What a story this image has! Andy a fellow photographer, co-host of Photographers Unite with Neal, and dear friend to us, met his lovely Kristen while photographing a wedding. She was playing the violin for the ceremony. They started to chat and began dating. A year or so later, they were married! They had their ceremony and reception at Hotel at the Lafayette in downtown Buffalo.
We were actually guests at this wedding! That does not happen so often and we were so excited! The bride and groom really wanted one photo done by us. They did hire photographers from out of state and did discuss with them, they had a few photographers they wanted to also be a part of the day. We made sure they were completely done working before we had our turn. We did not want to step on any toes!
Leading up to this day, Neal was really stressing out over the photos. I had never seen him this way. He was mapping out posing, lighting, then ripping it up and starting over. He really wanted this to be perfect for Andy and Kristen. Day of comes and we check into the Lafayette with all of our gear. We brought everything! After the beautiful wedding ceremony, amazing cocktails, and first dances, we started our game plan (while still enjoying with friends). It was pouring rain and super windy. Normally we would not second guess the elements. But Kristin had her extremely expensive violin and we could not risk it getting ruined. We went into other areas of the hotel to see if we could pull off the same idea. It was not looking good. We thought we may have to do this for them another day. Then there was a quick break in the rain (not the wind). 2 other photographers who were guests, joined in to help us bring all the lighting outside.We had the newlyweds stay inside at their party and grabbed them last minute when all was ready.
Neal showed them exactly where they needed to stand and how he wanted them posed. He wanted the stunning bride to be playing her violin to her lovely husband, while he was taking her photo. We brought a very old style camera for him to use. We put them right in the middle of the street with lighting behind them. Kristin started playing and we all were brought to tears. The wind picked up and the rain began to come down. We needed to work fast. You can see all of the street lights and lamp posts in the back and well as our lights. Neal did not edit those out. He really liked the way they looked. Here comes more rain, we had to get them back inside. Neal was clicking away like crazy as I was relaying posing. Just as they were running back inside, one of our brand new (not so cheap) lights fell over. Andy and Kristen were devastated. We kept telling them it's no problem, get back to your party. Thank goodness only the plastic cover was cracked and not the actual light. We are still using the same light today!
We get back inside and Neal is so worried and freaking out, we did not get the shot. I have never seen him so nervous. He was ready to load the images into the computer and start looking at them. I had to tell him he needed to step back and we need to rejoin our friends and celebrate their marriage. The images will be there tomorrow. Sure enough, we get home the next day and Neal gets to work right away. A few hours later, he showed me this image and I started to cry. It was perfect! The bride and groom were going to love it!
For the big reveal, we invited Andy and Kristen over to the house. It was podcast recording night and Kristen and I were going to be guests. The topic was about their wedding! We started to discuss the process behind the image we did for them, from the planning to final product. They both started to cry, even before we showed them the image. It was time to reveal! There were no words, all tears. The newly married couple absolutely loved it! They could not say thank you enough. It was such an honor to be able to do this for Andy and Kristen.
Location: 391 Washington St. Buffalo, NY 14203.
