Lotz Blog

A Prince, a Princess and a Castle

Maria and Matt celebrated their wedding in true fairytale fashion. As the day passed by I felt like I was photographing a scene from the movie The Lord of the Rings. The Mohican Castle has a very unique feel to it. The stone walls and the woods that surround the castle seem to put a spell on your mind making it appear as though you are back time in a place that exists only in fairytales. Maria and Matt's wedding was an intimate occasion with only those whom are near and dear to them. A majority the weddings that we are apart of are large affairs, so it was quite a nice break from the norm. One unique detail at their wedding was the fact that Maria had cupcakes instead of a traditional wedding cake...which is becoming a trend. They were YUMMY! Also. when the toast was given, everyone had the opportunity to speak. Maria's best friend gave her a gift as part of our toast. Her gift was a stuffed cupcake that opened up at the top and inside the cupcake was braclet with charms that represented special events in Maria and Matt's relationship. I think that it was one of the most thought out gifts I had ever seen. I'm sure that every bride dreams of a fairytale wedding. Maria definitely was a bride that had her dreams come true.  Maria and Matt...thanks for letting us be a part of your intimate event.  May your marriage be blessed!  --kim

Tonight was a special night for Kim and I...it was our 8th anniversary!! We had a great time hanging out and just reflecting. We have such a strange situation. We bought a house downtown near our studio and Jared bought our house. Right now we are all in our old house living like college kids with the "stuff" of 2 families. Jared actually has more "stuff" than we do so it is a little nuts. There are pathways to walk through and 2 extra cats. I'm sure the cats will be glad to see my 6 year old Mitchell leave...we call him Osama Bin Kitty...the cat terrorist. It has been a challenge, but we have had so much fun. The kids are going to really miss living with Jared when we move into our new place. The great thing is that Jared just hung out and watched the kids while Kim and I went out together. It was nice.

Well....now to the nuts and bolts of what this blog is about. Danielle.....I know you have been checking your email and the blog religiously every hour...maybe more :-) Finally the Pictage download is at 98% so your whole wedding will be released soon...hopefully in the morning!!

Kim and I met Danielle through a referral via her friend Lindsay. From that point Danielle and Brian (her fiance) signed up with us to shoot their wedding and now it appears I'm going to need to hire some more photographers to shoot all the business they have sent our way. What a blessing. Danielle and Brian had their wedding in Cincinnati and boy did we have fun. More important than that the wedding party had fun. I've never seen so many people of all ages hit the dance floor from the time it opened until the last minute it shut down at midnight.....and then have an after hours party at the hotel. I felt pretty lame wanting to go crawl in bed at the nearest hotel!! Danielle and Brian...we wish you both a lifetime of happiness. Don't forget to stop in for some hangout time when you guys are in Cbus. Peace! --mike

Nicole and James

As some of you may know we are in the midst of moving to a new home. We will be just two blocks away from our studio in Victorian Village. We are all very excited. Our four year old is still trying to figure out how the whole thing is going to work out. He asked us the other day how we were going to move our walls--he must be thinking that we are taking the entire house with us. We have empty boxes around the house waiting to be filled. The boys are in heaven. They love taking the boxes and turning them into hiding places and even beds. Last night Titus wanted to sleep in his box. Maddie, our tweener, has been drawing up plans for her new room. She has been looking through books and magazines for cool ideas. We came home last night from a wedding and she had designed a way to hang beads in front of her window instead of curtains. In the past, we have worked hard to get wedding images to our newlyweds at two weeks. Since we are moving, we are working day and night to keep within that two-four week timeline as to when we get images back to our clients. We really appreciate those clients out there that we are currently working with. You all have been very patient and understanding. THANKS!

Nicole and James had a gorgeous wedding at the Heritage Golf Club in Hilliard. Nicole actually works for the club, so she had some VIP service. When we arrived at the place where Nicole was getting ready, we were greeted with warm smiles. Throughout the day, we were surrounded by warm friendly people. It makes our job feel so easy when we are treated like family.

Nicole and James- Mike and I enjoyed sneaking you two away for some night shoots. You both are so fun!

Kim

Stefanie and Kevin--Married

I personally think that it's the details that can make a beautiful wedding an extraordinary wedding. When budgeting a wedding I'm sure that often times brides are more likely to put the details down towards the bottom of the priority list. If I were a bride planning a wedding, I would put photography first (of course--heehee) and then the details. No, really. I would definitely try to pay attention to the little touches. Stefanie did a wonderful job of putting together all of her details. She had a candy table with all kinds of wonderful desserts. On each table she placed a little plate with a message that read, "You are so sweet."To give her guests something to do during cocktail hour, she placed sheets of paper next to a birdcage on a little table. Guests were encouraged to write a message on the paper and then fold it into a paper crane. they were then asked to place the bird into the cage. I'm sure that the cage will be placed in Kevin and Stefanie's house as a reminder of their wedding day. Stefanie also went as far as to consider the little guests at her wedding. In the slideshow you will notice little girls trying to hula hoop. In order to keep the children busy, Stefanie placed hula hoops, bubbles and airplanes outside. As you can see in the show the girls were having a blast. So if you're planning a wedding, don't FORGET the small stuff. Stefanie and Kevin...thanks for letting us have fun with you and for being so easy going and fun! Congratulations!!!

Peace, Kim

Erin and Matt -- Married!!

There is no doubt this is one of the craziest times of our lives.  We have our studio grand opening this week and are trying to close on a house 2 blocks away....which will be totally sweet.  Nothing like doing everything at once!  We are really excited for the studio opening and just found out that Tina from Chocolate Falls Fountain Rental is going to come hang out with us and bless us with some sweets!  On that note we just finished up a wedding with a sweet couple....Erin and Matt.  As I've stated before in a previous blog the bride, Erin Cahill, is the second Erin Cahill we will be shooting this year.  It was so funny and kind of confusing at first when the second Erin Cahill started inquiring.  It is so funny how you run into strange things like that.  For instance I'm meeting 3 Katies in the next 2 days.  Anyhow Erin and Matt had a wonderful day and barely avoided the rain.  You can actually see a few raindrops in their ceremony pictures if you look close enough.  Matt was sick, but managed to come around later on in the evening (inside joke for Matt).  We got some sweet night images which we have been doing more and more.  I think the funniest thing that happened during the shoot was that my parents showed up.  I was telling them several weeks ago about the Pinnacle and randomly they stopped to check it out without knowing we were there.  It was funny to see a guy (my dad) with a point and shoot snapping a photo off in the distance of us snapping photos.  We had an awesome time with Erin and Matt for sure and the Pinnacle is an incredible place for a wedding so check it out if you can!.  Erin and Matt....congrats!  --mike

Magic

This e-session with Janice and Ryan has to be one my favorite sessions ever. They both are very comfortable with each other and behind the camera. They are definitely one of the most playful couples that I have ever met thus far. For every e-session I try to create some unique photographs mixed in with some nice causal portraits. In order to come up with my unique portraits sometimes I go to the grocery store and look through some of the fashion magazines for inspiration. Typically, late at night when I'm typing of these blogs I'll need a late night snack (a can of Coke and a Reese's cup) so I'll hop in the car and drive to our Krogers, which is right down the street. Usually what should be a 5 minute trip turns in to an hour mid-night snack run. When I come through the door Mike will ask, "What took you so long?" "Uh, I was standing in the magazine section of Krogers looking at magazines." So back to my e-session in Cinnci, before I drove down to see Janice and Ryan I had grabbed a couple of my "inspirational" pictures that I had been collecting. I was pretty sure that they would be up for any crazy (I mean unique) ideas that I had. Sure enough, they were all about having fun and trying new things. They also came up with their own crazy (I mean unique) ideas too. What fun! Janice and Ryan--Thank you, thank you , thank you for being so fun. Also, thanks for the special treat after the session!! Kim

Liz and Brian

Mike and I had a great time with Liz and Brian a couple weeks ago while shooting their wedding. We even got to run outside a bit at the reception and try out some night shooting, which we have done more and more. Lately I've noticed brides using alot of fruit in their decor. We love to photograph color and using fruit is a great way to incorporate colors that pop. Liz choose to use lemons. It was nice to see splashes of bright sunshine yellow everywhere. During the wedding Liz's dad stood up and gave a little speech. He had all the guests crying and laughing at the same time (He is a minister so he was a bit of a natural....but still had a hard time keeping his emotions in check as you can imagine). Over and over again we hear dads talk about how time seems to just zip by with their little girls. When a dad walks his little girl down the aisle you can pretty much count on an emotional interaction. Life seems to just trudge along day in and day out until something major happens like a wedding. It's in these times that we realize how time flies. When Maddie, our tweener, was little she used to say that she was going to wait until she was 42 to get married and move out of the house. Of course, we had mixed feelings about the age that she picked. In the back our minds we were thinking, "Oh, how wonderful, she will be our little girl for a long, long time." On the flip side of that we're thinking, "Hum.....42...that might be too long to have her still at home." As each year goes by, she seems to lessen the age as when she's going to get married.  We realize that we can't keep her little forever, so we're enjoying our time together while she still lives with us. 

Liz and Brian...Congrats!! --kim

Andrea and John

Most times I'm busy asking the questions on our engagement sessions, but when I was thinking about my session with Andrea and John I noticed that they asked a lot of questions about me. I could go on for hours about my past. I have a very interesting story. No, I didn't serve time or dance in a bar. My story is somewhat sad, but God is all about redemption and has turned my unfortunate past into a beautiful future. I always tease that the story of my past would make a great Oprah episode--maybe I should write a book and make some money. Anyways, Andrea and John are very sweet people. They both have such gentle spirits. They patiently listened to my funny stories about the kids and life. It's hard to believe that there's only 4 more weeks until their wedding. This summer is just flying by!

Andrea and John--Looking forward to seeing you guys on your wedding day at Tartan Fields!! Seize the day, kim

Maria and Matt E-Session

So....how many people marry their high school sweetheart?? Not many! Although the statistics are low in regards to that subject it is always neat to be around couples that have been together for a long time. There is a real casual sense of them just knowing each other inside and out. This is certainly the case with Maria and Matt. We had a really good time running around North Bank together and we probably wore poor Matt out :-) Their wedding is actually this Thursday...yes I said Thursday. We have 2 Thursday weddings this year as more and more people go less traditional in regards to their date. In many cases it is a great idea because you can generally save some $$ on your vendors. Anyhow I'm shooting their wedding by myself, but trying to talk Kim or Jared into coming with me for a little fun because we'll be shooting at Mohican Castle....which is a really cool place. I'm really looking forward to Thursday. Congratulations Maria and Matt....we are going to have alot of fun!! --Mike

You will fight, but make sure you fight fair!

Conversations during engagement sessions are very interesting.  While photographing Lindsey and Justin I told Lindsey to hold Justin's hand and pull him along while walking. I ask Justin to hold back like he didn't want to walk with her.   They turned to me and started laughing.  Lindsey began to explain that were high school sweet hearts and that they know each other very well.  She said that they have a good relationship, but they were not afraid to fight.  When Mike and I got married we watched this DVD series on marriage called Song of Solomon.  During the series, the speaker, Tommy Nelson, talked about fighting and how to do it right. He calls this series the ART of conflict. Tommy said, "All couples fight; good couples fight clean and bad couples fight dirty."    Here are some great pointers on how to fight fair.

1. Don't speak rashly

2. Don't confront your mate publicly

3. don't confront your mate before the kids

4. don't use the kids.

5. don't say "you never..." or "you always."

6. don't get historical

7. don't raise your voice

8. don't call names

9. don't mention family

10. don't win

11. don't condescend

12. don't demean

Here are seven ways to listen to your mate.

1. listen with your face

2. don't reason with your mate

3. don't argue

4. do not stomp out the door

5. do not vent your spleen to others

6. do not interrupt

7. use no rude body language

This last one is my weakness. I usually cross my arms and roll my eyes. With having four children and running a business together, Mike and I have many opportunities to practice these suggestions. It's really difficult in the heat of a conflict to stay calm and remember all these, but if you can master a few of them it really helps so that you can move quickly to a resolution. In the month of August, we will be starting a marriage group and will be watching several of the sessions from the Song of Solomon series. If you are interesting in joining our group email us or give us a call.