Bridal Portraits at Riverwood Mansion and Cheekwood

I photographed Katie's wedding last weekend so its finally safe for me to post a few of her bridal portraits.  I shot these about 2 months ago but the only shot that has been posted is the shot of the legs sticking out of the tub since you couldn't see who it was anyway.

More about the wedding to come.  Katie is not only a gorgeous bride but a really sweet person and I'm so glad I got to be a part of her wedding to Derrick!

Jessica's Bridal Portraits

Just before Jessica's bridal portrait shoot at Cheekwood, we were given a warning that the day after our shoot was the grand opening of the Chihuly Glass exhibit so we would probably be dodging people in the background working on last minute set-up.  We risked it and went ahead with the shoot and it worked out perfectly.  I'm pretty sure we had the whole place to ourselves!  The glass is really amazing!  The Frist Center is also carrying a Chihuly exhibit this summer so check it out when you get the chance!

View more in an online slideshow by clicking here.
Jessica's Bridal Portraits at Cheekwood

Chuck and Emily at Cheekwood

Wow, I've been so busy that I'm 2 months behind on my blogger uploads. So behind that I started to link directly to my flickr stream from my website for a while. I'm going to try to catch up but my next 5 or 6 posts may be very short & uploaded mainly for the photo journal aspect and for posterity sake.

Today, nearly 2 months after Chuck & Emily's wedding, there was a beautiful write-up about it in the Tennessean so it must still be relevant to write about weddings from 2 months back. The article stated that their wedding was fit for a fairy tale. Some of my photographs from this wedding had to be some of the most whimsical of the year. Nashville artist, Mark Sloniker designed the bouquets and a flower for the flower girl's head and the bride (who is also a local artist) designed he own hat for the reception at Marathon Village. Everyone was invited to wear hats and I wore a derby myself as you can see flying in the group shot. I had the camera on a timer and asked everyone to toss their hats and show off their hat heads. I love the guy in the background holding up a football helmet!

This was definitely a fun wedding and to top it all off, Venus Hum performed at the reception!

Tarrah & Austin - Portraits

Tarrah Wilkerson and Austin Pinkstaff will be married on October 4th. They decided that rather than wait to see each other at the ceremony they would knock out their formal bride and groom portraits a month before the wedding. We were able to capture 375 amazing photos. This will enable us to focus on the families and the wedding party on the day of the wedding so that they won't have to miss a minute of their reception.
I enjoyed trekking around Nashville with them and home they love their photos!
-Matt

Jesse Cook's Bridal Portraits at Cheekwood - Aug 13, 2008

Jesse met me at Cheekwood for photos at 7:00PM on Wednesday evening. You can tell from the photos that it was a race with the sun as it dropped behind the tree line. Our goal was to shoot during magic hour to get natural backlight from the sun to light up Jesse's hair and veil. We were successful but I will upload some of the shots that we got as it got darker since they will look more unusual.

Towards the end of the shoot; we decided to use a strobe and get a shot by the reflecting pool. I sat by the edge to demonstrate a pose for Jesse and I heard a plop.... it was my cell phone. If you need to reach me, send me an e-mail b/c I wasn't able to fish it out.

-Matt

Victoria & Chris ~ Wedding at Cheekwood on July 12

I had a blast at Chris and Vicky's wedding this weekend. 4 years ago, I photographed a wedding in which Vicky was a bridesmaid and I had so much fun with that group that I ended up going to the afterparty... When Vicky booked me over a year ago, I told her that if she went with me, I'd have to go to the afterparty again and I did. The wedding itself was amazing and original. As the ceremony began in the Japanese garden at Cheekwood, ominous thunder rolled through the sky and it became very dark for this time of day and as the bride and her father approached all of the wedding party and guests hummed the wedding march. After the ceremony, the bride and groom asked to do more photos so we hiked up to the mansion. Minutes after we arrived and grabbed a few shots, the bottom fell out. There was basically no shelter to be found and we were all completely soaked including the bride! I met so many cool and interesting people at this wedding, but not many brides wouldn't have broken down in tears at this point but Vickie stayed positive, knowing that it would be one of those stories that she would never forget from her wedding day. Also, she looked amazing the rest of the evening. It took her just minutes to recover! The newleyweds live in Korea but before going on a trek through Europe on their honeymoon and then back home, they will hold another wedding ceremony for Chris' family and friends in London.
Cheers to the fun loving couple... May it not rain on their next ceremony!
-Matt