Lisa and David get married at the Century Ballroom

When I first met Lisa and David they asked if I was comfortable working with a bunch of defense attorneys.  I will admit I was a bit puzzled, until they explained that they both worked for the public defender’s office, and that many of the guests at the wedding would also be defense attorneys.  Though my family includes quite a few lawyers, none of them dealt with this facet of the law and we had a nice chat as I asked them questions about what exactly they did, since most of my experience with defense attorneys comes from reading John Grisham novels.

We hit it off very well and they told me that they wanted me to be their photographer.  As we discussed their tentative wedding plans, for a wedding at the Century Ballroom followed immediately afterwards by a reception at Cafe Flora, I threw out a few possibilities that would allow them to get a better selection of photos.  Lisa and David wanted to be “traditional” and not have David see Lisa on the wedding day until she was coming down the aisle.  This meant that the option of taking photos pre-ceremony at a park would not work.  But as we talked about their schedule it became clear that if we were efficient with our time, we should be able to get some post-ceremony photos while all of the guests were making their way to the reception site.  Over the next few months we refined the possibilities, and came up with the final plan to let us maximize our photo options.

Pre-ceremony Photos at the Century Ballroom

I have photographed several other weddings at the Century Ballroom and know the venue pretty well.  It is a funky old building with some very interesting spaces for photos.  My favorite spot is the main ballroom, or to be more accurate the balcony above the ballroom and the stairs that access the balcony.  There are some good east-facing windows that provide very nice indirect light, which helps make for great photos.

The day of the wedding I arrived at the Ballroom just a few minutes before Lisa and her bridesmaid arrived in a big Hummer limo.  They were already dressed, and quickly made their way inside and into hiding upstairs before David could see Lisa.  David arrived a few minutes later, and after getting him safely placed in a room that kelp him well separated from Lisa I took Lisa into the Ballroom along with her parents and her bridesmaid for some photos.  The window lighting was excellent, and we had a lot of fun trying out different spots for photos. Once Lisa was done with photos, she moved back into hiding and David and his best man (and also his brother) joined me in the Ballroom for a “guys only” photo session.

The Wedding Ceremony

The guests had been arriving while I was busy photographing David, and shortly after we finished our session it was time for the ceremony to begin.  I have to say, attorneys are the most punctual wedding guests I have ever seen!  Typically a wedding will begin 15-20 minutes late, due to late arriving guests.  But virtually everyone who was expected to attend the ceremony was not only on time, they were early!  Must be that lawyers have to be on time for court.  Having a judge performing the ceremony might have helped motivate their timeliness as well!  😉

The ceremony was short and sweet, probably one of the fastest wedding ceremonies I have ever photographed.  But all of the important elements were there; vows were spoken and rings exchanged, and they were pronounced husband and wife.

Photo Session at Volunteer Park

As soon as they made their way down the aisle at the conclusion of the ceremony, David and Lisa headed right to the Ballroom where I got a few photos of the two of them together, and then outside so we could get some shots with the Century Ballroom sign.  They then got into the waiting limo, accompanied by Lisa’s parents, the best man and maid of honor, and David’s daughter.  We headed straight for Volunteer Park where we planned to get some photos before joining the guests at the reception site.  It was a gorgeous day, and warm enough that I wanted to keep everyone in the shade as much as possible.  We had a very pleasant photo session that maybe took ~30 minutes, getting not only a good selection of group photos but also more shots of just the newlyweds.  Volunteer Park offers a lot of photo possibilities and though we didn’t have a lot of time we still were able to get a nice variety of pictures.

Reception at Cafe Flora

Now it was time to head for the reception, which was to take place at the nearby Cafe Flora.  I headed off to find a place to park while the Hummer was being loaded up.  Our plan was for the guests to have time to reach the Cafe while we were taking photos, and this worked out pretty much perfectly.  Once Lisa, David and the rest of the wedding party and families arrived the newlyweds were given a warm welcome by their friends and the party got underway.

Enough of my blathering, now you can check out a selection of photos from the day.  I hope you enjoy them!