Camera with a couple in the viewfinder, or funky butterfly?

or ?

I can’t choose! Please help.

I photographed Natalie and Jon’s wedding at the Geneva Ramada Lakefront.  They had a very sweet ceremony under a big white tent, and their reception was inside.

After the ceremony we were shooting formals, when the hotel manager quietly whispered in my ear that there was a storm brewing and that it would probably get there in about 30 minutes. So I had to scrap my regular routine and get started on just-them pictures before finishing formals.

You can see the storm in the background.

We had just enough time to do some quick bridal party shots and then it started raining cats and dogs! We had to quickly dash inside and watch the storm drown the lawn outside.

It was so perfectly timed! The ceremony was fine, the family formals went great, we got some awesome just-them shots, and then while it stormed outside, the bridal party got introduced, toasts offered, and dinner started. By the time dinner ended, so had the storm. Natalie was willing to go outside for just a few more photographs.

All in all this was a great day. I will be forever grateful to Ramada Lakefront’s manager for alerting me about that storm! And thanks Natalie and Jon for trusting me to keep you outside up until the first drops started falling!

In the past year, PhotoKisses has grown beyond my wildest dreams! My photography skills have been greatly enhanced due to the amount of weddings I have been fortunate to shoot, my equipment is better than ever, and my style has evolved into something that my couples and I love very much.

Therefore, I feel that it is time to change the structure of my business. I will no longer offer a flat rate for my services - I can’t be limiting myself and my clients anymore. I am able to and WANT to offer more, more MORE! Engagement sessions, save the date magnets, guest books, more coverage, more travel, more fashion and fun, albums, prints, and then some

If you are a potential bride reading this, please note that I will be introducing my new pricing and packages on September 1st. So if you want to get the current rate, you have one week to contact me and set up a meeting. Oh, and while you’re at it, check out the new Rochester Wedding Magazine with a picture I took on the cover!

This weekend I will be in Martin KY shooting my college friends’ wedding. I am really looking forward to it because I will get to see my friends from Berea College that I haven’t seen in over four years! If you email me and I don’t respond, it’s probably because I don’t have internet connection. If you call me and I don’t respond, I’m probably busy shooting the wedding or Trash The Dress. Yes, yes, Cara is going to trash her dress the very next morning. I’m stoked!

In the mean time, I am extremely busy trying to finish up the weddings from July. I realize I’m behind in blogging about them, so I’ll probably have to do a super-shortened version story of each… But that will be after my return.

Until then, enjoy this picture of my new house - before and after upgrades.

I can’t wait to show you my bridal consultation room! I have all these ideas in my head, and I’m looking forward to having the time to paint and decorate and furnish.

This is why I LOVE what I do!

***

“Kristina, Chris and I want to thank you so incredibly much for the incredible job you did with our wedding photos. I already had a great idea of how professional and organized you were going to be based on our communication prior to the wedding. I loved how upfront you were about what to expect, and also so flexible in letting Chris and I pick some shots that we wanted to make sure you captured. The photos are absolutely stunning and we’ve been telling everybody how amazing of a job you’ve done. They are so creative, gorgeous, and I feel like you’ve highlighted not only the day,but our feelings and emotions. I also loved how you paid special attention to details that Chris and I would have not thought of, and they are some of our favorite pictures! It seriously feels like art when we look at them. I couldn’t be happier and we are DEFENITELY having you capture future important events with us- no question about it. Thank you so much for the gorgeous photos, and making us feel so comfortable and relaxed on our special day. You made me feel so beautiful and natural and I never felt like it was awkward or posey- you even got some stunning shots of Chris alone- wow!! That can be hard to do!  Thank you, thank you, thank you Kristina, I could never have imagined more perfect wedding photos….”

***

And an email that a bride forwarded to me after someone viewed her online proof gallery:

“I stayed up until almost midnight last night looking at those beautiful wedding pictures.  There is not a bad one in the bunch.  I do not envy you trying to pick your favorites!  That photographer (well, those photographers) are amazing. Every single one of those pictures is just amazing and I found myself saying “aaawwww” at most of them. “

***

Now if that’s not a pat on the back, I don’t know what is.  And I wanted to share these words with you because I want YOU, my future bride, to be confident that you will be getting the best of me.

How can I even begin to describe the awesomeness that was Kate & Tim’s wedding day? WOW. I went to the wedding with a small but important mission - to coax the bride into a mini-photoshoot And she said “no problem, I used to be a model!” WHAT?! YAY! Mission accomplished! The following image will appear on the COVER of the Rochester Wedding Magazine which comes out August-October 2008.

She’s so cute!

And so were the guys.

Their ceremony was in the beautiful Notre Dame Retreat House in Canandaigua NY. Here’s a shot of the ring exchange. All the flowers and decorations were put together by Katelyn and her mom. I LOVED the gladioli displays!

During the whole ceremony it poured as if the sky knew no limit. We had planned to take family pictures outside because the House sits right on the lake, but we had to compromise and instead take all the shots by the altar - which I didn’t mind because of the beautiful decorations! It was funny how, while I was doing the formals, people around and behind me were picking up all the flower petals that had been dropped for the ceremony - and I was so engrossed in what I was doing that I accidentally tripped over someone crouched right behind me! That got a good chuckle out of the families, and everyone was smiley and relaxed for the duration of the photoshoot. And what do you know… right as we finished formals, it stopped raining! So we were able to go outside for some fun shots with the bridal party and the limo.

The sun was peaking through the clouds more and more, so we decided to chance it and go to the pier on Canandaigua Lake.

I haven’t mentioned yet that Katelyn’s veil was suuuuuuuuper long!

Yummy kisses

We had so much fun on the lake. We did jumping shots (look for one in the Showcase), kissing shots, girls AND guys showing off their legs shots, you name it! It was such a pleasure to work with such a relaxed and fun wedding party! After the lake, we went to Ravenwood Golf Club. They have an awesome garden in the back, complete with colorful flowers and even a waterfall.

From there on, the night progressed in a pretty standard way. Introductions, first dance, toasts, dinner, cake cutting, and dance dance dance!

Bottoms up!

A few minutes after the shot above was taken, I was hearing things like “you made our day so much fun!” and “we really enjoyed working with you!” I hope that wasn’t just the alcohol talking

Thanks Katelyn and Tim for such an awesome day! I’m so glad it stopped raining after your ceremony. Thanks for being such an awesome model Kate, and thanks for being so laid back, relaxed, and fun the WHOLE day!

Take a look at the SHOWCASE for more images of this awesome wedding. And if you are family or friends, also make sure to check out the full gallery of over 700 images!

Oh, and here’s one more shot of yours truly in action. What a handsome groom to work with! And that’s definitely NOT a big butt. I wear a waist pack that contains batteries, cards, and yes, even hairspray! LIFE SAVER I tell you!

I just got done with shooting THREE weddings this weekend. WOW. I did have a lot of fun, but I must say, I’m never ever doing that again. The level of exhaustion is unbelievable. Thankfully, I only started feeling it on Sunday night after everything was said and done. And now I have over 6000 images to edit! Whoa.

Anyway… Way before this mad weekend, I documented a really nice and relaxed wedding for Alicia and Matt in Greece, NY.  Upon arriving at her house, I immediately noticed that Alicia REALLY likes leopard print

Her one big purchase for the big day (also in leopard print, DUH!) - Jimmy Choos!

Gorgeous dress!

The ceremony was at the St. John the Evangelist Church in Greece. It was definitely something new and different. The tainted windows in the back gave off this soft purple and green light.

The limo driver was super awesome! He showed us a small but pretty location for some bridal party pictures before the reception.

The reception was held at the Italian American Community Center. It was nice to be back again (I shot two weddings there in 2006) In two years they have been busy building, and there is now a beautiful chapel on the grounds.  The maid of honor found this tractor and just HAD to get a few pictures with it!

In front of the chapel:

The reception was so much fun. There was a lot of dancing, Matt sang a song to Alicia, they smashed cake into each other’s faces… great entertainment for everyone involved! There are some pictures of that on the SHOWCASE. Oh, and if you’re a friend or family, you can see the whole wedding at the online proof gallery! I hope you kept the card I gave you with the access code!

Thanks Matt and Alicia for a fun-filled day and all the laughs!

Melissa and Dave got married in the town of North Tonawanda which my GPS says is close to Buffalo NY. First it took us to the Amherst Ramada hotel where Melissa had just finished getting ready and was snacking on finger foods and waiting for me and my assistant Kim to arrive.  The girls were very eager to get their pictures taken. Melissa had a great idea of doing some pictures on the big staircase and of course I took her up on it, because I LOVE it when brides have creative ideas! We also took a lot of pictures on the second floor landing because the light there was so yummy!

Sneaky sneaky Kim! Stealing shots of me in action again.

Here’s my perspective.

The ceremony was very nice. Melissa walked down the aisle by herself, but she was greeted by her mom at the end to be given a kiss and a hug.

There was a limo for the bridal party, but Dave and Melissa got their own awesome car.

One of the couple’s friends had suggested a nearby park as a possibility for bridal party pictures. You go, friend! The park was fantabulous, complete with luscious greenery and waterfalls!

Here’s a shot of Dave with his entourage…

… and a portrait of him alone.

The guys wanted fun pictures, so they decided that it would be a great idea to pick Dave up and have him lay across their hands. It didn’t work so well…

But it worked with Melissa! She was freaking out and laughing at the same time. It was hillarious!

We also got some jumping shots. See, told you they were full of creative ideas!

After a while, we let the bridal party go back to their limo, and took Melissa and Dave to a quiet spot near a pond under a huge tree. They hung out there for a little bit and just relaxed.

With just a bit of directed posing, we got this awesome shot. My favorite!!!

After the park, it was time for reception to start. So we drove back to the Ramada for the party. The hall was decorated beautifully, with blue accents throughout - just like the bridesmaids’ dresses. First up was cake cutting, which came dangerously close to being cake-smashing-in-face!

At this point I should probably mention that there were a lot of people that I recognized. We all went to SUNY Fredonia together (Melissa graduated a year before me and Dave was in the music program at the same time that I was). So there were a bunch of people I went to school with, which made the party a whole lot more fun! We were all very relaxed around each other and I was able to get great pictures because people didn’t mind posing for me and doing silly things - you’ll have to watch the showcase to see those images

Here’s a sweet moment… the members of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia singing the “Serenade To a Girl”

After some very energetic Polish polkas and very sweet slow dances, Dave and the guys went outside for some cigars.

And with that, the night was over. I almost wished that I could stay and party all night long (the music was fantastic!), but Kim and I had a long drive ahead of us to go back to Rochester. So we bid farewell and headed out - but not before we got big giant hugs from the newlyweds!

Thanks Dave and Melissa for being such an easygoing couple, for being “OK” with the ceremony/GPS glitch, for being so creative with artistic posing, for the amazing tip, and for being so stinkin gorgeous! And as usual, my parting words are: SHOWCASE (see a few more of my favorite pictures from this wedding) and PROOF GALLERY (if you are a friend or family AND have the access code AND want to see all 800 images)

Thanks guys! I had a blast!!!

A few weeks ago I documented a wedding that was a bit non-traditional. Or, rather, the wedding was “regular”, but the dress code definitely wasn’t. I knew I’d have tons of fun when, as soon as I walked into Lisa’s changing room, she yelled “you have to take pictures of my shoes!”

After the pink shoes (with insanely high heels!) a pink wedding dress followed

As bridesmaids milled around in their poppy red dresses, Lisa received a beautiful card from Duke, which made everyone in the room tear up. She couldn’t wait to see Duke! The ceremony was held in the chapel in Colgate Divinity School. This was the first time I had shot there. What a beautiful location! The chapel fit a decent crowd but the ceremony still felt intimate. My assistant got this awesome shot of the happy couple walking up the aisle to the cheers of the crowd:

The whole day it threatened to rain, but as soon as the ceremony was over, sun started peeking through the clouds, and we were able to shoot formal family pictures outside.

I took the newlyweds aside for some more fun pictures. There are too many to blog!

The reception was held across the building in the big ballroom. Lisa and Duke danced their first dance between dinner tables before dinner began.

After dinner there was lots and lots of dancing! The band Hi-Risers brought everyone out to the dance floor. The crowd went wild when Duke joined the band for a very special number he dedicated to his wife.

There was cake cutting, bouquet tossing, and general festivities that went on well into the night even after I left. There are a few more pictures up on the SHOWCASE, as usual. Check it out. Also, if you are a friend or family, check out the full gallery of 850 images from this wedding!

Thanks guys for having me! Your wedding was a blast. I will always remember your shoes

Hi!!! Missed me? I missed YOU!

I’ve had a week’s worth of long and frustrating hours, because my computer is just too slow for this kind of work… grrr… move it, move it!!! It has decided that since I plugged in TWO external hard drives (a main one and a back up one) PLUS a bazillion gigabyte card reader PLUS a printer and other paraphernalia, that its USB ports no longer want to be 2.0 superstars. So for the whole week it has been chugging along - or rather, limping - to its own tune of 1.1 USB speed. Thus all my editing work took waaaay too much time! I get so impatient when I see amazing wedding images, and I want them on my screen NOW so I can edit them NOW and not 10 minutes from now when Photoshop finally decides to import them.

Anyway…. (breathe, breathe) I am finally at the last stage of this weekend’s wedding. I started out with 2300+ images, which throughout the process got narrowed down to 895 amazing shots. Everything has been edited, designed, and uploaded. I am now waiting for the print proofs to come back, at which point the whole sweet package will go to the happy newlyweds.

As always, there is a SHOWCASE for you to look at. It contains a condensed version of the whole day, and I will share some of the images here as well.

We started the day at Larissa’s house. She got ready in her fantabulous red room with lots of childhood memories and great natural light:

Isn’t she gorgeous?

Chris isn’t so bad looking himself!

We spent about an hour at the bride’s house taking pictures of her and her bridesmaids as well as her parents.

Larissa wore a simple yet elegant dress with a pretty lace back and a frilly train. It fit her perfectly.

One of the sweetest moments of the day happened when Larissa received a gift from her fiance. She read the card out loud which made all of us tear up. And she received a Yankees jersey which is what she has always wanted.

I got to work with amazing wedding professionals, which made the event go very smoothly and without glitches (I’ll include the vendor list at the bottom of this blog). Bonnie Goldsmith is an amazing florist who works with fresh wedding flowers, and you should’ve heard the girls oooh’ing and aaaa’ing over their flowers!

The ceremony was held in Browncroft Church.  This is the second time I’ve shot there, so I knew what to expect - I had to crank up the ISO and make sure I had steady hands, because the church is quite dark.

After the ceremony there was a flower toss which I thought was very cute and romantic!

After doing some formals in the church, we went to Shadow Lake where reception was to take place. I always enjoy photographing weddings at Shadow Lake because it is such a great location with lots of romantic spots for pictures.

My assistant snagged this gorgeous shot as the sun began to set

They are such an awesome couple and I went totally crazy with the pictures. I don’t have enough space here to show them all. I couldn’t stop shooting! :D  After an hour or so we finally had to stop because reception was about to begin. Everyone got introduced, and Larissa and Chris danced their first dance as husband and wife.

During dinner I borrowed the rings so I could play with them for a few shots. I noticed that both of them have tiny fingers. Eat more cake, guys!

And they did!

Larissa got a group of her girlfriends together for a memory shot

The bouquet toss was a success, and I’m saying that because there’s this big beam in the middle of the dance floor that could’ve easily been hit. What can I say, Larissa has good aim.

There was one other professional photographer at the event

There was lots and lots of dancing, wiggling, jumping, and flailing, thanks to Turner Productions.

Thank you Larissa and Chris for letting me celebrate with you, it was a great party and I had so much fun! What a great couple and a great way to start my wedding season.  Oh, and that dress looks like Trash The Dress material! Seriously! Let me know if you’d be interested in a TTD session

Don’t forget to check out the SHOWCASE, and if you are family or friends, the PROOF GALLERY for all 895 images.

*****

• Ceremony: Browncroft Community Church
• Reception: Shadow Lake Country Club
• Florist: Bouquets by Bonnie
• DJ: Pierre from Turner Productions
• Videographer: Deb from SE Video

*****