April 24,2010
Caitlin and Tim's wedding took place at St Christopher's Catholic Church in Chester with the reception at The Chesapeake Bay Beach Club. I was looking forward to working with them again as I had two engagement sessions with them. One was in DC and the other here on Kent Island. Both engagement sessions were a lot of fun. And they had a lot of fun together which really made the pictures for me. So, I knew Caitlin was going to be a beautiful bride. And I knew this would be a special and fun wedding. Which it was.
Below are some sample images from the wedding.
I met up with Raquel www.weddingconsulting.net at the Hilton Garden Inn where she directed me to Caitlin's room. Raquel is my favorite wedding planner as she keeps everyone on time and allows me to do my thing.
Caitlin had a large wedding party of beautiful bridesmaids and they all had a matching monogram rope on. They looked lovely all sitting on the bed as I walked in. Caitlin was getting hair and makeup. After getting ready we all went outside by the water to get some pics of the ladies. They were all happy and smiling and having fun. The flowers, bridesmaids dresses and especially Caitlin's dress were all amazing. I worked fast (time is always in short supply) because I wanted to get some images before the ceremony as I knew you never have enough time later.
St Christopher's is a new and beautiful church on Kent Island. Father Jennings is a very cool priest. I have worked with him many times. The ceremony was fairly quick as there was no communion. We did a few formals at the alter afterwords and then off to CBBC.
For the formals I use a Quantum Q flash on a stand via remote, my 5D mark II on a tripod and my favorite accessary, my step ladder. I don't leave home without it. I normally set the light to manual 1/4 and have it about 15 ft out. It could be more. depends. Then set the camera to 5.6 iso 800. shutter depends on the room light. I meter it sometimes. I go 6.3 sometimes. And depending on how fast I shoot the light sometimes doesn't recharge fully so I shoot extra exposures, bracketing. I keep talking and going until I feel I have it. Being up on the ladder helps to keep everyones attention. I still get them done in 15 minutes normally. The idea is to keep it moving, keep talking, have fun with them. This gives me a chance to do my stand up comedy.
When we get to CBBC we go directly to the sunset lawn and get into more pictures. I give Caitlin and the girls a break as I have not done anything with the guys yet. The weather is overcast. Not perfect lighting but that doesn't detour spirits. Tim played basketball in college so most of the groomsmen were around 6"8. They were a blast to work with. They had fun the entire evening.
There was no sunset today but we still got on the beach for some great pictures. It's not the sunset that matters anyway. It's the special moments that we capture. It belongs to them. And we got our sunset when we did the engagement images.
During the cocktail hour I dropped my Canon 1D mark III with my 70/200 and a 580 flash on the hard tile floor. The flash broke into pieces. It was loud. I thought I broke my camera or lens at first. But the camera was fine. Canon is tough and has to be the way I treat it sometimes. Guest were checking with me to console me as it looked like the camera exploded. That's why you need backups. On Monday I sent the flash (what was left of it) to Canon and they fixed it in less than a week. Can't beat that.
The reception was in the sunset house room. Jason Wallace (DJ Absolute Sounds) had set up special lighting that look amazing. The music he plays and the way he plays it keeps the party moving. It never slowed for a second. Everyone had a great time. it was so many people dancing it was hard for me to keep up with it.
All in all a great day. A fun wedding party, great crowd and a fantastic couple. Thank you Caitlin and Tim.
Equipment:
Canon 1D mark II, 1D mark III, 5D, 5D mark II. Lens: 16/32, 17/40, 70/200 is, 70/200, 24/70. 580 flashes, quantum Q flash and trio flash.
All Images copyright 2010 Larry Huffman Photography all rights reserved
