Category Archives: weddings

I love Graphi Studio Albums!

One of the fun things about winter is Brides finally get around to viewing and approving their album designs so I get to order and hold these gorgeous books for a few moments.

Sigh. I wish I could keep a copy of each one!

What could be in this package??

I’m always slightly nervous to look,  just in case I get the wrong album. Its never happened so I don’t know why I hold my breath every time I open one, lol!

I hate to close it, but I know it’s going to be loved for years to come!

Kandel Photography | Fargo Wedding Photographer | Facebook Page

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Fargo wedding photography – a look back at 2011

I featured some of my favorite photos from 2011 on my Facebook page a few weeks ago, but thought it would be fun to post them on my blog too! Click on the dates to take you to the blog posts that feature each wedding in full! I’ll include the wedding venues of each couple so if you are planning a wedding there you can  be sure to check out the individual posts. : )

Feb. 19, 2011 –  Ann and Gregory – This wedding featured the Fargo  NDSU alumni center as the wedding ceremony venue, and the Fargo Air Museum as the wedding reception / dance venue.

May 7, 2011 – Ann and Andreas – Wedding reception at the Avalon in Fargo.

May 18, 2011 – Fargo engagement session – Angie and Brady!

 June 9, 2011 – Jackie and Randy – downtown urban engagement photoshoot! You really need to go check out their blog post because this couple was F.U.N !

June 18, 2011 - Randa and Tyler – St. Mary’s Cathedral in downtown Fargo.

June 25, 2011 – Carl and Amanda – Mahnomen Shooting Star Event Center.

June 30, 2011 – Alyssa and Keith – Fargo engagement photos.

July 9, 2011 – Angie and Brady – The photo was taken at the Train Depot, but the wedding reception was at the Avalon in Fargo.

July 23, 2011 – Krysten and Heath – The Radisson Hotel wedding reception venue. Photo taken at NDSU.

August 9, 2011 – Alicia and Ross – Fargo engagement photography.

September 10, 2011 (aka 9.10.11) – Emily and Ryan – Wedding venue was A Friends House on HWY 75 north of Moorhead.

September 17, 2011 - Jackie and Randy – The Trollwood Bluestem Event Center Wedding Venue.

 October 2011 – Jordan and Kelsey – Fargo engagement photoshoot.

November 11, 2011 – Alyssa and Keith – Wedding venue was the Avalon downtown Fargo.

Well that was a fun look over my shoulder at 2011. Here’s to another fantastic season in 2012!! I’m super excited about the couples I’ve already booked. You know who you are!

Kandel Photography | Fargo wedding photographer | Facebook Page

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Alyssa + Keith | The Avalon Fargo | Wedding Photography

11.11.11 – the most popular date of the year. I was quite nervous that the weather would be bad. You can never tell in November – we could have blizzards or sunshine, fog, rain or wind.  But we were blessed with a perfect day! Warm enough that the Bride didn’t even need her coat. Now that I can take with a smile!  We started out at The Avalon in Fargo where the Bride was given a space to get ready. Much nicer than a church basement nursery with crayon drawings all over the walls and plastic toys to trip over. : )  The Bride earned extra points with me, lol!

I adore this dress!! Ack, the flower detail, and POCKETS. It has pockets!



We decided to do the first look behind the Avalon in the alley since it was such a pretty day.  I love the whole sequence of photos so bear with me, they are too full of joy to pick one!

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the shot below that my assistant got. The Bride’s sister (the gorgeous blond) has such a perfectly sweet expression. Life and photography is all about those moments. Those emotions.

Portrait time!! My favorite part of the day, working with Alyssa and Keith! Gosh you two are fabulous!

Can you find me in the photo below? My assistant snapped this photo and I laughed at how I look like “Where’s Waldo”  in the corner. – side note Anyone remember Where’s Waldo? I used to love those books when I was a kid!

Now for my very FAVORITE  images from the day. We were walking in this alley and I found this little spotlight of gorgeousness. A window on the opposite building was reflecting the sunlight just like a spotlight right on the couple. Seriously just thinking about it makes my heart beat a little faster. How can light be so delicious! All that to say these are pretty much strait out of camera , 100% natural light. No flash!

The perfect storm of beautiful people, stunning dress, and lovely light. sigh.

We found ourselves at the lovely orange wall. You’d think I knew ahead of time that she would have orange accents in her bouquet. Nope, just one of those perfect situations where everything comes together to make me look good (and the couple) lol!

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, I LOVE using architecture in my photography. I think if I didn’t love working with people I’d definitely be tempted to do architectural photography. I love the lines, the textures, the structures that lead the eyes where you want them to go. It’s awesome! But of course the BEST is using it to bring the eyes to people who are the most interesting thing on this earth!

I know it’s kind of cheesy but I love asking the couple kiss in front of their wedding party. Why? Just look at their faces… the couple is smiling – WHILE kissing – the wedding party is laughing along, and I think that’s the best thing ever. Joy.

Remember I said POCKETS – yeah kind of obsessed with them.

 

You’d never know the photos above were taken in the doorway of the church with only about 24 inches of space and a wheelchair in the way! And YES I have no problems getting down and dirty if it means getting the shot I need. No wonder I’m sore from head to toe the day after a wedding, lol!

The one sad thing about November weddings is the sun sets so early! It wasn’t even 5:00 yet and we were already getting sunset images outside the church.

 

Getting ready to walk down the aisle. Last minute nerves maybe? More likely playing up to the camera. : )

Because it was pitch black outside and the party bus really didn’t have any lights I headed straight back to the Avalon and focused on reception details instead. A much better use of my time!

 I enjoy challenging myself with detail shots to make everything look magical. It’s super fun to use my extra flashes and ad dimension to images. I also really enjoy getting bokeh in my images (that’s technical lingo for the way lights in the distance become these round glowing spots of light.)

The Avalon catered a delicious meal which I was SO thankful to be invited to. I was extremely hungry by this time – I was afraid my rumbling tummy was making it a little obvious.  Thank you Alyssa & Keith for inviting us to eat with you!!

 

 The whole day was lovely from start to finish. Smooth, no major hiccups or problems. Now that’s a perfect wedding day!

Thank you Alyssa & Keith for laughing with me, listening to my directions, and being yourselves with me!

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Vendors

Flowers: Designs by Donna

Cake: Fantasies in Frosting – Fargo

Dress: David’s Bridal 

DJ: Mixed Vibes – Jeremy Albright -sorry I couldn’t find the website but if the Bride lets me know I’ll ad it!

Venue and Catering : The Avalon- Fargo 

Photography by: Me! Kandel Photography 

also check out my Facebook page for more regular updates!

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Alyssa & Keith | Fargo Wedding Photography

Teaser from my 11-11-11 wedding!!!

  More coming this week as I edit!

Kandel Photography | Fargo Wedding Photography | Facebook Page

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Finally – a D700!

After searching and waiting for 10 months I finally found a place that had ONE Nikon D700 for sale… and guess who scooped it up?

It’s so beautiful!! And I can not wait for my 2nd shooter to use it at the wedding tomorrow! So exciting to finally have two of these babies. : )

Kandel Photography  | Fargo + Minneapolis Wedding Photographer | Facebook Page

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I’m a ninja – don’t tell!

I’m a photography ninja. Prowling in the grass like a lioness. I will get that elusive shot that is hiding from the amateur.

Gotcha!!

More superpower photos coming next week. ; )

Kandel Photography | Fargo + Minneapolis Wedding Photographer | Facebook Page

Fargo Wedding Photography

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Trollwood Bluestem Wedding | Jackie + Randy | Kandel Photography

A blustery wedding day but Jackie + Randy are awesome people who didn’t let it bother them one bit. I Love relaxed people!

I’m limiting myself this time to ONE teaser photo (full post coming soon!)

 All I’m going to say about the upcoming post is there are live goldfish involved and you need to come back to see them!

Kandel Photography | Fargo + Minneapolis Wedding Photographer | Facebook Page

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A Friends House Moorhead | Emily + Ryan | Fargo Wedding Photography

9-10-11, probably the most requested date of 2011!  A beautiful blue sky day turned into a hot afternoon over 90 degrees! Anyone who  lives in ND / MN knows how unusual that is this time of year. Actually last night we got our first frost so it dropped 60 degrees in about 3 days. Yes weather is fickle around here. But Saturday couldn’t have been nicer. Perfect for an outdoor wedding at A Friends House in Moorhead – HWY 75.


 

Don’t you just love it when brides have fun things like this “Just Married” banner. LOVE.

There are so many fun buildings to use as backdrops. Unfortunately this will be the last year the old red barn is in existence. You can see the roof is sagging – so it’s going to be taken down for safety reasons next year. I just had to enjoy it one last time!!

The bride’s maids dresses were so interesting. Each one could tie the top any way she wanted. So unique!

The girls found a toad so of course they dared the bride to kiss it (Or almost kiss it)…

But the prince got away!

Back to gorgeousness…

and fun details…

Emily’s parents brought her a special tuppence from Ireland just for her wedding. How fun is that!

And I was pretty excited to learn a new ring trick this week … how to get the rings to stand up! It’s always fun to learn new secrets of the trade. ; )

Getting ready for the ceremony:

I Love this shot:

Reception time!

The groom brewed almost all the beer for the reception, plus a few specialty bottles. Now that’s something unique!

 

Fantastic shredded pork by Pork-N-Boys. My assistant was talking with them about their business and they said the hardest part of their job is finding single pigs since most farmers are under contract to sell x amount at a time due to government regulations! Who knew.

Everyone was really excited about the food, especially the groom! I think the Spicy Bean Sauce was the favorite…

Dancing away the sunset. So perfect!

My assistant got this amazing photo of the father/daughter dance. So sweet!

Cha-cha line! Or is it the conga line??

After sunset it’s time to PARTY in the white barn!

Ahhh. What a happy day all around!!

Now to prep for the next wedding this coming Saturday. Whew!

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Vendors

Venue: A Friends House Moorhead

Flowers: Cashwise

Hair: Oliveri’s 

Dress: Alan Evans

Tux: TipTopTux

DJ: Zimm’s Entertainment – Chad

Catering: Pork -N- Boys 

Photography: By me – Kandel Photography  or my Facebook page

Fargo Wedding Photography

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Krysten & Heath’s Fargo Wedding + Credit Card Fraud

Oh my word, the last week has been insane for me. It started out when I got my credit card bill and noticed three items that were not mine. Yikes. Call the company and go through the whole “If you want to hear your balance please press 3, if you want to update your address press 72, if you would like more options press 39840940″ etc. Finally talked to someone who transferred me to their fraud department where I had to go through every purchase one by one with the representative. Turns out in the week it took me to get my statement this thief had gone pretty wild with my card. Bought tons of stuff like netflix, apple itunes, cosmetics etc. They tried to get $2K worth of equipment off of newegg but thankfully that one was denied. The funniest thing was they signed up for eharmony.com!!! Irony for two reasons: #1 I’ve said I’d never do online dating because you never know who you are dealing with … which brings me to #2: did they put “thief” under occupation?!!?! lol! Wow. I hope nobody dates them, that’s just sad.

Neeless to say, I spent a lot of time trying to sort out the mess. Thankfully my Credit Card company is taking care of most of it, and I’m not liable or responsible for any of the fraudulent charges. But I still got pretty frazzled by the whole ordeal. I’ve been double checking my other accounts and debit cards etc to make sure none of the others are compromised. Reported to the Credit Bureau and put a flag on my SS, just so it doesn’t go from credit card fraud to identity theft – which is totally freaky! And did a bunch of praying for identity protection. Yikes. It’s amazing how vulnerable you feel after something like this. There’s no way to trace how they got my card (I’m super careful where I use it), and what other info they have. My bank did reasure me that the kind of purchases they were making were all online which means they probably only have the card number, since they are not doing any in-person purchases. Whew!

Ok, enough of all that drama. Let’s look at pretty pictures to calm those ruffled nerves!

Krysten and Heath’s wedding!!



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Vendors

Dress: Allen Evans

Flowers: Hornbachers

Venue and Catering: Radisson 

Fargo Wedding Photography by: Kandel Photography - Me ; )

Kandel Photography | Fargo Wedding Photographer | Facebook Page

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Wedding Teaser #1

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More photos please

 

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Sneak Peek | First Glance

Last Friday was one of the windiest days of the year. Gales of wind. Gusts of wind. So-strong-you-lean-over wind. So needless to say the bride stayed inside. I’m so glad I had my new camera for this wedding!! Indoor photography can be quite dim and the ISO on the D700 sure saved me a whole lot of frustration. In fact I think I fell in love. With the camera that is. Not some stranger. That would just be weird. (but maybe it’s weird to love my equipment?) Anyhoo … back on track… the church (St. Anne and Joachim) is a brand new cathedral with gorgeous marble floors, inlayed mosaics, brightly painted ceilings with frescoes all around, and stained glass windows.  And the couple; wow they were amazing too! Together it was stunning.

So here’s the sneak peek:

 

More coming soon!!

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5.1.2010 | R+T

Wow, my first wedding of the season. The first one is always full of extra excitement, a touch of fear, and a whole lot of pent up energy on my part.

Unfortunately the weather wasn’t very cooperative. It was WINDY, cold, and drizzled a bit too. But R+T were both willing to brave the elements long enough to get some amazing shots!

The dress was gorgeous! This stained glass window had special meaning for the bride, as it was dedicated to her grandfather. I just love being able to catch special meanings that are hidden in the images!

 

Super close up shots of the rings are really challenging to focus, but so fun when they turn out!

Hairspray, look out!

 

I LOVE the image below, so much fun!

The JOY of this pair at finally being together… so beautiful. Plus the wind in the veil is stunning. *sigh*

We headed out to a grungy old hardware store, which had this really interesting corner. Grass + grungy walls. It really made the beauty of the bride stand out!

This one may be familiar to those who have seen my website. I just love it! I think I’m going to have to take one of every bride this year and do a collage.

 

Across the street from the church was great-grandma’s abandoned house, which just happend to be painted in the wedding colors. So despite the drizzle we just HAD to take some photos there!

 

Isn’t that just beautiful!

Now I can’t wait for the next wedding … May 28th, here I come.

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Pack your bags; we’re going to the train depot!

The second location I’m going to cover is a well known local landmark!

Built in 1898 the Train Depot was the first building in Fargo to enter the National Register of Historic Places. It is now part of the Fargo Public Park District, and a favorite location for may wedding photographers!! Ironically it has this sign over the door:

I love taking photos here because it is a constantly changing, exciting and fun place. The seasons bring very different looks.

Summer brings bright, warm light off of the red bricks. And the vibrant gardens surrounding the depot make it a lush and cheerful place!

Fall brings more warm tones. Even the trees across the street bring in more color!

In the  spring before the gardens are planted the Depot has a unique vintage feel. The overhanging roof make it ideal for photographs even with spring showers!

Can I say Perfect Location!!!

 

And one last shot of my Brother and his wife. Just because I love them!!

Next week … the TRAINS at the depot!

 

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It’s all about the BRIDE!

Bridal photography is probably one of my favorite parts of the wedding day. Every bride is beautiful, and I LOVE photographing beauty. It’s so inspiring, thrilling, and simply fun to get these gorgeous shots!! I do enjoy all the rest of the wedding day, but somehow the bride always keeps pulling my attention!

That’s the way weddings are supposed to be.

The Bride’s day.

The Bride’s beauty.

 The Bride’s Story.

 The Bride’s groom.

The Bridal Party.

 

 I guess if a groom can’t keep his eyes off his Bride the photographer won’t be able to either!

 What’s your favorite part of wedding photography?

 

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the size of a ring

 I’m learning how to post HUGE images onto my blog!

It’s so much fun! In the past I always had to post little 3×4 images which people could click on to see a full sized version. This is so much nicer!

Besides a diamond deserves a large spotlight.

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