December 14, 2025 at The Laurel Bell Event Center
It was a frigid day, one of the coldest of the year. The kind of cold that makes your fingers stiff and achey, within 2-3 minutes. Tons of snow had fallen. The couple, from Florida. It was a gorgeous white day. I was traveling an hour to the wedding from Moon Township and the roads seemed a little dicey. But I made it! To the Air BNB where the lovely bride was getting ready! I grabbed some items for detail pictures, took some getting ready photos and added in a few film images. This was the first time I actually included film images into a final gallery. I had taken my film camera along for a few other weddings just for fun, but this time I was able to capture a little more! I shot 2 rolls. I am now starting to offer it as an add on to my wedding packages. I had to send the film to the lab to be developed! Which my type A personality made me super anxious it would get lost in the mail or something. But do. not. fear! I have found a way to combat this fear! I have learned to develop film at home! Stay tuned, there will be another blog post about that coming up.
Why Film?
Film is making a come back! I love it! It's like Christmas Day when you get to see what you captured. The images and the process is nostalgic.The creamy, grainy feel is so comforting. I do not edit film images after I receive the scans because I believe in the authenticity being part of the attractiveness of film. It forces me to be more intentional when I press the shutter. But the downside... Lots of room for error. Blinking, extreme temperatures, issues with the lab, issues with the camera, etc... You cannot see the immediate feedback like on a digital camera!
More from the day:
It was so cold! Snow up to my mid shin! I had to trudge through the snow to make a path for the bride and bridesmaids to stand for some bridal party images. The bride was a total champ! My fingers were numb, pressing the shutter became difficult by each passing second. Why didn't I have gloves on?! Anywho, we packed it up and drove over to the reception hall for first touch and then the festivities unfolded after that! The ceremony was intimate and personal! The venue is a dark barn with limited natural light. I took non flash and flash images and included both in the gallery. Both have total different looks to them! But direct flash, like film seems to be making a comeback!
Outside Wedding Portraits on 35mm Film
The weather and December wedding meant limited sunlight available. We quickly went outside after the ceremony for some portraits and caught a gorgeous winter sunset! Check out a few more film images captured. Some of these were captured by my second photographer, I brought along 2 film cameras so we could each grab some shots.
Digital and Film
The entire wedding was caught on both digital and film! Lots more digital images were sent with the gallery, but the bride was so excited about the film! And I was impressed too! Especially because I had an issue with one of the cameras and the film was not rewinding properly so I had to manually reroll it in the pitch black! I thought it would be a total loss but we actually got a ton of good images! I cannot wait to incorporate more film into wedding days in the future, and even more excited to be able to develop the film myself!