COUNTRY WEDDING PORTRAT

Melanie and Rich had a beautiful spring day for their wedding in May of 2011. The temperature was mild and the skies were so pretty.

They wanted their wedding portraits done in the middle of the fields with a slight farm and country feel. Their ceremony location was at St. Cecilia's Church in Sheldon, NY. Neal and I decided to take a drive that week to scout the church and scout the surrounding area to find what they were looking for. Their reception was at Pearl Street in Buffalo, so we tried to find something heading toward Buffalo.

We found some back roads that you could see windmills and gently rolling farm hills. There were bright wild flowers and the trees were nice and green. It was perfect! Melanie and Rich loved the idea when I spoke with them prior to the big day.

This image had a little of everything they wanted! The colors are nice and bold! I even like the dirt path they were standing on. It made it a lot easier for them to walk around too! The windmills in the back were lined up perfectly. And the clouds were awesome. I love how there were white puffy clouds and then wispy clouds too. It was such a pretty location!

We were on someone's private property. Luckily there was a woman outside to ask if she minded if we took some wedding photos there. She was more than delighted to let us! I think we would have went for it anyway!

-Danielle 

Buffalo Wedding Photography: Neal Urban Studio

Buffalo Wedding Ceremony: St. Cecilia's Church

Buffalo Wedding Photo Location: In the middle of no where!

Buffalo Wedding Reception: Pearl Street Grill and Brewery 

FATHER DAUGHTER FIRST LOOK

This was such a great father daughter first look!

Jamie and Nick were married in July of 2011. Jamie got ready at her parents house. We had dad wait at the bottom of the stairs for Jamie to come down. Neal loved the mirror to the left and had dad stand where he could capture his reflection as well.

I also love how mom and the bridesmaids are in the background awaiting Jamie's entrance. Even though this was set up for dad, everyone got to be a part of the excitement!

-Danielle

Buffalo Wedding Photography: Neal Urban Studio

Buffalo Wedding Ceremony: St. John de LaSallle

Buffalo Wedding Reception: Antonio's Banquet and Conference Center

HYATT REGENCY BUFFALO WEDDING

Kristina and Bill look so cute in this photo! This matches their personalities perfectly. They're always laughing together which is very important in a relationship.

Their wedding was in May of 2011! They had their part of their wedding at the Hyatt Regency Buffalo. (they had a 2 day wedding)! After the ceremony, we did photos around the hotel. This staircase was awesome! I love the angle Neal shot this at to see the curve of the staircase. Neal told them the idea of the pose. As they went in for it, Bill must've said something funny that made Kristina laugh. I love her natural reaction and it made the photo even better.

I even think the neon lights on the background look really neat in the photo!

As a side note Kristina is a beachbody coach so if you need a coach or any beachbody supplies let us know and we'll forward her information to you. Also, Bill is an incredible artist, check his work out Modern Decay Studios

-Danielle 

Buffalo Wedding Photography: Neal Urban Studio

Buffalo Wedding Ceremony, Photo Location, Reception: Hyatt Regency Buffalo

GUYS IN KILTS IN THE COLD

This image is from January of 2011! It kind of looks like the past few days in Buffalo outside!

Deana and Michael had an extremely cold day for their wedding. But that sure didn't stop these guys from having some fun! I love when the guys are dressed in kilts. They always seem to have so much fun with it. This group of guys were silly and goofy and wanted to jump off of the stairs in Delaware Park. Why not? But please do not slip and fall when you land haha. 

Well, we were not expecting this to happen when they jumped. They really got into it and it was so funny. They did not plan out what they were going to do either. It all just happened. I love how Michael is doing a flying front kick. And the expression on the groomsman all the way to the right is priceless.

They did a great job toughing it out in the freezing cold, especially in kilts! 

-Danielle

Buffalo Wedding Photography: Neal Urban Studio

Buffalo Wedding Ceremony: St. Mary's of the Cataract RC Parish

Buffalo Wedding Photo Location: Delaware Park, Albright- Knox Art Gallery

Buffalo Wedding Reception: Acqua (back then Harry's Harbor)

ST. JOSEPH UNIVERSITY PARISH

Here is another image from 2012!

Mark and Mary got married at St. Joseph University Parish in Buffalo. Isn't it just beautiful! There is so much detail in the church. For this Neal decided to shoot the aisle of the church. Mark and Mary were kneeling at the altar, so it was perfect timing. St. Joseph University is a pretty bright church as well. We were lucky that we could pick up a little bit of reflection in the aisle.

And yes there is a giant blue ceiling! At first glance, it is pretty bold for a church. But, it is actually really beautiful and looks amazing with the rest of the church. I think it helped Mark and Mary stand out more in the image!

-Danielle

Buffalo Wedding Photography: Neal Urban Studio

Buffalo Wedding Ceremony: St. Joseph University Parish

Buffalo Wedding Photo Location: University at Buffalo Campus, Village of Williamsville

Buffalo Wedding Reception: Salvatore's Italian Gardens

COME TO MY WINDOW!

We are going back through the archives of 2012 and welcoming back Vanessa!

She looks absolutely stunning in this image. Vanessa got ready at her parents house. They had giant windows in almost every room. We loved this room and the furniture in it. This was Vanessa's "sit" test in her dress. And her dress was giant and had tons of layers! I thought when she sat down the dress would puff out really big because she had a hoop skirt on. We didn't want to lose the detail in her dress. Luckily it worked out great and we were able to keep the dress flat and no detail was lost!

The light pouring in from the window was amazing! We had Vanessa glance over her shoulder and look out the window. Vanessa was always smiling. But for this image we wanted her to be a bit more serious. She did an awesome job and went right back to smiling after we got the shot!

-Danielle

Buffalo Wedding Photography: Neal Urban Studio

Buffalo Wedding Ceremony: Niagara University Alumni Chapel

Buffalo Wedding Photo Location: Niagara University Campus

Buffalo Wedding Reception: Salvatore's Italian Gardens

GETTING PUMPED FOR THE BIG GAME!

We definitely needed to find some football related photos for this weekend! This is from Jessica and Pete's wedding. They are really big sports fans and wanted to do something with football.

They had their reception at Byblos Niagara Resort and Spa. Pete wanted to be the quarterback and have Jessica be the center. Then have all his groomsmen be the rest of the offensive team. Pete started yelling out numbers and a bunch of random things as if he was Peyton Manning! Then they actually did follow through with a play. And yes Jessica did participate in her dress! Now, those are hard core fans!

-Danielle

Buffalo Wedding Photography: Neal Urban Studio

Buffalo Wedding Ceremony: St. Joseph's University Church 

Buffalo Wedding Photo Location: Herschell Carousell Factory Museum

Buffalo Wedding Reception: Byblos Niagara Resort and Spa

Buffalo Wedding Band: Something Else

MONUMENT BRIDE

I love this image of Amanda at Lafayette Square!

We only had about 25 minutes to shoot Amanda and Kevin's portraits. Their ceremony and reception were at Hotel at the Lafayette. So we decided to work right around that area. There are actually a lot of places to take advantage of right there. We took a quick walk across the street to Lafayette Square. 

We loved the train on Amanda's dress. It was super light and flowy. We had her walk up a few stairs and have her back to us. Her dress looked so pretty cascading down. Then we had her drop her feather bouquet to the side. With a quick glance over her shoulder, Amanda looked beautiful!

It was pretty dark out, but most of Lafayette Square was lit up nicely. However, we still did need to add a little more fill light on Amanda.

-Danielle

Neal here, like Danielle said this area was pretty well lit, the lights lit up the monument. Unfortunately the monument was brighter than Amanda, we can't let a statue take attention away from the bride! We added a little bit of light (speed light with a softbox). Whenever there are stairs it's a great opportunity to show off the train of the dress. This image looks great in color but the monument was a bright green that was too distracting. This location is a Buffalo landmark with a lot of history so a black and white timeless look fits this image much better.

Buffalo Wedding Photography: Neal Urban Studio

Buffalo Wedding Ceremony and Reception: Hotel at the Lafayette

Buffalo Wedding Photo Location: Hotel at the Lafayette, Lafayette Square

Buffalo Wedding Band: The Boys of Summer

AN ALMOST KISS AT NIAGARA SQUARE

Let's go back to the summer! Elisa and David got married this past summer and we got some beautiful images.

Elisa and David live out of town. David loved architecture and Elisa loved flowers. We needed to give them the best of both worlds. And what better places than at Delaware Park and Niagara Square. Can you guess which location this was at? I bet you are all thinking Delaware Park. It was actually at Niagara Square. 

The flowers were so pretty. They were in full bloom and vibrant. We had Elisa and David stand behind the flowers and Neal shot through them. We didn't want the photo to be over powered with the bright colors and take away from the lovely couple. I love how Neal brought just that pop of color out of focus in the foreground. And then there is still greenery in the background. I really like how Elisa has a great smile and is on the verge of kissing her hubby! Everything ties in beautifully!

-Danielle

Buffalo Wedding Photography: Neal Urban Studio

Buffalo Wedding Ceremony: Lutheran Church of the Messiah

Buffalo Wedding Photo Location: Delaware Park, Niagara Square

Buffalo Wedding Reception: Four Points by Sheraton

Buffalo Wedding DJ: Signature Entertainment

VIEW FROM ACROSS THE ROOM

Here is an image from Christina and Nick's wedding at the Avanti Mansion!

This is not the normal view you would see of the ballroom. Neal had Christina and Nick stand at the top of the staircase and had them an intimate moment. Their reception dance party was at the bottom of the stairs. Neal told them to hold each other in their arms and reflect on the day. Neal shot this from the opposite end of the room standing on a chair. They did a great job posing as well, since Neal was not able to yell directions across the room. They nailed it on the first few shots.

Even after Neal was finished with the shot, Christina and Nick stayed at the top of the stairs and started dancing. Their guests took notice and began to cheer them on and took photos themselves. I think they actually stayed up there dancing for a few songs! Once they had their moment we moved on to other areas for some intimate photos that turned out beautiful as well.

Photographing weddings at the same venues frequently will always be a challenge. We need to make sure that each wedding is different and we aren't repeating the same shots. That can mean shooting from different angles, or using different lighting. In this case, I think Neal found a great new perspective!

-Danielle

Buffalo Wedding Photography: Neal Urban Studio

Buffalo Wedding Ceremony and Reception: Avanti Mansion