We're so excited you're here!

Thank you so much for stopping by. We are Samantha and Brian, the husband and wife photography team behind A Thousand Words Photography. We are based in Ann Arbor, Michigan but cover weddings near and far. In addition to weddings, Samantha also photographs amazing boudoir sessions, families and beautiful babies in a stylish and casual manner.

We are so excited to share our latest and greatest work with you here on this blog. In addition to posting amazing images, we will post studio news, new products and anything exciting going on in our lives.

Hopefully, you will visit often...and leave a comment, they really make our day!.

If you would like to see more of our work, you can view our extensive portfolio on our website. We would love to talk to you if you are interested in our work. We can be reached at 734.207.3781 or email us at sam@thefineartofweddings.com or brian@thefineartofweddings.com

Best,

Samantha + Brian

Melissa & Dave are married!

August 13, 2008 – 2:16 pm

Melissa and Dave were married in the Virgin Islands the weekend before their reception here on dry land.  I am so bummed that we were already booked for their island wedding!  They did a fabulous job in bringing island flavor to their reception, complete with gorgeous tropical flowers, palm trees and even a steel drum band.

A very special thank you to Chris Parker (www.parkerphotographic.com ) for shooting with Brian.  Melissa and Dave’s reception was the day after my mom passed away and I was in no shape to shoot.  Chris is fabulous and he and Brian did a phenomenal job…….the guys loved photographing that car!  Brian had the same reaction to it as I would to photographing George Clooney or Ryan Reynolds ; ) …..drool!

The day started at the gorgeous Royal Park Hotel for portraits of Melissa and Dave.

To really add the pressure, Dave is a photographer….I love this shot that Brian captured of Dave :-)

Melissa’s bouquet was so pretty…..and had sea shells to tie in the island theme!

Ths is one of my favorite images of the day!  Finished with a vintage look and this would look gorgeous as a HUGE metallic canvas gallery wrap!

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Carrie & Bill are married!

August 13, 2008 – 2:56 am

Carrie and Bill met at a Country music concert, so it was only fitting that they brought the very thing that brought them together into their wedding plans.  From the Custom CDs (country music, of course) with personalized inserts for their ceremony programs to Carrie’s cowboy boots and Bill’s Stetson hat, this was a down-home fun wedding.  The decor was far from country, though.  The Grande Ballroom at St. John’s looked gorgeous courtesy of MPE Events.  They even brought in additional chandliers to really glam up the place!  Enjoy! :-) 

Cowboy hats = a ton of creative photos!

How precious is Bill’s expression?  I love it!

 

Look at how they are looking at eachother….so sweet!

Git ‘R Done! ……..sorry, I just had to ;-)

I love Carrie’s expression in this image :-)

This series in the tall wheat-ish weeds are my favorites of the day:

ESPECIALLY these next 2:

What did I say about the hats?!  The possibilities were endless!

LOVE the chandeliers.

 The red light in this image is from the DJ lights since no flash was used…..in the dark grande ballroom…..I love wide open lenses (photo nerds will know what I mean ;-)

 

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Destination Wedding (out of studio)

August 7, 2008 – 2:08 pm

Brian and I will be away this weekend photographing a destination wedding, woo-hoo!  As with most weekends, we are unable to answer phone calls or emails right away, but will be in touch when we return on Tuesday.  Have a great weekend and check out the latest posts…..I was on a blogging marathon this week (go, Samantha!!)

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Jana & Madhu’s E-Pics

August 7, 2008 – 2:03 pm

Jana & Madhu are getting married in just a couple of week and we are so looking forward to their wedding.  Since Jana used to work for Emerald City Designs, she chose them to do her decor, so I am sure everything will look fantastic. 

Back to the couple…..one word, gorgeous!  They actually met at Bally’s while they were working out…how much does that make you want to put down the ice cream and run to your nearest gym?  Madhu used to model and Jana is just drop dead gorgeous.  Together they made one heck of a photogenic couple!

This next image could quite possibly be one of my favorite engagement photos……..ever!  It is so dreamy.

How sexy is this shot?

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Jen & Devin’s E-Pics

August 7, 2008 – 1:28 pm

So, I have this thing where I think everyone looks like a celebrity (I got it from my mom who did the same thing…..funny thing, she thought my husband Brian looked like…..get this Tweety Bird, lol).  Anyways, Jen reminds me of a cross between Katie Couric and Cheryl Hines (plays Larry’s wife on Curb Your Enthusiam)….only Jen is much sweeter and could give Katie a run for her money in the perkiness department! 

Devin just adores her….he just looks at her in this way that speaks volumes.  They are getting married at one of our favorite venues, Oakhurst Golf Club.  Oakhurst is gorgeous and has a Cape Cod look going for it….we are really looking forward to shooting there again!

Look at the amazing light we had to work with!  I live for light like this!!!

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Courtney & Jason’s E-Pics

August 7, 2008 – 1:15 pm

Courtney and Jason are a super cute couple…..she reminds me of Meg Ryan….only younger….and prettier ;-)  We met up awhile ago to shoot some engagement photos around Ann Arbor and to get to know them a little.  We are really looking forward to their wedding, which will be at the one and only Lovett Hall this fall.  Enjoy your sneak peak!

 

 

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Clara & Mark’s E-Pics

August 7, 2008 – 12:33 pm

Clara & Mark are getting married this fall at the gorgeous Royal Park Hotel, which we luv to shoot at.   I am going to keep this short and sweet and let the photos speak for themselves……but I must say that I simply adore the sky photos….oh-so-dramatic :-)

For those who ask if we do normal photos that parents will like, the answer is yes!  We keep them quick and painless (you’ll barely feel a thing ;-)

 

 

Clara and Mark, we hope that you like your sneak peak!

More engagement sessions to come later today….

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Alison & Jeff are married!

August 5, 2008 – 12:37 am

Wow, 2 posts in one day…..call me ambitious!  We photographed Alison and Jeff’s wedding way back in….well, let’s just say I am really trying to catch up on blogging ;-)

Alison has hair that I would kill for….thick, gorgeous blond hair that managed to stay beautiful through the rain and wind on their wedding day.  Add in an awesome dress from the one and only Roma Sposa ( www.romasposa.com), killer Giuseppe Zanotti shoes (seriously the most ridiculously fabulous shoes I have seen on a bride), the decorating magic of Emerald City Designs ( www.emeraldcitydesigns.com ) and entertainment from Mike Staff Productions ( www.mikestaffproductions.com ) and you have one amazing wedding.

Alison and Jeff…..even though we were dying as we watched the minutes turn into over an hour as we waited (and waited and waited ;-) for you to show up in Rochester for photos, we still had alot of fun photographing your wedding.  The images that we captured in the antique shop are some of my favorites of the season…..thank goodness for happy accidents (and rain)!

 

 

If (and that is a BIG “if”) I thought I could actually walk in these shoes without breaking at least my ankle, if not my neck, I would totally wear these…..but I know better, so I stick with crocs ;-)

 

Jeff has the cutest expression on his face in this image.  In true guy fashion, when Brian was going through the images while we were editting, he said it looks like the caption should be “Dead Man Walking”…..we kid, we kid ;-)……this is one of my favorite shots of a groom ever. 

 

Just as Alison and Jeff and the wedding party arrived in downtown Rochester, it started to pour down rain.  We ducked into a vestibule of a building that had it’s upper floor for lease.  The space was empty, the door was unlocked and best of all it had huge windows.  Just goes to prove that as a wedding photographer you must be willing to adapt to whatever the day throws at you!  As we were shooting by the window we noticed an adorable boutique across the street and the owner graciously welcomed us to photograph the couple in the shop, even pouring them champagne and lighting some candles for the photos.

Next it was on to Twin Lakes Golf Club.  The rain resulted in an dramatic sky…perfect for photos. 

I *REALLY* love this next image!

 

The videographer was Matt from Mike Staff Productions.  We love working with Matt because we work well together, he is funny……..and I love his video light ;-)

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Jessica & Steve are married!

August 4, 2008 – 12:26 pm

Jessica is an event planner, so naturally she made sure that every last detail was perfect (and either pink or green!)  Working with the Nicole from the fabulous Emerald City Designs ( emeraldcitydesigns.com ), they transformmed the Atrium into a pink fantasy like I have not seen since Trista and Ryan’s wedding!  Pink linens, pink flowers, pink cake, pink lighting, even a table full of pink candy.  Believe it or not, it was NOT too much pink though!    Accented by green, it looked absolutely amazing.  By far the best I have ever seen the Atrium look.

Jessica is one of the sweetest brides I have had the pleasure of working with.  Steve is very laid back and just looked adoringly at Jessica all day long.  Thank you for inviting Brian and I to share such an important day with you!

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I’m Baaaaaaaack!

August 4, 2008 – 11:49 am

Hello all of my gorgeous blog readers!  Wow, has this summer flown by.  While all of you have been out basking in the sun, Brian and I have developed a severe case of Carpel Tunnel Syndrom from all of the editting that we have been doing (well maybe that is a bit extreme, but we really have been working non-stop).  Since we took some time away from editting and album designing when my mom was in the hospital and when she passed away, but still shot 1 or 2 (sometimes 3) weddings a weekend, we had quite a backlog of work waiting for us.  Slowly but surely, we have been making our way through wedding after wedding, engagement session after engagement session and album after album.  As you may have noticed, blogging has taken a backseat.  Well, I am happy to report, that this week will be full of blog posts (I have soooooo much new stuff to post).  Thank you to all of my clients, friends and other wedding professionals that have emailed wondering how we are doing and to say that they miss our posts….it was just the encouragement we needed to start posting again :-)

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