Do you like to have fun? We do, especially with our photos. We wanted something a little different than the average blog out there, so along with our super talented Blog designer we came up with a Favorites section - or "Wiebner Faves" as we like to call it. What is it you ask? more »
Well, under each photo, you will see a "Vote for Favorite" box. If you really like that image, if it tickles your fancy, or makes you laugh, or just plain old makes you smile - go ahead - check it. We know you want to. Each time that box is clicked on a photo, it adds to the running tally for that image. The top 14 favorite images on the entire blog will be shown as thumbnails in this section. Just so you can see the most popular images of all time on the blog. A little something out of the ordinary - it never hurts to be different!
Also, blog posts can be favorites. Now that we have comments available, you will see a little bar meter at the bottom left of each post. Once the meter hits a certain number of comments, its automatically promoted to a "Wiebner Fave Post". :) Something else just for fun!
Are you ready to advance your business? Education in our industry is important to us. The more photographers that are aware in the industry the better it is for everyone. Won't you join us in making our goals a reality? We participate in various workshops, seminars and speaking engagements. Listed below are various engagements - some are our own workshops, others we will be hosting or speaking at. If you wish to participate, please drop us a line or click the link to find out more info!
I find it incredibly difficult to write about us when put on "The Spot". "I need a 500 word bio about you and Joel, now!" Who can do that? How do you make your own personality shine in a few words, let alone that of two people? Well, I am going to give it my best shot. If you really want to know about US - who we really are - read the blog below. We really try to keep it updated as often as possible, and hope that our fun, casual personalities shine through in the words you read and the images we capture for our clients. The blog below is our way of communicating our lives - both personal and professional - with clients, friends, family and colleagues. We believe strongly in using words and images together to communicate our passion.
I am going to keep this short and sweet - Joel and I were meant to be together - to live, love and be happy making photographs. We were both photographers before we met over 9 years ago - we met behind a camera, and continue to feed off of that energy. We are a rock solid husband and wife team and we wouldn't want it any other way - we work together 24/7 and never tire of each other. We have had our business since November 2000, and have thrived on photographing weddings as our main photography genre since 2002. We love what we do. We like to think we look at the world in our own way - not photojournalistically, not traditionally, not artistically. Just as a Wiebner. If you like what we see, then you will like us too. Oh and don't forget to comment in the blog on our two little darlings - Haydn and Zane - they are pretty darn cute little Wiebners. Enjoy! - Rita
Feb 3rd The Wiebners experienced something new. We photographed the birth of baby Finlee. Finlee's parents, Jonathan and Sarah, are also photographers here in the area, and friends of ours. Months ago when they found out they were pregnant, they asked us if we would be "on call" to photograph the birth. Having never done something like this before, we hesitated for a second, and then of course jumped in with all of our feet and said, "Heck, yes!" Luckily Sarah's due date was February 17th, which for us at this time of the year, we don't have much booked, so we were pretty free to go whenever we got the call from them. Finlee arrived 2 weeks early!
Finlee Harper McBride arrived on Feb. 3rd weighing in at 6 lbs. 15oz. She is such a cutie and Joel and I were so honored to be there.
I could write tons and tons about the whole experience, but Joel and I wanted to do something special instead. Below is a slideshow of our favorite 50 images from the experience - that part of the slideshow is at the beginning and lasts about 3 minutes. If you want to hang out, and have about 20 minutes to kill, after the images we actually go through the whole experience doing a "commentary" telling our story and talking about each of the images. We wanted to do this as a special gift to Jonathan and Sarah, so they know what we saw and how we viewed the entire day. We also thought it might help some photographers out there that have maybe never done this, were scared to try or didn't know what to expect! We hope you enjoy it, and below the slideshow you will find our favorite images from the day. What a wonderful, life changing experience!
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We are getting married! Sue and Jim's surprise wedding Thursday, February 19, 2009
A surprise wedding - woo hoo! And no, the bride and groom weren't the ones being surprised by the wedding - they surprised their guests! Sue contacted us back in mid-December about their "plan". Her and Jim had an elaborate scheme, which involved having a surprise ceremony during a party they were throwing for their friends. What an awesome idea! We were excited by the concept and with only 2 weeks to go until the wedding, we booked Sue and Jim for their January 3rd wedding. Needless to say it was a short day (we ended up being there about 3 hours) - but unlike anything we have ever done before. Let me elaborate on the "plan"...
Sue and Jim have been together for a long time. Neither had been married previously, and they both often talked about tying the knot but never took it seriously. Well they decided on the spur of the moment, to turn their cocktail party they were having at the Hershey Theatre, into a surprise ceremony and reception! Guests arrived at 5 PM, and were ushered into the ballroom area to enjoy the "party". Just before 6 PM, Sue headed downstairs to get changed into a different dress for the wedding and Jim also went to get changed. Shortly before 6:30, all of the guests were taken downstairs to a surprise ceremony room that was set up! It all went off perfectly, and although Sue and Jim had clued in a few family members and friends, a lot of guests were surprised! The ceremony was performed by Jim's brother, who is a judge, and he added some great personal touches in, like joking on his "little" brother Jim during the ceremony. After the ceremony everyone went back upstairs and enjoyed food and mingling for the rest of the night!
We really enjoyed working this event, and looked at it as a new challenge, as Sue really wanted just a record of how things happened. We did only a few minutes of actual portraits, and spent most of the time capturing just the moments and expressions that were happening. So without further adieu, take a peak at our first ever surprise wedding!
Here's Sue getting changed into her wedding dress!
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And Jim nervously getting ready across the hall.
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The first guests coming downstairs to the "surprise"!
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Sue and her dad getting ready to walk down the aisle.
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This was just as Jim's brother was making a joke about Jim finally getting married. :)
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Woohoo! They did it! It was a happy moment all around.
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The rest of the night was fun, food and talking it up.
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Sue was super excited and had this face most of the night!
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Mmmmm.....cupcakes. In lieu of a wedding cake, they went the cupcake route....mmmm
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An overall of the reception area.
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Sue was really enjoying showing off her rings!
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Jim's best friend made a great speech!
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Sue's nephews were the only real kids there - they found a corner to go play their videogames and listen to their iPods. :)
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This is one of my favorite images from the day. Sue gave her grandmother her bouquet from the wedding, and her grandmother just burst out into tears when she did it. It was a really great moment.
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We ended our part of the day with some group shots for Sue with her friends. I love how all of the girls were doing something different as they were getting ready for the shot!
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Last Wedding of 2008 - Megan and Jonathan Wednesday, February 18, 2009
2008 seems like it was so long ago, but it was really only a little over a month since we photographed Megan and Jonathan's wedding. December 28th, Megan and Jonathan were married here in Lancaster at the First Presbyterian, and then held a reception at Mulberry Art Studios. The weather for the day was unpredictable - one minute it was drizzling, the next it wasn't, but luckily we were able to sneak both Megan and Jonathan outside (separately) before the ceremony for a few shots. These two were really into letting us capture what we saw, and didn't really want many posed portraits. We did sneak a few in throughout the day though!
Many of the details of the day were done by Megan and Jonathan themselves, or a friend or family member. One of the most important, and definitely most gorgeous, was Megan's wedding dress. Her mom made it! Yup, the entire dress was made by Megan's mom and it was really beautiful. It really was one of the best we have seen to date that wasn't purchased from a bridal salon or designer. Her mom also made all of the bridesmaids dresses - she is one very talented lady!
Getting to know Megan and Jonathan over the last few months has been very rewarding - they live in Chicago, and we managed to meet with them a few times while they were home planning for the wedding. They definitely have a special spark, and we really loved capturing it both with the engagement session and on the wedding day! One quite surprising thing, was Jonathan's dance moves at the reception! Every time we had seen him previously, he was usually fairly reserved. He busted loose on the dance floor at the reception and we caught him doing some wild moves! It was very enjoyable to watch! :)
Starting out the day below, Megan and her two sisters were goofing off in the bathroom while putting their makeup on.
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Is this not amazing?
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Megan's dad seeing her for the first time all decked out in her gown. I have to say there were tears going on in this room!
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Megan's mom helping her with her veil.
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Like I said before, we managed to sneak outside for a few portraits before the ceremony.
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Nervously awaiting the ceremony to start.
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Smiling from ear to ear during the ceremony!
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Upstairs at Mulberry, we used what we saw - this made for a cool shot.
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I really liked these centerpieces!
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And the reception room was dazzling with white all over!
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Megan and Jonathan had her old band play during the cocktail hour - they managed to pull Megan in to play during one of the songs - all of the guests crowded around to watch!
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One of my favorite shots of the day - here's my silly humor coming out. :)
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Many toasts and speeches...
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...including one by Megan and Jonathan.
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I told you he was wild on the dance floor!
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I think Jonathan was trying to coerce Megan into some dance move she didn't want to do - at least that is what it looks like to me!
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Baby Carson and Mr. Octopus Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Oh we love us some babies! Wrapping up the last of the 2008 portrait sessions, baby Carson was definitely a good way to end portraits for the year! Krista, Carson's mommy, was referred to us by the one and only Jen Bushey - friend, client and owner of Rettew's Catering. You probably remember her from when we photographed her family (who can forget Gus and Sal?) back in the fall. Anyway, we loved working with Krista, her husband Ross and 3 month old Carson. He is such a sweetie and look at that hair!
Carson was super easy squeezy to work with and we had a ton of fun shooting in his room and downstairs in the kitchen. Our favorite of course was Mr. Octopus! Carson had this stuffed octopus that made him squeal every time that Ross put it on his hand. It was so hilarious!
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I love this one, one of my faves.
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Carson loving up mommy. Krista is also very talented - she made the fish on the wall in the background!
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Mr. Octopus!!!
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Getting a wee bit sleepy...
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...and there comes that yawn.
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Getting ready for a nap - and that's a wrap! :)
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Frank and Gianna are back, with the whole family Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Yes they are back again! Little Frank and Gianna couldn't get enough of us! Actually mom (Kelly) really wanted some family photos for Christmas! So we worked with 1 yr old Frank and 2 yr old Gianna back in early November. That session was just about them. This time, Kelly really wanted to try and get the whole family together. I will say it was a challenge! Frank and Gianna are extremely active and we had our work cut out for us trying to get everyone together in one shot. We were successful (of course!) - and also achieved some great interaction shots with different combinations of the family members. Kelly has another daughter, Alexis, and then her husband Rob was there as well. Everyone was so nice and even though we had to reschedule a few times due to weather, we ended up at their house for the shoot and I think it worked out wonderfully!
Kelly actually bought 20+ prints from this and their other session, in different sizes to do a huge wall collage in her living room. We are excited to see what she does with them and we hope to get a photo of the finished wall to show off to everyone!
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