Both Carmen and Vince have planned many events related to their jobs. When I talked to Carmen about their wedding, she claimed this event was slightly easier to plan than work events because it was in one language, traded one currency, and no heads of state were coming to the wedding. On Saturday their wedding was filled with special details including Fair Trade jewelry, wedding favors, coffee and tea.

Their wedding as held in Carmen’s home town of Pittsburgh. The ceremony was at St Therese of Lisieux Church followed by a reception in The Great Hall at the Heinz History Center.

Next two images by Nicki.

The colorful altar cloth behind the newlyweds is from Vince’s church in San Francisco.

Carmen and Vince chose to have their reception at The Great Hall at the Heinz History Center because of the unique architecture and Pittsburgh artifacts.

From their first dance

Carmen was bouncing all around, having a fantastic time all night.

Vince had a great time too, here taking a few minutes away from the action to play cards with his friends from high school.

Congratulations, Carmen and Vince! I wish you many happy journeys to come.

Nicki and I started our day at the Westin hotel. I joined Lauren and her very calm, organized bridesmaids (not kidding about this–they were so calm and prepared). Nicki spent the first part of her day with Danny and the groomsmen.

Lauren is amazingly beautiful!

At Heinz Chapel

When the bride and groom leave the ceremony, they have about 20 seconds alone together before they’re joined by the bridal party. One of my favorite moments of the whole day.

Image by Nicki

Another favorite:

Lauren and Danny arrive at the Heinz History Center. The amazing bouquet and arrangements by Mocha Rose Floral Designs.

First Dance

Next two images by Nicki.

In one of the cutest things I’ve ever seen, Lauren and Danny cut the cake (2 pieces), gave each other a taste, then carried their cake back to their seats and ate the pieces they had cut.

Guests really enjoyed the patio during the sunset.

After two very special parent dances, the party started.

Congratulations, Lauren and Danny!

As usual, I started with Christine and her bridesmaids getting ready.    Christine’s makeup by Greg from Lightko Studios

They elected to see each other before the wedding in a first look meeting.  Somehow, we found the one tree in Pittsburgh with leaves still on it–November 13th!!

Those beautiful flowers by Reed & Petals Florist

After a few photos alone, the bridal party joined us for some shots.  I’d like to thank all of them for their patience as I had lost my voice due to a recent cold.  Ryan did a great job of getting everyone together.

Sure, I just posted one of these last week, but photos in the Racer are so much fun!  This one has the added bonus of adorable children who were really into the whole idea of pretending to be on a roller coaster ride.

I don’t often include portraits such as this one, but Shawn is a volunteer fireman and the fire truck was so cool looking.

Onto the ceremony.

This talented musician played and sang an acoustic version of “Thank You” by Led Zeppelin.  It was amazing!

Mr & Mrs!

The toasts were very emotional……

And hilarious!

It was a flower girl party!  Four of their nieces were in the bridal party.  They had a great time dancing.

The last dance…

Congratulations, Christine and Shawn!  I hope that you have a great time on your honeymoon!!!!

I began my day photographing Jen and her bridesmaids and “Men of Honor” downstairs in Heinz Chapel.  Ryan was upstairs and got this fantastic shot of the ring bearer handing out programs.  The light from the door lit his face perfectly.

There are  many restrictions about where the photographers can go in Heinz Chapel.  There are no restrictions on what you can do in the balcony.  Here, Ryan is shooting through his own lens while Jen and Marc are at the altar.

Exchanging the rings

And here they are, Mr and Mrs!!!

How exciting to find this big tree full of bright red leaves on November 6th!

Between the ceremony and reception, the bridal party took their giant limo bus to Primanti Bros. in Pittsburgh’s South Side.   Can you see Jen’s dress in the photo?

Jen looks beautiful!  And you can tell she really enjoyed her time on her wedding day.

Marc looks pretty great too.

A jagerbomb for a few of the groomsmen…..

And after a quick, windy stop on the North Shore for a few photos, we arrived at the Heinz History Center.  What a fun group of guys!

The brides’ side had a much more convincing coaster ride.  WooooohooooOO!!!!!

Just before cocktail hour, the groomsmen composed this original song called “Marc and Jen.” 

After that performance, Jen and Marc posed for a few more photos in the 6th floor lobby.

For their first dance, one of the groomsmen sang and played piano.  He was SOOO good!

And then onto the killer dance party.

What a beautiful room!

Go Jen!

This time, all of the wedding guests were treated to the final version of the original song “Marc and Jen.”

The lyrics were “Marc and Jen.  Marc and Jen.  MARC AND JEN!!  Marc and Jen.  marc and jen (whispered). Marc and Jen.”  It was amazing and I’m glad that all of their guests got to hear it.

Marc and Jen, congratulations on your awesome wedding day!

They celebrated their wedding celebration last weekend at the  Heinz History Center.  I absolutely love the Heinz History Center, my favorite part being the exhibits in the The Great Hall at the Heinz History Center.

Vik and Michael arrived together with their families for some portraits before the ceremony.  Here we are on the 6th floor in a beautiful space.

They are both just lovely. 

I do love this trolley.  I photographed it extensively from the opposite side last fall when I was here for Alison and Paul’s wedding.

This is the theater in the Heinz History Center Sports Museum where they would exchange their vows a few hours later.

Together they greeted their guests and enjoyed their cocktail hour with music from Steven Vance – European Band.

At 7pm, it was show time and everyone moved upstairs to the Sports Museum to watch a video that Viktorija and Michael had created about their families’ lives.  Video production by  Video Masters of Pittsburgh.
I like how everyone is smiling (and later crying) while watching.

Vik and Michael watched from above.

Together they made their way down to the waiting crowd.  Photo by Ryan.

How can you not love a wedding where everyone waives a Terrible Towel when you arrive?  Well, I guess if  you’re not a Steelers fan.  This was also hilarious because Vik’s family is from Cleveland (I did catch her mom, Petronela, waiving a Terrible Towel.  Busted!!!).

Reverend Mark gave a beautiful ceremony.

When Rev. Mark asked for the rings, Vik’s parents, Petronela and Vencel gave a fake ring as a joke.  They thought it was hilarious (it was).

Vik and Michael enter the Great Hall.  Photo by Ryan from his favorite perch.

When they entered the reception, the new celebrities autographed these footballs.

And threw them to a few lucky guests.

After a great dinner by Common Plea, DJ Kelli Burns played their first dance song.

Michael and his mom, Denise.

Awwww.

What is better than one wedding cake? Well, 9 cakes, of course.  These cake centerpieces are by Creative Cakes by Gwen.  The theme of each cake is a significant part of their relationship.  At each table, the cake was cut by the couple who has been married for the longest amount of time.  (I heard that the Snickers cake tasted like Snickers!)

Congratulations, Viktorija and Michael!  I wish you many happy years together.

But you should get your album as it is often the only legacy left from your wedding (besides, you know, your rings and your spouse) and something that will be around for a long long time.  Forever?

One service I offer is Wedding Album Predesign.  If you are planning to purchase a wedding album from Randi Voss Photography, you will get to see the preliminary album design on the Wednesday after your wedding.  Yes, that’s right.  Go online while you’re on your honeymoon and relive your wedding with your new spouse and think about how great it was.

You may be asking “So Randi, what makes you think that I would like the album design?” And the answer is simple.  You like my style and sense of photo composition enough to hire me to be your wedding photographer, and the wedding album will continue in that style.  Also, you don’t have to do it yourself.  So let me do it for you, and right away.  Since it is done so quickly after your wedding, I remember who was really at your side the whole day, your important friends and relatives, and the special and hilarious moments you shared.  I can also remember making sure your album shows the people most important to you instead of what a outside designer may consider the best looking people.  Not that your grandma isn’t beautiful, but you get the idea.

From my own experience with my own album, it is very difficult to choose your favorite photos from a group of  hundreds, with enough variety, and a balance of time line from the day.

Plus you can look at tons of sample album designs to see if you agree. I’ve had two album clients (Jessi&Benjamin and Sara&Nigel) in 2009 who made no changes to my Wednesday-after design and basically said “Why mess with perfection?” But if you want to make changes, after you see the rest of your photos, I work with you to make sure that your album (add or remove pages, swap photos, change the design) is perfect before it is sent away to be made. The Predesigned Albums are often longer than the package album and you have the option of eliminating spreads or adding on to create a longer wedding album.  Less work for you, and more choices.

Now take a tour of a Real Bride’s Wedding Album with my explanation of her changes.

This was one of the most relaxed weddings I had this year with Alison and Paul.  Actually two weddings – a small destination wedding and a larger hometown reception.   If you want to watch a few flash videos, you can watch their original albums roll on by.

This is the first spread of the book and I like this reflect the overall theme of the wedding.  As with all of the comparisons below, my initial design is on the left and the final design is on the right. Just a small change on the right to photo of Alison’s shoes and the date was moved to spread 4.

Right on for this one.  I really liked this one so I’m glad she was in agreement.  That handmade “Wedding” sign is killer.

Since Alison and Paul got ready in the same house, and really at the same time, their experiences are combined here.  I like Alison’s choice (on the right) of her putting on her necklace and Paul similarly tying his tie.

Right on again.  So good!

And again.  They had a great first look meetings.  When their wedding was featured on Wedding Belles Online, Alison said it was one of her favorite moments.  I’m happy that she loved the emotional photos.

A quick switch on the group shot that Alison and Paul preferred.

Another swap of the main group shot.

Bingo on this bridal photo.  What beautiful lighting that day!

A few exchanges here too.  I’m so happy that Alison and Paul found this wonderful place to shoot and were brave enough to walk a few feet off of the road to get these.  What’s the point of getting married somewhere so beautiful if you can’t enjoy it.  Cheers to photos before the ceremony too, as it was dark after the ceremony was over.

Wonderful ceremony location at The Peace With Inn. Just two exchanges here on the page on the right.

So here is a photo of every guest at their event in Maine. On the right, Alison added a few more photos from the end of the ceremony.

Cake cutting, right on.

Alison asked me to remove the text here, which was not a problem, of course.  Since there were two events, she wanted the text to introduce each location with only her “a&p” logo on the first and last pages.  A fine decision!

Part Two at The Heinz History Center.  Alison was also featured on Wedding Belles Online for having a hometown reception in Pittsburgh a month after her wedding.I really liked photographing in the Grand Hall at the Heinz History Center.  There was such great lighting and a super staff.

Since the Heinz History Center is a working museum, it has great artifacts like this trolley where a&p hopped inside for a few photos.  No changes to this spread either.

This spread showed the overall room and some of Alison’s great details.  She swapped out quite a few here, sure to capture her favorite items.

The first dance.  I had the spread on the right (sorry they are mashed together) all about the First Dance.  Alison and Paul chose to have this spread incorporate more reception events, so they made swaps within the same layout that I had.

Cake cutting number too. A few changes here to incorporate more events including Alison’s parents thanking everyone for coming.  And Alison and Paul smiling for their guests photos right in the center. You’d be surprised at how often that happens.

On this spread, most of the images were changed to reflect Alison and Paul’s favorite parts of the reception.  So I missed some here on the design, but they had plenty of favorites to choose from.

And in the final spread Alison and Paul chose a different shot of them to be featured on the right hand side of the spread.  Since it was a landscape-oriented photo that they preferred, I just changed the design to a black background and placed it in the same location.

I think that it is so critical to communicate well with my clients and this is one of the most important times.  Alison, Paul, and I worked out this design by email and web previews alone.  Their book will take about a month to produce at the bindery, but then they’ll have it forever.

All that said………….what do you think?  If I’ve made an album for you (or even an Album Predesign), what did you think of the experience?  If you have your album, how was the editing process?  And if you’re thinking about getting married or you ever have, you know, comment below about the importance of a Wedding Album and its timely delivery.

We took some time before their reception for a few photos around the Heinz History Center.  Event coordinator Maura was gracious enough to let us tour around the museum for some photos before their guests arrived.

Once again, Alison did a great job planning the details.  Caterer,  The Common Plea, set everything up for the stations.  Like any wedding, there was a Conestoga wedding in the background….and a twisty slide, which, sadly, I did not get to ride.

Talk about a fun party!

The first dance, just a short month after the wedding ceremony.

Dance with Dad to “Sunrise, Sunset.”  This is the song that Alison walked down the aisle to at the Maine wedding.

Cake cutting, round two.  Photo by Ryan.  Jealousy by Randi.  Although Ryan did take 4 flights of stairs to get this.

City Heat rocking out.  They did an amazing job all night.  They played so many different types of songs and all 4 singers were awesome!

The groom and some of his friends take a ride on the racer.

So it was a really great night again.  It was a huge treat for me to see the families again too!  I loved that I already knew their names and I could greet them this time.

Congratulations again, Alison and Paul!!!