Daniel & Jilleen: A Wedding

June 18, 2010

I've always wanted to do a wedding in Grand Haven. Grand Haven was the first experience I've had of a beautiful beach when I first moved to West Michigan. I never knew I would be so close to such a pretty spot. Ever since I've started doing wedding photography, I have been dying to take a bride and groom out on the pier and do some pretty photos. It's just so classic. So when Jilleen contacted me last year and told me she was getting married in Grand Haven, I was so excited! She and Daniel were my first wedding booked for 2010, so it was a double bonus for me!

I first met Daniel and Jilleen for their engagement shoot at the end of December. They were super easy-going and great to work with, so it was a pleasure to get to work with them again. It was a hot day but we got a lot accomplished at the Holiday Inn of Spring Lake - Grand Haven. Jilleen looked BEAUTIFUL with her pretty bouquet of peonies from Eastern Floral and together with Daniel, what a cute couple!

They had a very short wedding ceremony and a cute reception, all on the lawn of the Holiday Inn. It was a great spot, perfect for a wedding. It was even cooler because we were along the waterfront leading to Lake Michigan, and there were tons of yachts along the edge of the property. And surprisingly lots of places for photos. Which was good, because unfortunately a nastey storm was blowing up right as we were about ready to head out to the pier.

Despite still not getting to take photos of a bride and groom at the pier in Grand Haven, I defnitely love the photos I got for Daniel and Jilleen's wedding! It was my D3s debut (wonderful!) as well as of my newest assistant, Kristin Huyck, who did a wonderful job. Enjoy the photos and congrats to Daniel and Jilleen!

^ Daniel looking sharp in his army uniform.

^ She is such a beautiful bride. Doesn't she look stunning?!?

^ You wouldn't expect it but the spot under the overpass was such a great location. So unique!

^The above two photos were images by Kristin. Perfect!

^ Oh Kristin, you are my hero!

^Testing out to see what my "3" can do!

^This young lady was the life of the party!

^And this is how you know it's time to go! :-)

Wedding Teaser

Daniel & Jilleen

Just a quick taste of things to come from my wedding this past weekend... take a quick look at some of the beautiful shots I did at Daniel & Jilleen's weekend at the Spring Lake/Grand Haven Holiday Inn Waterfront.

Walt & Melanie: An Engagement

June 19, 2010

Last week I made a huge purchase for Jenna Rose Photography, and it's already won me over. I am now shooting with a beautiful Nikon D3 that I purchased from John at Coastline Studios. It's an amazing camera and I can see it paying for itself in months. The shots it has given me (so far) are phenomenal, the color is through-the-roof bright and bold, and the clarity of the images... oh man, don't get me started!

Without further ado, let's get to my first D3 engagement session! I met Melanie last year on the 4th of July. She was a bridesmaid in her friend Sabrina's wedding. I was thrilled to hear (from another of the bridesmaids, my future Trash the Dress client and a wonderful designer) that Melanie was getting married this fall. I was even MORE thrilled when she chose me to be her photographer. She and her fiance, Walt, wanted to do some beach photos for their engagement session, so after some schedule fixing and location finding, we chose Silver Lake... what a great choice!

We started at the Little Sable Point Lighthouse, which we climbed to the top and braved high winds and messy hair, then did some photos along the beach. The sky was so bright, and the colors were great! The beach shots turned out wonderful (thank you D3!). We made a pit stop at the Whippy Dip (check out the photos below :) for lunch and ice cream before heading to the dunes. I've never been to any of the dunes along Michigan's coast... and it's really a shame that I've missed out for so long. They are BEAUTIFUL! We climbed up there and it looked like a desert, and I was just floored at the view.

Walt and Melanie were pretty much up for anything, including climbing up and running down the dunes. And although I blinded Walt with my flash all afternoon, we turned out with some great shots. I cannot wait for their wedding n October!