Best of 2008, the locations.

I thought I might take a moment to look at some of the wedding highlights of 2008.  Over the next couple days I’ll talk about the people, places and moments that I found inspiring from last year.

Today I’m going to talk about venues.

The majority of weddings I shoot occur at churches.  Two of those churches really stood out for their beauty both on the inside and outside: St. Mary’s Church in West Point, Neb. and St. Cecilia’s Cathedral in Omaha.

Ben and Stephanie had a most elegant wedding in the St. Cecilia, a Spanish Renaissance Revival structure completed during WWII.  It is a truly beautiful building inside and out.  And did I mention huge?  It’s two hundred fifty-five feet in length, one hundred fifty-eight feet in width and two hundred twenty-two feet in height.

The other church I was in awe over was also very large.  St. Mary’s was the setting for Kristin and Andrew’s West Point wedding.  I loved all the Gothic columns and all the ornate fixtures. The church was originally dedicated in 1892.

I was able to setup a remote camera in the balcony for the wedding.  Here’s a short time-lapse account of the wedding:

Balcony cam from Lane Hickenbottom on Vimeo.

Frequently I will go with my couples to a location such as a park that is away from both the ceremony and reception sites for a portrait session. When I photographed Adrienne and Ben’s wedding in Billings, Montana, Adrienne had hoped to be photographed in her parents back yard. Little did I know how amazing it would be. Her folks live on the rims that overlook the town. It was an absolutely stunning location; not the place you want to be if you have a fear of heights.

But the venue of the year would have to be the Oregon Coast.  Tony and Deb’s small, intimate wedding on the beaches of Seaside Oregon was as simple as it was beautiful.  I could have shot portraits of the two of them all day there: simply lovely!

Tomorrow I’ll feature two proud pops: the fathers who had the best times at their childrens’ weddings.