Tanya and Olin

You never know quite what you’re going to get when you point a camera in Tanya and Olin’s direction.

Just a week before their wedding, we spent 90 minutes together in St. Charles’ main street complete with a cobblestones, a park by the river, and lots of other photo-friendly places. At one point, I asked the pair to walk away from me on the sidewalk, hand-in-hand and looking at each other, with strict instructions to turn and kiss where the shadow started on the pavement. By the time they’d reached the shadow, Tanya had already stopped and twirled around a lamp post, they’d played peek-a- boo around a curbside tree, Olin had leaned Tanya waaayyy back for a big kiss, and they’d decided to go for ice cream!

I quickly learned that you’d better keep the camera pointed in their direction and ready to shoot anything that happened! We ended up with many wonderful images and a great guest album from all the fun, which they used at the wedding reception for their guests to sign.

Our happy couple had their ceremony and reception at the City Museum in downtown St. Louis. If you’ve never been there you might not know about the fun playground up on the roof of their multi-story building, which includes a ferris wheel, slides, a pond, and an old school bus that hangs off the side of the building! You might be able to imagine what ensued there with our unpredictable, fun-loving couple after the ceremony and reception were over.
Let’s put it this way: have you ever seen a bride and groom in their full wedding outfits careen down two slides, swing on a rope, or go on a ferris wheel? Nope? Well check out these pictures — you have now!

I don’t think the other people on the rooftop were quite ready for the spectacle. But they were all very patient and accommodating in letting us commandeer some of the rides for a few pictures. Indeed, Tanya and Olin’s run down the big slide brought cheers and applause from the onlookers. And I also got caught up the mood and put my wide-angle lens on the camera and went down the slide with them, shooting all the way — lots of fun and we got some great shots!

Thanks to Katie Brown who helped photograph the wedding. And thanks to Tanya and Olin for inviting us all to such a fun day. Best wishes guys for a bright and happy future together.