THE GROOM AND HIS BRIDESMAIDS!

I promised I wouldn't leave out the Groom! Here he is with the Bridemaids at Buffalo Central Terminal in Buffalo. 

I know I mentioned yesterday that the Groomsmen were funny. Well this Groom was even funnier! He had the best expressions and one liners. There were a few times when Neal and I were laughing so hard, the cameras were shaking. Great time!

As you can see, we stayed in the same area of the Terminal for this image as well. The lighting was just amazing at this time. The Groom wanted it simple with the Bridesmaids around him. They just kept inching in closer to him. The ladies love to be sassy with giant smiles. We asked them to do just that. As their personalities started coming out, the Groom gave us the same smiles that the girls were giving. What a priceless smile! He even tilted his head like most ladies do when they are in a picture. His Bride said, it was so him!

The Bride and Groom had so much energy. They were a wonderful couple and had a great wedding party! The fun expressions continued later in the night on the dance floor and during their end of the night shoot!

-Danielle

Buffalo Wedding Photography by Neal Urban Studio

Ceremony location - Holy Family Roman Catholic Church

Photo Session -  Buffalo Central Terminal

Buffalo Wedding Reception - Brierwood Country Club

Buffalo Wedding Band - Joy Ryde

THE BRIDE AND HER GROOMSMEN!

Besides having photos done with her Bridesmaids, the Bride needs her spotlight with the Groomsmen!

These are always fun images. The guys always want to do something super crazy. But of course in the end, the Bride gets the final say! This wedding party chose to have their pictures done at The Buffalo Central Terminal in Buffalo. It is an awesome place. However, due to renovations they stopped allowing weddings for a while. We lucked out, and got in right before that happened. Close call and hoping to get back in there soon! 

The Groomsmen in this party were a blast. They kept everyone laughing the entire day. For this image, we wanted to keep the guys feeling manly with the poses, shooting at a low angle and use of shadows, but keep a bright feel for the Bride with the backlight. We had the men stand as though they were FBI agents guarding the Bride. We had them try to be serious at first, but too many jokes were being said that nobody could keep a straight face. It actually worked out nicely.

Even though the Groomsmen were smiling, they still kept their stern, manly stances. It balanced greatly with the beautiful smile of the Bride as well. The scaffolding on all the windows created a cool background for the men. Another reason was to take advantage of the light coming in behind them to help soften up the image just a bit.

Doing different combinations with the wedding party is always fun if time permitting. They all let loose and act silly. The Bride and Groom love and appreciate the variety. I know what you are thinking right now.. Where is the Groom with the Bridesmaids? Check in tomorrow to see him shine with the ladies in the Terminal!

-Danielle

Buffalo Wedding Photography by Neal Urban Studio

Ceremony location - Holy Family Roman Catholic Church

Photo Session -  Buffalo Central Terminal

Buffalo Wedding Reception - Brierwood Country Club

Buffalo Wedding Band - Joy Ryde

THE END OF THE NIGHT

Happy Monday! Let's start the week off with this beautiful image taken at Park Country Club in Williamsville.

If you have never been to Park Country Club, take a drive down Sheridan Drive in Williamsville, NY. It looks like a castle. A beautiful venue for a wedding. We got wonderful images the entire day for this wedding. We knew we needed to continue for the end of the night photos. Neal stepped away from the reception to take a quick look of where to go. This door is to the side of the main entrance. There were no guests around that area, so it would be perfect for the Bride and Groom to catch a breather from the party.

The door was outlined with windows and the lights from the chandelier inside were lighting up the doorway. That took care of backighting for us! The outside light put a nice glow on their bodies. So, we only needed a tiny bit of fill light on their faces. Neal started off shooting directly at them in front of the plants, but felt the image needed a little more color contrast to it. He decided to move behind the plants and get some of them in the foreground. It worked out great with the little touch of green and almost helped to frame them in the doorway.

The Bride had a very elegant wedding, so we wanted to keep that feel in the image. We decided a simple and romantic pose would do the trick! We had the Bride and Groom look at each other at first. It looked good, but something felt missing. A few easy adjustments to the pose, and wallah! The portrait was complete and fit with the Bride and Groom's style of the wedding. It was a great way to end the night!

-Danielle

Buffalo Wedding Photography by Neal Urban Studio

Ceremony - St. Peter's of Lewiston, NY

Photo Session - Private Residence & Park Country Club

Buffalo Wedding Reception - Park Country Club

Buffalo Wedding Videography - Brandon Peszko

Buffalo DJ - Toy Bros

DRAMATIC SKIES AT THE ALBRIGHT!

If you have been following Neal’s work, than you know he likes windy days and dramatic clouds. And today’s image gives us a little bit of both!

Albright Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo is a very popular wedding photo location. On a typical Saturday wedding, this area can be flooded with wedding parties having their pictures taken. Luckily, this wedding took place on a Sunday, so there was only one other wedding at this location. The other party was on the main staircase of the Art Gallery. Instead of waiting for them to move on, we decided to do something different, but still give the Bride and Groom the Gallery in the image.

We were actually across the street on another stairway. The Bride had a very long veil and it was blowing beautifully in the wind. Neal was definitely not passing up on this. We started off working with the Bride alone and got amazing images. Now it was time to bring in the Groom. They both wanted to be in a photo with the Art Gallery in the background. We decided to try an action style shot. Neal was shooting from a lower level of the stairway and shooting up, so we would get just the top of the Gallery with the sky.

We had the Groom stand on one side and had the Bride strut her stuff toward him. We asked the Bride to gently hold out her veil and let the wind do the rest as she walked. You can see by the Groom's expression that he was loving the approach of his beautiful Bride. As Neal was snapping away, he turned to me and said this image was screaming black and white. I couldn't have agreed more!

-Danielle

Buffalo Photography by Neal Urban Studio

Ceremony & Reception location - The Mansion on Delaware

Photo Session - Albright-Knox Art Gallery

Jewelry - Tiffany & Co.

NATURAL LIGHT!

Finding the best lighting can make or break a photo. Taking advantage of natural light is always beautiful if it's available and used properly.

We definitely found the light for this image. It was taken at the Avanti Mansion in Buffalo.  There are beautiful archways throughout the outside of the building. We were getting ready to end the photo session and head into the reception, when we noticed amazing light pouring through one of the arches. We had to take advantage of it. 

Neal wanted a simple, natural, but slightly artistic pose in the arch. Brides and Grooms do not always need to be looking at the camera or each other to get a beautiful image. The light continued to pour through as we were getting the Bride and Groom in position. There was another arch to the side of them that had light coming through as well, so we didn’t need to add artificial light.

You can see how it casts a glow around the couple. The cement block on the ground had a glossy finish to it, so it picked up the glow as well. We showed the image to the Bride and Groom right away. They were in love with it! The Bride said it was a beautiful, timeless, and worth the few extra minutes! And now it’s time to party!

-Danielle

Buffalo Wedding Photography by Neal Urban Studio

Buffalo Wedding Ceremony, Photo Session, Reception & in-house DJ - Avanti Mansion

BRIDESMAIDS IN ACTION!

You never know what is going to happen at a wedding, especially with the wedding party. They always give us a good laugh and great pictures!

For photos, the Bride and Groom wanted to go to Niagara Square in Buffalo. The wedding party had sunglasses to put on for some of the pictures. Nice and easy. You would think... They Bridesmaids wanted to have their picture taken with the Groom in front of the fountain. No Problem! Until somehow, someone dropped their sunglasses into the fountain. We have no idea how it happened. But there they were on the bottom.

The Bride and Groom didn't mind at all. They were just fun props anyway. But before you know it, one of the Bridesmaids took off her shoes and asked for a boost from another girl. One Bridesmaid is holding the other by the legs so she can reach over to get the sunglasses out of the fountain. It was so funny. None of the Groomsmen helped because they were too busy laughing.

At one point we thought the grip was slipping and she was going right in. Could you image. Great photo, but not so good for the Bridesmaid. Good thing she had super long arms and she got them out. She did it without getting her hair and only a little bit of her dress wet too!

It's pretty true what they say about the Bridesmaids doing almost anything for the Bride on her big day. Great teamwork from the Bridesmaids!

-Danielle

Buffalo Wedding Photography by Neal Urban Studio

Ceremony - St. John the Baptist R.C Church

Photo Session - Niagara Square, Buffalo, NY

Buffalo Wedding Reception - Hotel Lafayette

Videography - Harris Films 

Buffalo Wedding DJ - Premier Sound

LOVE TAKES FLIGHT!

So many people have asked if this image was fake and photoshopped. But to show everyone it really happened, we decided to show the sequence of events leading up to this amazing shot, taken be me (Danielle)!

This was an awesome engagement shoot at the Akron Airport. The Groom to be used to be a commercial airline pilot, now he has a hangar there and inspects and fixes planes. The Bride to be also works there sometimes. So, what better place to do their engagement shoot, but at their Airport. This shoot ranged from a vintage car on the runway, fighter planes in the hangar, to glider planes flying over and behind the couple on the runway. At one point, there were even sky divers! Pretty cool!

These images were taken directly on the runway. We spoke with the pilot before take off and asked him to fly right over the couple and let out some smoke on the way up. Besides Neal and I, another one of our photographers, Shane was working with us. We needed all hands on deck for this engagement shoot. We all positoned ourselves in different spots. I decided to lay completely flat in the middle of the runway. Yes, I was the crazy one this time.

The couple was all for standing in the runway. We placed the couple where we needed them to be and prayed haha! As you can see, I started clicking away right from take-off. As the plane was getting closer, my whole body was shaking. I was terrified. A plane was going right over our heads! "Don't panic, just keep taking pictures." Before you know it, the plane was well past us. None of us got up off the runway. We all looked at our cameras while still on the ground. Once I began to look, I knew I got "the shot." I yelled over to Neal, "I got it!" At first he didn't look up from his camera. So I walked over and shoved my camera right at his face and said, "Neal, I got it. I got the whole plane!" He put his camera down and said, "Wow, you sure did!" His eyes didn't move from the camera screen.

We went over to the couple so excited and told them it was going to be amazing! The Bride to be was still shaking as well. She was pretty scared too having a plane go over them. From begining to end, this engagement shoot turned out absolutely amazing. The couple loved the images so much, they sent out 6 different "Save the Date" cards because they couldn't choose just a few pictures. We can't wait until the wedding!

I won my first award with this image at this year's WPPI - Wedding and Portrait Photographers International Competition in at the MGM Grand, Las Vegas. Photographers from all over the world come to this event to compete. This was the first image I have ever submitted. It was actually questioned as well if it was fake or not. We had to supply the sequence of shots to the judges to prove it was real. If we didn't then it would have been disqualified. It was so exciting walking through the winners gallery and see my photo hang with an award on it. Neal took home two other awards as well. Three more awards for Neal Urban Studio!

-Danielle

Buffalo Engagement Photography by Neal Urban Studio

THE TIME OF MY LIFE!

Perfect title for this image, don’t you think. You would think the women were the crazy ones on the dance floor, but you are wrong. The guys took the win in this reception.

The reception took place at Antonio’s Banquet and Conference Center in Niagara Falls. If you have ever been there, you know they have a huge dance floor. This wedding sure needed it. There were over 350 guests present at the reception. And everyone was dancing. What a party! Neal and I had a hard time getting through the crowd for pictures. We found ourselves standing on chairs to see over people. But it sure was fun!

Everyone gets a little nostalgic when the song “(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life” by Bill Medley from the movie “Dirty Dancing” comes on. Everyone thinks they are Johnny Castle (Patrick Swayze) and Baby (Jennifer Grey). It is so great to see the dance moves. In this case, the Groomsman decided to play the part. Sure enough, that is the Groom hoisted up into the iconic “lift.” The funny thing was the guys knew exactly when to lift him up in the song! I would say the Groom had some pretty good form as well! They must have practiced in water somewhere before the big day!

This ended up being such a crazy party that it went on until around 1:30am. The drinks were flowing and the guests really were having “The Time of Their Lives!.”

-Danielle

Buffalo Wedding Photography by Neal Urban Studio

Ceremony - St. Vincent de Paul of Niagara Falls, NY

Photo Session - The Silo on the lower Niagara River, Lewiston NY 

Buffalo Wedding Reception - Antonio's Banquet & Conference Center

SPOTLIGHT ON THE GROOM!

Most people think that a wedding is all about the Bride. But come on, the Groom is part of the day too! It's important that we show them some photo love!

The ceremony was at St. Joseph University Church in Buffalo. It is a beautiful church and great for pictures. Before the ceremony, Neal sneaks to where the Groom and his guys are to get some photos. He will do some group shots and them some solos of the Groom.

Most guys do not like having their picture taken. Guys like to look and feel cool, strong and masculine! We show them a couple great shots right away and then they're excited to take pictures for rest of the day! In the photo above Neal placed the groom in great light and had him give a masculine pose to look "GQ"! This was all done in the moments before he was to say “I do.” 

We keep it pretty simple and harmless for the guys. We try to keep it a comfortable and fun atmosphere. So, guys are not afraid of the camera on the wedding day. It can be a lot of fun and your other half will truly appreciate it!

-Danielle

Buffalo Wedding Photography by Neal Urban Studio

Ceremony - St. Joseph University Church

Photo Session - Carrousel Museum of Tonawanda, NY

Buffalo Wedding Reception - Byblos

SHADOW GAMES

Today’s image comes to you from Statler City in Buffalo. If you have been to the Statler before, you may be wondering where we could have taken this image.

This wedding took place a few years ago, when the majority of the Statler was under construction. (Well more than it is now). Even though there were renovations going on, this Bride and Groom wanted some pictures done around the building. There were many places that were restricted, so we needed to work our magic. The head wedding and events coordinator at the Statler is wonderful to work with. We saw her walking around and asked where we could go. She said she would take us up to one of the top floors, where eventually there would be hotel rooms. It had views of the city. The Bride and Groom were completely up for taking the adventure.

It was pretty much a blank canvas surrounded by windows and wall paper. We took advantage of the windows with the city in the background. As I was walking around a bit, I noticed the sun was setting and casting an amazing glow across some of the walls.  And my shadow looked really cool on the wall. I grabbed Neal and suggested we play with some shadows. The Bride thought it looked really cool as well, so we had her pose. It took a few minutes to get her shadow exactly where we needed it to be. Then we needed her to be a statue for Neal to get the shot. The Bride did a wonderful job and the end result was beautiful! And don’t worry, the Groom was not left out. We took him to another area that had some graffiti on it. A bit more manly!

-Danielle

Buffalo Wedding Photography by Neal Urban Studio

Ceremony & Photo Session - Christ the King Chapel of Canisius

Buffalo Wedding Reception - Statler City

Buffalo DJ - Signature Entertainment