Christopher & Lisa wedding St. Ambrose GPP & Roostertail Detroit

Some thoughts on this Roostertail wedding…

We wanted to take a look back in time to one of our favorite weddings. Chris & Lisa had their wedding at St. Ambrose in Grosse Pointe Park and reception at The Roostertail in Detroit MI. What a fun wedding to be a part of and shoot. We have a wedding coming up in January where the bride is friends of the couple. In our conversation we were reminded of this wedding and wanted to have a look back in time at it again… just for the fun of it!

In the beginning…

We started out the day at Lisa’s home with the ladies getting ready. The men got ready at the church. I love the photos of her in black and white. It was important to them that we shoot in this photo journalistic style. Good black and white is hard to achieve but well worth the effort. Just look at the detail on the back of her dress. You can see the shadows in the lace and the beautiful lines of the dress pleating.

There’s something very magical about black and white. Ansel Adams, the great photographer, said that black and white left something to the imagination of the viewer. By shooting in black-and-white you don’t give the viewer all the information and so you let the viewer participate and engage more. I think this shot of the back of her dress is a perfect example of what Adams was trying to say.

The Service…

St. Ambrose in Grosse Pointe Park is the location where “Gran Torino” was filmed. It’s a pretty special church in so many ways. There’s a poster hanging in the rectory with Clint Eastwood and the movie poster for Gran Torino. We switched over to mostly color for the service. With high end digital photography you can shoot in raw and go either direction you want, however black and white is so timeless! After the mass we took about 20 minutes and set up the family photos then headed off into the city for some fun. They wanted to make stops at the Fox theater, some alleys and one of our favorites, the Town Pump Tavern in Detroit. It’s fun to look back at this wedding and see what a special day this was.

The Party…

The Roostertail is one of my favorites without a doubt. It is located right on the water, almost directly across from the Detroit Yacht Club. The beautiful windows overlooking the water provide one of the most gorgeous scenic views we know of downtown. Rod from Music Box was our DJ. Without question he is one of the best in the industry. Dinner was served and the party got off the ground with a night of dancing and play. Later in the evening, we did some night shots out on the docks. What a great night and what a great remembrance. We hope you enjoy looking back with us on this very special day for Lisa and Chris.

We can’t wait for our next Detroit River wedding!

In your journey to see more great wedding photography from Weller’s Saline, check out Andrea and Kody’s wedding here.