arizona wedding photography ~ meridith and ryan

Sorry guys, I know a few of you have been asking and saying you needed your weekly wedding fix, LOL. It’s just that I had been really busy with house guests for Easter, so this wedding has been delayed by a week on it’s appearance on our blog. This was a wedding we did on March 27th. It was the wedding of Meridith and Ryan Ogden. Ryan actually comes from New York, and funny thing was when we met him at his reception place, Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Arizona, he mentioned how he had been cruising around on our website and spotted a bunch of people on there that he grew up with! Small world, I always say! Here we are doing weddings in Arizona and running into and doing weddings for New Yorkers, LOL! Anyways, they are the cutest darn couple…..and have the nicest families to boot! They were truly great to work with and I think the images speak for themselves as to how fun they were. Meridith had nothing but great things to say about our wedding coordinator over at Grayhawk, Pat Tyrus. She was just wonderful to us as well, very helpful and so pleasant. Always there with a helping hand or to answer one of our many questions. Grayhawk Golf Club is just a gorgeous place with all these red geraniums set against the bluest of blue skies combined with green grass, ponds, ducks, I mean, really what else could you ask for.

But first before we even got there, we met Meridith and the girls as well as, her sweet parents over at the McDowell Mountain Marriott, just a mere five minutes from Grayhawk. That too, was a gorgeous venue and they did indeed have a wedding going on there as well that day. It provided the perfect backdrop for getting ready shots and portraits of Meridith with her part of the bridal party and family photos. The room was spacious and really pretty for photos with a balcony that overlooked the pool. When we arrived, we met Meridith’s mom out in the hall who escorted us down to Meridith’s room where Shauna Thibault was busy doing makeup and hair. She did a great job and although Meridith is a beautiful girl and didn’t need much, her work was flawless.

And……with everyone running around with their i-phones nowadays, Rich decided to incorporate a pic of the invite with one of Meridith getting ready!

When we finished, the nicest limo woman from Trans-style Limos, pulled up and took them the short distance over to Grayhawk. I mean check out her big smile in this photo! And, no they don’t all act like that, trust me, LOL…..

Once we arrived at Grayhawk, Rich got started taking some shots of the guests arriving and Ryan and his guys hanging out on the golf course. You just had to love their sneakers, how cute is that?

Let me tell you about this, cause it was so adorable. There was a table set up right by the ceremony scene. On it, was a family tree that was painted in watercolors and then set in a frame without glass. Laying on the table beside the framed piece of art, was a vase of gorgeous flowers with two little pats of different colors of green ink with which the guests were asked to dip the accompanying leaf pad in the color of green ink of their choosing and were told to apply it to the family tree under which they would write their name! What an adorable keepsake, really…..

Meridith and Ryan’s florist, Endearing Floral Design, did the whole set up. Along with that beautiful family tree, she hung beautiful small arrangements of flowers with blowing ribbons from the tree under which they said their vows to each other. Meridith’s bouquet was equally beautiful, fresh, not too big and heavy, and the perfect accompaniment to her gorgeous gown. The setting was exquisite as the sun set over the mountains to the west. The ceremony was done by Matt Nathanson at www.firstofficiant.com. He did a great ceremony, touching and sweet, romantic and spiritual. It was really beautiful.

Once the ceremony was completed and the marriage license signed, we did some photos of the two of them both alone and with the wedding party.

Then it was time to move on to the reception. The tables were all aglow set with candles, as well as, the wall niches, which too, had candles accompanied with branches bursting with buds.

Our DJ for the night was Jeff Jones, of Direct Sounds. He really played such a great mix of music. This was a first for us out here to hear Big & Rich’s “Save a Horse (Ride a Cowboy)” and boy did that room get up and dance to that song! I love country music and expected to hear a lot more of it, but so far not so much, so thank YOU, Jeff, for playing that for the guests and me, LOL……Bravo Jeff, for a job well done…..

Ryan’s brother, Rob, did a hysterical toast bringing in the Red Sox (as there was a lot of guests from the Boston, Rhode Island area), my beloved Yankees, what a great dancer Ryan is, and a host of other hysterical moments. There wasn’t a person in the room who wasn’t either laughing or crying at all the sentimentality.

The magnificent cake made by Classic Cakes and Confections, http://www.classiccakesandconfections.com/, filled the room with a sweet scent as soon as you entered. People would just walk up to it all night exclaiming how beautiful it was. It looked as if it had been appliqued with white lace and a large fondant bow cascaded down the front of it.

I had been hearing for a while all about their cakes, so it was nice to finally see one in person. Anyway, that is Meridith and Ryan’s beautiful Arizona wedding. Best of luck to you guys, it was our pleasure to shoot your wedding. As always, we would love to hear about your thoughts on our photos and their wedding, so please leave a comment!

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Jeanne Lundwall: You and Rich have done it again. Beautiful pictures of what must have been a fun wedding. I especially like the sneakers on the groom and all the men in the bridal party!! Gorgeous shots of the bride & groom by themselves also!! The cake was gorgeous. Congratulations to the lucky couple. April 8, 2010 11:52 pm

Jacque Dearing: WOW!! You guys are great! And Mer!!! You look MAHHVALOUS DAHLING!!! Cant wait to get some of these! Love the one with the groom holding you around your knees...just his hand and you dress.. cool pic! April 9, 2010 10:19 am

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arizona wedding photography ~ meridith and ryan