Linczak Photography Blog

I’ve been waiting to blog this wedding since the second I arrived at Natalie’s house the morning of January 3!  Natalie and Jon are one of the best couples ever!  The whole day I had the hardest time pointing my camera away from them at any point.   Weddings in January are not supposed to be this fun! The best way to describe Natalie is that she is like a miniature sun.  She is energy, excitement, and brilliant good looks.  She radiates happiness to anyone and everyone around her.  Her dress and details (while amazingly gorgeous!) still just barely came close to doing her justice.  Jon is the perfect match for her - he is sweet, fun, and he’s up for anything!  I love seeing them in action.  Every second of shooting their wedding was a pleasure for both of us.  Check it out:

Jon getting ready…

Natalie being glamorous!  Check out her amazing mermaid-style gown with the gloves!  *swoon*

One of the most important parts of the morning…;)

Married!!!!!!

Nero was the first stop on the way to the locations.  Nero is Jon & Natalie’s gorgeous puppy who was SO thrilled to see her mom and dad!

First we went to the Arcade for the family portraits, and we managed to snag a couple with these guys before the families all got there…

Some of the best family “formals” ever.  We love encouraging families to talk to each other and wiggle around when we are doing the “formals”.  We want all of our images to demonstrate relationships between people, even these “formal” ones.  In our opinion, these are by far cooler than the normal traditional wedding photos…

The way-too-cool-for-school bridal party!

Another product of Natalie’s coolness: matching rubber boots for the bridesmaids.  Does it get any better than that?

Natalie has gorgeous friends, and they adore her!

Coming soon to a 30×40 gallery wrap near you…

Jon had the BEST idea to go down to the theater district.  So we basically owe him for this rockstar shot that had already made an appearance as one of those giant sample prints we take to bridal shows.  Can you believe that reflection is in a black stone wall?

I love how smoky and hot this one is…

The reception was at Massimo’s - one of our favorites.

End of the night shots to end this amazing day:

We would like to personally thank Natalie’s parents and all the family and friends at this wedding that went out of their way to make us feel like we were just part of the family.  We feel so valued by you guys, and we truly appreciated it.  This one was yet another that I have a sneaking suspicion that this wasn’t the last day we will have them all dressed up for the camera!

Well I’m done letting Ted have all the fun blogging.  It’s time for the real boss to step in here and get some posts going!

Ted and I felt comfortable with Liz and Mike the second they walked into our home for their consult a while back.  They are both so down to earth and just plain likable.  One of the things I especially appreciate about Liz is that she goes out her way to make other people feel comfortable.  We liked them even better at the engagement session we did last week.  Even though it was pretty darn cold, Liz and Mike didn’t hesitate at all for instructions.  I love to see these two in action!  I’m not sure of all the details that brought them together but I am absolutely certain that they were made for each other.  They suit each other perfectly.  I can’t wait to see them on their wedding day!

We mixed it up with them and went to a brand “new” location for us.  Loved this old barn!

So, when I say they are perfect for each other in every way, Liz might disagree with me and say that Mike is too tall.  She had to stand on a rock to reach him for this one:

Of course, the height discrepancy makes for great shots of Liz laying on Mike’s chest!

I tripped in a ditch on the way over to this side, but I didn’t mind for this light:

A short stop at some of our favorite steps…

I think the snow-on-shoes thing is starting to grow on me…

I already mentioned what I love about Liz, so I have to say what I love about Mike too.  Mike is a quick learner and was soon doing exactly what I had pictured right as it came to me.  This is all him:

Thanks guys for being so awesome!  We had so much fun braving the weather with you!

Rachel and I did New Year’s Eve this year Keith and Lexi style! These guys picked the craziest night of the year to tie the knot, and we had a blast kicking it with them and their family and friends. For those of you paying attention, we shot Lexi and Keith’s engagement session this past summer down at the Jake (sorry, refuse to call it Progressive Field!), and this is also where they had their reception. It was pretty wild seeing the stadium in such a different way, covered with snow, totally desolate, it actually kind of got me giddy for the upcoming season! Despite the crazy cold temperatures (we’re talkin a 40 degree difference from the previous Saturday), we were able to grab some really nice images inside the church, and plenty of relaxed moments throughtout the reception. Check out some smokin’ previews…

Lexi’s gown…

All smiles!

I think Lexi looks fabulous in this image…

Keith had two things I love to see on wedding day: cool cuff links, and a REAL tie…

Keith bustin’ a pose…

Trinity Cathedral looked beautiful inside…

For some reason this shot reminds me of the Flinstones!

Its very rare when I (Ted) get the chance to do some portraits of the bride alone, a privilege normally reserved at the start of the day for Rachel. So when we had some extra time before the ceremony, I was thrilled that Rachel let me steal Lexi away for a few shots of my own. I really love this one!

I love the ambience and warmth of this shot… You gotta love fast lenses!

Vows…

It was cute watching these two share a few laughs during the course of the ceremony!

A little moody…

We had to revisit this spot with Keith…

This makes me hungry…

First dance…

First kiss of 2009!!!

Cheers!

Rachel will probably smack me when she finds out I put her up on the blog, but I couldn’t resist…

Thanks again guys for letting us tag along for the ride! We had a great time spending New Year’s Eve with you, and can’t wait for you to see the rest of the inages!

Rachel and I are stoked to have some images from Tim and Haley’s wedding back in August featured on the real weddings section of the Wedding Chicks blog! You can check it out here.

Congratulations to the winners of Linczak Photography’s first ever free wedding photography giveaway!  Yes, you read that right. “winners”.  We were so surprised and pleased to see how many entries came in and the narrowing down part was the toughest part of the job.  In the end, we couldn’t decide between 2 couples, so we decided that we couldn’t decide and went with both! 

Sarah & Andy W:  These two had the most amazing story that literally brought tears to our eyes when we read it.

Stephanie & John R: Both Stephanie and John have given their lives to the service of this country, and their commitment really spoke to us.

We will be posting more in the days to come so stay close!  Thank you SO MUCH to everyone that entered.  We were so pleased and humbled by the extremely large amount of entries we received.  This was a great experience for us and we can’t wait to be able to give a small fraction of what we have been given to these couples.  Thanks again! 

Ted & Rachel

A few days ago, we traveled out to Hinckley with Halley & Chris for their engagement session.  We had met Halley and her mother several months ago, but this was our first time meeting Chris since he is a proud member of the military and can only come home once in awhile.  I always love seeing the long distance couples reunite for an engagement session!  I think it’s because they haven’t seen each other for so long, they just can’t hold back from showering affection on each other.  Halley and Chris were a perfect example of that, and it seemed like they didn’t stop smiling the whole time they were loving on each other.  So despite the freezing temperature and a slight clothing mishap, we walked away with some pretty awesome images!

Halley was crackin’ up pretty much the whole time!

Check out that sweet light!

I loved these fuzzy hats they brought along for props!

How could you not get good images with these guys???

We know you guys have been anxiously awaiting to hear updates on our wedding contest and I wanted to let you know that we are close to our decision!  We will be announcing our winners by tomorrow evening so stay close - we’re very excited about our finalists!  :)  Thanks for all who entered, we had such a great time reading your entries!

Rachel and I are slowly recovering from the crazy holiday season, and its nice to be getting back to some sort of normalacy! We wrapped up December and headed into January with three awesome weddings this past week, a bridal show this past Sunday, and another one coming up this Sunday. We have been insanely busy, though we’ll be slowly getting back to blogging some of what we’ve been doing here in the next few days.

Steve and Chris got married back on the 27th of December , and honestly had some of the warmest weather I can remember for December in Cleveland! Despite the balmy temps, we had some crazy wind, so we tried to stay indoors for most of the time. It has really been great working with these guys these past few months. We got to photograph Chris’s daughter Michelle’s senior session a few months ago, and its easy to see that we have a history of photogenic models in the family! It was a great day! Check out some previews…

Chris looked spectacular in her gown!

Having a little fun…

Steve had some nice bling in his details…

Nate was there to make sure his Dad was looking good and running on time…

Did I mention it was windy??? This reminds me of a bad 80’s hair band video…

Chris and Steve opted to do a First Glance, which we absolutely love. With the ceremony and reception being later in the evening and back to back, this gave us a ton of time for pictures, as well as excellent available light to work with. Not only that, but they were able to have their own private time to be with one another away from everyone, and have priceless images taken of those first moments together.

These guys are too cute when they are with each other!

A little moodier…

The bridesmaid shoes were killer…

Getting ready to walk down the aisle…

Old Stone Church in the evening is quite beautiful…

We had to grab a few with the lights…

The quite stunning cake was made by Mary Pisanelli of Specialty Cakes by Pisanelli…

Beautiful floral arrangements provided by Palmero Floral Designs…

The reception was held at the Marriott Key Center, and the service was outstanding!

First Dance…

Thanks again guys! Enjoy the rest of your time in Australia!