Three years later | Grand rapids wedding photographer

It all began with an ad for a Canon rebel on Craigslist. I always wanted a “real” camera to take pictures of our dogs and eventually of our kids.  It was only $600 for the camera and 2 lenses, perfect! I made the drive to Holland to pick up my new camera, that was in August of 2008.  I started taking pictures of the flowers in my yard, Charlie’s triathlon races and my dogs.  Of course all of this was on the auto mode, I had no idea what I was doing. I would read the manual, make notes and try to make my pictures look like… well good!

I had always been in love with weddings. I used to scour the wedding magazines at the check out lane at the grocery store, dreaming the of day I would wear a puffy sleeved dress. Hey it was the 80s!  So when our friends Carly & Garry got engaged I jumped at the chance to practice taking engagement pictures of them. Still in manual mode and with my pop up flash we headed out to the woods for their session. I knew nothing about lightening, posing or anything. I just did what I thought looked good.  I loved how the pictures turned out and I received tons of compliments on them (I cringe now).  Without another thought I applied for an LLC and started my business. That was November 2008, a mere 3 months after getting my first DSLR.  I like to say I jumped in the pool head first, not even looking to see if there was water in it.

After this first session I offered free engagement sessions on The Knot’s Grand Rapids board (I used to be on the boards when I was planning my wedding). I did a few more engagement sessions and I was hooked. I booked my first wedding in March 2009 for later that summer.  I kept telling Maren (the bride), you know I’ve never photographed a wedding before, right? But she liked what she saw and trusted me. I booked a total of 6 weddings that first summer, I couldn’t believe it!

Three years later here I am amazed at how far I have come. Since starting my business I’ve been published in five magazines (Shore Bride Magazine, Grand Rapids Bride Magazine, Kalamazoo Bride Magazine, Claudia Noivas and The Knot Michigan), featured on Style me Pretty and Shore Bride Magazine blogs and my work has been used by other vendors for their advertising!  I never could have imagined three years ago when I answered that ad on Craigslist that my life would turn out the way it has. I am so grateful and feel so blessed to have photographed some of the most important moments in people’s lives.  Thank you to all of my clients for your patience, support, love, trust and constant encouragement. I hope this is just the beginning of an amazing journey.

Oh and to show you just how far I have come these last few years, below is a picture of Carly & Garry from the very first engagement session I have ever done. I was all about over saturation and lots of contrast, hey I was using Picasa to edit, what did I know!

Carly & Garry, November 2008

Then….. and  Now……

 Sarah & Marc, November 2011

 

:)

Gen

 

Jacqui & Jake married | Grand Haven wedding photography |

They say it’s good luck if it rains on your wedding day. Than if that’s true Jacqui and Jake will have plenty of luck and love to last them an eternity! As I drove out to Grand Haven in late summer to meet Jacqui I saw the storm clouds. My fingers were crossed that it wouldn’t last too long. Well it didn’t last that long, but boy did it ever rain.  The rain, the sprinkles and the puddles of water couldn’t even compete with the love that Jacqui and Jake have for each other, they are absolutely adorable oh and did I mention completely gorgeous!

I had been very excited for their wedding ever since we meet 4th of July weekend the previous summer. We met at Chilli’s (classy I know) and talked all about the two of them, their plans and anything and everything. You know you really connect with a couple when two hours go by and it only seems like 30 minutes. So anyway, back to their wedding day.  The rain clouds departed, the sun came out and it was a beautiful day for their wedding.  Both their ceremony and reception were held at the amazing Harbourfront Grand Hall, which was nice to not have to pack up and travel.  Since we were in Grand Haven of course we had to make a quick stop at the beach. I feel like anytime after it storms, the light is just perfect, and that day was no exception.  The beach was a perfect place for pictures of just the two of them. I just adore the way that Jake looks at Jacqui,  you can see so much love in his eyes for her. Well I could go on and on about how fabulous these two are and how much I enjoyed photographing their wedding. But I’ll let you keep scrolling down so you can see everything I’ve been talking about. Oh and little fact, Jacqui is the college roommate of one of my first brides, Carla and Alex.  Carla has this fabulous blog Hammers and High Heels that’s all about her beautiful house and all of the projects she does to decorate it. A Pinterest pinners dream! So check her out.

Thank you very much Jacqui and Jake for having me photograph your beautiful wedding. I have my fingers crossed that after grad school you guys will be moving to the west side:)  And thank you to my good friend Jen for all of your help!

 

 

 

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