Mike and Kim

We were blessed to be Mike and Kim’s wedding photographers last weekend in Seattle. Kadie spent Friday and Saturday entertaining Jenni’s parents while we enjoyed a date in Seattle the night before the wedding.

This was our first paid wedding gig. Technically, there was one prior, but it was more of a gift than a contracted position. While we were nervous, in the end, we enjoyed working together to capture Mike and Kim’s wedding. Jenni was awesome at helping pose people and got quite a few great shots herself (not too surprisingly, of course).

We rented two lenses for the occasion. Jenni joined me in photographing the wedding with my old Canon 300D and the Canon 24-105 f/4L IS. The color and contrast in the pictures from that lens was superb.

I checked out a lens I hope to purchase someday, the Canon 70-200 f/2.8L IS. It’s a whopping $1,700, so it’ll take me a while to save up. After using it at the wedding, I’m blown away at what pictures this lens can achieve. The image stabilization was amazing—it allowed me to shoot fully-zoomed at 200mm and 1/15 of a sec, and getting a great shot!

Anyways, I’m getting too much into gear. Mike and Kim shared a touching wedding that centered on love and God. I enjoyed the vows and verses they shared. There was such a joy in their eyes when they looked at each other. They had no trouble being romantic in front of the camera.

Their reception was at the Bacon Mansion (no relation to Kevin Bacon that I know of). The rain outside didn’t put much of damper on the mood as we all shared in a great meal. The cloudy skies poured lovely diffused light into the mansion’s stairway, and we got some great portraits as a result.

I can’t say we’ll do many weddings in the future. Though they are fun, it is still stressful and a lot of work before, during, and after. I’m just thankful that I share the experience with Jenni. She is my portable light stand, group portrait organizer, lens holder and swapper, and second camera to get the shot I couldn’t get otherwise. So I can honestly say that she lights things up for me 😉

See some of our favorite photos from Mike and Kim’s wedding »