So I’m setting up for a love story shoot the other day and Mya walks in the room and discovers something new and intriguing…my camera!  She walks over to it and starts to pan and tilt and being the cool dad that I am, and I am cool, I grab the home camera and snap this pic…

The look on her face is priceless!  So while I’ve got your attention on Mya, I might as well give you an update!  She is now a full time walker/runner.  Her favorite foods are chicken nuggets and hot dogs, and she’s a huge fan of yogurt smoothies!   She’s learning more and more words and one of her favorites is ‘no’ and when she says it, she drags it out like in the picture above.  We read a book to her in which Barney is asking what sound x animal makes and she is so stinkin’ cute when she makes the animal sounds!  She had her first trip to KIngs Island not too long ago, we rode a ride together at the local church festival and she has a shiny new wagon in the garage that she likes to get pulled around in like royalty.  I’m doing my best to cherish these moment, but its incredible  how the days have turned to weeks and weeks to months, and now somehow over a  year has gone by.  I love you Mya!

What an incredibly beautiful day!  Christy and Nate were absolutely AMAZING to work with and it didn’t hurt that we had the Cincinnati Art Museum as a backdrop!  I love this place, its actually where I took Reagan for our first date!

Their ceremony in the grand hall, officiated by the remarkable Stephen Hoffman, was so intimate and you can just feel the love they have for each other. I had the great pleasure of working with Brenda and from Pottinger Photography who captured some stunning photos, you can check out some teasers in her blog. We actual went to Eden Park after the ceremony to take some photos with Christy and Nate and their bridal party as they transformed the grand hall into their reception room. The reception was just as beautiful as their ceremony. Steve Bender Productions kept the dance floor going which gave me some great footage.  This whole incredible day was wonderfully planned and executed by Kerry Leedy of KL Wedding Designs!

The whole day, from the preparations at the Westin, to the compelling ceremony, to the party at the reception, was just fantastic!  Christy and Nate, I really loved working with you. I hope you enjoy your trailer and share it with all your friends and family.

Shopping carts, couches, scaffolding, go carts, they all belong in a wedding trailer, right?    You know this isn’t going to be your typical walk in the park photo shoot if Kortnee Miller of Simply Timeless Photography is involved in any way and it turned out to be anything but typical.  I wanted to try a different approach to this one and focus on the fun of the day rather than the events of the day. It was an incredibly hot and humid summer day in Cincinnati, but that didn’t phase Anthony and Heather at all.  They were up for absolutely anything we threw at them and we all had a blast together.  Many times throughout the day, I would say to myself, “is this really happening’?  Seriously, I couldn’t believe we actually had the groom surfing in a shopping cart or racing go carts with the entire bridal party.  Good, good times that day, enjoy the trailer!

Dora with Viva Bella Events recently posted this story on her blog and I was so moved by it I knew I had to be a part of it.  They are finally going to have the wedding of their dreams, 11 years and two children later.  I can’t imagine not having friends and family there to celebrate my marriage and not having a photographer or even worse, not having a videographer there to tell the story of the special day.  I’m so honored and excited to be a part of this incredible event, not to mention I’ll be working with an all star cast including Dora, Nancy with Brideface and the insanely talented Tine of tm photography, who by the way was just featured in a national wedding publication!!!  The articles can be seen here and here,  Tine is so amazing and I’m so happy for her!  More to come on the wedding that will be taking place in September!

So you might remember my post a couple weeks ago that featured their trailer. How could you forget the cake that stood FOUR FEET TALL! This was an incredible evening filled with many many kind words from friends and family for them as they begin this journey together. I’m putting the final touches on their film and wanted to share this highlight with you. There were so many memorable moments throughout the night it was really difficult to choose the best of them to create this. I hope you enjoy!

One of my favorite things to do in the summer is go to concerts. There’s just something different about watching your favorite band perform outside in the open air, the mood is completely different than in an arena. Last night was a night I had been looking forward to for a while, not only because it was a night off, but because I got to see one of my all time favorite bands, Blues Traveler, perform at Turfway Park. They were on tour with Live and Collective Soul. Now, I also really like Live who headlined, but I actually went to see BT, who completely blew me away. Seriously, if you’re not super familiar with them, I HIGHLY recommend their 1991 release, “Travelers and Theives”. John Popper can wail on the harmonica as if he were born with one in his hands. They did an INCREDIBLE cover of the Charlie Daniles Band classic, ‘The devil went down to Georgia’ and Popper completely nailed the fiddle parts on his harmonica. It was a moment my friend and I will be talking about for a while. Live then came on and blew the crowd away and really put on a great show, the energy was phenomenal! So anyway, it was a great night filled with some incredible songs by a couple of my favorite bands and I was able to get away from editing, at least for a couple hours!

Wow! What a beautiful day this turned out to be. The sun was shining, the spirits were high as Caroline and her bridesmaids were getting ready at Mitchell’s in Mason, but of course this Cincinnati weather can change so quickly, and it did. Just as Caroline was starting her photos at Sharon Woods, the rain came down, hard and fast. We all ran for the picnic shelter and tried to wait it out. It became obvious that it wasn’t going to pass soon enough so the quick thinking Robert Ramundo with Michael Bambino organized an impromptu photo shoot right there in the shelter. As crazy as it was, it worked out incredibly well. And of course as fate would have it, the rain stopped when we were finished taking pictures. Onto the ceremony and then the Reception at the Savannah Center where Greg Lee was entertaining all the guests with his incredibly talented band. He even learned “This year’s love” for them as their first dance song, which Caroline later told me she first heard in a Highlight she saw on my site a year ago! Anyway, the evening couldn’t have been better and I wanted to share their trailer with you. I hope you enjoy!

What an incredible day it was yesterday!  Yeah, sure it started off a bit wet but that didn’t stop Chelsey and Branden from having the wedding of their dreams!  I started the day with Chelsey and the bridesmaids at the salon, then continued on to Kumler Chapel for the ceremony. Fast forward a couple hours and the Reception is taking place at the Hilton Hall of Mirrors where everything was beautifully decorated thanks to Goodwin Lighting and the amazing arrangements from Mt. Lookout Sprouts!  Jim and Jim from The Studio were there to document the day frame by frame and Lx2 made sure the floor was packed and everyone was having the time of their lives.  This wonderful event was expertly planned by Brigid Horne-Nestor of i-do Weddings & Events!  Chelsey and Branden wanted to surprise their guests with a Same Day Edit that played at the end of dinner and they absolutely loved it and I wanted to share it with you as well.  I hope you enjoy it!

Alright, so this is just what I needed, another blog to stalk! Dora Manuel of Viva Bella Events has joined the blogging revolution and has really hit the ground running!   She has even named her blog, ‘Viva Bella inside out’, which makes me want to name my blog something other than, ‘the blog’!  I’ve had the incredible pleasure of working with Dora on several occasions and can tell you first hand the difference she brings to an event, whether its a corporate function or a wedding, she truly has a gift for refining the intimate details that make her events stand out!  Her attention to detail and organization really helps me out greatly on the day of the wedding and I can be confident the event is going to be more than beautiful and will flow with amazing ease!  With that said, please check out Dora’s new blog by clicking here and feel free to leave her a comment!

I will always remember Joanna and Mitch’s ceremony as one of the most emotionally charged ones I have ever seen.  The personal vows they wrote to each other were some of the best I have ever heard!  The beautiful backdrop at the Manor House was the perfect setting for them to begin their lives together and it certainly gave me some unique filming opportunities. The day couldn’t have been better, from the weather, to the incredible scenery, the design and details that they put into everything, truly made this a unique and memorable occasion.  I had the incredible opportunity to work with Rachel from Rocket Tree Photography and I’m really looking forward to the next time.  Joanna and Mitch wanted to use their first dance song for their highlight and I think it made a beautiful soundtrack.  I hope you enjoy!