Ryan & Andrea - Lomond View Gardens - Ogden, Utah

Ryan and Andrea are that couple that I really love as clients. They have their own style, their own vibes, and their own opinions but they trust me as an artist. With that combination, great things happen!
Their beautiful day started with some of my favorite getting dressed photos ever--helped out by the beautiful mirrored furniture in the brides room at Lomond View Gardens.

They did their First Look and we spent some time shooting the formals, and let me tell you, these two can shoot some formals! Ryan looked every bit as studly as Andrea was ravishing.

The wedding party joined us and we shot the whole group. They wanted classic, timeless posing for the group shots but the bridesmaids and groomsmen were so much fun that the images are far from traditional.

The ceremony took place in the beautiful pergola jutting out into the pond. It was short and sweet.

Since the wedding party was all done, photographically, following the ceremony we only had to shoot the families and then the bride and groom were ready to pile into their vintage Corvette Sting-Ray and head over the the luncheon and reception.

..and what a reception it was! Simply put, it was a party! Funny toasts, great food, a tender first dance, and they were ready to dance the night away.

I got to work with a WONDERFUL videographer in Crayton Hammer of Hammer V Productions. He was a seriously entertaining cohort.

All in all, a fabulous affair. Thank you to Andrea and Ryan for making me a part of their day!

Here is the info straight from the bride on her choices, vendors, and feelings from her day:

I was trying to go with a more fall themed wedding, even though it was still summer time. I love the fall colors, so I wanted to use them in my wedding. I used branches, twigs, and grasses to keep with a more nature type of theme. I used reds, oranges, greens and yellows as my colors. I wanted to keep everything very naturey (if that is a word), so we got married outside by a waterfall and all of our pictures were based in the garden area. I brought the tall branches inside to go with the nature theme inside the reception hall as well. I wanted a low light feel, very comfortable and calm for all of our guests to feel like they could relax and let loose. So we turned the lights down low and lit all of the candles on the tables to make a better mood for a conference room. The chocolates on the table were a little something for the guests to take home, and everybody loves chocolate. Again, with the candy in the vases and the candles on the table, we stuck with a fall color scheme.

Lomond View Gardens was the perfect place because of the scenery, the location, the individual rooms for the bride/groom, and the price.

The major decorations were all made by me and my family. We had centerpieces that we made with vases, bird seed, twigs and big fake flowers. The shorter vases had bird seed, candles and photographes of ryan and i in them. We also wrapped tall branches in white icicle christmas lights, put them in paint buckets filled with gravel and wrapped them in a deep red material. Everything else was candles, vases with candy, and branches.

Other Vendors

Cake - Jennifer Vesper from Layers of Love - jenvesper@gmail.com.

Jennifer was great. I gave her an idea and she came up a few sketches for me to look through. From those sketches I could pick and choose what I liked best about each and she made my cake from that. She was amazing and had great insight on exactly what I was looking for. I would recommend her to everybody!

Flowers - Ashlee Dent - Linger Floral

The bouquets’, boutonniere’s, and corsage’s were all Burnt Calla Lilies, green's for accent. The kissing balls that the flower girls held were orange roses. The kissing balls that were hanging above the gazebo were made from white and green carnations. Ashlee was pretty good to work with, and she did a great job...her prices were reasonable, she used beautiful flowers and her designs turned out really good.

Videographer - Crayton Hammer - Hammer V Productions - creepymouse@comcast.net

Crayton did an awesome job. He was very easy to work with, his prices were very good, and he really caught everything that we wanted from our wedding day. We really liked him because he did interviews with our guests and we thought that added a lot to our video. I would recommend Crayton to everybody!

Photographer - Jon Woodbury Photography - me@jonwoodbury.com

We loved him! He got every angle and shot that we were looking for. We absolutely loved our pictures and couldn't have asked for any more from him. Pricing was good, pictures were amazing, our book was great, communication was awesome, and we loved that our guests could sign our canvas picture!

Dress: Crushed organza, pearl white, by Maggie Sottero from The Bridal Corner in North Ogden, UT.

Tux: They were just a simple black with a double breasted vest with white shirts, and Claret vests and ties. The pattern was paisley. We put Ryan in a black shirt to distinguish him from the groomsmen.

Bridesmaids: The bridesmaids each picked their own style of dress to fit their body type. The color of their dresses were Claret, each cocktail length, tube top but with some differences to them. They were all Alfred Angelo dresses.

SLIDESHOW

{PHOTO IQ: I think with how long this post already is, I'll write a separate Photo IQ post on it in the future.}

For those of you who can't see the slideshow above, click here to be whisked electronically to the facebook album.

See more at www.jonwoodbury.com

Brian + Young Ha - Wedding Day - Salt Lake Temple

Brian and I have been friends for a long, long time. We met in the 4th grade and have been friends ever since. We have traveled the world together and been through a lot. I have often wondered who the girl would be that nabbed my good friend. Young Ha is the perfect choice! Brian needs someone who gives him a lot of guff because without me there to do it, who knows how easy his life would be! I loved Young Ha from the moment I met her and I can not tell you how happy I am that they finally found each other. I was privileged to be a part of their wedding.

Brian and Young Ha were married in the Salt Lake City LDS Temple then followed up with a reception, (complete with delectable food from the bride's native Korea) at their local church building.

{Brian and Young Ha are bright and vibrant so I wanted that same feeling in the photos. I lit their reception with two Strobelite studio strobes firing into the huge white ceiling of the church. Both were fired by Cactus V4 triggers attached to both of my cameras. I shot on manual all night and had basically perfect light everywhere. It worked beautifully.}

For those of you on smart phones who can't see the slideshow below, click here to be whisked electronically to the facebook album.

To see the photography of the entire wedding or purchase prints, click here.

See more at www.jonwoodbury.com

How to Budget for a Wedding - Weddings by Percentage

How important is the wine?

The national average for a wedding is about $20,000. I'm not sure how accurate that number is but I've heard that figure fairly often so I'm good with it.

The averages show a couple will spend their money in the following way:

• 51 percent on Reception, including reception hall, catering, cake and alcohol
• 10 percent on Photography
• 8 percent on Videography
• 9 percent on Ceremony
• 7 percent on Attire
• 6 percent on Rings
• 4 percent on Flowers
• 3 percent on Music
• 2 percent on Limo and transportation

 That means that the average photography budget is $2000. If the photography is more important, you should probably spend more, and vice versa if it's not important. The other things to consider would be whether you are spending money on some of the other items. If you're not getting a limo or having an open bar, that gives you more leeway to either add to another area (I vote photography) or simply save some money.

The original article on Virtual Photography Studio doesn't say where they got their numbers from but it seems pretty close in my experience so take it for what it's worth.

Here is the original article on how the average bride apportions her budget.

The LDS Bride, Killer Videography, and My Wedding Photography

 

I am the focus of the world! ...or at least the focus of The LDS Bride Blog...for a day or two...but still pretty cool. Jason and Kylee's wedding has been one of my showcase weddings for a long time and I'm thrilled to see it on the LDS Bride Blog. Spencer Hale of Giant Brothers Films did an unbelievable job, as always. You should also go see Kylee's Bridal video, he won major awards with that baby too, because it kicks butt.

Young Love...Fashionably Late -- Janna + Dave, Manti Temple

To see the full event or purchase images from this amazing, artistic, classy wedding, click right here.
Janna and I have been friends for a very long time. She was one of my best friends in high school and we have stayed good friends through many, many good times and a few bad. She is one of my favorite people on the planet.
Dave and Janna met at Snow College in 1994 and actually dated clear back then! They both went their separate ways only to have everything come full-circle 15 years later. They are live in the Washington DC area and having the time of their lives.
I was honored and privileged to shoot their wedding. I loved everything we did and just had an amazing time. Janna has an incredible family and we had a great time. I was also excited to be able to shoot the reception with the incomparable Andrea Hanks. Congratulations, Janna and Dave!
Janna's Bridals at the Union Station in Ogden.
Dave and Janna's Engagements in downtown Salt Lake City.


For those of you on smart phones who can't see the slideshow below, click here to be whisked electronically to the facebook album.

See more at www.jonwoodbury.com

John + Maree, Part 1 - Manti Temple Ceremony

I've said it before and I'll say it again, we work with the coolest people! John and Maree came to us as a referral from another really amazing couple, Summer and JD. (Take a fond look back at THEIR engagements and wedding.)
From the very beginning John and Maree did something pretty amazing...they trusted me explicitly. They recognized early on that when we work together to come up with concepts and settings and ideas that are unique to them we end up with amazing work.
The best images come from collaboration. If the photographer does all the work, the images will be very strongly his/her style and most likely resemble closely other work he/she has done previously. Not necessarily bad but it's not how I roll.
If the bulk of the work is done by the client that removes the photographer from the mix and negates their wealth of knowledge and experience to a certain degree and lowers the overall quality and magic of the images.
When the client and photographer work together the vision becomes something that reflects and represents both parties and the product is something that could never have been achieved in any other way.
This formula in action is demonstrated in John and Maree's engagement session and Maree's bridals which I posted previously.
Anyway, John and Maree got married in the Manti LDS temple and had a small open-house that night. The next week they had a more formal reception (Can you say, awesome? I knew you could.) in St. George. Those images will be in Part deux tomorrow, so set those bookmarks!

For those of you on smart phones who can't see the slideshow below, click here to be whisked electronically to the facebook album.

See more at www.jonwoodbury.com

A Lavender Deluge - Zac & Jordan - Young Living Lavender Farm

Every young girl grows up dreaming of that bright, sunny, sunshiny day that will be her wedding day. It will be 72 degrees, even if it's February in North Dakota. There will be azure blue sky with wispy, white clouds. The flowers will be blooming--all of them, even the ones that are not in season. The birds will all flit down and land on her shoulder as she ties the knot in a world of love and harmony.
Reality is much cooler--pun intended--especially when the bride and groom are as fun as Zac and Jordan.
There was no sun, the birds weren't flitting about, and the clouds were anything but white and wispy. What they DID get, in large amounts, was rain. Huge cloudbursts at totally irregular intervals.
That's the point where a wedding can become a huge bummer or a priceless memory. In this case, there was a plethora of wonderful people who made it the latter. Everyone pitched in to move the reception inside to escape the deluge but they decided to keep the ceremony outside in the gazebo. Generous guests donated about 6 umbrellas that were used to shuttle everyone back and forth in a mostly vain effort to stay dry. It was one of the most fun weddings I've done and I was grateful the rain abated for 10 minutes so we could run and shoot some killer formals in the lavender fields.

If you can't see the slide show below, check out the images on Facebook.

Shane & Amanda - Ceremony - Stanley, Idaho

The sun had just slipped behind the Sawtooth Mountains and the light was a cool blue. I saw Amanda over on the swings just sitting there watching. I went over. She remarked at how cool it was that all their friends and family had come from so far away and they were playing games and having fun together in this amazingly beautiful place. It was exactly how she'd always envisioned it. Shane came over and we enjoyed the silence for a minute before I jumped back into photographer mode. We took some fun shots on the swings before I left them, just the two of them, to sit there in the waning light and just bask in a really cool party.
Shane and Amanda, we love you guys.

See their engagement session. (It was a cool one!)
See their pre-wedding session in Glacier National Park, Montana.

If you can't see the slide show below, click here for the facebook album.

See more of my work at www.jonwoodbury.com

JD & Summer - Wedding

Summer and JD. Two of the best people we've ever worked with. As often happens, we didn't just shoot their wedding and design their flowers, we became friends.

I posted their engagements in a previous post so if you want a good intro, check that out.
Being a Texas girl, Summer wanted her whole wedding party all dressed up and ready to party for the temple photos as well as at the reception. It made for images that are, well, Summery. The images reflect her style, energy, and let's face it--her ability to do one-handed cart-wheels in full wedding regalia.
The ceremony was a back yard affair in the best implication of the term. Along with being an awesome location complete with pool, dance floor, gazebo, and trampoline, it also happened to be less than a mile from my house making it just about the perfect location. After much preparation and even more prayer (mostly that the rain would stop) everything went without a hitch and turned out stunningly.

If you cannot see the slide show below, click here for the facebook album.

Alex & Brittnie - The Holy Family Catholic Church

Brittnie and Alex were married in a beautiful Catholic ceremony in the newly completed Holy Family Catholic Church in Ogden, Utah. It was a dramatic, emotional ceremony worthy of the magnificent church that was only a few weeks old.
Following the ceremony the party moved to the previous church building for a sit-down luncheon and a reception that can only be described as a rocking PARTY!
Enjoy the images of this classy, unique wedding...and stay tuned because the Maid of Honor in this wedding--Brittnie's sister Blayr--got married just a month later, making this an epic summer for the Holmgren clan. I was excited to be there for both and will be posting Blayr and Brock's images soon!

If you cannot see the flash slideshow below, you can click here to see the album on my facebook page.

Mariana & Carlos - Utah Wedding Photography

Mariana is from Brazil. Carlos is from Spain. How did they ever meet?

BYU of course.

After being married in the Draper Temple in Salt Lake City, Utah, Mariana and Carlos proceeded to their luncheon and reception at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building in downtown Salt Lake City.
I can't even tell you how much I enjoyed this wedding. Carlos and Mariana are the sweetest couple, they just go, go, go all the time. Everybody danced and had a great time. (It was also a veritable Who's Who of LDS church leaders since Mariana's father is Elder Costa, a General Authority.)
Pay close attention to the flowers as they were done by my favorite florist on the planet, my lovely wife, Lori. You can see her work at www.weddingsbywoodbury.com.

**If you're browsing on a smart phone and can't see the slideshow below, you can browse all the photos here on my facebook page.

Brenna & Addison - Wedding Photography

Brenna and Addison were a unique couple in my cadre of weddings this year. Addison is a US Marine and was being moved last year so they went out and got married. No fanfare or parties. They enjoyed a brief time together and then were apart for 5 months. They were looking to throw the official wedding party when they finally got to see each other again and I got to be a part of it. One of the fun parts of the situation is that Brenna was pregnant and since they were married already, nobody was trying to pretend otherwise. It added a fun dimension. You can see the love between Brenna and Addison all over their photos. I had a great time hanging out with them and they were one of the most down-to-earth, grateful couples I've ever worked with.

Allison & Dave - Salt Lake Temple and The 23rd Floor

Okay. So this one happened a while ago--actually before I started blogging but I've been wanting to post it for a long time. The ceremony was at the Salt Lake LDS temple and the reception was at the 23rd Floor, which, incidentally, no longer hosts receptions--it's a shame, it was really a cool view of the city.
Allison and David were so much fun to work with despite being cold it was a beautiful day.

Tom & Leesha -- A Look Back

One of my favorite weddings ever was Tom & Leesha. Their attention to detail and classy style yielded some of my favorite images ever. Since they got married before my blog was even a twinkle in my eye I thought I'd go back and post my favorites. Their engagements and Leesha's bridals are some of my favorites too but you'll have to wait til another day to get those.
PS. You may have noticed the baby shoot I did for them a little while ago...if not, go take a look at those too!

Colleen & Derek

I've been wanting to post this one for some time. I posted a couple of images of the groom and his best man previously but I wanted to post my favorites now that the whole wedding is processed.
Derek and Colleen (click here to see their engagements) got married March 18th, 2009 in the Provo LDS Temple. Their luncheon and reception were at the beautiful White Willow Reception Center in Provo.
The top hats and classic tuxes worn by the groomsmen quite nearly competed with Colleen's custom-made dress straight from a designer friend in New York. Everything was timeless and classic. It all worked out: a fun couple + a beautiful location + crazy family and friends = everyone had a fabulous time!
If you have some time, hang out and watch Colleen and Derek's story unfold in slideshow #1. If you're in a hurry, check out a few of my very favorites in slideshow #2.

Slide Show #1 - The Story

Slide Show #2 (The Cliff Notes Version)

Elyse & Rick

Elyse and Rick's nuptials were all sorts of fun. I actually knew a lot of people because this one was in my own family! Elyse is my 2nd cousin (based on my limited knowledge of the complex system of genealogy) so it was more like a fun family gathering than work.
But work, I did. Some of my best if you ask me.
The wedding was in the Salt Lake Temple and I have no explanation for the way the temple was lit! It was December so they had all the bubble decorations floating in the reflection pool and that's the only explanation I can give. The bubbles threw this amazing yellow stippled light onto the east facade of the temple! The odd thing was that the sun didn't seem to be in a position to light it that way. It was just incredible!
The reception was in the Utah State Capitol rotunda. (I posted a shot of the capitol building from this wedding in a previous post) The capitol rotunda is a gorgeous, albeit challenging place to have a reception. It's cavernous, which makes it tough to light but also dramatic and interesting. I've always loved architecture and really showing the location so I saw it as a challenge. You can judge the results.
The Bride and Groom formals at the reception are some of my favorites, despite having all of about 10 minutes for all of them. We only took about 10 frames in front of the capitol but they are worth every effort.
I've posted some of my favorites here and you can click the link below the slideshow to go to www.collages.net to see the rest.