It took a few tries for Mike to get the jump shot right…

Wedding day family portraits gone wild…

A groom acting silly between poses, caught on camera!

Check out the groom’s sister in the background…this one is classic!

I couldn’t resist including this one…it takes a while for little ones to realize exactly which part of their face blows the bubbles!! Adorable! :)

So, needless to say, we had a great shoot with Kristen and Brian; and, we’re super psyched to be shooting their wedding this coming July! Can’t wait!! :)

It was bitterly cold that day (no big surprise there), so we did the majority of their session inside the station, which is quite obviously an AWESOME place for engagement photography.  Ben grabbed this shot at the entrance to the train platform…LOVE it!
Everything inside the station is covered with marble: floors, walls, SWEET wooden benches…


Vintage-y ticket counter?  CHECK!
Then, we popped outside for a few quick shots on the platform.  I could not have been more thrilled about the big, fluffy snowflakes that lightly drifted down into our shots…LOVE!



Beautiful couple + perfect snowflakes = 2 very happy photographers




Kristen and Brian’s ridiculously adorable daughter, Abby, arrived at the train station just in time to pose for some photos!Part of our goal for this session was to take some shots that would resemble “old-time photo booth” pictures for Kristen and Brian’s “Save the Date” cards.  We found the most perfect curtains EVER to use as a backdrop, pretended it was actually a photo booth, and took a whole bunch of great shots!  This is a rough draft of the “photo booth strip” that we’ll be using in the design of the card…looks pretty authentic, no?  :)

Kristen and Brian, we can’t thank you enough for being so much fun and so easy to work with. We’re so, so excited about your upcoming wedding, and feel incredibly honored to get to be a part of it! See you soon!

Check out how fabulous these are!

I started out in the bridal suite with the calm, cool, and collected bride and her girls, and Ben hung around with the guys on the first floor of the mansion.




Our gorgeous bride, Sherry, gettin’ prettied up…

A little pre-ceremony speech-writing…

I couldn’t decide between these two shots of Sherry’s mom and her bridesmaids getting her dressed, so I had to include them both!  LOVE, LOVE, LOVE!


Geoff and his guys hangin’ out pre-ceremony…
…and some amazing detail shots by Ben!



The ceremony was absolutely beautiful.  The officiant who married them, Sandy Hustead, writes all of her ceremonies from scratch, so every couple she marries has a unique and touching ceremony written just for them. We are lucky enough to get to work with her, and listen to her ceremonies all year round.  Sherry and Geoff’s was no exception; it was truly moving.  :)




Cake-cutting time!

The first dances…
Sherry and her dad…
…and Geoff and his mom!
Even though it was like 14 degrees out, we still managed to convince Sherry and Geoff to brave the elements for a couple of pictures; and, I’m so SO glad they did.  It was snowing lightly on and off, which was perfect for magical winter wedding photos!  I really wanted there to be a bit more snow than there was, though; so, I just, um…. added some in.  ;)



The party begins with a little cha-cha slide action!
Geoff and his son gettin’ low!
They were a non-stop father-son dancing team!
I really loved this moment between Sherry and Geoff’s daughter, Tori…beautiful!
Love this one of Geoff and his son, too!
Jack, the dancing machine…
A sweet moment between Sherry and her mom :)
Ben snuck outside to grab some different angles…completely awesome!

There were so, so many amazing reception shots to choose from; we had a really tough time narrowing down our blog choices, but we both agreed on ending with this one because there’s so much going on in it!

Sherry and Geoff, we had such an amazing time at your wedding! Thanks for letting us be a part of your special day! You guys are such a great couple, and we wish you all the best. :)

Sarah and Mike’s engagement session may have been our coldest assignment EVER. It had to have been in the single digits; it was no joke. Luckily, we both have cold weather Under Armour, and the amazing ability to block out whatever is going on around us to get the shots we want to get. We met up with our fabulous couple at the Orchard Park Train Station for a “no nonsense, get amazing shots before we all turn into icicles” photo session. We were so worried about making them stand out in the freezing cold, but when they pulled up, and Mike stepped out of the car with NO coat on (and my partially frozen jaw dropped in disbelief/awe), I knew that we were about to have an awesome shoot; and, of course, that’s exactly what happened!

We started out in front of the train station, and grabbed a few shots with this great OP sign…

Then, we strolled around the grounds of the main building, stopping here and there to use the amazing backdrops it had to offer…I was loving the brick/snow combination!


These doors were great, too.  :)
STUNNING!!!  Seriously, these two were troopers…they make it look so easy!
The beauty of old train stations … GIANT RUSTY TRAIN PARTS!

There were two old train cars hanging around that were absolutely perfect for our purposes.  Bright colors on a cold winter’s day are a welcome sight!




This one makes me happy every time I see it :)

Sarah and Mike, thanks so much for braving the elements to spend some time with us! In spite of the cold weather, we truly enjoyed ourselves. Looking forward to the wedding! :)

Winter engagement photo sessions can be tricky, because everything is so gray; but, when you have a couple like Ruth Ann and Mike, who are so absolutely perfect together, you hardly notice anything else (except, of course, Ruth Ann’s fabulous green coat…an excellent choice for “photo shoot attire,” as far as I’m concerned).

Ruth Ann and Mike wanted to utilize some of the awesome architecture that Buffalo has to offer, so we decided to start their session at the Buffalo Historical Society. Instead of using the main building on the premises, we opted for this smaller building off to the side. Totally adorable…



I love this shot of Ben’s!  This is a prime example of how important it is to have two photographers at your wedding.  I was shooting this from the front, and had no idea that he even took this shot; but, I love, love, love it!  Having two different perspectives really does make a difference.
We found this super-cool stone wall with ivy growing all over it, so, of course, it had to be used…Ruth Ann is STUNNING!
I think this one might be my favorite of the day…but it’s hard to say; I think I have, like, 20 favorites of the day…

Awesome wrought iron gate on the way down to the Japanese Gardens….

And, yet another example of how having two photographers ROCKS!  I got behind the fence to sneak this shot, while Ben was busy capturing…
THIS!!!  A contrast-y masterpiece…LOVE it!

Down by the Japanese Gardens…
See what I mean about these two?  GORGEOUS photos in the dead of winter…

I couldn’t resist :)
After the gardens, we headed on over to City Hall.  These are our faves…

Niagara Square’s beautiful light display…

We walked around downtown for a while, stopping at random places along the way.  This is one of my favorite “randoms” – LOVE
Our last stop of the day was this building, which is arguably one of the most impressive in the city of Buffalo (as far as architecture is concerned).  *The inside is even more amazing, but unfortunately, we were chased out by an over-eager security guard…

If I could post 20 more shots from this session, I totally would…there were SO many that we loved, and it was very difficult to narrow them down.

Ruth Ann and Mike – you guys are unbelievably photogenic, and we cannot WAIT to see you two in your wedding day attire! Thanks so much for hanging out with us on a gray Sunday in Buffalo; we had a great time! Looking forward to seeing you soon! :)

Katie and Tony wanted to keep things low key, with coverage of just the ceremony, and a portrait session afterwards. It was very cold and rainy that night, making outdoor portraits out of the question; so, needless to say, we shot the heck out of the Vandervoort!

We could not come to a compromise regarding whose bouquet picture was better, so we had to post both. Although it is killing me, I have to remember that we are not competing against each other, so I will refrain from divulging which one is mine and which is Ben’s…they are both lovely, either way.  

I have never been to a wedding that was this stress-free.  Everything was so calm and fluid.  While Katie was getting ready upstairs, we took some shots of the empty Chapel, and some wedding guests milling about…

Tony’s mom pinned on the corsages…

Some pre-ceremony portraits…LOVE this one of Tony waiting patiently for his bride to appear!  The Chapel Vandervoort has all sorts of bits and pieces of decor that make for great photos.  I happened to see Tony’s reflection in this candlestick and couldn’t resist!
A lovely pre-ceremony portrait of Katie…
I thought this was kind of a cool image – the bride makes her entrance, while her brother rehearses his reading for the ceremony (in the foreground)…



Married!
The newlyweds meeting and greeting their guests…

After the meet ‘n’ greet, we headed back to the altar for a quick portrait session.  I really like this one of Tony and his brothers…dramatic lighting and a sweet chandelier give it a cool, gothic look.
A very nice portrait of Katie and her mom ?
And, finally, our stunning couple!

Katie and Tony – thanks so much for having us! We had a great time shooting your wedding! Hope you had an awesome time at your reception. :) You guys are a super-fun couple! Talk to you soon!

So, when Mary and Rob agreed to do their engagement session at Wendt Beach State Park, (one of our magical winter exploration locations), I was “off the charts” excited! I LOVE this place! Yes, it’s a beach; but in the winter, the landscape changes dramatically to reveal ice carved sculptures and amazing piles of driftwood.

We started on the beach, by the lake. There was almost no wind that day, which was AWESOME…

How amazing is this landscape?
…and a sweet tree-stump-island ice sculpture ?
When I saw these icicles that looked like fingers, I knew I had to use them.  I love, love, LOVE this; and, Mary’s ring is gorgeous!


We were loving the little random log cabin.  Jenn’s perspective…
…and Ben’s perspective!
STUNNING!!
We had to include this picture in the post to demonstrate the extent of Mary and Rob’s awesomeness…we can’t take any of the credit for this pose; it was totally their idea!  Brilliant!



This one is super-fun-happy…LOVE it!


Mary and Rob, thanks for being so much fun to hang out with! The next time we get to hang out, you’ll be getting married! YAY!

Talk to you soon!

Shauna and Jay are getting married in Buffalo next summer! They live downstate, but were in town for the holidays; so, we got together on a cold, cold day last week to do their engagement session. We met up in the adorable town of East Aurora, and took a walk around to see what we could see…

Sometimes, when you’re walking around a city/town for a photo session, the best locations can be down the alleyways in between buildings – you just never know what you might find. As it turned out, the back alleys of East Aurora were an absolutely ideal location for engagement photography…who knew???



Of course, we had to stop in front of the always-adorable East Aurora theater…

Then, we found another awesome alleyway!! How cool is this mural?? Love it!


A super-sweet crumbly brick wall that was begging for some kind of vintage processing…I layered several textures to create this effect. Ben’s image + Jenn’s processing = one awesome vintage-y looking photo!!!


Oddly enough, the Masonic Lodge in E.A. had a charming look about it, so we used their front steps…I’m sure they won’t mind.

I have been stealing the fish-eye lens from Ben’s bag with increasing frequency, just to see what can be done with it. I have always been anti-distortion, but it’s such a fun lens to use!! I grabbed this shot when no one was looking…

We ended our session at Knox Farm State Park. It’s a beautiful place to begin with, but I think it’s beauty is even more pronounced in the winter. And, as an added bonus, the sun decided to come out!!

This building was so cool…I was loving the white on white. And, if you look very closely, you can see a goat in the window…NICE!!



We got so many great shots in front of these barns. It was very difficult to choose which ones to post!! This last one, though, is my personal favorite, so I thought it would be a good place to end. ?

Shauna and Jay, thanks so much for hanging out with us! We had a great time! Looking forward to your wedding (and much warmer weather)!!!