Ted and Ali were married at the Paradise Valley Country Club in Paradise Valley, Arizona.  Paradise Valley is a little community nestled between Phoenix and Scottsdale just north of Camelback Mountain.  The wedding was a blast.  Ted and Ali are a lot of fun, and so are their groomsmen and bridesmaids.  Here are my favorite images from the wedding.

I love black and white.  I loved this door, but I wasn’t fond of the colors in the room, but knowing an image will be in black and white, opens up a lot of possibilities for you as a photographer, regardless of the color schemes in a room.

The locker room for the ladies was a bit of a challenge, since I am not a lady.  So I had my associate photographer and assistant (both ladies) spend most of their time in the locker room, but occasionally I got in there for the important moments and some good shots.

Time for some shots with the parents.  This one caught me.  I love the way Ali’s father is looking at her.

And both of these photographs of Ali are so beautiful.  The light is perfect, she looks fantastic in her wedding dress, the flowers (by Table Tops, Etc.) look great.

I love the signs hanging from the chairs.  Everything about the wedding, from the tables, to the flowers, to the chairs, the ribbon, the colors.  All of it looked great.  And of course all of that is thanks to the coordination efforts of Rachel at Outstanding Occasions.  Nothing replaces a great wedding designer and planner.

Two ring bearers.  Both looked great in their little tuxes.

I caught the flower girl taking a look at herself in the mirror.  So big… and yet, still so small (short).

The youngest flower girl was so excited to be a part of the wedding and she was also very aware of the camera, or me… maybe she just liked me.  But I think she was playing it up for the camera.

I think the purpose of ring bearers and flower girls is to give us all some comic relief from all the emotions.  They are always so unpredictable and ofter very funny.  Always cute!  They make my day, every time I shoot a wedding.

Camelback Mountain makes a beautiful backdrop for a wedding.  I don’t necessarily enjoy golfers finishing their round during the wedding, but they were respectful enough and there was no shouting, cursing or hootin’ and hollerin’ about a long put during the ceremony, so I suppose it worked out well.

Anytime I have a strong backlight, like the sun, if I can throw it behind a tree, it softens and scatters it just enough to allow a completely natural lighting shot.  No flash, no reflector, just the right exposure.

While, starting earlier in the day for a wedding makes the portraiture more challenging, it certainly makes for far better reception photographs, like the father’s toast.  I love this shot.

As the sun went down, the outdoor reception was lit by a grid work of twinkle lights, which give off a beautifully soft glow.  One can even get a shot without a flash if you have the right camera with a clean high ISO.

When your daughter gets up for a toast, I am sure it is hard to keep it together.

This has to be the best image of the day.  I know that we typically think of the cool portraits and the artsy images as the best images, but in this case, I can not get over this image.  Ali was dancing with her dad, when half way through the song, Ted took his daughter on the dance floor for a dance.  This is the first time I have been able to see both the Groom and the Bride dancing at the same time in a Father-Daughter dance.  It was a precious as anything could be.  I had to maneuver a great deal to get this shot to happen.  Ali and her dad had to be in the right spot, in the right portion of the turn of their dance, the same is true for Ted and his daughter.  Then I had to be in the right spot to keep them all close enough to fit in one frame.  Then I had to have Ali’s dad in focus… I was stressed out about getting this shot, because I knew at the time how important is would be.

When I look at images like this from a wedding and think about my little daughter, I can’t emphasize this photograph enough.  This is about as perfect a moment as I have ever captured.

That’s a lot of twinkle lights and the chandeliers are a great touch.

The odd little blue puff in the bottom corner of the photo is cotton candy.  Yes, cotton candy.  I love it.

In spite of being outside with nowhere to bounce a flash to get great light, we made the light happen by putting up a series of Canon 600RT Speedlites that I controlled from my camera.  This kept plenty of light on the subjects but from multiple angles so there is a lot of volume in the shots.

Ali brought this white frame along to the wedding and asked if we could do something with it.  So we set up a little photo booth situation at the after party.  People had fun doing ridiculous things in in, on and around the frame.

Wedding photography by Jared Platt, Platt Photography.

Wedding Planning and Coordination by Outstanding Occasions.

Flowers by Table Tops Etc.

Location: Paradise Valley Country Club, Paradise Valley, Arizona

We spent the afternoon with the Morris family at Tumbleweed park in Chandler, Arizona and one of their many dogs.  Josephine rescues dogs, so she has a lot of them, but we only photographed with one.  Jason and Josephine’s daughter is very expressive and a lot of fun.  I think one of the reasons I love photographing children so much is that they are so much more expressive than adults.  So when you want adults to be expressive, bring along a child that they love and get them paying attention to their child.  Suddenly, everyone is expressive and having fun.

Here are a few of my favorite images from the photo shoot…

I think she is saluting me.  Maybe she’s just pointing to her head saying I don’t have any hair.

How cute it this little look on her face?  Now, we are photographing her in open shade, so there is no absolute need for a flash, but without the flash, I would have a little too much darkness in her eyes, so when possible, I prefer to have an off camera flash putting just a little light into her eyes.  You can see the slight shadow on the fence from the flash, which is off to the right of the camera, but because of it’s off camera position, there is plenty of volume in the shot.

Man, she was adorable…

The interaction on the next few images are priceless.  These are the shots that matter in life.  Take away every family “portrait” I have and leave me with these meaningful interaction shots with my kids and I will be completely happy.  And that’s what requires some specialized skill.  Catching the moments, being ready for them and not forcing them in a way that kills the authenticity is the challenge of being a family photographer.  I’ve started to turn down family photography work these days for people who don’t get what’s important.  If someone wants an instant portrait painting of their family, standing stiff in a line, they are not going to respond what I am creating, so I point them to other photographers.  I think we are all happier that way.

I love this one.

What child doesn’t smile when they are swinging between their parents arms?  But while she’s having all the fun, I am trying to time the focus.  I live on the wide side of apertures, so I rarely have any room to breath on focus.  What is in focus can be out if there is just a few inches of movement.  So, I live dangerously, but the results are fantastic.  The trick is to figure out where the focus will be and time for that part of the swing.  Oh, and shoot a lot of images!!!!!!

I fell in love with this image when I took it, but I fell in love with it again when I worked on it in post-production.  I absolutely love  how the tree becomes a line drawing in the background.  This one is for the wall.

Dandelions are about the best weed on the planet.  They are to fun, that we started thinking of them as flowers.

You see how much fun they are.  They are full of absolute fun!

Family Life Portraits by Jared Platt, Platt Photography

Location: Tumbleweed Park, Chandler, Arizona

Mattie and Riley were married in the Mesa, Arizona LDS Temple and their reception was later that evening at her parent’s home in Chandler.  Here are a few of my favorite images from the wedding day.

The temple itself is a symbol of eternity and devotion, so it becomes a central figure in the documentation of an LDS (Mormon) Wedding.  Because the wedding is held inside and there is no photography allowed, I think a portrait of the temple itself is not only appropriate, it is absolutely essential.  So, whenever I photograph an LDS wedding, I make sure to work on a few artistic shots of the temple on the day of the wedding.  I could just take one great shot of the temple and add it to everyone’s wedding that I take there, but I feel like that would be cheating.  So, I try to make something unique each time.

Any wedding (not just an LDS wedding) requires this kind of attention to the location.  People choose the location of their wedding with a lot of care.  The place they get married says a lot about the couple, their beliefs, their personalities… so location is always important.

Because we would be going from the temple to portraits without a break for lunch, the wedding party packed a little snack.  They were hanging out on the lawn having a bit of a picnic while we shot portraits.  I thought it was pretty fun.

Mattie looks beautiful in that dress.

This is my favorite shot of the bride.  We have her in the open shade of a tree.  The sun is lighting up the trees and the bride is generally lit by the northern sky with a soft box to her right, which gives her face that beautiful shape.

We shot a few more portraits in downtown Chandler.  I enjoyed this group shot.

They gave out little honey jars as favors at the wedding, which were cute, and also a great spot for the ring shot.

A winter wedding is not complete without a Christmas Tree… and this one was full of photos of the couple from our engagement portrait shoot.  What a beautiful tree.

Wedding Photography by Jared Platt, Platt Photography

Wedding Location: LDS Temple in Mesa, Arizona

Wedding slideshow music by Fisher, courtesy of Triple Scoop Music

Megan and Blake were married in the Mesa, Arizona LDS Temple.  I have known Megan and her family for a few years now and feel a bit like an uncle rather than a hired photographer.  It’s fun to be close to the family for a wedding, it changes the dynamics a bit and makes things a little more personal.

Here are a few of my favorite images from the wedding, which spans over a few weeks: the wedding was a few weeks before the reception.

When the sun is out in force in Arizona, shade is an important thing to find.  The temple has a few trees that are large enough to block out the sun and allow for some soft light.

The reception was held at the ValVista Lakes Club House in Mesa, Arizona.  This is one of the only places in Phoenix where you can get a good shot on a dock with water like this.  It’s definitely a unique spot in the desert.  I was very happy with this shot.

The staircase was my favorite spot inside.

Megan had a great dress and of course every bride wants a shot of her dress from behind, but often times the shot is a bit contrived because it it is out on a lawn with the dress spread out on the grass, and looks a bit posed.  I have a shot of the bride earlier at the wedding that is this way.  You have to get one, so we got one.  But, when the opportunity presents itself to get something even better… well, I’ll take it!  I feel there is a story that wants to be told in this shot.  The shot is manufactured (a lot of lighting went into the shot); the stairs lead to an office so I put a big flash head up there to create the light and shadow cascading down the staircase, and there are two soft boxes lighting her with an extra flash out to the right of the staircase, filling in some shadows.  But the light looks natural and that is what makes the shot work so well.  I love the shot.

This is Megan’s brother, who was tasked with lighting the candles before the guests arrived.  But, unbeknownst to Megan and her brother, someone in the staff had replaced the real candles with LED candles, which he was able to light!  We were all a little taken back when the candles began flaming up and smoking and one exploded.  So we all ran around blowing out LED candles that were aflame!  It was quite funny.  So now you know… fake candles can also be lit like real candles, but they act a little more like fireworks in the end.

This was a good idea for throwing the garter.  Seems a bit more manly and easier to throw a good distance.

Megan and Blake wanted to take a photo with me.  Like I said, I feel a bit more like an uncle than a hired photographer.  But we had to hand my camera off to a guest and it took a few shots before we got one in focus.  Lesson: always check focus after someone else uses your camera!

Congratulations Blake and Megan.  I wish you all the happiness in the world.

Photography by Jared Platt, Platt Photography

Slideshow Music by Anna Sali, courtesy of Triple Scoop Music

Location: LDS Temple and ValVista Lakes, Mesa, Arizona

I photographed Meghan and Hugh’s wedding a few years back and was thrilled to drop by to meet the newest mini-Muliigan.  Wylie is a serious boy.  Or at least he was serious about our photo shoot, which I think makes him look quite handsome.  Here are some of my favorite images from the photo shoot at the Mulligan home in Phoenix, Arizona.

I loved the shirt.  Had to get that into the shot for sure.

I ended up with very few color images from this infant portrait shoot.  I am a  firm believer that color should only exist in a photograph if it is driving the photograph.  I thought that the majority of the images were better seen in black and white, which also makes those left in color stand out even more.  I am pleased with the results.

Wylie has a very cool nursery, filled with cute little monsters and a large chalk board wall.  He’s going to enjoy that when he becomes aware that drawing on walls in most homes is a bad thing…  Not in the Mulligan house.  Hugh is a graphic artist.  So…

This is by far one of my favorites.  Not only is it a favorite of the photo shoot, I think it is a favorite of images like it.  The difference between the father’s hands and the baby’s foot is quite stark and the rich black and white contrast helps to push that concept even further.

Here are Wylie’s little monster friends.  That is a colorful photo.

That is a big baby, born on a very good day!  Father’s day.

Infant portrait photography by Jared Platt, Platt Photography.

Slideshow music by Cherie Call, courtesy of Cherie Call.

Location: Home, Phoenix, Arizona