Tom and Anna - July 11, 2009

Tom and Anna's wedding links:
Wedding Album Pre-design (released around July 21)
Link to all pictures (Tom and Anna will release these after they have seen them all first)
Become a fan of our facebook page to tag yourself in the blog photos!

Shawn and Amy - July 11, 2009

Shawn and Amy had a great group of people surrounding them on their wedding day. There were family and friends supporting them and sharing stories throughout the day. Let's get another round of applause for the 63 years of marriage for grandma and grandpa! We took some amazing photos today capitalizing on the beautiful blue sky that covered us all day long. With some cooperation, we also accomplished a great pyramid on the tee box! Check out Amy's rock star pose :) Later in the evening we decided some friendly bean bag toss would help generate great sunset shot ideas... and it did! Check out the amazing shot of the newly weds as the sun was setting. - Joe & Chad

Shawn and Amy's wedding links:
Wedding Album Pre-design (released around July 21)
Link to all pictures (Shawn and Amy will release these after they have seen them all first)
Become a fan of our facebook page to tag yourself in the blog photos!

Tim and Nikki - July 10, 2009

Tim and Nikki's wedding links:
Engagement Guestbook Album
Wedding Album Pre-design (released around July 20)
Link to all pictures (Tim and Nikki will release these after they have seen them all first)
Become a fan of our facebook page to tag yourself in the blog photos!

The McNamara Alumni Center is an amazing place to capture a wedding; especially for a one-of-a-kind couple like Tim and Nikki. Nikki had these amazingly unique red accents on her dress that just popped out at your eyes. I'm pretty sure Tim didn't stop smiling the whole day until I asked him to do some "serious" pictures. I always strive to take 3-5 pictures at each wedding that I have NEVER taken before. It really challenges us and gives our clients unique images that no one else will have. As you can imagine after 8 years of weddings, we've pretty much exhausted the unique fun/natural/happy shots we always do that our clients love. So, I can feel myself digging deeper with the couple and venues to create some really cool images and we nailed some really cool ones as Tim and Nikki were totally up for it - fun stuff! We even went rogue with the help of best man Matthias and stepped into the almost complete TCF stadium for the Gophers. Man is that place going to be nice for games this fall. It was great at this wedding to see so many of my former math students and baseball / football players too; even Neil Cooper, the construction supervisor who kicked us out of the stadium! -Judd and Josh

Minnesota Bride Best of 2009 Awards

We were honored to be invited to Minnesota Bride Magazine's Best of 2009 Awards this year at Dinky Town's Varsity Theatre . It was a great time and we enjoyed meeting many great wedding vendors. I think it is safe to say that everyone there will remember Studio J after seeing Judd dance to Michael Jackson's Billie Jean and us jumping in and out of the photo booth! Here's one of the pictures! In order, Josh (Photo Editor/Photographer), Allie (Studio Manager/Designer), Joe (Photographer/Videographer) and Judd (Boss Man and Head Photographer). Check out the nominees.- Josh & Allie

Dominique's Senior Session

You saw the "behind the scenes" of the shoot in the previous post and now here are the pictures! We had a blast during the senior shoot and Dom was up for anything. We found a lot of hidden spots for pictures in downtown Minneapolis including a waterfall, luckily none of us fell in! Dom is going to be a senior at North High School and is one of our 2010 senior ambassadors. -Allie

My boys!

Many photographers have trouble taking pictures of their own family - kind of like the barber that can't cut his own hair very well... now that I think about it a little more - maybe not actually. Anyway, it's difficult to get 3 boys under the age of 7 to do much together (bribery was involved...), but here are some of the fun shots of them from a walk around downtown Stillwater with the family on a great July summer day. Kudos to my lovely wife for the giant lollipop idea!

Tom and Stacy - July 4, 2009

Happy 4th! Tom & Stacy were very laid back and a blast to be around. We started the day off with a thunderstorm rolling through that threatened our day, but soon passed. After a beautiful ceremony under a huge tent at Stone Ridge Golf Course, we took off for the famous "barn" for some fun shots. The rustic aesthetic makes for some memorable photographs! With the sun shining, we took a creative shot of their shadows in the middle of a fairway. At the end of the night, what's better than fireworks and dancing!? -Joe and Josh

Here is their wedding album!
Register here to be notified when the pictures are ready and receive the $10 gift certificate!

Ch-Ch-Ch Changes!

As you can imagine with 12 photographers, 40+ weddings a year, and session requests rolling in, the day-to-day studio operations were getting a little much for me. So in May we promoted our designer extraordinaire, Allison (below with her favorite pose idea book and tending to Dom's flying hair), to full time studio manager & designer. Joe will continue to be the primary video editor (as well as photographer), and Josh will be helping with photo & video editing as well as our "staff of light" specialist (picture below). These changes have freed me up to meet the demand of our expanded high school senior and family portrait sessions! Below are some fun shots of us from some of our recent sessions. Happy 4th everyone!

Ella - 1 year portraits

Ella, Sophie, and Maxwell came over Sunday for Ella's 1 year pictures and the kid is so cute I could have seriously stopped after 5 minutes of shooting. But I took about 150 more and got this fun one of Sophie on the rope swing and Maxwell and Sophie searching for frogs in the grass. It's more fun than I imagined to chronicle the lives of growing children; this is the fourth time this family has been to the studio for pictures! -Judd

Dan and Bethany - June 20, 2009

Click here to view Dan and Bethany's album pre-design!
The shopping cart will work to order photos once the couple has seen all the pictures first and have released them to view - enjoy!

Click here to view Dan and Bethany's engagement guestbook from shots in downtown Stillwater this spring.
Click here to register to be notified when their wedding pictures are ready to view!

Become a fan of our facebook page to tag yourself in any of these photos!

Dan and Bethany & wedding party braved the humidity today to get some fun shots on the Stone Arch Bridge and beautiful Oak Ridge Conference Center in Chaska. They got married in a small Lutheran church in Minneapolis where they met in Sunday school class where Dan's dad, Bob, was the pastor. Bob made a funny quip during the toasts that Bethany still owed a couple sermon notes from when she was in confirmation class (Dan had perfect attendance for confirmation class that year!). The Stone Arch Bridge always yields great photos as well as colorful characters! This gentleman below tipped his cap for the camera. The pictures in front of the fireplace at Oak Ridge were made possible by a nicely placed coffee table that I propped up with my feet while sitting on the ground to get the top of the huge smokestacks out of the fireplace. This was an HD fusion video wedding for us as well, so we'll post that edited video here when it is ready in a few weeks! -Judd & Jessi

Jessi caught this cool image of Bethany while she was being bustled (the image of Dan looking through the window at her was when he realized that dresses can "transform" magically.) Bethany's reflection happened to be close enough to get in the shot.

Kossy and Bisi - June 19-20, 2009

This weekend was a blast! Josh, Troy and I captured some traditional Nigerian wedding celebrations and couldn't have had more fun doing so. We tasted great food, danced to fun music and saw beautiful authentic dresses. Everyone was very genuine and down to earth and understood us "men in black" aren't necessarily familiar with the culture :)

Bisi & Kossy had an amazing ceremony Saturday at the Cathedral in St. Paul and we got some great shots along the river. Kudos to Kossy on the height during our jumping shot! Another highlight was having dollars thrown at us during the celebration, check out Josh's expression. As we ran out at the end of the night to get a send off video, the New Jerseyian was a little tuckered out!

Congratulations Bisi & Kossy! - Joe, Josh & Troy

Click here to view their wedding album!


Click here to be notified when their pictures are ready to view and receive the $10 gift certificate!

Become a fan of our facebook page to tag yourself in any of these photos!

Jeff and Janet - June 19, 2009

Kristina, Aron, and Josh captured Jeff and Janet's wedding today. It was a great venue we haven't been to for awhile - the Summit Manor. The heaven's opened to break the mugginess right as the receiving line ended - great timing! Aron climbed out of one of the upstairs windows (like a cat burglar) to get some overhead shots of the ceremony. I called my insurance agent to see if my worker's comp insurance was up to date... Even in the rain Kristina and Aron got some uniquely-lit shots around the pillars and street sign later in the evening (below).

Click here to be notified when their pictures are ready to view and receive the $10 gift certificate!

Become a fan of our facebook page to tag yourself in any of these photos!

Constance - H.S. Senior Portraits

Constance is one of our 2010 senior ambassadors and a ballerina, so we thought we'd get her on Josh's motorcycle for some fun shots. With our expanded staff this year, it's fun to open our studio to the high school senior market!

Become a fan of our facebook page!

Koos wipes the mirror

Paul and Heather - June 13, 2009

Chaska here we come - the Chaska U of M Arboretum is a really cool place! Lots of cool garden areas, etc. It was a challenging, sunny day to photograph in there but we found some really unique spots for some of these images. Paul and Heather are two of the most genuine and sincere people, it was such a pleasure capturing their day. They had been igbors for years before getting together. With characters like Dirk, Darrin, and fellow nurse Sam in the wedding party it made for a very interesting evening! The "Rapunzel" picture in the tower is EASILY the cheesiest picture I have ever taken and Paul and Heather were up for it. :) Joe added our HD fusion video into their Growing Up video later in the evening for the first time which turned out great!

Become a fan of our facebook page to tag yourself in any of these photos!

Click here to view their wedding album

Click here to view their wedding photos! We'll post their video fusion link here as well when it's ready in a few weeks. -Judd and Joe

Andy and Tessa - June 13, 2009

Click here to be notified when their pictures are ready to see!

Amanda and Jessi are captured Andy and Tessa's wedding at picturesque Rice Park and The St Paul Hotel. Great flowers, dressed up dogs, and the first "cake in the face" picture we've seen in awhile. Don't mess with the guys with their long chains and lint roller!

Become a fan of our facebook page to tag yourself in any of these photos!

Andrew and Laura - June 6, 2009

We'll post their edited video online here when it's ready!

Tom and Shannon - June 6, 2009

We'll post their edited video online here when it's ready!

Sam and Elisa - May 30, 2009

I hadn't been to the Trapp Family Lodge in Stowe, Vermont since I was about 5 years old. I will not wait that long again to go back! After a late morning thunderstorm, this picturesque place yielded some stunning photos as my cousin Sam von Trapp married Elisa in a storybook wedding.
Jeff Kolodny out of Florida was the primary photographer for this wedding and here are a few images I captured along the way as a second shooter. I'll post some of the video here as well after we get it edited.

The picturesque setting...

Fun shot of one of Kristina's daughter dropping petals...

"Eye of Newt" anyone? Sam showed ringbearer Henry how to pick it up and get it off the trail to safety.

95-year old Maria von Trapp - father of the groom Johannes' sister.

The first dance - best man Mike told me to record some HD video so he could remember Sam's dance moves.

Elisa on the way to "The Birches" for the cocktail hour...

My favorite...

Just before the ceremony with some nice backlighting...

Elisa and Sam in front of the chapel that Sam's dad, Johannes, helped to build with his brother in the 1950's.
What wedding would be complete without a bonfire / lamb roast scheduled for 12:30AM?

...And only the best partiers stay up until sunrise! This shot was 15 hours after the first shot I took of the (yester)day - yikes. Made for a long 3-hour drive back to Boston at 7am. You only live once. :)


Click here to be notified when I post all the images..

Click here to become a fan of Judd Sather Photography on facebook and you can tag yourself on some of the photos there.

Chris and Catherine - May 16, 2009

Some "Sass" from Cat.

Maybe a new shot for the wall of the studio!


Easily the classiest shot we have ever taken...?

I stole this from Craig, Cat's dad - totally didn't recognize him at first...


My favorite!

A quick shot on the way out the door...

This ring shot doesn't show how shakey Cat's hands were!


A blustery spring morning today - couldn't wait to capture this wedding in the Basillica! It was incredibly windy but we made it work and grabbed some great shots in the Basillica and Stone Arch bridge. Cat was a bridesmaid for Ellie and Aaron's wedding two years ago so it was fun seeing them again. The "romantic biffy" shot FOR THE RECORD it was not my idea! Beautiful, fun wedding, with two hilarious speeches from Denny and Craig - the two dads. Cat and Chris are going to be in Italy for 3 weeks on their honeymoon - can you believe it? Lucky. Cat if you check the blog from overseas, email me a shot of you guys there and I'll post it! Go to our facebook page if you want to tag yourselves in any of these blog shots!


Click on the little shopping cart icon to view ALL the pictures!
-Judd, Jessi, Troy, and Aron

Eric and Ashley - May 16, 2009

Joe gets to document Eric and Ashley out in Plymouth today - we'll release their video highlight here when it's ready!

Best Rainbow ever?

This was the view over the 30 acres that backs up to our outdoor studio Wednesday night - unreal!

Wild Weddings / Studio J Pictures tonight!

A couple funny clips from our 2008 weddings will air tonight on TLC's "Wild Weddings!" - 8pm and 10pm central time tonight. The clips are Floest catching Devin drinking before the ceremony (the end of our demo video) and Mike pushing Christine down to a chair that was no longer there after the garter toss. Fun stuff. :)

Christina Marie Events Vendor of the Month

If you want to find out crazy things about me like "the only time I don't wear crocs is at weddings", read about us as vendor of the month for (awesome) wedding planner and one of the FIRST Studio J brides back in 2005, Christina Marie Events. -Judd

Chase & Stephanie - May 2, 2009

What an amazing Spring day to have a wedding! The sun was shining and St. Catherine's campus was beautiful... Chase & Stephanie celebrated their wedding on a perfect day. The spontaneous olympic event of "M&M Toss" was a blast and I've never seen such a cooperative group during the chicken dance :) Everyone danced their night away and we are excited to unveil the photos from an amazing day!

Joe & Chad

Click here to view their pictures once Stephanie and Chase have seen them!

Brad and Anastasia - March 27, 2009

A fun March wedding at Calhoun Beach Club that Joe shot and edited. Brad, great speech: "...and she's beautiful too!"

Firend Julie got this great shot of Sophia the flower girl dropping her basket in the aisle!

Phone service upgrade

We are in the process of upgrading our phone services so email is the most reliable way to get through to us right now. We have just a few open dates left for 2009 and dates are filling up in 2010 already!
Email us for availability at judd@studiojphoto.com

FREE hour for April booked weddings!

All weddings booked this month will receive a free hour of coverage (up to $300 value). Second photographer is always included as well. We have about 90% of dates full, but we have 5 crews available this year so we still have some openings - email us for availability info.

Senior Portrait Launch

We've done some unadvertised senior portrait photography over the last few years, but now we've hired extra studio staff to launch the senior portrait division of Studio J Pictures. Andrea and Kirsten were more than up to the task of being our models to create some really unique, high class senior images. What I like most about how we're shooting now is that two of these three pictures are straight out of the camera - no Photoshop. Love that.

Mosquito

So I'm sitting on the deck watching my kids play outside during the amazing weather today; it was so nice I almost forgot that we had 10 months of winter. A day too perfect is not without the requisite buzzkill which manifested itself as a lone mosquito that landed on my arm. I just let it fly away; I didn't even want to make the effort. But maybe it was the queen and I could have stopped millions more from being born if I had killed it?

No phone today!

If you're trying to reach us by phone, it won't work until early next week. Public service announcement today is that Voice-over-internet (Voip) is about half the price as a land line, but Qwest may disconnect you by accident and not be able to reconnect for at least 4 days! Awesome. So, e-mail me at judd@studiojphoto.com if you need to get in touch with us this weekend!

2009 Best of Weddings Award!!!

It is such a privilege and honor to create special and unique memories for our clients, and totally thrilling to have our brides rate us as one of the top wedding vendors - back to back. Thank you! We are honored - check out the latest issue of THE KNOT BEST OF WEDDINGS 2009 magazine that hit news stands yesterday. -Judd and the whole Studio J staff

Recommended Reading

Your wedding is just the beginning of the marriage. We love capturing great images at weddings; I have recently felt an urge to share the following resources with our past and future clients - or just blog readers! As a married father of 3 young boys, these resources have all made an impact in my life as well as many of our friends and family. Whether you are single, recently married, engaged, or married for 50 years, I think you will find something very useful in any of these resources. I believe the world is a better place with solid family structures. Take a peek if you get a chance!
1. The Five Love Languages (great for everyone!)
2. Take Back Your Marriage - Sticking Together in a World that Pulls Us Apart (when you have been married for a bit)
3. All Pro Dad (for fathers)
4. iMom (for mothers)

Spring into HD Fusion!

It's 60 and sunny today so Joe and I decided to venture out of the friendly confines of the studio - finally! Joe is shooting this wedding in October and I tagged along to do our first "HD Fusion" photo/video blend engagement shoot. It was great that Cristina and Steve were more than up to the modeled task at the Gateway Trail bridge and downtown Stillwater. We got some AMAZING shots. We're still up here at 1:45am bringing these links and photos to you since we were so excited about the results. It is fun being one of the first studios in the U.S. bringing these looks to our work! ~Judd & Joe
Here is the HD fusion photo/video blend:

Andrew and Susan - March 6, 2009

So we've been doing some archiving and final tweaks to finish of the 2008 season and BAM! we're off to a running start here at Studio J for the 2009 wedding season!

Susan and Andrew planned a tasteful, elegant gathering to celebrate their marriage! What a blast and I especially enjoyed the historic Plymouth church and W.A. Frost. The church was a turn of the century beauty and Frost showed off its amazing decorations and cozy spaces. We got some great images and tried to capture the "20's - 30's" theme Susan and Andrew were after. Enjoy a few gems below!

Joe, Josh & Aron.

Click here to see their virtual album!








Click here to view Andrew and Susan's pictures (they will be available once they release them to view)!

HD Fusion

Click here to see what we will be able to do with HD FUSION! This trailer is from the Canadian studio that is pioneering this HD technology (The Bebbs). Hit "Reload" or "View | Refresh" once you get there and the trailer should start playing.

At least three Studio J photographers will have this fusion technology which allows us to both take photographs and HD video out of the same camera. With seven years videography experience, we are perfectly positioned to be one of the first companies in the U.S. to offer this cutting-edge technology!

2009 Promo Video & YouTube Updates

As we back up and log our work from the past year, we also have the creative pleasure of creating a promo video that highlights our favorite moments throughout the year. From reindeer drawn sleighs to an Indiana Jones themed wedding, we had some crazy moments! Check out the promo video for 2009 below. Also, we will be uploading highlight videos from many weddings to YouTube, so check those out too - search for your names on YouTube or go to your blog post and we'll embed them there.

Cheers to a great 2008 and more fun in 2009!

March wedding special - $500 product credit

We are offering a $500 product credit for all Judd Sather weddings booked at regular commissions from March 1 - March 31. You just need to make your $750 deposit during that time. Studio J weddings booked during this time will receive $250 product credit. I'm leaking the news a little early since we are meeting with many couples this week yet so it really starts NOW! Make sure to mention that you "saw it on the blog" when we get together to chat about your day, or you can call in to reserve your date. $500 can get you a free fine art guestbook album custom designed with your engagement pictures in it, custom designed fine art thank-you notes for your guests, more images for your album, or about 50 little tiny 2x2 duplicate albums of your main album to give away!

facebook

Find us on Facebook!
Just built a Facebook page for Studio J - be one of our fans and receive exclusive promotional information!

Valentine's Day Deal - $50 for $8

Everybody likes a good deal right? I was surfing online in the Chicago airport for Valentine's Day and happened upon a $50 gift certificate for $8. Here's how to do it:

CLICK HERE, then "partner stores / view more," then "r" for restaurant.com, enter the zip code of the area you want to go.

Then, enter code VDAY to get the further discount (brought it from $50 down to $8 for Gluek's downtown - I know not very romantic...) Enjoy!

Bidet in Miami

Josh and I are in Miami today and there is a bottle of water available for only $4.95! Maybe we'll just get the pringles for $3.95... Also wanted everyone to know that we have a bidet in our room and it is creeping us out a little bit, first one I've ever seen other than on Seinfeld and I'm uncomfortable even blogging about it so here is more info: Click here for the wiki.
Cool view of Biscayne Bay out of our hotel room tonight, and the morning sun through the clouds...

NEW SITE!

Check out our new site! www.studiojphoto.com

Misspellings? Corrections? Suggestions - leave a comment - thanks! I was up past midnight 4 out of the last 7 nights working on it so may have missed something. Navigation is in the lower left corner - maybe we'll fix that.

Vote!

Happy New Year from Studio J!
We wanted to send a quick message letting all of you know that you can voice your opinions on MN vendors/venues to help future MN brides with their decision making! MN Bride magazine is taking a poll, and you can cast your vote by clicking here!

Make sure to fill in at least six of the blanks to ensure your opinion is heard, and feel free to forward onto other recent brides you may know!

We are SUPER EXCITED to launch our new website within a couple weeks - same URL - www.studiojphoto.com but much more customizable and easy navigation - we'll announce it here first. Our blog will also change and we'll try to transfer everything since this blog has an archive or our last three years of weddings! -Judd

Arizona!

Jessi, Amanda, and I cruised down to the Scottsdale, AZ to learn from of the best photographers in the world. Heard it was 40 below windchill the other morning and it was 70 and sunny here today - 110 degree swing... ouch. We all stuck ourselves in the leg with this cactus-like barb. We learned this technique called "Painting with Light" in which we did a long exposure on the camera and ran a flashlight up and down the cactus; then we got creative and were doing "logos in light" ala the 4th of July sparkler trick. Love the colors in the sky with the owl in the cactus. Jessi had a friend Taylor who lives near here and was gracious enough to model for us as we tried some high speed flash shots. The picture of her on the car hood was taken during the daylight hours - pretty cool! -Judd, Amanda, and Jessi

Steven and Colette - Jan 3, 2009

Click here to receive the $10 gift certificate and register to see their pictures! The shopping cart icon will work once Steven and Colette have seen all the pictures first and release them for you to view. The event key to view all the pictures is Colette's maiden last name.

Katy & Eric - December 27, 2008

Click here to view Katy and Eric's virtual pre-designed album. The shopping cart icon will work once Katy and Eric have seen all the pictures first and release them for you to view. Event key is Katy's maiden last name to view ALL the pictures.

2009 Demo Slideshow

Here is a compilation slideshow from all 10 photographers at Studio J from 2008. The bulk of the images are from Judd Sather Photography. We are excited to announce that we can handle up to 4 weddings per date this year! We already have 14 weddings booked for 2009 (two dates double booked already) and two weddings for 2010! Email us for availability and new pricing info if you're interested in us capturing your wedding! All our collections this year include the CD of negatives to print photos on your own.
Click here to watch the slideshow larger in a new window.

Happy Holidays!

It's a little know fact (not any more) that I design holiday cards with the same first-class look our wedding clients enjoy. Here are a couple examples including my family's holiday magnet (on fridges everywhere once we send them out!). A bride just emailed me and called me a workaholic! After back-to-back 7am-midnight workdays these last two days I guess I deserve it... it is amazing what you can get done 16 hours in one day! Let us know if you want some sweet holiday cards next year! -Judd

Chelsey and Jesse - December 20, 2008

Click here to be notified when Jesse and Chelsey's pictures are online, and receive the $10 gift certificate!
This was the last wedding I will shoot until May and what a way to end the season - the 43rd wedding in 31 weekends and we get a major snowstorm and crazy slippery roads on the way down to Red Wing! The day started out at this cool bed and breakfast where the women were getting ready - totally decked out for the holidays with gigantic snowflakes falling outside the windows. After my brain caught up with Chelsey's ultra-fast rate of speech, I was able to get some really cool shots in front of the window including my favorite shoe shot I have ever taken (below). We had to grab umbrellas for the bridesmaids for the snow shots since the snowflakes were so big and wet - the reason you only see one umbrella is because Chelsey broke the first two she tried to open! :) Groom Jesse (aka the American Assassin ultimate fighter) and Chelsey didn't see each other before the ceremony so we got out of the limo and pretty much walked right down the aisle in this small country church in the middle of nowhere. There was this crazy looking wolf-dog that almost attacked video guy Joe. I love the regal look of military weddings, the saber arch, the discipline, etc. Jesse got word a few weeks ago that he is being deployed for a year to Iraq Jan 9 (5 days after they get back from their honeymoon). We shot two weddings of Army officers in the Red Bull company that were deployed for 22 months and came back last summer; Jesse we'll see you when you get back and thanks for your service to our country. We are turning around these photos in a record 2 days so you two can enjoy it together for a few days! -Judd, Amanda, Joe, and Kristina

Click here to view their album larger! The shopping cart will work once Jesse and Chelsey have seen all the pictures first and released them.











Here's their highlight video!

Valerie and Doug - December 6, 2008

Blustery day! Should calm down nicely tonight to get some cool shots in the fresh snow. Click here to see their virtual album pre-design!
OK, best man Larry gets "Slippery Finger of the Year" award for dropping Val's engagement rock just before the ceremony. There was quite an awkward moment at the time to exchange rings as there was Doug's ring. Val's wedding band, but not the diamond engagement ring... Larry's face was bright red as he dug in his pockets but no one really knew why. I was up near the front of the church to get a cool angle of the unity candle and I noticed a ring on the floor, slipped it to the pastor and all was well. I'm pretty sure Doug, Val, and Larry were sweating bullets for 10 minutes or so though. This was easily a top 3 wedding stories ever - I'll enlighten you with the other two in a week or so. This was another fun referral wedding - about 12 clients that were guests, and I took a shot of 4 women at one point and had shot 3 of their weddings. Zimanski did his "Staying Alive" dance with the unusual gusto again, Froi cut the rug and quoted Caddyshack as usual (and gave a fantastic toast revealing that Doug actually happily went to a Dido concert with another guy), and Horner drank quite a few beers as usual - all on par with other weddings we've captured. We all froze at a stop at Hamiline (Go Pipers!) before the reception, but I got the ladies to show some leg in 10 degree weather - fantastic! There was this cool blue-lit christmas tree we got a few shots at, and how about that snow angel?! Can you say "rental tux"? Excellent. Last thought: everyone should have the hot chocolate bar they had - great idea Val! Well I guess if you're getting married in the heat of summer then the hot chocolate bar doesn't work quite as well... -Judd, Jessi, Allie, and Aron







Here's their highlight video!

Denise and Mike - November 29, 2008

Click here to receive the $10 gift certificate for Denise and Mike's Wedding! This is going to be a blast - many surprises in store... I think my food coma is over from Thanksgiving, so I should be good to go. :)
I'll post some shots soon, just up at 5am Sunday morning here with one of the kids and had to blog about this wedding...
Just when I thought I'd seen it all we get whips and daggers at the reception! To quote Mike, "Denise said no to an Indiana Jones-themed wedding, but not an Indiana Jones-themed reception! Cue the Indy outfit (hat, jacket, whip), Indy ice sculpture, Indy groom's cake with cake topper, entertainer Johnny Pheonix doing a bit with Denise "mind reading" and snapping a blue feather out of evil twin (best man / cousin) Al's hand with an Australian bullwhip. Oh, I almost forgot: they cut the cake with a familiy heirloom authentic German dagger taken from a World War II battlefield, complete with nazi insignia - creepy cool. Truth is stranger than fiction; Mike and Denise get the award for "most uniquely themed wedding reception - ever." Joe is showing off the "Grizzly Adams" caricature of us; just a slight resemblance I hope. The artist lives in a country shack near Red Wing - cool. Denise and Mike, thanks for the memories and stores; I'm pretty sure I won't see another Indiana Jones ice sculpture, home-made ball and chain, or WWII dagger for cake cutting! -Judd and Joe