Katy & Phil - Royal Park Hotel Wedding

Sneaky grab there, Phil!

Check out these fun wedding photos from Phil & Katy's Royal Park Hotel wedding in Rochester, Michigan. It was a daytime wedding with lots of fun, tons of cute kids and lots of memorable moments. I decided this blog would be about the wedding from the kid's perspective! I'm so hopelessly behind in my blogging, so forgive the brevity! To see more wedding photography from this Royal Park Hotel wedding, please check out my other blog at www.themichiganweddingphotographer.blogspot.com!

Ear Plugs As Wedding Favors????

Hi Folks!

I'd love to hear your thoughts on this one.

Every year it seems that the music at weddings gets louder and louder and louder. Now granted, I'm usually parked in front of the speakers for several hours during the reception capturing dancing. I'd rather be blasted than have the speakers be in the photos. So I've lost about 20% of my hearing over the years of parking myself in front of deluxe sound systems. So... if I'm going deaf, why does the music seem to keep getting louder?

Several years ago I started wearing quick, easy to put in ear plugs. I can still hear what people are saying perfectly, but it does cut out the harmful levels of sound. Last weekend I lost my beloved plugs and paid the price with ears that are still ringing some 36 hours later. I went online to fine some replacements and was amazed to see they sell them in bulk!

The most common complaint I hear by far at weddings is that 50% of the guests that would like to socialize during the reception and they simply can't. So they head to the lobby, outdoors or give up and go home. They'd like to stay, but noise (even nice noise) at that volume is just plain uncomfortable for a lot of people.

So I started wondering if couples gave out earplugs by the guestbook, in the bathrooms or on the tables as fun giveaways, how many of their guests would not only use and appreciate them, but might actually stay for the party a bit longer!

It's not a reflection on your DJ or their choice in music, it's just that lots of people don't like really, really, REALLY loud music for hours on end!

Waldenwoods Wedding - Matt & Angela

Matt & Angela wanted a nice, simple family wedding and they got that AND a beautiful day to boot! Their wedding and reception were at Waldenwoods near Howell, Michigan. It's on a camp ground, which doesn't do it justice at all. It's got a nice lodge and some nice old estate type buildings and the ceremonies typically take place out next to a lake. The staff at Waldenwoods has gotten better in recent years and now hold back any campers or onlookers so they don't come trotting and gawking through the wedding ceremony site. I loved Angela's 90 something year old grandpa who was confused a bit about the huge birthday party he thought he was attending, but he loved the chocolates on the table and all the fuss everybody made over him! Congratulations, Matt & Angela. For more Walden Woods wedding photos, please check out my other blog at www.themichiganweddingphotographer.blogspot.com.

Penna's Wedding Reception, Bloomfield Hills Wedding Meagn & Ryan

Megan and Ryan got married on one of the warmest Saturday's on record, but it didn't rain as it seems to have threatened to do every other Saturday this wedding season! They were married at St. Owen's Catholic Church in Bloomfield Hills and we went to the Macomb County office park which has a nice pond, much need shade and not too much competition for wedding photos (there were three couples in total). We then went on to Penna's in Sterling Heights for the wedding reception. Megan hopes to someday be an oncologist and I hope she's super successful in her ventures. Ryan, well, he's a rock star in my eyes... he's got the toughest job in the world working with juveniles who aren't exactly happy to be where they are, if you know what I mean. Best wishes to both of them. If you'd like to see more photos of their silly wedding party (LOVE the playful ones!), please check out my other blog at www.themichiganweddingphotographer.blogspot.com.

Kalamazoo Wedding - Leslie & Joe

Leslie & Joe's Kalamazoo wedding was a blast. My daughter Skye came along to run the photobooth and we were able to get lots of shots all over Kalamazoo and also at their favorite spots on Western University's campus. I'm not sure all their guests and parents knew we'd be leaving for an hour (I hadn't know this myself!), but their downtown Kalamazoo Michigan wedding was a blast. I particularly love the photos taken in the fountain at Western University. This bridal group had lots of fun ideas and were up for anything! LOVED them! If you'd like to see more wedding photography from this Kalamazoo wedding at Western University, please check out my other blog at; www.themichiganweddingphotographer.blogspot.com.

Greenmead Wedding photos of Bryan & Lindsay

So the thing that made Lindsay & Bryan's wedding at Livonia's Greenmead completely unique is that they'd been married for about a year before their wedding! They also had no officiant to perform their wedding and did those duties themselves. They also choose the BEST caterer in the world, Zingerman's and they played the entire day by ear. Yeah, let's skip the dancing... hey, wanna go take photos now that our guests have gone? Loved their cool spirit and so happy their initially soggy wedding day ended up being a great day to wedding photography!

Divine Child Wedding, Dearborn Country Club - Nate and Clare

I can't believe I have to blog about yet another stormy wedding! This had surely been the most bizarre and unpredictable weather we've had in many, many years. Clare understandably didn't want to take photos outside since it was raining off and on all day and she didn't want to ruin her dress. When we caught a break in the weather, I took a few photos of Clare and Nate at the Dearborn Country Club, but after dinner I saw the gloomy, doomy, super theatrical clouds rolling in. The difference between the photos of the flower girl and Clare are about twenty minutes apart (that's how long it takes to move brides and grooms from point A to point B in a reception hall!). l loved the dramatic blue. The clouds let loose a few minutes after photos to thoroughly drench the country club, but not us! So if you ever worried about the weather, let the photographer take care of your timing so you can still get cool photos without having to do the worrying yourself. For a few more photos from Clare and Nate's Divine Child wedding in Dearborn, check out my other blog at www.themichiganweddingphotographer.blogspot.com.