heyo,

my offering today is from a wedding this last saturday.  i’d love to introduce you to matt and alisa!  both of them are really cool, chill, laid-back people.  this made for an awesome day.  literally, awesome!  they held their wedding out in stillwater at a place called the outing lodge.  the outing lodge is basically an old school mansion that has been converted into this sweet b & b.  my day started off trying to find this place, it would have been easy… if mapquest didn’t suck! :-p  from now on i’m using google maps.

anyhoo, after finally stopping and asking for directions i made my way there and my jaw dropped.  this place was phenomenal.  green vines everywhere, old style brick, just what every photog wants for a venue.  after quickly acquainting myself with the lodge, i made my way back to stillwater and this salon where alisa was getting her hair done with her bff (best friend forever) katya.  while there we had some fun taking some cute photos of the two.  from there it was a quick jaunt back to the venue to get photos of matt and alisa getting ready.  like i mentioned earlier, this place is awesomely old school.  inside matched the outside perfectly with neat rooms with old school decorations like typewriters, big ornate mirrors, and plush rugs!  in-between running around and getting the preparation photographs i went outside and mingled with the guests and got some neat photos.  mad props to matt and alisa for having such cool and sociable friends as it makes my day so much easier.

fast-forward half an hour and everyone is sitting down for the ceremony; which is outside.  this is the first jewish ceremony which i have photographed, so it was a real treat being allowed to be part of the day.  the rabbi had an amazing voice for all of the traditional singing parts and it gave me a shiver down my spine at the beauty of the day.  their ceremony had some tears, some traditional glass breaking, singing, gigantic kisses, and smiles all around.  as matt and alisa left the chuppah, i quickly got up from my spot only to find myself lying flat on my back.  i had slipped in the grass.  luckily i quickly recovered (yay for 12 years as a soccer goalie and learning how to get up quickly) and was able to get some uber-cute images as they walked away to revel in their new marriage.

there was a quick cocktail hour while the food was prepared.  during this time i did some family photos and was able to sneak matt and alisa away from their guests for a quick bride and groom session.  we walked down the path to the road and ended up getting some amazing images.  what i love about matt and alisa is their seamless blend between old school traditional and modern trends to create some truly unique images.  i think these photos help to epitomize that.  moving on though, during dinner there was some awesome toasts with my personal favorite being the one given by the bride’s brother (who is incidentally a pretty kick-ass dancer).  at one point as i was up photographing a toast, the newlyweds dog snuck up and stole my dinner!!!  the people i was sitting next to said she just came up and snarfed down my steak!!!!  it’s all good though, i had already eaten most of my dinner.  i have to actually give props to the dog, she must have been waiting for me to get up again and then run in and “yoink” gone!  we all had a good laugh over that!

as dinner and speeches wrapped up we mosied our way downstairs and began the reception.  during the day, i had set-up my photobooth.  this enables guests to take candid photos of themselves without me around.  i’m pretty sure it was a huge hit.  as the evening wore along and the liqueur kept flowing, the pictures just got better and better.  My personal favorite being a staged punch!  instead of having a dj, matt and alisa hired a legit bluegrass band.  it was great!  everyone was having a wonderful time dancing and i got one of my favorite images of the day during the first dance (ps matt really knew how to boogie down during the first dance, hats off to you buddy)!  again it was a lot of fun with everyone there just being super nice and awesome and it made for a great time with great photos.

thanks again to everyone at the wedding, i hope you enjoy these photos.  matt and alisa, g’luck you two.  you make an awesome couple and you guys were made for each other!  have fun in your new house! : – )

evan

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