David, Jim & Tiffany

Zach and Jessica Married!

2010-07-22

I shot Zach and Jessica's wedding with Jim a few weeks ago in Walnut Creek, OH. It was a little over a two hour drive for the both of us, but it was worth it for sure. I really enjoyed getting to know the couple throughout the day as I was able to see their love for one another behind the lens of my camera.  The details were elegant and well-coordinated.

We were able to capture some really neat shots during the day, especially at the arboretum we stopped on our way to the reception.

Love this detail shot by Jim

Later on, we decided to step outside of the reception hall just before sunset and took some of my favorite shots of the day!

It was such a fun wedding to say the least and I really enjoyed the opportunity to capture these moments for Zach and Jessica. I hope that these photos will always be a reminder of their love and faithfulness to one another. Congratulations Zach and Jessica.

Tags: Ohio wedding photographers

Mat Crawford

Nina and Ravi - Married!

2010-07-20

If there is one thing I love, yet do not get to experience enough, it is exposure to other cultures.  Having amazing, yet quite young children does not allow for one to travel the globe with ease.  Some day maybe - but for now Kristin and I must experience other ways of life within the confines of the North American continent.  Luck for us we live in one of the most culturally diverse places in the world, so there is plenty to see in out own backyard.   I have had the privilege of photographing well over 100 weddings as the lead photographer in the past 6 years, but almost all have been versions or variations of Protestant or Catholic ceremonies with the culturally appropriate events associated with an "American" wedding.  When Nina and Ravi approached us to shoot their wedding I was extremely excited, and when the days arrived (it is a three day event) I was not disappointed!  Witnessing other cultures allows me to assess my own from better vantage point, and I see what is lacking as well as what I am thankful for.

Day One:

The henna party is a celebration before the wedding.  Henna is a red dye that is placed upon the bride's hands (as well as any other female guest who want to join in) in amazing traditional Indian designs.  When the dye stains the skin it is removed and leaves red markings on the skin for weeks. Nina had hers done the day before (it took six hours!).  As a wedding photographer I have always envied other shooters who have a great shot of henna hands in their portfolio - I was so happy to capture a few shots during the party as well as the next day, partially because I was able to fulfill my longing for that addition to my portfolio - but primarily because I was able to capture and save for Nina all those hours that went into such beautiful decoration.

During the henna party people would perform for Ravi and Nina.  Her close friend from college gave a spirited dance which was a treat to experience.

Kristin helped me edit this picture below to the left and it is turning out to be one of my favorites.

Day Two:

The second day was the actually wedding day.  Nina began early in the morning with a ceremony which involved her relatives dipping her bracelets in milk and placing them upon her wrists in preparation for her wedding.

Kristin's pic below to the right is great!  The anklets Nina is wearing were passed down from her great grandparents.  Thinking about how important heritage is for each family during these days made me lament the fact that many of us modern westerners do not value our elders or our lineage.  More than ever I thought that some day - generations from now - Nina and Ravi's great grandchildren might look at their wedding photos and have a sense of honor for Ravi and Nina's love for each other.

As a Sikh, Ravi's preparation for the wedding was of great importance.  One of the "rights of passage" (as I understand it) for a Sikh is the ceremonial wrapping of the turban.  Ravi's father wrapped his turban which is a unique feature of Sikh religion and culture.  Sikh's only make up a small portion of India's population (or the world's for that matter) and the turban is a visible element that is important to their faith.  David - one of our studio photographers - captured these shots while we were with Nina.

There are numerous reference in western culture to the groom riding in on a white horse to "take" his bride - but in this case it was literally true.  With a processional of traditional drums mixed with bagpipes (Ravi is originally from the UK) and a crowd of his dancing male relatives in front, Ravi and his family approached the Temple to greet Nina's family outside.

The actual ceremony was in Punjabi (a language spoke in the Punjab region of India - the traditional home of the Sikh faith).  I only caught a few words in English, but the parts I did were very similar in content to other weddings I have been to.  One illustration was on the unity of a husband and wife.  The officiant describe Niagara Falls being owned by both Canada and the USA, but no one can distinguish down the river which water is Canadian or not.  In the same way, husband an wife must be one.  It was a great illustration and could have been read at almost any wedding I have ever attended.  The truly unique part though was the lack of vows.  In the Sikh religion the couple makes passes around their scripture instead of saying vows.  Though this is unique - it was very much like an Orthodox (Greek or the like) wedding.

Fort the outdoor shots after the ceremony we went to Whipp's Ledges in Hinckley Ohio.  I grew up not to far from here and have heard about these ledges for ages, but I have never gone.  I scouted out this area earlier in the week and was blown away.  It is amazing - but there is a little hike to get to the best part.  I was nervous that Nina would not want to hike a bit in her terrific but heavy garb.  Boy was I wrong.  When we arrived she literally ran up the trail (full dress and all) and beat all of us to the top.  She apparently loves the woods and showed us all up. 

This next shot might be my favorite - it is hard to tell there are so many.  Nina just climbed up on this rock and sat there - we were not even caught up to her yet - to enjoy the location and day.  I literally think my eyes bugged out of my head when I saw the potential for this shot and I could not have been more thankful for her just being herself.

These rocks are the craziest (in a good way of course) textures one could ask for in Ohio. 

These next to detail shots might be my favorite detail shots I have taken.

After our shooting in Hinckley - we went to Nina's home for a going away/goodbye ceremony.  It was a very emotional event to say the least.

Then we joined them at their new home with Ravi's family for a welcoming ceremony.

Day Three:

Day three is the reception.  The reception was the event that most mirrored a typical western wedding.  It was a beautiful time at the Intercontinental Hotel in Cleveland and the Indian food was amazing (not only this day but every day) - I could not get my fill.

There were special performances from a dance team from Toronto as well as plenty of general dancing.  I think I might be one of the few non-Indian wedding photographers who went home after three days and wanted to listen to more music in Punjabi - the rhythm was excellent and the dancing was so fun!

The drummer - Rocky - to the bottom right was quite a character.  He was posing a bit for the camera - but I am not complaining.

Blessings Ravi and Nina - It was an amazing experience.

Tags: sikh wedding Indian wedding cleveland wedding north east ohio northeast ohio Punjabi wedding Punjab wedding Henna party gudwara Milni Lavaan Phere Doli Phera

Jesse Boone

Mary + Shannon Married!

2010-07-13

When I met Mary at the Fish Bridal show, she and Shannon had already planned a wedding in the Outer Banks.  They already had a photographer for the ceremony.  They were planning a local Cleveland reception and after seeing some of our pictures decided to turn it into a photo day as well.  It was a relaxed, fun day of being creative.  This was the first time I have been hired to do a wedding without the ceremony being part of it.  There were also some other elements that were unique.  One of my favorites parts of the day was beginning at Shannon's Grandma's retirement home.  She is about to turn 100!  These images were very meaningful to me as well, because I could see how special the relationship is that Shannon has with his Grandma.  My grandma left this earthly life a couple years ago and she was very special to me and helped raise me.  She taught me so much.  I really appreciated this moment.  Here are a few pics from that wonderful time.  I hope they are cherished memories for a long time.

With this image I wanted to create something that symbolized the heritage that is passed on from one generation to the next.  I love how it turned out.

Cute kids are always magnetic to my camera.  These two were so sweet.

We then headed up to East 4th for some pictures on a very busy day downtown.  I love this area to shoot...and to eat.  So many photo sessions are done here that I always try to challenge to use the environment in a way it may have not been used previously.  So in a symbolic gesture I've saved my favorite images from this part of the day as the 4th:)

Shannon and Mary chose the courthouse for their reception.  It looked brilliant.  We did a few pics there before taking a quick limo ride to the lake.

There a few delightful suprises awaiting Shannon at the reception.  One was the personalized elephant cake.  The other was a favorite gourmet dish.  Now as you can see, the food at the courthouse is top-notch, but Shannon has the same weakness as Mat and myself.  We are Chipotle addicts.  Shannon so much so that it was his wedding reception meal.  That type of clever thoughtfulness from Mary is the type of stuff that is going to keep their marriage fun for a long time.

Thank you Shannon and Mary for having me be a part of such a special day.  It was great meeting your families and witnessing your love.  May your marriage always be blessed.  I rejoice with you that you found each other.

Tags: Cleveland Courthouse Wedding photographer

Mat Crawford

Miranda and Ryan - Married!

2010-07-11

When Miranda and Ryan met up with me before the wedding to chat up the details we joked a bit about Miranda being a Finest Moments "blog stalker" (their words).  All kidding aside, you might notice that there are quite a few comments on other weddings throughout the past year from a "Miranda".  This is not a coincidence - the wedding that is below is of this very Miranda who is a faithful contributor to our blog (you may have viewed her engagment shot on the blog last summer).  We met years back when I photographed her sister's wedding.  From my perspective as the photographer, it is always a great honor for someone to want you to shoot their wedding after having experienced your work in the past.  For Miranda and Ryan it was even more of an honor because of her passion for our work, but with this honor comes great responsibility.  I had a tall order to fill, and it was my intention to give Miranda and Ryan something that was unique without being gimmicky - something that was new but that still had the Finest Moments look which they chose - something that was representative of their personality and our artristry.

For her sister's wedding a few years ago, we stopped at a little carnival on the way to the wedding and shot a few pics.  Miranda wanted something special for her wedding day as well and an old time custard shot seemed like a good fit.  We had some fun and got a few terrific pics.  Most brides are not willing to do much before their wedding - so this excurstion made for a one-of-a-kind pre-wedding stop.

I love the face on the bottom left - it is a classic.

 

Ryan and Miranda got the guys custom made cufflinks that matches each of the guys personality in some way.  I was a huge fan of this personal touch.

If you look closely you can see Ryan tearing up.

 

 

Kristin thought of this next pose and it was a winner!

The shot below is a bit nutty if you are not Ryan or Miranda - but I had to include it for fun sake.

The pic to the bottom left is just awesome.  And the pic to the right needs a warning - "Watch out boy she'll chew you up - Oh here she comes - She's a maneater!"

Normally I don't put shots of the bridal party entering the hall, but the naked baby with the bowtie earns a place in the top pics.

In the evening we went outside the reception and shot a few pics with the sun low in the horizon (and a few night shots).  This is a great time for Miranda and Ryan to simply enjoy each other and think about the day while it was still happening.

This one is probably my favorite of the day - or atleast in the top few.

This next one was not the best shot of the day from a photography standpoint - but I think it was  a special moment. we try to be on the sidelines and allow the bride and groom to be with each other and ignore everything else - but sometimes it is a bit challenging.  This was a moment where I think Miranda let her gaurd down a bit and grabbed Ryan's face and looked into his eyes and kissed him.  Hopefully this shot will bring back those memories for the rest of their lives.

 

I threw together this slideshow for giggles - enjoy!

 

miranda from Mathew Crawford on Vimeo.

Tags: Finest Moments Wedding Photography

Nelli Boone

Roadtrips and Rainbows...

2010-07-10

We left for our second big roadtrip of the year just over a week ago.  Our first was in May.  We went through 14 different states... straight to the west coast.  We have just been so busy we haven't had a chance to blog all of those photos, but believe me, we will blog those!  On our way back to Ohio, we stopped at Jesse's sister's house in Bozeman, MT.  Her oldest daughter, Love, is 7 months younger than our oldest daughter Alicia.  They were also the first grandchildren.  Alicia and Love have shared a closeness since they were born.  Back to Bozeman... when we arrived in town, we found out that Love had been outside for several hours waiting for us to get there.  We only had a few hours that night and were planning on leaving in the morning.  Next morning, Jesse says to all the kids, "Ok, kids, say goodbye and let's hit the road!"  I had this gut feeling that we were supposed to take Love with us, because we would be coming back to Montana again in a month and a half.  I whispered to Jesse, "Let's take Love..." and he looks at me, and says, "Let's have a family meeting."  For those of you who don't know, me and Jesse have 6 kids...:)  So adding another for over a month would make us even more crazy!  But everybody agreed that we wanted Love to come.  And she did.  Several times throughout that month, we stopped to see what a blessing she was to our family.  Love, Alicia and Caleb(he is 8) got really close.  Jesse actually did a fun summer school with them, teaching them poetry, philosophy, bible, economics and much more.  They even got to plan a mini-vacation by the Lake.  The whole time she was here I was busy... Jesse was busy too, with all the different weddings and photography jobs.  So we never got any good photos of the girls.  We talked about taking some, but it never would work out.  Then it came time to leave and we still had no photos.  In Rapid City, SD, the sun was setting and looking like a perfect photo opportunity.  I talked Jesse into taking the photos.  He had the boys out with him holding flashes, so I can't take any credit for these photos of Alicia and Love.  They were exactly what I had wanted though.  Thank you Jesse for taking these priceless photos! 

So this picture gets us to Montana.  I took Joshy(6) to scope out the area.  We are here to shoot a wedding.  And that is another story, another blog post.  Really an amazing story of how we ended up shooting this wedding.  Me and Jesse are actually going to shoot it in a few hours.  Stayed tuned, Jesse already told me I get to blog the wedding...  :)

This last pic is a picture from the back porch of the house I grew up in.  I don't know if I have ever seen a rainbow this beautiful!  Have a great day!  :)

Tags: Destination Wedding Photographer