The Best of the Wedding Photos

Where to begin????

I took over 800 pictures between the rehearsal, the wedding and the reception, and that was after I deleted the out of focus and just plain bad photos. I have also been playing with Flickr's photo editing software, Picnic. I really like it.

So here is my dilemma. I took a lot of good photos that I really liked, what should I show you?

I'll start with the church. This is the little country church in Michigan where my friend got married. Her parents got married at the original church (this is the new church) 30 years ago.

I loved the contrast with the deep blue sky, red shingles, and shining cross.

Below is Friend getting her hair done. The gal who did everyone's hair did a spectacular job and she was cheap. Just $20 a person. Her in DC, for an up do, it will cost you around $100.

Guess who? Yep, that is Ranger's Girl steaming my friend's dress. I'm a multi-talented friend. Invite me to your wedding and you get a photographer and dress steamer. Just a note, if you purchase a wedding dress at David's Bridal, and get it altered at another location, they will not press the dress.

The behind the scenes things a woman wedding photographer captures - - the bride putting her face on.

Now for the formals. This is my favorite of the formals that I took of my friend. The first picture is the original shot. The photos that follow are the effects I applied to the picture using Picnic's tools.

BTW, I won't show you all the options the rest of the way, just my favorite. Below is Friend with her bridesmaids and the flower girls.

This is my favorite of the formals that I took of Friend and her husband.

O.k. now for the ceremony. Below, Friend kisses her father after he "gave" her away.

The church was very pretty. Here the couples are exchanging vows.

The ring being put on Friend's hand.

I like the following series of photos of them lighting the unity candle.

The most important part, other than the vows, the photo as a photographer that you DON'T want to miss. The Kiss.

Introducing Mr. and Mrs. The nice thing, the pianist delayed playing "Broken Road" until Friend's sister walked down the aisle. Friend did not want to walk out of the church to that song but her sister wouldn't budge. So, they walked down the aisle to the applause of family and friends.

This is a shot of the wedding cake without using a flash. I like taking photos of cakes without flashes because I can get some more of the details. Her sister had a different cake. Both were the same three tiers, just different frosting styles.

The next series is the father daughter dance. Friend danced with her dad, her sister danced with their step father, as this was her second wedding.

The first dance. This is my favorite dance candid.

Now for the cake cutting.

The bouquet toss.

Friend did not do the garter, however, her sister did. Take a look at the little boys up front. I got a closer shot of them covering their eyes. They are Friend's new step-sons. I thought that was just the funniest picture.

Friend and her husband getting ready to leave the reception.

There they go, off into the cold Michigan night and a blessed life together.