Saint James Hotel Light Painting
We now have Anne and Michael’s one-of-a-kind Saint James Hotel light painting completed! Talk about a cool location! But before we go too far into their light painting story, let’s direct you to “Part One” of Anne and Michael’s wedding day which began with their first look at the St. James and ended with a lot of great wedding photographs created across the street at LaGrange Park in downtown Red Wing.
Light Painting at an “Open” Bar
This was one of our most challenging light painted wedding photographs we’ve ever attempted. It was the third time that we attempted a light painting at a bar that was open with guests using it while we were light painting it! No, that’s not an easy thing to do.
The first time was during Clint & Kaia’s wedding reception at The 3 Ten Event Venue in Faribault, MN last December. Because of the blizzard happening outside that day, we had little choice but to be indoors and chose the cool-looking bar as the backdrop for their awesome light painted wedding photograph.
The second was at Elsie’s Restaurant Bar & Bowling Center in Minneapolis, MN during Taran and Heather’s wedding reception this past spring. It was way too cold and windy for anything outside and the bar at Elsie’s was just way too cool to pass up.
But this one was way different from the other two because it was a public bar while they were open for business with non-wedding guests. Joannie and I had to work as quickly and as tactfully as we could so we wouldn’t upset the clientele, and the bartender as well!
Here Comes The Bride
It was a delicate balance of trying not to “bother” patrons while you’re firing strobes dozens of times at the same time that they’re enjoying a drink. And also trying to light the photo at times from behind the bar while staying out the bartender’s way at the same time. The best thing that we had going for us was that we had a bride and groom with us for part of the time. People will do just about anything for you when they see newlyweds standing there!
When we completed the photography part of their light painting, I wasn’t sure that we were able to get everything light painted well enough to put it together afterward. Well, I’m happy to say that not only did we get it all covered, but we also nailed it too!
Light Painting at The Port in the Saint James Hotel
We’ve put together a short video on our YouTube Channel that shows some of the steps that went into creating Anne and Michael’s one-of-kind light painted wedding photograph at the Saint James Hotel. It’s fun to see the whole thing come together in about one minute!
Thank you for reading our post and we hope that you have a great one! – M&J