Our day of wedding photography began with the the guys.  With a little inspiration, we broke out the 80’s rocker inside each one.  They were so great and had a blast rocking a wig and shades.

While the gentleman went to relax, I stopped by and found Nicki getting ready at her hotel room l.  The bridesmaids were furiously getting ready so that they could help Nicki get one more step closer to the big day.  She looked gorgeous in her wedding dress, and the netted veil was a unique touch!

As a creative Cleveland wedding photographer, we’re fortunate enough to see some beautiful wedding gowns and shoes – Nicki’s were insanely gorgeous – perfect for her personality and style!

Ben and Nicki chose to see each other and share a special moment before the wedding.  I placed Nicki in the hotel elevator, which was original to the building, and she took it down to the lobby.  Ben was waiting for her when the doors opened and the tears immediately began to flow.

Our creative wedding photography session in downtown Cleveland was a blast – we captured and created some really incredible imagery while exploring the city-scape.

I love the way this little photo-montage turned out – I’ve found taking a mix of fun & elegant photos during our creative sessions breaks things up a bit & gives couples a variety to their wedding photographs.

The House of Blues was an incredible venue to have a wedding ceremony and reception.  We had an opportunity to go up to the Members Only bar where I captured a cool image of them kissing down a dark hallway.

The YMCA song was particularly special – the wigs and sunglasses were rocked out once again!

Nicki & Ben – we had so much fun being your wedding photographers – thank you SO much for the great honor and privilege.  I hope you enjoy the sneak peak – the art we created together is wonderful – I can’t wait for you to get your Wedding StoryBooks!

Carrie and Lance celebrated a wonderful wedding on the west side of the awesome Cleveland area. With all of the singing, dancing laughing and festive merriment it was impossible to be anything but overjoyed for their life together. Please enjoy this artistic representation of the love and joy that I saw that day. Cheers!

(a little tribute to andy warhol)

The two were married and had their wedding reception at Tom’s Country Place in Avon ohio.  Tom’s Country Place is a wonderful down-homey-feeling outdoor cleveland wedding venue and reception venue.  They have a gorgeous stone altar, and lots of land for fun and creative wedding photography!

Uni & Charlie did just that – their wedding was this May – and we had a heck-of-a time (check a few favs from their day here if you missed it!). One thing that made their day stand out, was their close attention to what I call wedding branding.

What is wedding branding? Wedding branding is when a couple find a tangible way to communicate something about their personality and love through different elements of their wedding day. What does that mean in practice? It’s something many couples already do – using consistent colors, linking print items together in a theme (invites / save-the-dates / coasters), and a host of other tangible & intangible efforts that create a personality to your wedding.

Uni & Charlie’s entire wedding is a perfect example of what it means to brand your wedding – check out their stuff! I was so wowed by every little piece of mail goodness I received in the days leading up to their wedding, and blown away by the follow through on their day of. Their save the dates for instance – not only are they incredibly fun & well designed – but what’s that? They double as coasters?? Amazingness right there folks. And why coasters you ask? You might want to visit there home in Findlay ohio, and check out their coaster collection – an an entire room of framed coaster hanging on the walls!

There invitations & response cards were so perfect – larger cards FULL of personality and color. The design is stellar, clean fonts & lots of whisking curves – so perfect to put you in the mood to celebrate, and so well matched with the feel of the rest of their set. Wondering where they got there wonderful invitations printed? Check it out - www.BellaFigura.com.

The coasters were a double-win, as they used them consistently through-out their wedding weekend activities. The coasters served as invites to their sunday morning brunch, as part of a sweet set of wedding favors at their reception (doubled up with customized jone’s soda bottles), and even as “thank-you cards” for later on. All of the custom wedding coaster prints were designed by Uni & Charlie and printed by beforeyourparty.com.

I’m guessing you can tell what a fan I am of creative & fun brides and grooms. As a Cleveland creative wedding photographer, nothing brings my heart more joy than treats like this I was so excited that I had Uni & Charlie send me up some samples of their wedding collateral so I could do a little photshoot to share their creativity with other brides!

Check out above – one of Uni & Charlie’s kick-butt thank-you cards Pardon my sharing of their note – but seriously – taking the time to send a thank you card to your vendors? That means SOOOO much to us -and is uber classy

Did I mention their reception dinner markers? These were gorgeous – a perfect way to proudly announce the dinner they were serving their guests – also designed by Charlie & Uni, and printed at beforeyourparty.com.

Although I’ve shared these fantastically fun wedding photographs in Uni & Charlie’s Sneak Peak – I thought I’d include them here to give you a sense of how wonderful their Findlay Wedding played out – all thanks to all their attention to detail and impeccable wedding branding.

During the toasts, mentioned several times, many family members addressed the heart of love and compassion that Margan and Adam had. Not only for each other but also for all of their friends and family around them. I truly believe that their understanding of love and their care for each other will not only bless them through out their lives but will also overflow to others as well. I was honored to be a part of their day and wish them a full and hearty congratulations!

You might remember these two from prior to their wedding – Brett photographed their engagement session a month or two ago – snagging some nifty and fun photos for them to enjoy – check it out here if you missed it!

Margan & Adam’s Wedding took place at Margan’s home near Cleveland Ohio – it was a simply gorgeous place to photograph.  As a Cleveland wedding photographer I so enjoy photographing in locations that are full of character and architecture – venues like these create stunning and innovative wedding photography.

It was so amazing to be part of a traditional Persian ceremony!  Part of the fun was learning the unique cultural traditions inherent in the Persian culture – the other part was the simple beauty of photographing a Persian Wedding.   These Persian wedding photographs are true examples of the heart and tradition bound in Margan’s family traditions, what a pleasure to be a part of!

(my favorite) (also my favorite… can i have 2 favorites?)

The Reception was epic – Margan & Adam chose the Downtown Cleveland Marriott for their wedding reception venue, and had “The Avenue” band from Jerry Bruno Productions as their wedding reception band.  Talk about talented musicians – they kept the crowd going – lots of fun, and LOTS of dancing!!

I’ll start here… they rock.   From the moment we connected over coffee – we bonded – we were buddies.  When 999% of your work as a wedding photographer is derived from the chemistry you have with a bride and groom, you have to love couples like this.

I’m not just saying this either folks – I proudly call Uni & Charlie friends of mine – I couldn’t have had more fun at their wedding day, and could fill this blog with all the little things these two have done to impress me with not only their love for eachother – but their love for people.  I’m just a huge uni/charlie fan!!! Alrighty – onto the pics themselves

Above? Yes – this is an awesome bridal party – one of my favs to date. I had so much fun coaxing them into some non-traditional creativity – it’s so much fun getting pictures of people being themselves!

And below? Check it all you soon to be brides – Uni & Charlie are MASTERS of wedding branding. No joke – their entire wedding day is branded to who they are – from wedding invites, to reception coaster – everything bears their branding & wedding colors. From a person who absolutely adores creative branding and wedding creativity, I’m such a fan of what they did.

And I can’t tell you how much I loved the Jones Soda Bottles they customized to be as favors for their wedding reception – how much fun is that? Every Jones Soda Bottle had fun pics of them together, and came accompanied with a wedding hang tag with the guests name on it – perfect for reception seating assignments.

Above you’ll see some of my favorite guilty pleasures of being a creative modern wedding photographer – creative & unique ring shots! The hang tags & coasters – made perfect for a few fun photographs.

One of my all-time favorite moments from the day was when we pulled out the couch from the University of Findlay office of admissions (where Uni & Charlie work, met & got engaged), and had a little impromptu fun outside the building together. This particular series is from our “musical chairs” contest – where my man Luke (up & coming awesome photog & amazing assistant!) beat boxed a little music for us them to work with. Love it.

Did I mention how much fun it was creating wedding photographs on the grounds of the university of Findlay? Probably not – it was a BLAST. The best part was exploring Findlay’s possibilities, and creating some really modern & unique wedding photographs!

I simply loved the iron work, stairs & architecture I found I could work with on campus, what fun! It couldnt’ have been easier than with these two – Uni & Charlie were so easy going and fun – perfectly adapting to our non-traditional style of creating images. I absolutely love couples like this – people are ready to throw off the “posey-pose” photography, and ready to embrace and create some art!

Uni & Charlie’s wedding party was on-board too – we spent so much fun time exploring the city of Findlay too – just having fun, laughing, eating buck-doubles at burger-king ( I seriously think 30+ were purchased at one point?!) and of course making some off-beat & artsy photos.

Some of my fav shots are from their wedding reception entrance – the silly string they employed was down-right hilarious – I’m such a fan of silly string now. I guess I always have been anyways, lol.

Findlay Inn was their wedding reception venue – we’ve photographed a few wedding receptions there – the Findlay Inn is a GREAT venue – I love their classy elevators and beautiful set-up. And what could have made a reception better in North-west ohio than the awesome DJ’s at Decorative Sound? Seriously – if you’re getting married anywhere in NorthWest ohio, these are the guys to call – www.decorativesound.com

Alrighty folks – I hope you enjoyed my write-up on Uni & Charlie’s Wedding Photos! Uni & Charlie – shine on friends – so stoked about you two – and all the years you have ahead. You two have been such a huge blessing to me, I’ll never be able to thank you enough for allowing me the privilege of serving you – rock on – and enjoy your photos!

Seriously – being a creative Cleveland photographer in the summer is where it’s at. We have some fun urban landscapes that make for a great environment for off-beat and non-traditional wedding photographs, and we have STELLAR couples like Sarah & Matt.

Sarah & Matt? Yup – that’s these two! This ridiculously cute couple asked us to be their Cleveland wedding photographer for their upcoming wedding this fall, and I’m thrilled for it.

And what better way to start off their upcoming wedding photography than a fun engagement session? That’s a trick question… there’s no better way! We had a blast of a night – and awesome time to say the least. Our session started a bit on a funny note though – the weather just wasn’t cooperating with us (gotta love lake erie storm systems!).

Fortunately though, Matt & Sarah are like me – they’re risk takers, and that fits perfectly into my thoughts on what it means to be a modern photographer. The three of us set off into a fun adventure of photography & dodging impending rain showers, and it was a grand time for sure. We hopped, skipped & jumped our way from public square all the way up to the coast by the rock hall, and stayed (fairly) dry throughout it.

And the risk paid off – for sure. Together we created some really fun & heartfelt images – stuff I’m very proud of being a part of. The two have a natural chemistry, a real heart and love for each other that absolutely shines through these images – I love it.

Please enjoy these selected favorites from our awesome & fun Cleveland engagement session. Sarah & Matt – I SO enjoy you two – thank you for the fun & memorable evening – I’m so excited for your wedding this Fall!