Joy & Christian are high school sweethearts. They are a lovely, laid-back couple who planned a winter December wedding at Grand Geneva Resort.

As a photographer, I always arrive at least one hour before the event starts to scout the location for unique spots for pictures – regardless of how many times I’ve photographed there. However, I am looking for indoor and outdoor options when photographing a winter wedding since many of the couple’s pictures will occur indoors.

An important aspect of winter weddings is accumulating the hours of daylight. I always suggest a first look.

Winter weddings don’t mean that we have to skip outdoor photography. Embracing the outdoor winter colors and feel is excellent. I always ensure that the maid of honor comes with a jacket or blanket for the bride. Instructions on posing for the couple take place inside to reduce the time out. As soon as we were set, we stepped outside for a very efficient mini-photo session of 7 to 10 minutes.

Since the wedding was close to the holiday season, the Christmas decorations were up, which created an excellent backdrop for the indoor photos.

Makeup artest: Ametta Michelle