Buffalo Wedding Photography » Modern, Photo-journalistic Wedding and Event Photography by Jenn and Ben Ayres, husband and wife creative photography team based out of Buffalo, NY.

When Jackie and Paul sat down with us, and began to excitedly explain what they had in mind for their sunrise wedding ceremony and overall non-traditional wedding experience, we were all smiles. Even though they wanted to do something very different for their wedding, they still recognized how important it was to have really good photos to document the day, and that made us smile even more. We had a brief moment of non-smiling when we realized that we would have to get up at 4:30am to photograph a sunrise ceremony, but it was totally worth it.  There is something very sacred about those pre-dawn hours, when the world is quiet and still…it seems a very fitting time of day to promise your life and love to someone.  It was truly a beautiful, heartfelt, intimate wedding ceremony.  Jackie and Paul followed their hearts when planning their wedding, and did exactly what they wanted to do, and for that we applaud them.  Wedding “trends” come and go, but making your love for each other the true focus of the day will never go out of style.  :)

We arrived just as dawn was starting to break.  At first, it was just us, Jackie and Paul, and Michelle, the officiant.  Then, other wedding guests started to filter in.  This was the first photo I took upon arriving at Island Park.  I am RARELY up at that hour; the pre-dawn light is absolutely stunning.
Immediately following the ceremony, Jackie and Paul asked all of their guests to follow them down to the creek for an “iced coffee toast,” which was very appropriate for a 6am celebration!  Paul went around and handed out Space Invaders ice cubes, and then he and Jackie said a few words to their guests.   Next, we were off to The Original Pancake House in Williamsville for a casual post-ceremony brunch!  I grabbed this shot of the newly married couple right before we left.  It’s one of my absolute favorites from the day.  :)
Our next stop after brunch was the Starbucks on Main Street in Williamsville.  Jackie and Paul spend a lot of time here together, and really wanted Starbucks to be part of their wedding day.  (Unfortunately, our cameras were not welcome in Starbucks, but I did manage to grab a few shots on the DL).  We did a few shots out in front of the building, too!
After Starbucks, we headed downtown, and spent the next few hours just walking around, and taking awesome shots to commemorate the day.  We had a great time!  I asked Jackie and Paul to share a little bit about what made them decide to go the non-traditional route with their wedding, and how they came up with ideas.  This is what they had to say:

“Our planning was the culmination of several casual discussions taking turns describing our perfect wedding.  We both agreed that we wanted a small non-denominational ceremony with family and close friends followed by a casual ‘non-reception party’ on a warm night.  At Jenn and Ben’s suggestion, we met with Michelle Snyder to officiate and could not have been happier with her ideas and kind words. We tried to represent our personalities and relationship in every part of the planning process.  Breakfast was Paul’s idea – we frequent the Pancake House a few weekends a month to connect and relax after a long week. We wanted to share that feeling with our families.  Sunrise was a spinoff of that idea; the park was chosen based on the breakfast location.  Sunrise was a wonderful theme of ‘a new beginning’ -  we each experienced personal struggle and loss in the years before our marriage. We started a new chapter that day, not only in our relationship, but also in our individual lives.  Everything else fell into place: orange shirt & cowboy boots – very Paul.  Fun non-traditional dress – very me.  Silly but informational invitations, brightly colored flowers wrapped in the Super Mario Theme Song, poking fun at ourselves with a coffee toast, walking to breakfast, having a small casual party at night, planning a wedding in two months and trying our best to go with the flow and have fun – very us.”

 Jackie was also kind enough to share some wedding planning wisdom.  Here’s what she had to say:

“A close friend gave me this advice and even though it seemed very obvious at the time, it’s something to take to heart during the entire process and on the actual day. It’s YOUR day. It’s not your parents, your best friends, your siblings, grandparents…it is between two people to express their love for each other with people close to them. Planning can be discouraging at times; if you keep in mind why you love each other and why you are planning your wedding a certain way, you won’t be lost or overshadowed by unsupportive or well meaning people. You can’t please everyone, but as long as you know that you and your spouse-to-be are happy, that’s all that matters in the end.”  

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Jackie and Paul – thank you so very much for choosing us to document your wedding day! You guys are truly awesome people, and we had an absolute blast working with you! Cheers to a long, happy life together!! Much love, J + B :)

We’re getting ready to head out to Chicago for the weekend for an e-shoot, but we didn’t want to leave town without first blogging Jamielyn and JC’s fabulous wedding!  We can sort of say that this wedding was the “official” kick off to our wedding season because late April is generally when our season starts, but this year was different for us than years past, in that we really had no “off season.”  Typically, the winter/early spring months are slow, which gives us a chance to re-group; but, this year, we had weddings to shoot every single month!  It was pretty amazing, and we are so very grateful.

So, anyway, what better way to ring in the “official” 2012 wedding season, than with a gorgeous wedding like this one.  We had so much fun with Jamie and JC, and all of their friends and family.  I could go on and on about what an incredible day it was, but if I start babbling, then I’ll never get this posted!  I’ll just let our bride and groom do the talking.  Thanks for sharing your Top Five Favorite Wedding Day Memories with us, guys!  :)

I started out the day with Jamie and her girls (and the always fabulous Heather and Nikki from Glam on Location), at the Hampton Inn in downtown Buffalo.  It was a very relaxed morning, and everyone was just so happy to be there.  Such a great group of ladies to hang with!

Jamielyn:  ”Getting ready for the day was completely surreal… how was the day finally here?  But I loved taking the time to get our hair & makeup done in the hotel, and just hanging out before all the craziness really set in!  It was a great way to start off a very long day!”

Ben started out the day with JC and the guys at JC’s parents’ home, and then they headed over to the Botanical Gardens to do some photos of the guys around the grounds.

Here’s what JC has to say: “I had the opportunity to greet everyone with my groomsmen before the ceremony started. It was fun just watching everyone come together for “Jamie and J.C.’s” wedding. Just seeing our family and friends took “the edge” off. My mom came up to me beforehand and said “Jamie looks amazing” and hugged me. You could tell that she was so proud.”Jamielyn:  “I really had no idea how I was going to react at the ceremony– bawling like a baby vs. stone-faced! After JC’s mom just hugged me and I started to cry, I could tell I could be in some trouble!  Walking down the aisle, I knew if i looked at JC I would start crying, so I unconsciously saved that until I was over halfway down… good thing I did!  Seeing his face was priceless and really indescribable, definitely the best moment of the day for me by a landslide!”

JC:  “Jamie standing in front of me just before we got married was probably the best moment. I kind of had one of those moments where everything flashes before you and its all leading up to this. Then she is finally in front of me about to cry… I took her hand and squeezed, and just said a simple “Hi.” That was all it took for her to relax a little bit and not cry.”

The ceremony was so beautiful!  Jamie had her mother do a reading, which was very sweet, and such a great way to incorporate her into the ceremony.  The Rev. Sue Samuels did a lovely job officiating, as always.  :)  Right after the ceremony, we did a whole bunch of family photos, and then we walked around with our bride and groom to grab some great shots of them throughout the Gardens.  I love that this place exists in Buffalo…it’s SO beautiful.From the Gardens, we headed over to the Ellicott Square Building for more pictures.  These guys were all so much fun to work with!  They had us cracking up!  We had a great time, and got some really stunning shots.

Jamielyn:  “Once family pictures were done, the whole time in between the ceremony & reception with our bridal party was really fun!  It was nice to have it just us and our best friends, taking it all in while being goofy and get some amazing pictures all at the same time.”

What a ridiculously STUNNING bride!!!  She was an absolute pleasure to photograph.  ;)And, a few more shots of this gorgeous couple at the Ellicott Square Building, before we headed on over to the reception at Pearl Street!Jamielyn:  “I could NOT wait to see all of my hard work put together at the reception! Natalie and the staff at Pearl Street do the most amazing job (I can’t sing their praises enough), and I knew our details would all be executed better than I ever imagined!  It was so nice to walk around during cocktail hour to take it all in, and finally see that all of the time & stress spent was completely worth it in the end!  Plus I know JC was really excited to have all of that “stuff” out of our house!”

JC:  “I wish I could have seen this, but I was part of it… I didn’t know until later the next day when my mom told me, so it’s from her point of view. My grandmother was in the hospital Friday, yelling that she wants to go home so she can make it to her grandson’s wedding, and she did!  As we started walking out after being announced at the reception, my grandma started crying and told my mom she ‘wishes that my grandfather could have seen this, he would have been so proud.’ “

JC:  “Dancing with my brother (the best man) in just our vests to “Ice Ice Baby” by Vanilla Ice. My college friends knew that it was going to happen eventually and they wanted to see it, so they made sure to keep reminding us. I was like “Steve, lets take our shirts off and dance in just our vests.” That’s all I had to say– next thing I knew, we’re in the stairwell undressing and then running onto the dance floor. This was also one of my mom’s favorite moments. She told me numerous times, and everyone thought it was planned.”

Jamielyn:  ”Last but not least, I loved seeing all of our different “circles” interacting on the dance floor and having a great time! My best friends growing up, our different sets of high school & college friends, coworkers, plus all of our family… having everyone together was a great feeling, and I wish we could do it all the time!!”

JC:  “I would have to agree with Jamie’s 5th memory. I loved seeing all of our friends and family interacting and having a great time. Most of them had never met each other before. You wish you can hold on to that entire day because its a once in a lifetime event.”

Jamie and JC were both tearing up the dance floor all night long, but we did manage to grab them for just a few minutes for some night shots on the balcony!  Love these two!!!

Jamie and JC were kind enough to share some AWESOME wedding planning tips with our readers! Thanks so much, guys! These are all super helpful! So, if you’re still in the planning stages of your wedding, take note!!!  :)

The months after we got engaged were pretty much spent on weddingwire, reading reviews and researching our top vendors. I am crazy about reviews, and have to look them up on pretty much everything haha… but it works!! Especially when you have NO clue where to start wedding planning. I was the first person out of my closer friends to get married, so I really had no help with picking vendors or any ideas (other than the florist who did my MOH sister’s wedding, which was backed up by reviews lol). But the main thing I want to get across with this, is to trust your instincts. Sure I picked my top people for everything, but you have to meet them to make sure! And as soon as you do, you’ll know if you want them or not!  That’s exactly how it was with Jenn and Ben, but also for everyone else too (DJ Tony, Status Limo, L-egant chair covers).

 Try not to buy everything that fits into your color scheme… I can’t tell you how much purple & green random stuff we have leftover!! But if you do buy it, get everything on sale or clearance! It’s the only way to go.

 JC says not to stress about the small stuff, when it doesn’t go your way (like everyone taking candy before they’re supposed to, drove me nuts!). That’s not in my nature, but you can try haha.

For me, there would be weeks where I would think about the wedding nonstop, and then weeks where I would try to ignore it… just give yourself a break if you need it!

Jamie and JC – thank you both SO MUCH for choosing us to be a part of your wedding day!  We seriously had such an awesome time working with you guys from start to finish, and we’re kind of sad that it’s over (but, at least we still get to work with you on your Wedding Album over the next several months)!!  We hope you had an amazing honeymoon, and we wish you both all the happiness in the world!  Much love, J + B :)