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Ari and Nicole had a beautiful and intimate family wedding last month in Bloomfield Hills. Please join us in congratulating them, and enjoy their sneak peek which follows. Thank you for sharing your day with us, Nicole and Ari. We wish you the best!
Click below for the slide show. Enjoy!
And so we come to the final installment of Rachel and Dan’s sneak peek. This was such a gorgeous wedding and today I’m going to show you a few more of the incredible details.
Rachel’s flowers were created by Emerald City Designs and her beautiful gown was from Monique Lhuillier via the Roma Sposa Bridal Atelier in Birmingham. In the picture below, the crinoline reminds me of a Georgia O’Keeffe painting.
Another view of the dress:
Rachel’s wedding shoes. The red sole says it all.
Emerald City did a wonderful job not only with the bouquets, but with the church decor as well.
They also created the stunning crystal and rose decor in the ballroom of the Townsend. I could have photographed this all night. It was fabulous!
The head table:
These centerpieces, tall arrangements complimented with crystals, were beautiful. I also appreciated the wonderful room lighting. A combination of pink uplights, pin spots, and candlelight made this reception a delight to photograph and gave everything a warm, rosy glow.
I loved the draping on the cake table.
And finally, could there be a more romantic end to a storybook wedding?
Congratulations Rachel and Dan. We loved everything about your wedding. Thank you so much for allowing us to be a part of your day.
Wedding Coordinator: Kori Saxe, Emerald City Designs
Ceremony: St Hugo of the Hills Bloomfield Hills
Ceremony Musicians: The Scandinavian String Quartet
Bridal Gown: Monique Lhuillier via Roma Sposa, Birmingham
Bridal Party Stylists: Hair: Maysoon and Tarek Makeup: Danielle Todd’s Room, Birmingham
Floral Arrangements and Decor: Emerald City Designs
Reception: The Townsend Hotel, Birmingham
Videography: Eric and John, Epic Motion
Orchestra: Nouveaute Entertainment
Welcome to Part II of our look at Dan and Rachel’s gorgeous wedding.
We absolutely love it when our clients choose to do a First Look. Why? The First Look gives the bride and groom a uniquely intimate moment together before the hectic wedding day begins. They have a chance to see and appreciate each other before the ceremony and we have the chance to make the type of images that are truly impossible to find later in the day. We have never had anyone say they regretted doing a First Look, but many have told us they were sorry that they did not. I say cast aside old superstitions about not seeing each other first — we are living in modern times, after all, and in life you make your own ‘luck.’ The First Look gives you the opportunity to have terrific pictures made when you, your emotions, and the day itself are all still wonderful and fresh. In case you still have doubts, here is the irrefutable evidence:
I promised myself that I’d keep the blog posts short and sweet this year, but that was before I knew exactly how beautiful Dan and Rachel’s winter wedding would be. I have so many things from this wedding that I’d like to show you. There is so much, in fact, that I’m going to break this sneak peek into several parts: a first here at Studio Sinead! Let’s start with Rachel getting ready at the Townsend Hotel in Birmingham.
Her Monique Lhuillier wedding gown was simply stunning.
OK gentlemen, listen up. Dan has come up with the ultimate way to send a card to your bride on your wedding day, and he has set the bar very, very high. This card contains mementos from their dating history, going all the way back to the beginning of high school. (Note the PG movie ticket stubs. That’s how young these two were when they met.) He carefully preserved these things and included them in his very lovely hand-written note to his bride-to-be. There wasn’t a dry eye in that entire hotel suite once Rachel opened this card. In fact, I’m not quite sure how I managed to get the following photos, but they are among my favorites from the day.
To be continued. . .
Karen and Joe had a beautiful wedding at St. George Greek Orthodox Church in Bloomfield Hills, followed by a reception at the Edgewood Country Club. Enjoy the photos!
Ceremony: St. George Greek Orthodox Church
Reception: Edgewood Country Club
Event Coordination: Andrea Solomon
Our sixth season got off to a fabulous start with Kara and Cicero’s elegant wedding and reception at the beautiful Motown Mansion in Detroit. The bride was radiant, the weather was wonderful, and even the pastor commented on how very much in love these two are.
Kara and Cicero, thank you for sharing your wedding day with us. You were a pleasure to work with and we wish you every happiness.
Enjoy the photos. The slide show starts below the pictures.
There were so many photos that I wanted to include in Dan and Rachel’s sneak peek, so I decided to do two posts about their fun engagement session. As you’ll see, we took full advantage of Downtown Birmingham, and of the gracious hospitality of the Townsend Hotel. If you don’t know The Townsend — you must! Drop by for tea one afternoon and take in the gorgeous surroundings. It was the perfect setting for Dan and Rachel’s portraits and we know that their wedding reception will be beautiful, too.
Dan and Rachel aren’t getting married until next February, but Rachel loves winter and wanted to make sure that she had snow in her engagement pictures. Well — as the saying goes, be careful what you wish for! We braved what may have been the last big snowstorm of the winter to photograph these two at home in Troy, at several locations Downtown Birmingham, and at the beautiful Townsend Hotel. We have so many great pictures that this sneak peek is going to require two posts — a first in Studio Sinead history! So make sure to come back for Part 2 on Thursday. We had a terrific time with Dan and Rachel, Rachel’s lovely mother, Dr. Denise, and Coco, the wonder dog. We’re definitely looking forward to their wedding next year, but we don’t mind waiting for more snow. 
We’d like to take a moment to send a huge thank you to Elaine, the mom of former Studio Sinead bride Jen Smith Waxberg, for sending Rachel our way. We’re truly touched by your vote of confidence.
Enjoy the photos!
No, I’m not talking about Garrett’s newest landscaping adventure. This is a bit more indelicate: it’s time to talk about money.
There! I said it.
Right now, it is impossible to live nearly anywhere in the world and not realize that our relationship with money has changed. It’s completely impossible to ignore this fact if you live in Detroit.
Lately, I have heard from many of you that you have a budget for wedding photography that is different than you had originally envisioned, and perhaps less than what you think it needs to be if you want to be a Studio Sinead bride. I want you to know that I have heard your concerns and have taken steps to address them. We have always offered custom quotes to our clients, but I have taken the initiative of creating a simple wedding collection as well. It has all of the things you’ve told me you love (two photographers, your digital negatives archived to DVD, online proofing) but none of the “extras,” such as albums, engagement sessions, or bridal portraits. You are free to add them, of course, as your budget allows. We will be offering this new collection until it sells out. We let our newsletter subscribers know about it yesterday, and have already filled two dates. If you’re interested, please let us know as soon as possible. It is possible to have the photography that you love at a price that you can afford. We look forward to working with you!
I was so excited when Erin, a 2008 bride (you may remember her beautiful fall wedding at the River Birch Lodge) referred her friend Shannon to me. Shannon is a Michigan native who now lives in California and is on the staff at the sublime French Laundry restaurant. She and her fiance, Chris, are planning an August wedding in Michigan, and we had the pleasure of shooting their engagement portraits when they were in town during the holidays. (I think it must be easier to love the cold weather when you live in California. We would have gladly gone out West for the session, but had we done so, we would have missed Shannon’s mother’s beautiful home, along with all of the fun that is downtown Birmingham at Christmas.)
Shannon and Chris, we had a wonderful time with you and we’re truly looking forward to your wedding day! Thanks so much for sharing an afternoon with us. We hope you enjoy your photos!
