Vernon Paper Bouquet Wedding

My last Vernon wedding of the year. I’m pretty sad, because I just want to photograph more weddings. But I’ve got some pretty awesome engagement shoots.

This wedding was all kinds of stunning. Many, many of you will probably recognize this wonderful couple from my engagement shoot in February.  I urge you to click that link and take a look – this style was developed especially for this wedding. Though it’s toned down a bit.

If you’d like to see the full gallery (and it’s huge!) click here.

I really want to draw attention to the bouquet – keep your eyes on them. They represent 80 hours of work, all hand made. So what better place to get a few ring shots?

I want to be clear – this is a sampler. That means, you’re getting a few images, but unfortunately the gallery is probably about three weeks away. Factories must produce smoke, wheels must be spun, and color theory must be painstakingly debated. So bookmark this site – you’ll see some new blog posts coming up.

I’d also like to mention all these images are right click enabled. Feel free to save them, set them as your background, and post them to facebook. Just be sure to credit Draht Photography. I don’t really advertise, so I rely entirely on word of mouth.

The dress was, of course, stunning. It was a group effort to get it all buttoned up.

Fortunately, these bridesmaids were working like a well oiled machine. Before we knew it, we were ready. And ahead of schedule. The german OCD man inside of me leapt for joy.

The dress was perfect. I had seen it before as a cell phone photo, but nothing could compare to the real thing.

I’d like to draw attention to the facial shading in this photo – it’s not blown out, and it’s not flat. Skin tones are reasonably accurate. I’ve seen seeing a few wedding photos where the faces are ghost white. I do not condone this. Get your facial shading so the face doesn’t look flat, and be very wary of your light direction and intensity as to not blow out your skin tones.

One more photo and I was on my way!

Fun fact about this photo below – it’s a perfect example of a golden mean crop. The OCD german man inside me was having a pretty good day. I really wasn’t prepared for what was to come.

The ceremony was beautiful. Short, with eloquent hand written vows. Laughter and crying.

Before we knew it, it was over. Confetti was thrown.

Hugs were given. A random moth showed up to the wedding. Fortunately, he didn’t eat too much.

Take a look at those bokeh balls. Also, later I found that moth hanging out behind the dress. He hung out near the bride the whole night. Weddings are so neat.

Obviously, it’s time for whisky and cigars after you get hooked up. I gave them five minutes to smoke and be congratulated.

There was a lot of detail in this wedding. I didn’t want to miss anything.

Fistbump tradition I recently learned about.

The smiles came so naturally. I hardly had to do anything, while inside jokes were being formed. It was so genuine.

One of my favorite photos. The sun just started to set as we wrapped up.

The smoke isn’t all gone in the smokanagan. The setting sun caused the sky to explode in oranges and yellow. I silently worried about excess in my color theory. It’s okay. It ties in with the album.

As the night unwound, everyone started to have their own special moments. I always encourage young love, as I see potential weddings unfold before my eyes. I made sure to give my attention to the wedding guests.

So I’ll leave you with the first dance. You see those bokeh balls? It’s because I was free lensing to create a tilt shift effect. I had also stopped down to f/2.8 to create a pleasing pentagon shape. There’s a lot that goes into these photos, you know. That’s one of the reasons weddings excite me so much. I always leave with a few more ideas of what I’m going to try at the next wedding.

And there you go. I thank you from the bottom of my heart for reading this far. The positive response on instagram and twitter have been overwhelming. If you’d like to see more, consider liking my page on facebook, or adding me on google plus! Or heck, send out an inquiry! I’m shooting engagements and family photos right now. See you in three days!