Lindsay and Tim

Tim and Lindsay were married Saturday, and we met up with Lindsay for a few shots at their house before the wedding. Here's Lindsay and her girls.

And her totally cute shoes!

Then we headed over to Banchetti's by Rizzo for the wedding and reception. They were married in the beautiful garden grove. Both of Lindsay's parents walked her down the aisle, which I always think is really cool. Check out her flowers - we love fall weddings!

And the hand-off to Tim, who was looking dapper in brown to stay with the fall theme.

It was a very emotional, beautiful ceremony and we saw a LOT of people were getting choked up in the standing room only crowd.

And then they were married!

One of our bridal party shots from just after the ceremony - we always do some more formal posing for group shots, but we've been meaning to bring this shot back more too. There's nothing wrong with a little slow shutter speed.

And then we grabbed Tim and Lindsay for some shots of the two of them.

And then the sun started to set, and we got the most beautiful sky to play with. Tim and Lindsay has just gotten through posing for us, but Rich convinced me we should go ask them if they were up for one more shot - after all, you only get to pose with the sunset on your wedding day once!

The wedding, of course, had a fall theme, and the cake was absolutely stunning! Lindsay actually has an Etsy store (if she says it's okay, we'll post a link to her stuff -it's so rad. The first thing Rich said he saw when getting to Tim's parents' house was a custom-made set of cuff links she made for Tim's dad out of scrabble pieces - being a huge word nerd, I think that is totally amazing). So the cake topper is handmade and came from a store on Etsy. We can't wait until we get out new blog up in a couple months so we can show even larger photos - this cake was PERFECT.

Tim and Lindsay had the sweetest (literally) favors ever. Mini bottles of maple syrup - the real kind. We're not going to to lie - Rich totally made pancakes Sunday morning :) .

Then it was time for some dancing under the tent - the weather was perfect for an outdoor wedding. Buffalo can be tricky in September for weather, but we think they made a great call on their date.

Thanks for having us with you, you two. You were adorable, and we can't wait to show you the rest of your photos! Congrats, again, and we'll chat with you soon!

Kim's Maternity Shoot

Here's a couple preview images from Kim's Maternity Shoot. We'll get the second part up a little later this week, but we wanted to share a few now. We headed over to Kim and Andy's this week to shoot some pictures of the two of them and their soon-to-arrive baby. They've been working furiously in their nursery getting ready for the baby (they didn't find out the sex, so no name yet!), and it really looks classic.

I've been really into silhouettes lately, and they have some great windows in the nursery, so we grabbed Andy for a few shots.

So, apparently Andy has really, really cold hands.

And a couple more shots of just Kim. Thanks, guys, for having us over. We can't wait to meet the baby!

Mariko and Brandon

This past weekend, Alyssa and I met up with Mariko and Brandon before their beautiful wedding at the Arrowhead Golf Course. We started off with Mariko getting ready...totally gorgeous bride in a stunning dress:

Brandon stood with his "best girl," for the ceremony - and check out the white suit! I know when guys go to the tuxedo places they'll tell you things like, "wear an off-white shirt with a dark suit to accentuate the bride's dress, yadda yadda...," but Brandon looked awesome in white, and I think it only helped Mariko's gorgeous dress really stand out against the beautiful outdoor fall palette. Good call, my man.

And, apparently, mom approved as well :)!

Mariko walked down the aisle with her grandfather who made a long, hard trip to be there for his girl - and isn't that what weddings are all about? The whole scene was amazingly touching.

The ceremony was short and sweet, and the weather was absolutely perfect. Western New York is a wonderful place to be as Summer gives way to Fall.

I love the "post-kiss" celebration!

And then, of course, Alyssa and I "borrowed" the bride and groom after their formal and family shots for a few, relaxed minutes alone.

We take tons of detail shots at our receptions - but I kept coming back to the cake this time - we loved the color scheme and the spun sugar flowers - Alyssa took the first and I took the second:

At one point during the reception, I saw Mariko and Brandon leaning up against a post on the porch area, and it was just so romantic...I glanced around for Alyssa as I started to shoot...but of course, there she was, already all over it and taking some long exposures from out on the patio. That's the wonderful thing about getting to shoot with someone you trust and respect as much as I do Alyssa - she makes me a better photographer every time we go out, and she still surprises me with her unique ideas and imaginative ways to show a couple's love through their photographs.

Thank you, Mariko and Brandon, for having us at your wedding!

Melissa and Wayne

This weekend, we had the pleasure of heading up to the town of Inlet in the Adirondacks for the wedding of Wayne and Melissa. They brought all their family up to the Woods Inn, a 112-year-old hotel on Fourth Lake. The owners recently bought and completely restored the hotel which stood vacant for close to three decades. It's a spectacular place, and as it turned out, the morning of Wayne and Melissa's wedding, a Guinness world record attempt for the largest kayak and canoe raft occurred on the lake, directly in front of the hotel. One Square Mile of Hope, a benefit for Susan G. Koman for the cure, unofficially shattered the old record of 776 with 1104 rafts and kayaks participating. Two of those kayaks were Wayne, an avid kayaker, and Rich. Here's a couple shots of Wayne as he headed out on the lake.

Melissa was on shore watching the attempt...

And this is what it looked like out on the water as they broke the record.

After the attempt occurred, Melissa headed upstairs to get ready with her girls. Her shoes...

The sweet bridesmaid's dresses her mom made, and the awesome hangers her grandma made.

Melissa and mom...

Then she popped in the chair to get her hair and makeup done.

So, Melissa and her bridesmaids are hysterical. Even when she started getting nervous -- when Dad showed up to see her in her dress -- her girls still managed to crack her up. She seriously was a stunning bride.

After a quick trip into town for some lunch, Wayne and his boys got ready.

I absolutely love this shot of Rich's -- it was slightly overcast, which is my favorite for photos. The clouds act as a natural diffuser and just gives off the most amazing soft light.

The ceremony took place on the edge of the lake, under a canopy of trees the owners put up for their daughter's recent marriage. It was absolutely gorgeous.

Then it was time for a few quick portraits before they headed into their reception.

Melissa was totally excited about her sweet birch tree cake. It came out pretty awesome. And their seating chart was truly unique and completely worked with the theme.

And we're going to sign off on a couple quick dancing shots. You guys, thank you so much for inviting us up to hang out with you, your awesome friends and family. Your wedding was perfect, and we hope you love your photos as much as we loved Inlet.

Jen and Johnathan

When I met Jen and Johnathan, the first thing they did was make fun of me. They are a couple who love to have fun, who love to laugh and who love each other very much. We chatted about the details of their wedding, and Jen was super excited about her red wedding dress. She decided to buck tradition and wore a beautiful red gown, and I thought that was really cool.

When she started walking down the aisle, Johnathan totally lit up.

As they got to their vows, things got a little emotional. Johnathan was completely prepared and handed Jen a tissue. While she wiped her tears, he took the opportunity to wipe his sweat, which cracked Jen up. As I said, they really do love to laugh and even at their most emotional, spent a good amount of time laughing and enjoying each other.

We headed over to their reception at the gorgeous Beaver Hollow Conference Center , and we started off with a portrait session of the two out on a dock.

We walked the grounds for a minute and stopped at a wooden swing and got distracted by some visitors.

Then they headed into their awesome reception which continued the red-dress theme with a stunning red cake.

The night wound down with some dancing (and, of course, laughing). We had a blast shooting you guys -- thanks, again, for having us with you. Your wedding was beautiful and you, your friends and family are amazing.

Bethany and Adam's Engagement Session

Back in May, when we shot Ryan and Danielle's wedding, we met Bethany and Adam, an adorable couple who were secretly contemplating the big E. When Adam proposed to Bethany a few months ago, they contacted us to shoot their wedding. We were totally excited to see them again when they popped into town this week, and we hung out with them and shot some engagement portraits. We started out in Bethany's parents' gorgeous yard.

We shot a few before heading over to the hammock where Adam first told Bethany he loved her. Of course, in keeping with the romance of the spot, Bethany and Adam climbed into the hammock, and promptly fell over.

We shot a few more portraits at the house before heading over to Woodlawn Beach.

Bethany and Adam are really a very personable couple -- you spend a few minutes with them, and you feel like you've known them forever. They also have a great sense of humor. When we hit the beach, we gave them a suggested pose, and then asked them to do what felt right.

We didn't have long at the beach before the sun started to go down, so we shot a little while and then started playing with the gorgeous sunset.

A lot of the time, things go perfectly during shoots -- the light, the personalities... and then some times, a helicopter flies into your neck.

Thanks for hanging out with us guys; we're really looking forward to your wedding. You clearly have a lot of friends and family who love you a lot, and it's going to be a beautiful day.

Erika and Steve

For a town so readily identified by its winter storms, Buffalo has the best beach on Lake Erie in Woodlawn Beach State Park. A short trip down the 5 will have you thinking you've made a really long trip to the Pacific, except you can still see the "Steel Winds" project, turning with the same gusts that wash up massive amounts of sand onto the beach.

On the private end of the mile-long beach is where Erika and Steve got married this past weekend. It was a gorgeous ceremony and reception and nobody seemed to mind the sand or the sun - I know we didn't! After a short ceremony, this perfect couple danced the night away with their friends and family. I'm inclined to shut the heck up to let the photos do most of the talking for this blog post :).

When I first met with Erika and Steve they were already excited about their surfboard - it served as a killer photo prop as well as their guest book, which you'll see below!

Shooting with Alyssa is amazing - every time I get ready to grab some images from a shoot to blog or whatever, I see hers and she just kills it every time...it makes my job a lot harder trying to take ones that match her. In the next shot, she took a lens made for shooting large architecture and turned it into a portrait lens with a funky look - I love it.

And we had to take some silhouettes, seeing as we had the world's biggest back light, aka the setting sun.

And now some reception shots:

That's all for this post. A memorable day with a very memorable couple, and we were very glad to be there :). Thank you, again, guys for being so wonderful to work with - and thanks to everyone else who stops by our blog. Don't be shy - leave us some comments!