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My Best Friends Wedding
First I have to congratulate Laura and Dustin. I love you both and it was an honor to share in this special day with you. For years Laura had always said she wanted me to play a special role in her wedding. We would even joke about the dress I would have to wear as a bridesmaid. When Laura and Dustin announced their intentions to wed the thought of a gift came to mind as well. For years now Laura and I have helped and supported each other through some tough times. We have both shared in our lives and our dreams, placed trust and faith in God, and watched the gifts of life unfold as best friends. Laura always wanted to be a wife and a mother, finish college and become a nurse. I had looked to a lost dream of mine, and started a photography business a couple years ago, which is where this story crossed paths. I now had the perfect gift too, a set of wedding photos.
The day started pretty typical for most weddings. The groom and his line-up showed up for some early pictures. They were all shuffled into a private room when the girls arrived and it was time for more pictures. There was a nervous sense in the air as the decorations were hung and the guests arrived. Laura’s Father Mike was also the pastor and claimed to be ready, but this was his baby girl he would also be giving away. I was called to the brides room for some personal pre-wedding shots. I cried and hugged Laura and told her how proud of her I was. She was a beautiful bride, and the girls were finishing up with the final touches. After a prayer and group hug it was time to get into position.
The wedding was beautiful. There was tears and laughter, vows and a kiss, oh and of course, the introduction. After some post sanctuary shots we headed off to Crystal Lake Park for some time alone with te Bride and Groom. We tried some ideas I had for them and headed to the Laborers Hall in Urbana for the reception. The wedding party was introduced and everyone settled into a nice dinner. It had been pretty hot and some refreshments were definitely in order. The toasts and cake cutting followed and of course the bouquet and garter toss, which led to the first dance. My old friend Conrad Hayes with Rad Rock Ltd. pumped out the music and the party was started.
This is a wedding I will never forget, “My Best Friends Wedding”. Here are some more samples of the day. Again congrats to Laura and Dustin. I can’t wait to have dinner at your home and look aver these shots.
Love and Hugs
Tim
Sabrina and Jeff
This was my first full package deal including both engagement pictures and wedding pictures, which has now become the basis of my Wedding Package. This gave us a chance to get to know each other, share ideas before and during both sets, and ease into the wedding day feeling prepared. The wedding was set at St. Peters United Church of Christ and the couple decided to do their group photos before the wedding. The interior backdrop is fairly traditional and the landscape made for some additional settings for some great shots. It is a great honor to share in the first moments the couple first sees each other and makes for some emotional pictures.
An interesting aspect of this wedding was “Buster” the family dog. Buster was in the wedding party and played the role to perfection. I was grateful to the minister who allowed some close photos from the altar to capture the true intimate moments shared that day. The ceremony went smooth, and directly after, we went to the University of Illinois Arboretum for some outdoor photos. The wedding party also followed for some fun improv photos. From there it was off to the reception.
The couple had chosen the I Hotel, Champaign’s newest Convention Center, for the reception. This is a very nice location for a reception, and the service was on point. After the introduction everyone settled in for dinner and drinks. The festivities began with toast’s, the cake cutting, Bouquet and Garter toss. and right into the dances. They hoped to move through the formalities and get to the party. After taking some random pictures Sabrina suggested I follow them as they go from table to table and anyone who wanted a picture with the couple could get one. This is a great idea as they took a moment to thank everyone in attendance as well as a photo-op to keep in their picture collection.
That pretty much wrapped up the photo shoot. This year I have also set up an account at shutterfly.com for each wedding. The families and friends can go into the galleries and purchase pictures for a very affordable cost. For the couple, thanks again for the honor of accompanying you both, and Buster too, through your wedding process. I had a blast. I wish you both well on your path through life as the new Family you just create and remember,
Live to Love and Love to Live,
Tim
Grad Party
I want to thank Cathy and Patience for inviting me to photograph Paul and Michael’s Graduation Party. The setting was at The Hawthorn in a small banquet room. Paul is a Graduate from The University of Illinois and Michael is a High School Grad from Lawton Christian in Oklahoma. As I sat up my equipment at the hotel, you could feel the hustle and bustle of the University of Illinois Families and Grads, as they came and went to the different cermonies in Champaign-Urbana. The tables were set with the Orange and Blue and I prepared my portable studio for the afternoons event.
With the arrival of the Grad’s and their Family we began shooting the different Groupings they wanted. The samples I have chosen were just a few of the 150 plus pictures the have reveived as part og their package. Lunch was served and there was a short break before the Parents and Friends all took turns sharing words of encouragement and thanks. I took photos of each of the Speakers and the Grads hoping to capture some connection they shared. There were tears and laughter, prayers and many thankful cheers throughout the celebration. Paul finished up thanking the Families and Friends most of which travelled quite a way to attend. Here are some samples of the sets captured this day. I used Picassa to edit the warmth and highlights, which I recommend to anyone who doesn’t have a photoediter to work with.
Till next time.
New Look
I am excited to be headded into my 3rd wedding season. I have been booking for the past year now and have already finished the first two engagement sets. I have only a few weekend savailable for the year and already have been taking calls for next year. As a pretty new “pro” photographer I have to say I was a little nervous, especially with the print your own program, but the idea seems to be catching on.
Over the next couple weeks I will be posting some new galleries to reflect the most current client samples and if you have visitted before, there will be a dramatic new look and feel to the site. I want to thank Jason Frye Media for the suggestions, CULocalBiz.com for hosting and Stacy McDade for her magical artwork for the banner and other Marketing Materials. There will be easier to use links for Family and Friends to purchase pics from Weddings and Personal Artistic Shots I have chosen to share too. Comments and contact will also be streamlined and pricing of my packages are now posted.
This for now is a work in progress and we are waiting for a new server to be up and running before we can finish. So, check back soon and often and lets have some fun. “Let me Hhelp – Create your Vision”
Welcome Bacca Cigar
Recently I have been reintroduced to Business Photography. In my short resume I had taken some headshots and location shots for a couple businesses and as of last week hadn’t really worked with product photography. I love the accuracy of macro photography, as you can probably tell from the nature shots in my retail gallery, and I hope to apply it towards product photography.
This past week I was contacted to help CULocalBiz.com on an up and coming web project at Bacca Cigars, to create an on line cigar store. The first stage was to photograph cigars and some accessories for the web storefront. Randy at Bacca said he is ready to move into the next stage of retail and is great to work with. He said he like’s his site simple to surf and to understand for the baby boomers, which are a big part of the clientele in the cigar industry.
With each business project I can come to each location for headshots of employees, location shots, and include product shots for marketing and web use. I also place a link to all my clients on my site, which helps us both with web traffic and placement on search engines. Give us a call at Tim Brya Photography to discuss your image and lets see what we can create.
