Writing Your Own Wedding Vows

As a wedding photographer who has photographed everything from solemn church weddings to candle lit ceremonies in small halls to large outdoor venues, I have heard many different types of wedding vows.

I personally suggest having vows that reflect the type of ceremony you are having.  If you are modeling your wedding after the royal wedding, then write your vows to reflect that.  A rock star wedding on the beach with a trash the dress session scheduled for the next day should adress that unique ceremony as well.

I'm of the belief that having "fun wedding vows" doesn't make you any less elegant, just as traditional vows do not make you any less fun.  These are all just my opinions as I'm just the photographer.  Please consult with your family and your officiator for best practices.

I would like to point you to a few sites and articles that may help you with your wedding vows. For many different styles (along with user ratings), check out My Wedding Vows.

  

For an in depth article, visit The Knot's 20 Tips For Writing Your Own Wedding Vows.

To find some really elegant vows, visit Elegant Vows.  This site has paid and free vows available for you to use.

For a lighthearted gesture of love to your spouse on your wedding day, check out the Wedding Vows Den.

As wedding season approaches (my first assignments are in April), I hope you find this post useful.  I look forward to hearing your vows - rock star or traditional - as I photograph your ceremony this year!!

Wedding Venue Spotlight: Dewey Cannon Winery in Three Oaks, MI

My latest clients Janine and Michael just turned me on to a great venue for weddings in Three Oaks Michigan.  The Dewey Cannon Winery looks to be a wonderful location and it's just a short drive from Northwest Indiana.

I plan on visiting the winery as soon as the weather breaks and will report back with some images.  From the Dewey Cannon Winery website....

Our upscale, yet comfortable and romantic winery blends an Old World French Country ambiance surrounded by French oak wine barrels, antique chandeliers, exceptional art, leather club chairs, European wall fountains, 25’ tasting bar and wonderful restaurant.

Included in one of the packages is the use of a vintage Rolls Royce Silver Shadow.  I can't wait to take some wedding photos of the happy couple in this retro classic!! 

Our bride Janine will be getting ready at the winery and the ceremony and reception will be held there as well.  As the wedding photographer, I love these one stop wedding destinations.  I plan on photos in all areas of the winery in downtown Three Oaks, Michigan.  We want the wedding book to have a variety of backgrounds so the couple and family can enjoy their wedding photos for years to come and not be bored with the same backgrounds in every image.

If you are looking for something a bit different and would like a little upscale atmosphere to your wedding reception, check out Dewey Cannon Winery in Three Oaks.  Subscribe to the RSS feed here on the Merrillville Wedding Journal page and look for an update when I visit the winery this Spring.  Of course, look for Janine and Michael's wedding photos in July as well.

All About Our Modern Wedding Albums

The wedding albums here at Region Weddings are done in a very modern, coffee table style format.  The covers are custom designed to fit the clients needs.  Sometimes the bride and myself will decide to go with the color of her bridesmaid's dresses as the dominant theme.  

The pages all come with a luster coating for deep colors and protection.  I use a lab that ONLY prints books and nothing else.  They are of the highest quality and rival some photography books that you will see at Barnes and Noble or Borders book stores.

After the wedding is done and I have edited all images, I will have the couple and their family over for Premiere Night, where we will look at all of their wedding photos.  At this time, we will decide together what images will grace the front and back covers as well as the dominant color scheme.

Sometimes we will go with the color that best blends with the photo we have selected to on the wedding album cover.  For Jack and Rebecca's beach wedding at Marquette Park, we decided on tan to blend well with the color of the beach sand.

For the back cover, we decided on the wide shot of them kissing in the back of a classic car convertible just outside of Marquette Park Pavilion.

Sometimes wedding clients will ask for a themed for their wedding.  In the case of Heather and Gordon, it was an author theme as they are writers, readers and lovers of literature.  I made a custom collage of some of their wedding details along with shots from their wedding day.

If you choose Package #2 you will receive all of your wedding photos in a book.  If you go with Package #3, the designs are laced throughout the book along with all of your wedding images.

For the inside of the wedding book, I very often start out with single shots of the bride and groom...

The specially designed inner pages (for Package #3) can be quite elaborate faux necklaces and torn wrapping paper and wedding rings too....

All of my wedding clients have loved their albums and it's a great, economical way to get all of your photographs professionally printed as well.

For Austin and Megan's Chicago engagement photos we went for a Fall, leafy themed cover.  Even though their wedding was in October we did not want to repeat ourselves, so a classy, classic wedding album cover was chosen.  Two beaded hearts were designed into the album cover.

All wedding books come in a 12x12 Square size.  The designed images are printed directly onto the hardbound cover.  Mom and grandparent brag books are available in a 7x7 Square (with designed cover) or a simpler 8.5 x11 hard book with a slip cover.

Remember that a wedding album, along with all day coverage comes with every package at Region Weddings.  It depends how elaborately designed you would like your photo book to be.  I believe a wedding book should go all out.  Either way, a simple design or lots of embellishment - these wedding albums are of the highest quality.

I bring samples to all my meetings.  I also carry the vintage style wedding albums that are thicker and heavier for those who prefer a more traditional look as opposed to the modern wedding album.

Wedding and Engagement Photo Collages

One of my favorite things to do and something I'm very proud to be known for is my wedding and engagement photo collages.  Some are simple like the shot of the cake topper with an inset of the bride and groom from their reception at Avalon Manor.  

Others are more complex, such as this shot below of the same couple's engagement photos.  The original shot taken simply has them kissing beneath the Chicago Theater.  I had some pedestrians to remove from the scene along with the advertisements on the marquee.  I placed other images from the Chicago Engagement Session within the marquee and added their wedding date as a coming attraction.  I then filled the empty foreground with other engagement photos of the happy couple dancing along the lakefront of Chicago.  It's one of my favorite photo collages.

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I'll be displaying many of my favorite wedding and engagement photo collages in this posting along with some of my other work with kids and high school seniors.  Be sure to click on each image to enlarge it for best detail.

Next up are the wedding photos of Austin and Megan.  The main image is the gazebo at Ellendale Farms in Crown Point.  I melded this shot with the bride and groom's first kiss at their ceremony at St. Michael's in Schererville and reception photos at The Patrician.

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Those of you who know my wedding work only, may not know that I have a studio in Merrillville.  The shot above is of local author and web designer Nichole Baiel.  She needed publicity photos and I made this "word cloud" collage that illustrated her creative skills in writing and design.

Another "word cloud" montage is of the adorable little girl Ava, whom I photographed last Fall in Chesterton, Indiana at Coffee Creek Park.

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Here is another studio kids photo of Justin for his "one" birthday.

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Most of my collages are in the size of 16x20, 11x14 and 16x24 and are great as Stand Out wall prints or Gallery Print Wraps.  Wedding Package #3 come with one of these 16x20 wall prints.

Here is a super close up of the guest book at Heather and Flo's wedding reception in Hammond at The Knights of Columbus hall along with one of their first dance photos.

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Family events work great for these photo collages.  This is a family bonfire party taken around Halloween in Grovertown, Indiana just east of Valparaiso.

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I love to take ring shots up coose and use them as the background of a photo collage.  It is my favorite way to take ring shots.  Sometimes I will place them inside the petals of the bouquet of flowers or in the case for this Fall wedding, a giant leaf sitting upon a tree stump at Ogden Garden in Valparaiso.

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My high school senior photos make for good collages with the students name and graduating year placed within.  Here is one from Hobart student Chanler, a 2011 graduate and three sport athlete.

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Speaking of high school, one of my favorite events that I have covered is this Highland High School rendition of South Pacific...

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Getting back to weddings, sometimes I like to make a collage out of different elements of one single photo.  Here is Chris and Elise from their wedding at Valparaiso University at the altar of the Chapel of the Resurrection. 

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Sometimes melding an illustration together with photographs can make for unique images.  These are winter engagement photos taken in Chicago along with an illustration of the city in black and white.

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One of the more unique wedding receptions I've photographed was the masquerade ball of Jack and Rebecca at Marquette Park Pavilion along the beach in Lake Michigan.

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Lastly, let's take a look at two photo collages of the same couple.  The first one is Austin and Megan's engagement photos in Chicago at Wrigley Field, home of the Cubs.  When it came time for their wedding the following Autumn, I took their rings which were sitting in the basement of Megan's St. John home and melded them with formal shots in Crown Point and the ceremony at St. Michael's church.

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For weddings, I usually do at least four of these photo collages.  I make one each for Getting Ready, Ceremony, Formals and the Reception.  They are a big hit with the couples and their families and I really enjoy creating them.