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Engagement Photography
Capturing your Wedding Day
— 08/17/2015 by Monika Wertman —This summer was pretty busy with weddings and I have decided to share a fun one that happened just a few weeks ago. The day started around 12:15 pm with my second meeting the groom and his men at their “getting dressed” location and me meeting my bride and her gals at Greengrove Gardens where they were getting dressed.
We had a lot of fun with everyone, including some sweet moments between my bride and her flower girls, my bride and her mom and the bridesmaids getting all of the underskirts of the wedding gown into the right position. We had some good laughs and I captured it all.
Within a couple of hours we proceeded to the church in Smithburg for the ceremony, a beautiful little church with gorgeous stained glass windows. My second was already there with the men and was setting up in the balcony to capture the vows on video, while also catching some stills of the church, the details and the wedding party as they entered from above.
One of my favorite moments is always that first glance between my bride and groom and his reaction to seeing her in her gown, gorgeously arraigned for their special day. It was very touching as some tears were shed upon that first look.
After the ceremony we got some great shots of everyone in front of the church and the typical photos of the bridal party and all of the family inside. Two of my favorites are shown here. That special moment I was able to capture when my bride and groom forgot I was there while we went looking for a groomsman gone AWOL.
Another great shot is of my couple in front of their church after I sent everyone else back in to gather their things so we could depart for the reception at Greengrove Gardens.
My second had preceded us there to catch the detail shots of décor and cake and guests milling about. After we arrived back at the venue, I caught a few more shots of the bridal party before the big entrance.
Another favorite of mine is the first dance of husband and wife and the daddy daughter dance. My bride had chosen “butterfly kisses” for her song, which always has me on the brink of tears, as I have daughters who have those little rituals with their daddy as well.
After dinner we took our couple back out onto the grounds for what I call the specials. It’s that time when the guests are happily settled and I can sneak my couples off to get wedding day portraits without being rushed. The sun was setting and with the help of a bit of portable lighting, we got some great shots. Please look below to see some samples.
To finish the day, we came back inside to catch the tossing of the bouquet and garter, and after checking with our couple to make sure they did not want us to do anything else, we called it a night around 9:30pm.
Yes, weddings are long, they are tiring, but they are one of the most rewarding and fun events we love to record for our clients. We make sure that not a moment is missed, we are on our feet the entire time with just a few minutes to eat while everyone else does the same, and at the end of it all, we return to the studio to create a sneak peek for our couples that is posted to Facebook the same night. Within two weeks each wedding is edited and ready to be relived in our studio during the viewing session, when we help our couples decide which photos go into the album that comes as part of their wedding collection.
Please browse our website for recent events, weddings and senior pictures and call us to book your next life event or family/senior session with us. We are ready to create memories for you that will last a lifetime.
A fun couple’s session at the C&O Canal at Williamsport
— 07/09/2015 by Monika Wertman —Lately we have had several couples come through the studio and while most of them have been engagement pictures, I had a session with one couple who do not fall into that category. In this case, the session was a Valentines present from him to her and it just took us a while to find the perfect date to execute the session.
Gabe and Melissa are a lovely couple who were up for an adventure. We set out to our local stretch at the C&O Canal in Williamsport, MD and because they were both open to ideas that pushed the typical location a little, we found a few spots to create pictures at that I had not previously been able to utilize.
One such spot was on top of a taller base of a bridge. Gabe gave Melissa a leg up, then jumped up behind her and Voila, we had a background that looked urban enough to rival any inner city location.
We also found a wall covered in lots of ivy, lending a romantic feel to the image that was also different than what I had utilized before with other clients in the same general location.
After a quick clothing change I asked if they minded crossing the water basin for me and upon an enthusiastic “we don’t mind at all” I gave them instructions as to what I wanted them to do, as the distance was too far to give the instructions once they were in place. This situation led to some wonderful impromptu images that look fun, relaxed and non-posed.
Now it was time to head in the opposite direction and explore what we may find as we were heading down the path leading into the wooded area of the canal. We found little hidden clearings, spots where the sun peeked through the trees just enough to light Melissa’s dress in a romantic way and gnarly tree trunks that made wonderful props.
The samples within this post illustrate some of the locations described above. Here at Wertman Photography we love to discover new spots, even if we have been to the general location before and each time we take a client to that area, something new happens, as each client is inclined to a different adventure.
Please check out our galleries, in particular the wedding gallery, as we are busy with weddings and are updating that gallery as our couples come in to choose their images.
Please vote on your favorite image in this post by leaving a comment below, leaving your contact information and sharing your comment on facebook. You may win a 1 hour family session for up to 5 people, a $150 value, by doing so. The winner will be announced July 20 on our facebook page.
A Bridal Session in the Park
— 06/18/2015 by Monika Wertman —Last Saturday I helped preserve memories for a special couple on their wedding day. While the wedding is still in post production, I also captured the bride in question three weeks before the wedding in some wonderful moments during her bridal session, a service included in our middle wedding collection. For that session, Kristen was pampered by my make-up artist and stylist, got to try out her wedding look and play dress-up in her gown for the afternoon. It had rained for days and the morning of our session, so, being conscious of the vulnerability of her gown, I carefully placed a plastic table cloth under my bride and arranged her gown on top of it, to keep it pristine for the wedding day. With the help of two assistants and Kristen’s maid of honor we utilized the sunlight we received just in time for our session and bounced light onto our bride using only natural light for this session.
I wanted a few studio portraits as well, and two versions are shown here. Please leave us a comment on which one of the studio portraits you like better. They are the same capture, but are processed slightly differently. Both my bride and I can not decide which one we like better. Your vote will enter you in a drawing, please continue reading to find out more.
Originally we were going to shoot in fields of grass and tree groves, but with the rain making the earth soft and the grass still holding moisture on the blades, we re-grouped and decided to go to one of the local parks and use the sidewalks in said parks in order to not harm the dress and shoes. As is often the case, the change in plans led to wonderful opportunities for images we would not have had at the original location and great results. The only thing we battled the day of Kristen’s bridal session were little tiny flying bugs that found netting on a skirt to be a wonderful place to fly under. This strange occurrence took also place on Kristen and Brooks’ wedding day when we went outside for our early evening photos.
Please feel free to explore our other galleries, especially portraits and weddings as we just added new imagery to both. If a wedding is in your near future, you just got engaged or want to renew your vows, we can help and will be happy to discuss options with you. Please share this post on Facebook and comment on it when share it by voting on your favorite of the two versions of the studio portrait by commenting either with “black and white” or “sepia”, leaving your email address and name and be entered into a drawing for a 60 minute family session for up to 5 people, a $150 value. The drawing will be held on June 30, 2015.
Shooting an Engagement Session on Location, Steph and Justin
— 04/17/2015 by Monika Wertman —A couple of weekends ago I met with a cute couple in Gettysburg, PA to shoot their engagement session. We decided on this particular location for two reasons:
1. They live in Lancaster, PA, about 2.5 hours from my studio, Gettysburg was about halfway for both of us, and
2. Justin is a Civil War buff, so this rustic location fit the bill.
I scouted out a couple of neat spots to shoot at with the first one being at Trostle Farm, a building that saw a good amount of fighting and had the rustic fencing and wonderful tree lines and rocky areas that make for a wonderful backdrop for engagement photos. It was a windy, but sunny day and we got some really cute shots.
On our way to the second scouted location, Devil’s Den, we stopped by some cannons and another farm, the latter owning some white picket fencing that could not be passed up.
Devil’s Den is a wonderful rocky outcrop, heavily visited by tourists, but I managed to find some spots that allowed us privacy. The sunny sky and puffy clouds enabled me to get some great shots of silhouettes of my couple and some nice contrast shots as well.
We had a lot of fun shooting in this unique location, being able to incorporate interests of the groom with the added bonus of giving Steph and Justin some ideas for their honeymoon, because as we talked, I found out that Gettysburg was the destination!
Please look below to see some of the great shots we got!
Wertman Photography Launches New Website & Blog
— 04/01/2015 by Monika Wertman —
It is here! We are so excited to share our new website with you. Wertman Photography has been in business for over 5 years and many exciting things are happening in 2015.
We are growing in many ways including our space at the studio, which doubled in February of this year. We now have three distinct shooting spaces available and a private dressing room to make glamor and boudoir sessions even more fun and private than they were before.
We learned that we would be able to expand our physical space at the end of the summer of 2014 and decided that other changes were also necessary. Our website needed some serious TLC and after seeing work our web designer had done for other photographers, we decided that Visual Lure would be a great fit for us. Justen designed a site that is not only gorgeous but really took our vision and our love for art deco to the next level. If you have not done so yet, please browse the entire site and enjoy not only the richness of the design and the ease of the functionality, but also our portfolios to understand who we are as a photographic studio.
When we opened our doors in 2009 we knew that we would give our clients a great experience during any session and that we would produce imagery that our clients would be proud to hang on their walls. Today, five and a half years into the photography business, we continue to provide you, our clients with a great experience and great images, and we offer products you may have never thought about. We continue to innovate and add more products and specialized services to our studio. You are treated with special care and every session you book with us is tailored to your needs.
This year we have revamped our High School Senior sessions to include up to three locations and clothing changes and hair and make-up for the girls. The offered collections can accommodate any budget and print collections include many exciting products.
Our Glamor and Boudoir sessions are also redesigned to include some great products when purchased as a collection and can also be booked as stand alones you can add to, including make-up and hair.
We love weddings and engagements, as you can see in our wedding portfolio and offer all-inclusive collections with plenty of time and great options built right in.
As our new site highlights, here at Wertman Photography we love timeless design and elegance with a modern twist our clients desire. Please read more on the about us page where you can find some client review and testimonials.
We want to thank Justen at Visual Lure for creating a great new website for us and hope that all of you enjoy it as much as we do.
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