Sneak Peek: Indian Celebration at Radisson in Merrillville

This will be a quick post as today I'm photographing Jamie and Andrew's wedding at Deep River Park.  However, last night I unveiled Jay and Rupal's Indian Celebration of Marriage and wanted to share.  This wedding reception was held at the Celebrity Ballroom at Radisson Hotel in Merrillville, Indiana.

The bride and groom entered the ballroom by vehicle, a Jaguar convertible!!  A first for me!!  I promise a full post come Monday with many more photographs.  In the meantime, enjoy this video slideshow that showcases the wonderful colors and clothing of India.

For a full screen HD version of the video, please click here.

Angela and Mike's Spring Wedding: Sneak Preview

- click image to enlarge -

This is a sneak preview of Angela and Mike's Spring Wedding with many more photographs to follow as I have just started editing the images.  The photo collage above is their spectacular wedding cake along with them taking their first dance at the Celebrity Ballroom at the Radisson in Merrillville, Indiana.

We started the day at Angela's parents house in Hebron, Indiana where I got some quick portraits of the bride and her bridesmaids just before we were off to leave for the church.

The house in Hebron was just a few minutes from St. Elizabeth Ann Seton church and had a terrific four seasons room that let in a lot of natural light for this photo of the the beautiful bride.

This room also doubled as the hair and makeup center.  Big enough for a couple of hair stylist, some bridesmaids, orange juice (wink -wink), a photographer with two big cameras and apparently from all the shrieking, a spider as well!!

Angela's mom was a great hostess to me and all the girls.  She was always running to take care of things, but I finally got a quick shot of her with her daughter...

Literally minutes before heading to the ceremony, I gathered the girls underneath the weeping willow tree in their Hebron backyard.  Watch out for those branches!!

Soon after the above photo, I arrived at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton in Valparaiso, Indiana and captured the groomsmen and the groom in this walking shot along the cornfields behind the church.

Wedding are always a race against the clock, so we managed to sneak in a few formal shots of the guys inside the church, including this one of the groom...

Pastor Mike at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton was terrific and allowed me very free reign on where I could photograph the wedding from.  In this photo, the bride is beaming as she walks down the aisle arm in arm with her father. Look at the detail in that dress!!

After formal shots along the lakefront in Hobart, we ended the night at the Celebrity Ballroom in the Radisson Hotel in Merrillville, Indiana.  Here are some shots of the bride and groom during their first dance...

Here is one of many crazy dancing shots.  Here I actually got on floor of the ballroom and shot up at the partiers who more than willing to mug for the camera...

So why just a sneak preview?  Why not show the whole wedding now?  For professional wedding photographs I shoot in a different kind of format that yields high quality images.  Although it is digital, I have to "develop" every image in the digital darkroom for maximum detail and sharpness.  Right now all the images are digital negatives awaiting development.  However, I work pretty quickly so in 10 days or so all of Angela's and Mikes wedding photos will be in a gallery online for all to view.

I urge you to "like" SBV Photography on Facebook and to sign up for the RSS fee right here for updates.  In the meantime, let's take another look at that spectacular wedding cake...

Megan and Austin's Fall Wedding Pt.1 (Getting Ready)

You may remember Megan and Austin from their Chicago Engagement Session earlier this past year.  I spent most of an afternoon getting to know them and of course shooting images of them as a couple out and about.  So when the big day arrived for their Fall Wedding I felt very comfortable in capturing what they were all about - which came down to family and friends.  It was apparent that while the engagement session was all about them (naturally), this day needed to have the other people in their lives just as much.

I arrived at Megan's parents home and began taking detail shots and conversing with her bridesmaids as rain poured down outside.

- click image to enlarge -

When Megan arrived, I immediately put the friends and family idea into motion...

- click image to enlarge -

All year I've really enjoyed getting simple close ups of bridesmaids and family members.  There is something about simplicity that makes for some of the best portraits.  I hope these girls agree.

- click images to enlarge -

We took quite a few of these close ups and candids of the girls getting their make up on, etc.  Soon it was time for the bride to wow the crowd with a little help from mom and friends..

Megan loves the color and black and white mixed images.  Here is one of those in the "simple portrait" style.

- click image to enlarge -

Mom and Dad were beaming and I really like this shot of them at their St. John home with their daughter just moments before leaving for St. Michaels Church in Schererville, Indiana.

- click image to enlarge -

Hey, how did this guy get in here?!!  I left ahead of Megan and her family to capture a few images of the groom and his groomsmen who were waiting back at the church.

This next one is one of the couple's favorites, a brown tone image of the guys in the lobby of St. Michael's church.

- click image to enlarge -

At this point, the rain was still coming down.  Tune in for our next segment for shots of the ceremony and to see if my streak of nice weather (a 1000% in 2010) for outdoor formal shots continues or finally gets broken!!

Rebecca and Jack's Beach Wedding Pt. 3

- click image to enlarge -

I've been referring to Rebecca and Jack's "beach wedding", but where has the actual beach been?  Well, today it is finally here.  After the ceremony, we immediately began family shots at the lagoon behind the Marquette Park Pavilion.  After parents and grandparents were all done, we then took the wedding party and the happy couple onto the sands of Lake Michigan where the temperature really began to drop.  This was october and we were actually very lucky to be able to walk out there at all.

Let's start with some of the lagoon shots...

- click image to enlarge -

Below is the Maid of Honor Rose, sister of the bride....

Our first shot at the beach was this semi-silhouette of Jack and Rebecca having a moment...

- click image to enlarge -

We had a faint haze in the air that day, but were still able to see the city of Chicago in the background of some of our shots.

Below is the image Rebecca and Jack chose for the cover of their wedding album...

- click image to enlarge -

For the guys, I had them pile up in Jack's vintage car that was parked in front of the Marquette Park Pavilion.

The fake getaway of the bride and groom...

The day provided us with some dramatic skies and I especially like this one of our bride on the steps of the pavilion.

- click image to enlarge -

I want to finish up this post with one of my favorite images from the beach, this candid shot of Jack trying to keep his bride warm as they made their way toward the beach.  If you are thinking of an outdoor wedding, definitely keep Marquette Park Pavilion in mind.  I really enjoyed the fact that Rebecca and jack decided to have everything in this one location - Getting Ready, Ceremony, Formals and as we will see in the next posting - Reception too.