It doesn’t have to be a huge wedding to be amazing! Loved shooting this beach wedding at Lake Erie.  More to come

The amazing wedding day of Courtney and Matt began with a very elegant ceremony at St. Columbkille Catholic Church in Parma. How awesome is it that the newly weds released white doves outside of ceremony. Been to a lot of weddings, but never seen that before in person. Maybe in some movies. It was very romantic and a fantastic idea. The sun came up on what was suppose to be a very cloudy and rainy day. It held up long enough for us to head to the Cleveland Museum of Art and take some awesome photos.

The reception took place at Briarwood Golf Club over on Broadview Hts, OH. Full of super fun details that added that extra touch to complete Courtney & Matt’s wedding day. I’m sure it will be a day they will never forget. Hopefully these images will help them do just that.

Music entertainment was provided by TKO Entertainment.

Floral decorations by Creations by LYNN.

It always amazes me the places that my trusty camera takes me. I mean really… I got to shoot at Progressive Field with a fantastic couple! The engagement took off at Lake Erie’s Edgewater  park right near downtown Cleveland. And it transitioned to the home of the Cleveland Indians. There, we had free range to shoot anywhere and it was AWESOME!! I felt like a little kid… Cannot wait to the wedding! We actually have some history, I photographed Dani’s sister’s wedding and her brother’s too. It’s a reunion all over again!

Here are some of the photos!

My first wedding of the season! The wedding of Melissa and Andy was a total blast. Very layback and fun individuals surrounded the wedding day. Ceremony took place at St. John Neumann in Strongsville. The very elegant reception took place at St. Vlademir’s Grand Hall, the staff there was great. Music entertainment was provided by Troy Entertainment. I hope you enjoy the images as much as I enjoyed taking them

Oh I’m still in awe of how awesome this wedding looks! Still editing away the amazing wedding of Melissa and Andy, but I just had to post a teaser!

In my journey to get to know some  Cleveland Wedding vendors, I came across a very awesome team of wedding planners. Meet Amy and her fabulous team from Amy Nixon Events!

For your convenience, I gave Amy a short interview:

EM: So Amy, tell us a brief story of how you came across to the world of professional wedding planning, and why you love what you do.

AN: I started out arranging flowers and making homecoming mums back in high school when I joined the work program and got a job at a craft store. My favorite places to work there were the floral department and the party department. That led me into arranging real flowers and started me on my path to where I am today. It was when I moved from Texas to Ohio in 2005 that I decided to combine my floral background with planning services to create my own business. I love everything about this business I’ve created. I get to do what I enjoy, I put smiles on people’s faces, and I get to have a small part in one of the happiest days of their lives.

EM: Why would a bride-to-be choose to use a wedding planner instead of doing it themselves?

AN: A wedding planner can save time, stress and money. I work with a lot of out-of-state brides who can’t be here to handle the details and local brides who have full time jobs and don’t have the spare time to plan. A planner can be very valuable to those brides. There’s also the brides who just don’t know where to begin and need an experienced professional to guide them along the way. We offer different levels of packages, so we can offer a one hour consultation all the way up to a full planning package, depending on how much help is needed. Hiring a planner or coordinator means peace of mind that everything will go according to your wishes because it’s being handled by professionals.

EM: What inspires you when planning a wedding?

AN: I always look to the couple first for inspiration. Their hobbies, their personalities, their history together… I love to make their wedding as unique and personal as possible. I’m also inspired by all the fabulous wedding blogs out there today. I follow a ton of them and always see an idea that I can tweak to use for a client.

EM: Tell us about your team.

AN: Jamie, my husband and partner, has been on board since the beginning helping with event setup and coordinating. He has 20 years experience in team management, and that has transferred well into coordinating events. Whitney started with us as an intern last year and is now on staff as an event planner and coordinator. She has a degree from Bowling Green where she studied Political Science, and she is finishing up another degree in Journalism at Cleveland State. Shannon is our current intern and creative assistant, helping with floral and design projects. Last but not least, our newest team member is Maree, who is my personal assistant.

EM: Outside of wedding planning, tell us a little about yourself. What’s your favorite color, music, tv show, food… etc

AN: Outside of event planning (which isn’t much!) I love to cook and bake. I share recipes on a food blog and enjoy having dinner parties for people to try my cooking. I’m a reality TV junkie! Housewives, Kardashians…I love all the reality shows on TLC, Bravo and E! My other hobby is shopping! I love finding the sales and finding a good deal!

And here are some photos to proof how awesome Amy Nixon Events really is!

They put these details together just for me!

Top left you see Whitney, Amy and Shannon. Bottom left you see Amy and her husband Jamie.

Yesterdays shoot with the ladies at Amy Nixon Events was too much fun! They set up a table with lots of details just for me. How cool was that! Thanks again ladies!

Here’s a teaser of some of the images, more will come along with an interview on Thursday. Check out Amy’s Facebook page and click on the Like button

Let me just start of by saying that I absolutely love shooting with wide angle primes. I got the feeling that my new/used Nikon 35mm f/2D lens will have a hard time leaving my camera.

My previous choice for wide was the Sigma 20mm f/1.8, I bought the lens before switching from a cropped sensor on my Nikon D200 to my D700 which has a full frame sensor. What does that mean? The lens looks awesome in my D200 but looked way too wide on my D700. It looks specifically weird when photographing people, it distorts quiet a bit, making people look like they are melting a little. But it’s still an amazing lens to use for all around. And it will certainly come out of my camera bag on every wedding. However, my new best friend is my Nikon 35mm f/2D lens. It is one of the cheapest version of the 35′s but to my surprise an all around amazing lens. The focusing is very fast for a D lens and it’s sharp at it’s widest aperture of F2. And it allows me to get pretty close to my subject, almost as close as a macro lens. The wide angle feels natural and distortion is minimal. I cannot wait to shoot some weddings with this bad boy!

I took a few test shots with my wife and kids.

Shot with a Nikon D700 and 35mm f2D lens.

One of the very first things that Ashley requested when she booked me for her wedding was for me to do some night time photography. So I figured I experiment with long exposure portraits for their Engagement Session. The session took place at the Cleveland Museum of Art. We started inside the museum, they do not allow flash so I relied on my Nikon D700′s awesome ISO performance. It got really interesting after we left the museum.  Outside, I put the camera on a tripod and did anywhere from 10-20 sec exposure with a hint of flash to freeze the subject. I’m very happy with how some of these turned out.