Metro Detroit Michigan wedding photography at MacRay Harbor provided by Leah and Aaron, who are part of Kellie's team of creative wedding photographers in Southeast Michigan. Abby and Rob are quite an amazing couple! Believe it or not, they came to me via a bridal show contest! I rarely have contests and to be honest I rarely do bridal shows, but I decided a couple of years ago to test the bridal show waters and what a blast it was! I met some of the most wonderful couples and booked some great weddings. I decided to have a contest and the lucky winner would win wedding coverage. Well, I couldn't have picked a more deserving and humble couple if I hand picked them myself! Abby and Rob not only serve our country proudly in the armed services, but they are just two great human beings! I am one of those people who believe in fate and all that stuff that some people call hooky, and I do believe it was fate that I picked their name in the drawing. I love giving back and it felt really good that the winning couple was a couple who were service members. To top it off, this wedding was shot by two of my associate photographers, Leah and Aaron. I've worked with Aaron (who is a lighting guru) for many years, and Leah is one of my most favorite photographer friends. She's retiring from running her own business, so she's offered to work with me in the interim and I couldn't be happier that my clients are on the receiving end of such talent! Let's wish Abby and Rob the most wonderful life ever! They are deserving and have earned our well wishes, respect and blessings!

Detroit wedding photography at the Most Blessed Sacrament and the Colony Club provided by Kellie Saunders and Dionne Haglund, two favorite Michigan wedding photographers. Can I just say how fantastic Tara and John Henry are? They are an absolutely fantastic couple who are in love with each other and their friends and families! There aren't many images that you will see in this blog where they didn't have a huge smile on their face. In fact, at times I would ask them not to smile so I could get a "more serious" shot, but alas - they could not turn those smiles off. I don't blame them either, because these two were made to smile and laugh. I often say that I can see someones heart when I'm photographing them on their wedding day. I can generally tell if they are good people at heart who are kind, caring and loving. Tara and John Henry, let me just say that you two are made from good stock. You are good people at heart - kind, caring and LOVING! It was a pleasure working with them and I hope to have more clients like them. So let's talk about their wedding day. First - let's describe it with one word - YOLO! You only live once (for those who aren't in the "know"). It rained, and when I saw it rained - I mean it rained. Does this mean bad luck? Does this mean bad photos? Nope. Not at all - as long as you can remember that YOU ONLY LIVE ONCE! Tara and John Henry with their big smiles just ran with it. And you can see below that it was a good thing! I'm so happy with the images we got. We started their day at the Detroit Marriott at the Renaissance Center. The Marriott staff are so wonderful. Check out the nice champaign gift along with lovely notes the manager left for Tara and John Henry. Score bonus points to the Marriott! After Tara and John Henry dressed and worked out their nervous energy we headed over to the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament on Woodward for a beautiful traditional Catholic Mass celebration officiated by Father J.J Mech. We had minimal time for portraits and what a bummer to look outside and see it raining. But Tara and John Henry looked at each other and said - let's do this! And so we did! After taking a few portraits outside in the rain (LOVE THESE IMAGES by the way), we landed at the Colony Club (one of Detroit's finest wedding venues) for the reception. We were welcomed by their wedding band Parallel Fifth where everyone danced the night away! If you are looking for some fun wedding photos from the Colony Club, look no further. You'll see some great Colony Club wedding pictures here!

Metro Detroit Michigan wedding photography at the Detroit Athletic Club provided by Kellie Saunders and her team of creative Michigan wedding photographers. What a gorgeous day in the city for a wedding! Molly and Tom went to school together at Grosse Pointe South, where we actually had their engagement session. You can see that HERE. They have been dating since their sophmore year (high school sweethearts!!!). These two are so easy going, gracious and fun that working on their wedding day didn't feel like work at all. I felt like I was hanging out with old friends. When I arrived at Molly's mom's house, the feeling of excitement was buzzing in the air. Molly and her bridesmaids were putting the final touches on their makeup and hair. The girls were laughing and having a great time. Molly kept her dress hidden from the girls. When I say hidden, I'm talking she never showed them a photo or anything. She wanted it to be a surprise. Molly's mom helped her get dressed and after a few moments alone with her mom, Molly had the big reveal to her girls. Their reactions were priceless! I still can't believe she kept it a secret for that long. I can only keep a secret for all of about five minutes. When I saw the girls reactions, I kew Tom's would be even better when he saw her. We headed out to St. Paul on the Lake Catholic church for a traditional wedding celebratory mass. I met up with my sidekick Dionne Haglund who was working with me that day. (By the way - she's fabulous - you can check her work out at www.theshootinggallery.com). Tom wasn't one bit nervous - not that I could see at least. The first thing he did was ask me how Molly was doing. (He is a keeper Molly!!!) They had a lovely wedding mass officiated by Deacon Jamieson and after mass a bagpiper greeted guests as they exited their church. Belle Isle was where we decided to shoot their official wedding portraits. It was a great choice because we were able to snag some gorgeous images for them before heading over to the Detroit Athletic Club for the reception. Tom is not only a member of the club, but he is quite the squash player from what I hear. ;-) I hadn't seen the roof since the DAC remodeled it, but wow - it sure is gorgeous! Join me in wishing Molly and Tom the most happy life together! I'm lucky to have such wonderful clients like them!

Detroit wedding photography provided by Kellie Saunders and Dionne Haglund, two favorite Michigan wedding photographers. What a beautiful day and what a beautiful couple! Dan and Angelina are two souls that were meant to be together. I know I say that about all my couples. I like to think that every single one of my couples were born to be together, but with Dan and Angelina, I felt that they must have known each other in another place and time (if you believe that kind of stuff that is). Dan is a local radio personality and Angelina a Doctor. When I think of them as a couple, the words that come to mind are, kind, caring, loving, funny and boy are they funny! We laughed our way through their engagement session which you can see here: ENGAGEMENT SESSION and we laughed our way through their wedding photos as well. Their friends and family were just like them, fun and loving as well! Their wedding day went off without a hitch, even if we had a little bit of rain. They were married at the Academy of the Sacred Heart in Bloomfield Hills. I really absolutely adore shooting at that church. It's not only gorgeous but the grounds are fantastic for wedding portraits after ceremonies. Their bridal room is classic and stately - see for yourself below. Simply stunning! After their nuptials the bridal party played a little football (yes the whole bridal party), and then we were off to Detroit for wedding portraits at the Detroit Institute of Arts and the Detroit Public Library. Dionne, my sidekick for the day and I rode in the party bus with the bridal party and that's when we discovered how much fun they are! Once we arrived at the Regency Manor for their reception we knew everyone was ready to rock and roll! And rock and roll they did. There are always little things you learn about a couple on their wedding day that you never knew before. One of those things was that Dan's parents were dance instructors - so Dan grew up knowing how to cut a rug! When he danced with Angelina, the room lit up. What a wonderful first dance! Congrats to Dan and Angelina! May you have all the happiness in the world!

Up North in Michigan wedding photography in Gaylord provided by Kellie Saunders and her gal pal Leah Moss, two fabulous MI wedding photographers. How do I even begin to describe Katie and Troy's wedding day? Katie and Troy wanted a beautiful fall wedding. They planned their wedding in October around the best time for leaves and colors in Michigan. They even booked a beautiful venue (Ostego Club and Resort) up north in Gaylord. How did their day go down??? Well, let's start with snow. Next comes wind. Then sun. Then snow again. Then rain. Then snow with sleet, followed by sun and add a little rain at the end of the night. Most brides would call this a disaster. But, these were the cards that were given to Katie and Troy on their wedding day. Let me try to tell this story. Let me start at the beginning. Katie is my first cousin's wive's sister. So she's kind of like my first cousin once removed or something like that. Katie's sister contacted me and told me that her sister was about to hire another wedding photographer and she felt super pressured. I won't go into details, but like I tell all of my clients (family or not), you should never feel pressured to book any vendor. If it doesn't feel right, it's because it's not a good fit. Hiring a wedding photographer shouldn't feel bad. You should feel fantastic after you find "the one". Anyway, Katie and Troy decided to hire me to photograph their wedding in Gaylord and I'm so glad they did! The day before the wedding I picked up my gal pal Leah Moss (who is a fantastic wedding photographer), and we pretended to be Thelma and Louise (minus the death scene at the end) and turned our car towards Gaylord. About an hour into our trip I woke Leah up who was snooring way too loud in the seat next to me and said, "What the hell is that???" She looked at me and said, "Oh my god... I think it's SNOW!" We couldn't believe it. It wasn't a little light fluffy dusting of snow we were seeing. We were seeing the beginning of a snow storm. We discussed what we would do. We knew Katie would be a little upset when we saw her that evening. We checked into the resort (which by the way - Hilltop is amazing - and I'm a hotel snob), and immediately went to see how Katie was holding up. Her and her friends were drinking wine and talking about how the next day would go. Katie was upset. She wanted a fall wedding and this was definitely not what she had ordered up. Leah and I sat down with her and pulled up some winter portfolio shots and showed her that we will be able to get lovely images for her no matter what the weather. I could tell she was scared. Leah and I, along with her sister assured her that it would be fine. And then we kept giving her more and more wine. The more she drank the better she would feel - right??? Okay I am kidding. We did not get her drunk. The morning of the wedding was alive and vibrant as it always is. We looked outside and with the four inches of snow on the ground knew we were having a winter wedding in the fall. It just was the way it was going to go down. Little did we know what mother nature had in store for us that day. Katie had come to terms with the fact that she wouldn't get all of the fall photos she had wanted so badly. The outdoor ceremony was moved inside but it was still just as gorgeous! The lodge is beautiful and the fireplace they were married in front of really made the wedding feel like it was in a private lodge. As Katie was walking down the aisle the most spectacular thing happened. The sun came out. Not only did the sun come out, but the sun came out in full force - like with summertime heat! Within the 30 minute ceremony, four inches of snow had melted. I looked at Leah during the vows and we gave each other a secret high five with our eyes. We knew this was good! So it started. We went outside right away to begin their wedding portraits. No sooner than when I hit the shutter release button on my camera the sky darkened and I heard thunder. Yes - it was a thunder snow storm. Katie and Troy looked at each other and agreed that we would just go with whatever we were given. So, we jumped on a couple of golf carts and off we went into the thunder snow storm. As our golf cart entered a part of the club that was known for gorgeous trees the sky opened up once more and the sun - with all it's heated glory dropped in for a visit. Leah and I worked fast. The sun stayed out long enough for us to create some beautiful pictures for Katie and Troy. They sky changed colors so many times in that hour - it was truly unlike anything I've ever experienced. Weddings are wonderful days full of the unexpected. Michigan is Michigan. Three seasons in one day is the norm. Sometimes the sky opens up and gives us a little bit of love. Michigan, you did not disappoint on this fall day. You were your old ornery self. But you were beautiful! Katie and Troy, I wish you all the happiness ever! You guys are really amazing!