Simon McConico | Valo Photography

I love it when I get asked by someone that I know to be a part of their wedding. If it is being in the wedding, or shooting the wedding, I love it. Marquel and Nicholene knew that they wanted me to shoot their wedding even before they were engaged. Well… I KNOW Nic did because she told me every time she saw me.

I went to college with both of these folks and had a great time creating music with them. Marquel can pretty much sing any part in a choir and play anything on drums, keys, and probably lots of other instruments and Nic would bring down the house with her singing. Creating music is amazing, but creating amazing music is even better, which made it quite appropriate that they got married at Orchestra Hall.

I arrived in Minneapolis with my friend Paul Sparks to shoot their wedding and was super excited. The wedding was outside and in the morning it looked like the weather was not going to cooperate with us. Gladly, a few hours passed and the clouds moved along, taking their raindrops with them. The weather, other than being crazy windy, was perfect. Great light and a lovely location at Orchestra Hall made for some fantastic photos.

Marquell is from Milwaukee and Nicolene is from Jamacia, but they met and now live in Minneapolis. It was great seeing their family come together and have a great time at the wedding. Sooo… enough of me babbling… here are the photos:

2 Comments | In: Weddings | tags: @sparksphotog, canon 5d mark 2, milwaukee, milwaukee photography, milwaukee wedding photographers, minneapolis, minneapolis wedding photographers, minnesota, simonmcconico, Valo Photography, wedding. | #

Madison is crazy after a Badgers game. Not to mention when the Badgers lose. To the Hawkeyes. Granted, this was good news for Kevin and Sarah. Call it an early wedding present for the two Hawkeyes that were getting married that day in Madison.

The setting: The Orpheum

The Orpheum was a really cool venue. Really dark… but really cool.  Lots of texture and lots of space. Those always make for fun photos.  Jake and I went up to Madison a few hours early from Milwaukee to shoot an engagement session for Nick and Dana who are getting married at the same place next year.  After the shoot we got some lunch then it was time to get our wedding shoes on. (I don’t really have wedding shoes, although I did wear pink and white chucks when shooting my cousins wedding)

There were lots of cool touches to the wedding that made it very personal and fun to shoot.  Sarah had her mother and grandmothers dress on display as well as their stories for people to check out.  The bouquets were made out of different herbs and smelled amazing.  After they said I Do and kissed, Sarah’s dad busted out a guitar and Kevin serenaded her on the steps of the stage.  It was a very warm and fun wedding to shoot even though it was chilly outside.  I am so glad that we got a chance to be a part of these two Hawks special day.

3 Comments | In: Weddings | tags: @jakedavidrohde, canon 5d mark 2, http://www.orpheumtheatre.net/, madison, madison wisconsin, milwaukee photography, milwaukee wedding photographer, milwaukee wisconsin, orpheum theatre, Photography, photos, the orpheym, Valo, Valo Photography, valophotography, wedding, wedding photographer, wedding photography, wedding photos, wisconsin, wisconsin photography, wisconsin wedding photography. | #

Oh my, oh my, oh me… Again, I can’t express how much I love shooting weddings of people who have a personal flair to everything that they do.  People who infuse their personality into everything from the vows to the shoes to the drinks to the wedding party.

Shawn and Cassie’s wedding had all of their awesomeness infused into one giant day which has now turned into one giant blog post.  I loved everything from the Chuck Taylors that the grooms men wore to the Crazy Booth that is going to be tough to top in 2010.

The wedding was at the Eisner Museum in Milwaukee’s Historic Third Ward, which has tons of really great places to take photos.  After the ceremony we went running around the Third Ward taking tons of photos, tripping on things, and dropping bridesmaids. (Wasn’t as fatal as it sounds)  From there, the Ceremony rocked and the Crazy Booth was brought.  By the end of the night I was exhausted, but had such a fun time shooting and capturing an amazing party for two amazing people.  Congrats Shawn and Cassie.

(now on to the photos which is why you are looking at the blog anyways)

2 Comments | In: Weddings | tags: @jakedavidrohde, canon 5d mark 2, eisner museum, historic third ward, milwaukee, milwaukee photography, milwaukee wedding photographer, milwaukee wisconsin, Photography, photos, simonmcconico, Valo, Valo Photography, wedding, wedding photography, wedding photos, wisconsin, wisconsin photography, wisconsin wedding photography, www.eisnermuseum.org/. | #

Before I leave to spend Turkey day with my folks in MN, here is a lil something for you until next week:

You can check out their E-Session HERE and HERE

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Matt and Krista are awesome!  It was so much fun shooting their wedding at the Milwaukee County War Memorial.  The light was great, the people were fun, and the wedding was beautiful.  Matt is a cancer survivor and friend and it was a great honor for me to document this day for him.  Jake, Nicole, and I shot photos, danced a bit, and rocked the Crazy Booth all night long.  Enjoy the images, you two are great!

3 Comments | In: Weddings | tags: @jakedavidrohde, canon 5d mark 2, Lake Michigan, milwaukee, milwaukee county war memorial, milwaukee photography, milwaukee wedding photographer, milwaukee wisconsin, Photography, simon mcconico, simonmcconico, Valo, Valo Photography, wedding, wedding photography, wisconsin, wisconsin photography, wisconsin wedding photography. | #

I am editing weddings out the ear right now.  Going through the photos and seeing the emotion of the day is one of my favorite things about being a photographer.  It also doesn’t hurt when you have fantastic clients.  Jake and I have been editing as fast as we can and as long as our eyeballs stay open.  There are so many photos from this year that I love and so many locations and weddings that were beautiful.  On that note… Ima get back to editing.

2 Comments | In: Weddings | tags: canon 5d mark 2, milwaukee, milwaukee wedding photographer, Photography, Valo, Valo Photography. | #

Oh my my my my… I love shooting weddings. Rob and Christina’s wedding just continued to keep me on my toes.  Tons of home made things, small details, and lots of fantastic vendors to work with.

Rob and Christina contacted me from New York where they live and work.  Both of them have been involved in theater and the arts and it was evident at their wedding.  Christinas dress was handmade and so were all of the flowers.  The flowers were paper and crafted by St. Jude’s Creations and looked fantastic.  The wedding was at the beautiful Villa Terrace, which is an awesome location overlooking like Michigan.

I love to see the different emotions that people go through at a wedding… from the nervous first steps to the first kiss.

They had an adaptation of one of my favorite author/illustrator, Shel Silverstein’s work “The Missing Piece Meets The Big O”

We had some fantastic light for photos after the ceremony.

Of all the great personal touches, this one takes the cake. Rob is a big Back to the Future fan and Christina surprised him with renting a Delorean (from TimeMachineRental.com) to go from the Villa Terrace to the reception site, Cuvee.  Pretty much the most fantastic thing ever.

Heck… I even got in on the action.

The cake was from Eat Cake and was not only gorgeous, but was the best smelling cake ever. I could smell the berries before the cake was even cut.

Later that night we went out to the car and took more photos and had a great time quoting lines from Back to the Future and attempting to go 88mph. Didn’t work…

A big thanks to Dynamic Events for helping pull everything together and make this a great night for Rob and Christina.  There are more photos coming from the Crazy Booth… I’ll post those in just a bit… too crazy for my computer to handle.

7 Comments | In: Weddings | tags: @jakedavidrohde, back to the future, canon 5d mark 2, cuvee, delorean, dynamic events, eat cake, midwest wedding, midwest wedding photography, milwaukee, milwaukee wedding photos, milwaukee wisconsin, paper flowers, simonmcconico, st. jude's creations, villa terrace, wedding, wedding photography, wedding photos, Weddings, wisconsin wedding photography. | #

So… Being that Jake and I had never shot a wedding together when we started Valo we didn’t want to make a sample album with the weddings that we shot in the past.  This year we have shot a ton of weddings and got lots of great photos.  When we meet with people, they want to see examples of our albums, which, well… we didn’t have. We were just asking them to trust us that they were going to be amazing.

Ive never been fond of the albums where you stick a bunch of 4×6’s in a plastic sheet that sounded like garbage bags when you turned the page.  I don’t feel like those ever actually complimented the photos that were in the pages, but deterred.  Granted… those albums are cheap and much easier to look at then a stack of photos, but putting a little money into displaying your day never hurt.

The albums that we create are books that you will want to keep out for people to see. The pages and colors complement the photos and help bring the wedding story to life.  I love these things and cant wait to have one of my own in April when I tie the knot, take the plunge, get a Mrs., never have to cook… well… maybe not that last one…

1 Comment | In: Weddings | tags: milwaukee, milwaukee wisconsin, Photography, simonmcconico, wedding albums. | #

So why don’t you make like a tree… and get outta here!

More awesomeness later…

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I love the couples I get a chance to photograph. (Hopefully they love me too!) The thing about wedding photography is that I get a chance to tell the story and capture reactions of people on one of the most important days of their lives.

Chad and Holly booked me quite a while ago before Jake and I started Valo, but they have been one of our biggest supporters since Valo started.  They are a wonderful couple and we were very privileged to be invited to tell the story of their day.

Check out the shots Jake took HERE.

2 Comments | In: Weddings | tags: @jakedavidrohde, Brookfield Wisconsin, milwaukee, milwaukee wisconsin, simonmcconico, Valo, Valo Photography, wedding, wedding photography, wisconsin photography, wisconsin wedding photography. | #