Derek & Zlata’s Olympic Hills Golf Club Wedding
On Saturday, June 17th, Joannie & I had the pleasure of being the wedding photographers for Derek & Zlata for their beautiful outdoor Olympic Hills Golf Club wedding.
Bring on the bling!
Weather watching before a wedding is always the case, especially for an outdoor wedding ceremony. We all were watching the weather forecast very closely in the days leading up to their wedding day. Earlier in the week, it didn’t look very promising as thunderstorms were predicted. As we got closer to the big day, the chance of rain kept getting backed up. The night before, the weatherman said the rain wouldn’t start until early evening on Saturday. For a change, they were actually correct!
The weather for the ceremony, photographs afterward and the social hour was perfect. As soon as dinner was served (indoors), it rained off and on for the rest of the night!
The Wedding Day Begins
Our day began with photos of Zlata and the girls getting ready at a nearby hotel. Joannie & I then headed over to Olympic Hills to get wedding photos of the ballroom, outdoor ceremony area, and Derek & the boys getting ready too.
A short time later, Zlata and the girls arrived and it was time for their beautiful Olympic Hills Golf Club wedding ceremony!
Picture perfect wedding ceremony.
At the conclusion of the wedding ceremony, Joannie & I got to work creating family and wedding party photographs along with several fun images of the newlyweds around that pretty pond at Olympic Hills.
The newlyweds!
We finished up with the wedding photos just in time to head inside for their Grand March followed by a wonderful wedding reception that included a great dinner and dance.
Light Painting Wedding Photography
As I mentioned earlier, the rain came down pretty heavy at times during dinner and then became more off and on the rest of the evening. As our wedding photography coverage was coming to a close, the rain let up enough for us to try a light painted wedding photo outside by that pretty pond that Derek and Zlata were married by just a few hours earlier.
I went outside to see if we could pull something like this off, rain wise. While it was still lightly sprinkling, I thought that we could do it if we could keep the camera dry. We approached Derek & Zlata about the idea while everyone was dancing and having fun at their reception, and they said they were willing to give it a try. So I ran to the car to get an umbrella and began to set up the image.
The World’s Only Light Painting Wedding Photographers
Once we all were set up, we got the “King and Queen” to join us by the pond. After we had the image we needed of the two of them, they left us to return to the dance. We then got to work light painting the scene.
So picture this: I’m walking around in the dark, in, under, and around all of the dripping tree branches and bushes in a light rain. I’m using one of our high powered WITSTROMoLightAD360II-C’s, lighting different areas around the pond. Each time I got in a new spot, I called out to Joannie when I needed her to trigger the camera. It was probably pretty funny to witness our little private “lightning storm” by the pond if you were crazy enough to watch in the rain!
The resulting image just blew me away when I returned to the studio and started looking at their wedding photos! The base image for the light painting (below), a 20-second exposure, had all of this amazing color in it once I got it into Photoshop. Where in the world did all that color in the sky come from? You couldn’t see it while you were standing there. I don’t know, and I don’t care because we have it!
Derek & Zlata by the pond before light painting.
Here’s their stunning wedding photography light painting!
Derek & Zlata by the pond after painting the scene.
I’ve created a short little video of the whole light painting process. There’s also the entire wedding day highlights that we always love to do for our couples.
Derek and Zlata, thank you so much for the honor of being your wedding photographers! Your Olympic Hills Golf Club wedding was so much fun! We can’t wait to create your beautiful wedding album with you two. – M&J