served to guests.

The cake cutting can take place after dinner or before dinner. Having the cake cutting before dinner allows for the kitchen to cut the cake and have it ready when plates are cleared from the tables. This helps the reception flow easier and doesn’t allow for as much down time between the cake cutting and first dance.

Have a wonderful time on your Wedding day and enjoy the cake cutting. Hopefully your cake is delicious and the talk of all of your friends!

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Just another beautiful Wedding Image

September 15, 2010

Capturing location images on your Wedding day

You probably spent a lot of time mulling over the location of your Wedding. This can be one of the most stressful decisions a bride and groom makes. What is your style? Where do you think portrays who you are as a couple? What is within your budget? Do you want an over the top location? Local or Destination? Nature or Beach?

This location can be the determining factor in a bunch of decisions on the Wedding day. One big thing for my style of work is incorporating Wedding locations into the Wedding day images. I think that every location should be captured to the best of my ability in a number of creative ways. In fact, the one Wedding image that I have on my wall in our bedroom is a beautiful canvas of my beautiful wife and myself on the balcony overlooking our Wedding ceremony location. This was a must have shot and I think Roy Katalan for capturing it for me.

This brings me to my point, so many blogs that I see these days have pretty images BUT lack the key images of the Wedding day. I see all these creative shots with blown out skies and blown out everything and they say nothing of the beautiful location.

I shoot on Mackinac Island a good amount and I always see images of locations on the island where the background is just blown right out. Yah, the bride and groom look nice but this image could have been in my back yard, really. Some images like this are fantastic but having the whole day like this is a disservice to the client. Spend the extra time and light the couple correctly so that you can add the backdrop in the image. This is at any location, I just made an example of the island.

Now, how do you do this, you ask. Off camera lighting is the way to go. You have to have off camera light or you get flat images and blown out backdrops. I laugh when I hear people say, well I am a natural light shooter. Well, good for you, but you are doing a disservice to your client. If they even know how great of images you can make with a bit of fill light off camera they would look elsewhere.

Bottom line is to make sure you see an entire Wedding and look at the images overall. Do they truly show the beautiful Wedding location with the bride and groom? Are there images of people interacting in the Wedding locations?

There is a reason that you chose the Wedding location and make sure that it is documented correctly to tell the story and be an image the you will cherish on your walls for life! Happy Weddings to all!

Check out my beautiful Wedding Photography!

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