Wow, what a wedding! If I had to sum up Clare & Florian’s wedding in 3 words, they would probably be: Fun! Hilarious! Amazing! In other words, just perfect :) And VERY well planned thanks to Clare’s bad-ass planning skills :)
Clare and I met shortly when she was a guest a Miriam & Manuel’s wedding 2 years ago. Then, when she got engaged to Florian, we met up again to discuss wedding details, and right away I knew this would be one amazing wedding!
Clare is from NYC, and met Florian coincidentally during a trip to Germany in 2007 when a waitress at the famous Augustiner Keller put her and her friend Amy at a table Florian was sitting at. I can imagine they really hit it off right away… on one hand, they are so different, yet compliment each other perfectly, and their differences led to lots of laughs on their big day!
Florian is from a small town near Landshut, so thats where they decided to have the wedding. My day started out by meeting clare at her hotel, the City Hotel Isar Residence. What a beautiful hotel! And right in the middle of town which of course made it the perfect location for all of the out of town guests. This is also where I had a little reunion with Franzi from Ewalis Productions whom I had recommend to Clare for her wedding video… they do amazing work, so be sure to check out their website! It was great working with them again!
Clare was so relaxed all morning, at this point, most brides are starting to get a bit anxious..but if Clare was anxious at all, it certainly wasn’t noticeable. After her hair & make-up was finished, her mom lent a hand while getting dressed..I always love that special moment between mother & daughter. Then Clare pulled out an awesome pair of sunglasses..I loved them! It totally showed off her personality and they were just fun! She knew right away Florian would hate them :D
We then drove out to Florian’s house to pick him up for the portrait session. But first, we arranged a ‘First Look’ session…I’d say Florian was pretty much blown away when he saw his bride for the first time :) Clare then mentioned to Florian that she has a surprise in the car (her sunglasses), and when she came back with her glasses on, Florian’s reaction was priceless…and Clare was spot on with her prediction of his reaction lol. Through out the rest of the day she kept teasing him witht he glasses..it was hilarious to watch, and brought a few laughter tears to my eyes :D
We made our way over to Schloss Neufahrn to take some bridal photos. I’d never been there before, and knew I wouldn’t have a chance to location scout it, so I looked it up online..it looked cute, but I couldn’t find much actually. As soon as we got there, I got so excited…it was an absolutely stunning location! Lots of variety between green ivory, rustical wood sheds, and a beautiful courtyard. Clare and Florian were SO easy to photograph! They were both very relaxed, and just had fun with each other. I think that really comes across well in these photos. There’s not much that’s more beautiful than a laughing bride…and of course Clare looked absolutely GORGEOUS, I don’t think its possible to take a bad photo of her :)
After our portrait session we went back to Florian’s house and I headed over to the church with him and his parents. Clare came a few minutes later with Stephan..who I have to give a little shout out to…he was such a big help! He drove us everywhere we had to go, and he turned out to be a great assistant ;) The ceremony was held in a beautiful church near Florian’s home. It was a beautiful ceremony…the music they chose was perfect! The priest was great, very relaxed, down to earth and sweet! For me, the highlight of the day was Clare reading her vows to Florian in German…it was so emotional…I loved it :)
After the ceremony we headed over to Bernlochner, which is where the rest of the day would be celebrated. Bernlochner is an amazing location! The terrace right on the Isar is beautiful, and inside is pretty amazing as well… I loved all of the windows, and how bright and open it was. Of course the BEAUTIFUL decorations from Julia Hörl made this location even more beautiful! I’ve been a fan of Julia’s work for some time now, so it was great to finally be able to capture her magic with my camera! After a short champagne reception, Clare & Florian started the Coffee & Cake hour by cutting their wedding cake. After they had some time to mingle with their guests, we snuck off for another short portrait session in the city. By the time we got back, all of the guests had already gone inside. After a quick group photo with all of the guests, Clare & Florian kicked off the party with their first dance!
In between the meals there were some great speeches and a fun game planned by their friends and family. Right before the dessert buffet, came of the many highlights of the day… the Father/Daughter dance. Clare told me about this a few weeks ago and I couldn’t wait… apparently her dad is a huge Gangnam Style fan…so he suggested they do a dance to Gangnam Style. This was a surprise for the guests…they started out in a slow dance, then all of a sudden started busting some moves to Gangnam Style, and then went back into a slow dance. It.Was.Awesome!
The rest of the night was spent dancing to the music played by the band, who were nothing short of AWESOME! Seriously…I will be recommending them to any of my couples who ask for a band recommendation, thats how good they were! I also brought along my Photo Booth which the guests had a blast with in between dances… thats always a highlight for me..I love Photo Booth! :D
I’m sure everytime I think of Clare & Florian’s wedding I’ll get a big smile on my face…it was just the perfect day filled with so much laughter, love and tears of joy. It was so great to see how many guests traveled from far away (USA & China) to celebrate with these two very special people!
Clare & Florian, thank you so much for allowing me to be part of your big day! You were both so great to work with! I hope these photos will help you relive what a wonderful day you had for many, many years to come! xoxo :)
PS…the party shots are coming soon in Part 2 :)
