Linczak Photography Blog

Awhile back, we got to work with one of our favorite vendors of all time: Valarie Kirkbride of Kirkbrides Wedding Planning & Design!  Any bride, whether you feel like you need a planner or not, should at least call Valarie!  She is a breath of fresh air and an abolute professional at what she does.  Everytime we have worked with her, not only do we see the bride, groom and families benefit from her expertise, but all of the vendors do as well!  She has a way of making the entire day happen exactly as planned, and she makes it look easy!  We can’t say enough about how much we love her, the job she does, and her personality!  On top of all this, she is abolutely beautiful and made a perfect model for some creative and out-of-the-box head shots!   Check them out and don’t forget to check out her website and give her a call! 

One of her best feature in my opinion, is her amazing hair!  It has such much volume!

One of my favorites!

One of the best ideas ever: bringing along these bright pink balloons!  I love it!  All her idea!

This could be my favorite photo I’ve ever taken! 

Had to get some downtown vibe pictures while we were out!

Once again, if you haven’t checked her out, you definitely should!  Valarie is one of the best choices you can make for your wedding at any point!  We adore her! 

Our first wedding of the year was in January with Jason and Sarah.  Even though it was something close to 10 degrees outside, Jason and Sarah were the best couple in the world for this day!  We didn’t hear one peep about the cold from them - there focus was always on each other and their friends and family!  It was an absolute pleasure to be with them the whole day.  Sarah is a member of our military and is one pretty tough chick!  My favorite part of the day was when she asked me to take a photo of her doing push ups before the ceremony!!!  Her reason was she wanted her arms to look strong!  That was a first for sure! 

Not only is Sarah tough, but she is also really girly too!  Check out these shoes!

Sarah wasn’t all push ups that morning!  Here she is laughing it up with her girls!

Isn’t she beautiful?!?!

The second wedding in a row that Ted was jealous of the groom’s watch!  I guess Jason just has good taste!

I <3 this groom!  He is so laid back and awesome…

Guests making their way into the warm church…

St. Patrick’s may be our favorite church in Cleveland.  Beautiful!

We’re big fans of the bag piper recessional!

Married!!!

You hear us preach about family formals on this blog all the time - how we love to do them outside, how we get all the family members in close together, looking and interacting with each other so that we can capture relationships instead of just people looking at the camera in every shot.  Because of this, we have had some people ask if we take images of people looking at the camera at all.  The answer is of course!!!  The images of all the family members together and looking at the camera is one of the staples of what we do on wedding day.  While we still get everyone in close together and we will always do the shots outdoors if possible, we ALWAYS make sure to do shots of everyone looking at the camera and THEN shots of people interacting and having fun together!  In the spirit of this paragraph, here are a couple of the family formals from Jason and Sarah’s wedding day!

We pretty much fell in love with Sarah’s dress!  I could not have imagined a more perfect dress for her!

ADORE this shot of Sarah from Ted.

Jason couldn’t stay out of the shot for too long!

Pure happiness!

This shot is for Sarah - to make her arms look strong!

I hear people complaining about how Cleveland is ugly or misreable, and all I can think of is how much I love grungy backgrounds!

Bright colors: the Linczak MO.

Time to bring out that party!!!

Love this shot for the mixed lighting!

We worked with David over at the Crowne Plaza downtown for this reception, and he did a fabulous job!

Best cake feeding EVER.  I think Sarah’s saying, “Couldn’t help myself!” 

First dances…

2 of our all star Linczak couples!!  Joe and Jen on the left and Molly and Jason on the right!  <3

One sweet end of the night shot at the bar downstairs!

Thanks again guys!  We can’t say enough how amazing you were!

The day after Christmas, Ted and I spent the day with Rami and Mona.  Not only are these two one of our nicest couples ever, they are also bursting with personality, fun, and love for each other and their families!   Every aspect of their wedding was tailor made by Amy Hissa with At Last Event Planning to reflect that!  We also got to work with videographers extraordinaire: Brian and Susy from 2nd Mile (check out their highlight video on their blog by clicking here!).  Not only did Rami and Mona have amazing details and vendors, but they had a photographer’s dream schedule!  Since they had already had their small actual marriage ceremony, our day just consisted of trying to find enough scenes to show them off!  Ted and I compared notes at the end of the day and both decided that there was no other way we would have rather spent the day after Christmas!

Yes, this bride looks gorgeous before even touching her amazing gown! 

It may have been my favorite gown of the year.  Not only was it beautiful and 100% suited to Mona’s style, it also took all of 2 seconds to put it on!  Good thing I have a fast camera!

Photographing Mona is as close to cheating as any photographer can get.  My heart was literally racing when she started giving me looks like these:

Wondering where Mona got those good looks?  Why, her momma of course!  This shot is NOT directed!

Mona was anxious to get dancing - even before she had even seen Rami!

We grabbed Mona’s girls for a couple before we left!

Now we head over to our groom.  My fabulous husband had the presence of mind to photograph the rings using these peacocks.  Guess what the color theme of the wedding was?  You guessed it: peacock!

Rami is a way cool guy.  Though some may THINK just because he’s an ER doctor that he’s all numbers and science.  Not so!

Ted told me that he wants this watch.  I think it’s pretty cool too!

In the abscence of a ceremony, Rami and Mona did a “First Glance”.  I can’t say enough how much I LOVE the sequence of images we can get from this that you can’t get from a typical wedding day.  It’s an amazing thing to capture those first reactions without any restrictions on us or on our couple!

I don’t think there is anything that makes either of them more happy than being together.  I love seeing couples like that!

They are kind of ridiculously good in front of the camera!

You’d never be able to tell how cold it was out there from this shot:

Oh rim light, how I love you.

See, the thing about Mona is, you don’t really have to tell her anything.  All you really have to do is be there to point the camera in the right direction.  Just let Mona do what she does.

Even though they were hurting her feet like crazy, those shoes sure were cute!  Us girls know that’s the most important thing!

Even the bouquet starting being hot for the camera.

2 of my favorite shots from a wedding ever.

The next series of images is to showcase what fabulous taste our bride and groom have, and what a fabulous job Amy with At Last did at pulling it all off!

Now the party gets started!

As soon as we could steal them off the dance floor, we did a couple end of the night shots.  Sooooooooooooooooo worth it!

One last super-sweet shot to end the day!  We love you guys!!!

Back at the beginning of November, Ted and I packed up our things and headed to Chi-town.  Among the things we discovered:  the fact that we could never live in city where it takes 45 minutes to get 5 miles, deep dish pizza is seriously amazing, and Tom and Kristen are 2 of the absolute nicest and most photogenic people that ever lived!  We were blessed with weather that no one even dared to hope for  - low seventies with sunshine and not even the hint of a breeze.  Honestly, I don’t think even bad weather could have made this trip less than 100% beautiful and pleasant in every way.  We immediately felt like we were memebers of this wonderful, italian family and the entire day felt more like a vacation than work.  We were able to do all of our photos before the ceremony and just had a super relaxed and chill day.  Check out the photos!

Look at that beautiful light!  Can you believe it was November?

Kristen’s laugh is infectious - even through images!

This image literally takes my breath away.  I absolutely adore this bride.

Of course, we had to copy the same spot with Tom!

I love lips!

The best wedding bands ever - these used to belong to Tom’s parents.  I love the stars, but I love the story more.

Time for our family “formals”:

Now on to the getting married part!

Think she’s happy to married???

Now on to the reception!

Is was still warm outside for our customary end of the night shots!

We love you guys!  Thanks for everything!

Just barely hanging on to a few leaves back in early November, we met up with Nancy and Kevin - a super sweet couple we had met at James and Steph’s wedding back in May.  I remember seeing them together and thinking they were adorable together back then, and now here we are shooting their wedding in April!  They are extremely laid back and nice, and it’s pretty much impossible not to like them.  They also have one of the sweetest proposal stories ever that took place in the most magical place in the world: Disney World.  For that reason, much of their wedding has a Disney or fairytale theme.  We can’t wait to be a part of it!  In the meantime, enjoy some of their engagement images:

What’s a better combination than feet + railroad tracks?

We really are lucky to get the best couples in the world, and Kevin and Nancy are no exception!  See you guys soon! 

The day after Melanie and Sam’s wedding, we spent the day with Abby & David.  Even though we had only met these 2 only once before the wedding, we hit it off right away.  It might have had something to do with their incredibly laid back personalities, our shared obsession with Dave Matthews, or the fact that they had one of our absolute FAVORITE wedding planners of all time Valarie from Kirkbrides planning the wedding.  Whatever the reason, it seemed like the entire day was scheduled around having awesome photography!  This was our first wedding at The Union Club downtown, and the setting was fabulous!  There wasn’t one thing that disappointed throughout the entire day!

Abby, just chilling and giggling - laying in the floor:

Sister, cramming for her speech later:

I love the multitude of arms!

Pretty much everyone was happy that morning:

Photographing this girl, I was falling in love with her!

Now on to David:

Love this one from Ted:

As you all well know by now, Ted and I are HUGE fans of couples doing a “First Glance”.  It makes for such an emotional sequence of images that you can never replace! 

We also get the chance to walk around and get some really cool stuff before the wedding even starts!

Loved this ribbon!

While cruising around in the morning, Ted and I found this peely wall that we absolutely HAD to use!

It wouldn’t be a day with the Linczaks if you didn’t see at least ONE reflection!

Indoor location: Palace Theater

Don’t worry!  We didn’t forget about the bridal party!

It didn’t take much to make these girls smile!

We had some pretty handsome groomsmen if I do say so myself!

We love the theater district because of the little lights everywhere!

Now it’s time to get married!

The ultimate Jewish ceremony image. I love it.

One of the best parts of the day were the amazing details at the reception.  When I say amazing, I’m not kidding.  They were amazing.

The toasts were funny, sweet, and one even quoted Dave Matthews!

The first dance was oh so dramatic!

Parent Dances:

Yes, those are twinkle lights in the floor.  I love them too.

End of one amazing night!

Thanks guys for an amazing day!!!  And big thanks to Valarie for yet another perfect wedding with Kirkbrides Wedding Planning and Design!

Now that the holidays are done and over, let’s hope we can get ourselves back into gear for this blog!  We are properly ashamed of ourselves! 

Way back in October, we met up with 2 very special people: Bryan & Jenna.  We are so psyched to get to work with them since Ted and I both went to college with Bryan and Jenna is pretty much amazing.  Never could I have imagined someone better for Bryan than Jenna!  She is sweet, funny, and put together (not to mention beautiful!).  These two will be getting married this June, and I already can tell you, it’s going to be an awesome day! 

Oh how I miss all that color now!

My absolute favorite!!!

The beach in October is still pretty busy, but Bryan and Jenna were not interested in anyone else!

This is a brave girl:

Even though the clouds started rolling in, we ventured on downtown for a more urban feel to wrap up the session:

One last night-time shot!

We love you guys!  Can’t wait for June!!!

Back in October we met up with a couple we’ve been excited for since the day they booked us!  Michael and Allison booked us at a bridal show last year, and we immediately nicknamed them “The Movie Stars”.  Not only are they both beautiful on the outside and what ANYONE would think of as the ideal engaged couple, but they are beautiful on the inside too!  They are crazy about each other and as perfect of a match as I have ever seen!  Allison just sparkles when Michael looks at her!  Not only were they a blast to photograph, but we also discovered that Michael is an amazingly talented photographer as well!  He brought along an album he made for Allison from their actual engagement and Ted and I both had to stand up and shake his hand for his amazing eye and use of light.  I have to say that seeing that album pushed us just a little harder than usual!

A little beautiful light to work with!

Love love love!

A few individuals of our stars!

Beautiful!

Luckily the traffic in Chargin Falls is pretty laid back!

Some more of that awesome fall color…

One more!

The tenth of October found us spending the day with one of the best couples ever: Emily & Brendon!  Emily and Brendon are not only some of the best people you’ll ever meet, but they also just happened to choose one of the most fabulous wedding planners ever Valarie from Kirkbrides Wedding Planning and Design.  We knew it was going to be a good day from the second we met with them and every so often after that, Valarie kept sending us teasers about how awesome the wedding was going to be decorated and scheduled.  We were not disappointed!  This wedding was a photographer’s dream!  The weather was beautiful, the schedule was perfect, the details were amazing, and the best part - the people were the best!  Emily & Brendon are a photographer’s dream because, it wouldn’t have mattered if they had everything for the wedding perfect or not - it was all about how much they love each other and their families! 

Simple, elegant, yet amazing - that’s Emily! 

I will never forget how this moment happened!  The bridesmaid underneath the dress fixing Emily’s slip said, “I’m going to tell Brendon that I was here before he was!”  Lucky my camera doesn’t record my laughter cuz it’d be all over this image!

Brendon is a lucky guy to land this gorgeous girl!

Not that Brendon isn’t easy on the eyes himself! 

I’m in love with my husband!  How could you not love someone who gets shots like these???

I think Brendon enjoys being in the spotlight once in awhile…

First Glance?  You know it.

I’m in love with her eyelashes! and bouquet!!!

The best part of doing a First Glance for us is being able to do everything before the ceremony even begins!  One of our new favorite spots:

Love these sassy girls!

Can’t forget the handsome men…

Emily won my heart (who am I kidding - she had me from hello) when we stepped out of the limo at this burned out factory in the flats and she said, “This is beautiful!”  *siiiiiiigh*

One of my favorite things to do on wedding day: get the bride to dance in front of a bright color!

Another beautiful place in the flats…

Back to the Ritz for the ceremony!  I think we literally gasped out loud and Emily cried when we saw how beautiful everything was!  Ted got some details while I went on for the ketubah signing!

So happy!

Handmade chuppah = the best detail of the wedding period!

I love Jewish weddings!  Love the traditions!

Remember how I mentioned that Valarie kept teasing us all up to the wedding day about how gorgeous this reception was going to be?  She wasn’t lying!

A Linczak favorite: uplighting.

I love the pastel look of these toast images:

A sweet dancing moment:

With the Discovery Band, there wasn’t a dull moment at that party!

My favorite part of a Jewish reception:

One last stolen moment before we headed out…

Thanks guys for choosing us to photograph your amazing day!  We had a blast!

A few weeks ago we met up with Jill, Thomas, and their little fur baby Zoe (yes that is Zoe the puggle number 2  for those of you who are paying attention!).  I know Jill had felt a little flustered that day coming in from work, but she and Thomas just fell right into their roles as models for the camera as if they do it everyday!  Zoe was the hard one to photograph since she was going about 100 miles per hour the entire time!  Good thing we use fast lenses!  :)  Check them out!

I don’t know about you guys, but to me, this looks like Zoe’s “proud” look:

This was what Zoe was doing practically the entire time!

After the baby left, Jill and Thomas showed us what they are really made of!  I love watching them in action.  They are so happy to be together!

Special request for the groom!

The bench never gets old!

We never had to tell them to look happy, they just ARE happy!  I think they are perfect for each other.

One of our favorite spots!

I can’t decide whether I like the rust or the rails more.  I think I just like it all!

Rarely do we show detail shots from engagement sessions on the blog, but I loved this natural hand modelling from Jill:

Quick outfit change and we’re ready to go for one last scene!

Looking forward to next June guys!