Where to start with this wedding – the two wonderful families that produced this amazing couple, or the couple themselves who are so easy to admire, or the darling wedding party, or the gorgeous decorations, or the riotous dancing? It’s a hard call, but I think I my first instinct is the right one. This couple is very much the product of their two strong and loving families whose parents are still themselves as obviously in love as the bride and groom. It is a fine and inspiring thing to see. I first met Megan and her family when they hired me to make family portraits on the occasion of their 25th wedding anniversary. Megan was a 18 at the time and had just started dating Ryan – yes, they were high school sweethearts. Their romance went on to survive the separation of four years of college and then four more years while Ryan’s served our country in the United States Marine Corps. He told his grandmother that he was going to propose to Megan before he left for his last tour of duty in Afghanistan, and then surprised her with a family ring under the oak tree planted in memory of his grandfather. This is a couple that believes in commitment.
But, it is also a couple who believe in LOTS of fun. Megan’s excitement in the run-up to the wedding was infectious – she was after all living the fairy tale dream, and it showed in her sparkling eyes. New ideas kept bubbling to the surface whenever I talked to her, and with her boundless energy (she played Division 1 field hockey for Dartmouth College and to date has run in eight marathons!!). She made everything fun.
The wedding was a fabulous celebration and went off perfectly thanks to their amazing and totally buttoned-up wedding planner, Barbara Hoover, whose calm mastery of every detail allowed them to enjoy the day. The flowers by Ken Miesner (www.ken-miesner.com) at both Our Lady of the Pillar (www.olpillar.com) and the club were absolutely gorgeous. Megan and Ryan insisted on stopping at their house for a quick portrait with their adorable little dog, Wallace the Westie, before proceeding on to Bellerive Country Club (www.bellerivecc.com) where a plane was circling overhead with a banner that read “Congratulations Megan and Ryan!” Aries (www.ariescompany.com) provided the lighting in the ballroom which lent an air of drama to the party. The bride and groom were welcomed to the dining room making their way through a Marine Arch of Swords and then proceeded to cut the beautiful wedding cake (www.encorebaking.com) with Ryan’s Marmeluke sword. After a round of touching toasts, the guests were ushered outside to see a wonderful firework display by Lantis Fireworks (www.lantisfireworks.com). These fireworks were likely rivaled on the dance floor with some of the craziest dancing I have seen all year, accompanied by the music of Groovethang (www.talentplus-entertainment.com). This dance loving crowd was led by the bride and groom and their totally fun and energetic friends. Conga lines, the worm, the limbo, LOTS of loud singing, with Megan and Ryan in the middle of the thick pack the whole time. But I have to say that it was the Marines in their fabulous uniforms that dominated the dance floor. After all who can resist a man in a uniform? Certainly not Megan!
I had so much fun – thank you Megan and Ryan. I know you will accomplish great things as you go through life together!!
John,
Ken Miesner’s is mentioned with an active link no less. You will see it in the second sentence of the third paragraph. So the idea is that when a bride comes to my website and looks at the blog and sees your fabulous flowers, she can go directly to your website from my blog post. It is pretty cool. Try and you will see. It ends up being a marketing tool not just for me, but for all the vendors associated with that particular wedding. Feel free to post it on your Facebook page.
It occurs to me that you would be* really, really* good at blogging with your writing skills. I would be more than happy to provide you correctly resized photos to do the blog. Gosh, think how cool it could be!! You would include your fabulous articles that you do for the Ladue News and intersperse those with photographs from the weddings that you do. According to marketing gurus (Helen is now one of the top digital media marketers at Edelman Public Relations in New York City and Grace whose business has been built via her blog), print advertising is no longer of any value to us photographers, and probably less important for your wedding business as well. I think it would be so easy for you. You could drive LOTS of brides to your shop by doing this. What happens is that once the blog goes live, it is out on the web. So if a bride googles weddings or St. Louis, or Ken Miesners, or wedding cakes or whatever, the blog pops up and she goes to your site. The more you do, the higher your rankings go when someone googles you. \
LETS DO LUNCH!! We will talk about it.
However, I do owe photos, I agree!! I have been trying to master the art of blog posts because marketing for photographers now is all about blogging. It has been an uphill curve, let me tell you!! I do not write with your ease – each one of my blog posts takes an entire day and then needs edits by my daughters. I have a blog about the Steiner wedding, also with a link that will be posted tomorrow.
You are the best and I miss you!
Josephine Havlak, Photographer Website | Twitter | Blog | Facebook (314) 962 8240
On Tue, Feb 19, 2013 at 9:11 AM, St Louis Wedding Photographer Josephine
The bride actually played D1 field hockey, not soccer!