Ceremony at Nativity of Our Savior Catholic Church in Portage

Ryan and Sara are so made for each other!!  I could just feel the warmth while photographing their wedding ceremony at Nativity of Our Savior Catholic Church in Portage, Indiana.  I'm posting this sneak peek of wedding photos on their one week anniversary!!  Hopefully they are still in town to enjoy.

Sara's parents looked extremely proud while walking their daughter down the aisle as the bright sun shown outside behind them...

The sun rays were so powerful that they shined through the roof pillars of the church onto the bride and groom throughout their wedding ceremony.

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The father of the groom was one of the readers during the wedding at the Portage church as were many family and friends.

The sister and maid of honor to the bride was very helpful to my assistant and I throughout the day by tending to her dress as we eventually took outdoor photographs on this windy day.

Our first outdoor photo opportunity was right outside the Nativity of Our Savior Catholic Church next to the Virgin Mary sculpture.

Our next outdoor stop was the beach at Portage River Walk.  We battled with bright sun and wind, but prevailed.  thanks to the bride and groom for toughing it out.  Many more images from our beach session to come!!

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The reception took place at The Chateau Banquet Hall in Merrillville, Indiana.  The wedding party got out of the hot sun underneath the gazebo for an informal wedding photo...

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The mariachi band that kicked things off at the wedding reception was fantastic.  Many of them took turns serenading the bride and groom and entertaining the guests during dinner at The Chateau.

The bride and groom's family decorated the hall with some really unique decorations.  I will have photographs of the ice sculptures soon.  This wedding bell sits alone ready for guests to ring for the bride and groom to kiss.

Here Sara and Ryan toast each other just after the father of the bride gave an emotionally filled speech proclaiming great love and pride for his daughter.  One of the best reception speeches I have heard.  Great job Dad!!

Stay tuned and subscribe to this blog for more updates on Sara and Ryan's wedding at Nativity of Our Savior Catholic Church in Portage.  More updates will also appear on the SBV Photography Facebook Page as well.

Chicago Engagement Sneak Peek

Here's a sneak peek at Kelly and Mat's Chicago Session Engagement.  We had a bright sunny day to contend with along with some winds and, oh yeah - a heavily secured NATO conference!!  Fortunately, this soon to be married couple ARE NOT wanted criminals and the shoot went off without a hitch.  :)

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If you have followed the Northwest Indiana wedding journal for a while, you know I'm a big fan of these Chicago Engagement packages.  You will also know that this Chicago Sessions package consist of color images transferred to black and white after the shoot and made to look like old film.  It's romantic and cinematic - think 1960's street photography.

I'm currently editing Kelly and Mat's images to give them all these looks.  The color versions will be available to them as well as the black and white images.  The photo book that comes with the package (great for display at the reception) consist of all the black and white images made into one beautiful story of the day.

We may take in the garden at Millennium Park (see above) or go with the street photography look of the couple perched up high with the tall buildings as a backdrop...

The windy city brings many different looks, sometimes all within a single block.  It's a teasure trove of photo opportunities for engagement photos.

Stay tuned for more Kelly and Mat engagement pictures as I ready them for viewing.  I will be taking Memorial Day off to rest up after a terrific wedding in Portage yesterday.  Have a great weekend!!

Ogden Garden Engagement Photos

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Ogden Garden in Valparaiso is a great destination for outdoor weddings.  I also use this location for engagement photos like i did on a beautiful Spring day with Dustin and Jenny.  One of my favorite photos of the day is the one above with the happy couple caught laughing.  They were snuggled up on the Ogden Garden bridge with me a good distance away capturing some candid moments.  It's a very photojournalistic style of photography that I sometyimes employ to capture some natural reactions.

For the most part, we went with simple images of the young couple to show their love for each other.  i knew they wanted to captured the beautiful greenery of the garden and I wanted to capture their beautiful smiling faces as well.

Our groom to be - Dustin - was game to get down on one knee and kiss the hand of his bride to be.  Jenny and I threatened to put this up as a billboard on I-65 for all his homeboys to see!!  Fortunately for him, that did not prove to be cost efficient.  :)

Often times a couple will get a photo book of their engagement photos to show off at their wedding reception.  The image below was shot with that in mind as a background to a page.

Another popular product for engagement sessions is the Save the Date magnet.  This is the one I designed for Dustin and Jenny.  They received 50 of these Save the Date magnets for booking the Digital Deluxe Package for their September wedding.

Another item couples often display at their reception is a large wall print.  Dustin and Jenny chose this antique looking photo of them kissing on one of the park benches at Ogden Garden as a 16x20 Stand Out Wall Print.

Lastly, the engaged couple decided to show off their love for one another along with the love for their favorite football team - the Chicago Bears!!

I'm very much looking forward to Dustin and Jenny's Fall wedding this September!!

The Shrine of Christ's Passion Wedding Photos

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For Stacey and Steve's Spring wedding we took our formal wedding photos at The Shrine of Christ's Passion in St. John, Indiana.  This internationally known tourist attraction sits just in front of the new St. John the Evangelist Church.  It's a unique location for wedding photos and we were able to give the appearance of a mountainous area as seen in the photo of our bride facing the large duplicate of Jesus' cross.

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One of the couple's favorite wedding photos was this casual stroll amongst the greenery of The Shrine of Christ's Passion walkway.

I knew that Stacey was a big fan of selective color shots from their engagement session the previous year.  The groom instinctively helped his bride hold onto the bouquet of flowers while they embraced closely together.

The wedding party patiently waited for our couple's session to end and we gathered them all around the circular drive of the spectacular new church.

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Here is another one of my favorites with the bride and groom at the bottom of the hilltop with the church illuminated in the background.

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Below is one of my designed wedding images.  This is one I call the Love Story Canvas Wrap.  It's 20x24 sized wall print that wraps around wood and comes with a saw tooth hanger for immediate hanging.  All of our packages are digital, but still nothing beats a spectacular looking wall print.

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Finally we have the wonderful couple waving to all of their family and friends in this vintage looking wedding photo.  To see more of Stacey and Steve's Catholic wedding ceremony, visit this post from a couple of weeks ago.