Courtney & Jonathan’s Oglebay Wedding

Hello! HELLO! Happy Thursday! I am just so excited to share this wedding with you! Courtney and Jonathan had a beautiful, laid back (until after the ceremony…HA!) wedding AND it was purple which is my favorite color and it’s a “fall-ish” wedding so we usually don’t get purple…and yes. It was just all the things I love to ramble about SO please give these two all your Hannah Barlow Photography and ENJOY! Their September Oglebay wedding is live on the blog right now!

I started the day off with Becca (she’s the newest Hannah Barlow Photography member so please welcome her later). We took a look at the venue space at Oglebay’s Pine Room and then we went off to the cabin to find the girls getting ready! Give me ALL the purple! At this point, we’d added Ashleigh and Jay (Jay Morris Video Productions) and it was a wedding vendor party while taking these!

Talk about your relaxing day. We had time to calmly (I never get to be calm) enjoy the day with both the men at their cabin and the women in their cabin. It was SO nice for a change and you really can’t appreciate how great it was for us unless you’ve experienced the hecticness that can be a wedding day! Jonathan and Courtney gave each other the most unique gifts (and that’s saying something considering how many weddings I do). I almost teared up when Courtney opened hers!

Then, Courtney’s mom helped her get ready.

Time for the ladies photos!! It’s everything I love in a photo….lush greens…BEAUTIFUL people…and a great color! PURPLE! Add in the flowers that Bodnar did?! Perfection! Little miss there may not have been my biggest fan but she did chill enough for me to gt a really sweet photo of her!! I get it…I’m a lot to handle! HA!

Jay even tried to convince her we were trustworthy humans…she wasn’t buying anything we were selling though even seeing herself on the camera! Shoutout to Hollis (hoping I spelled that right) too who was one of our youngest but biggest hype girls this day! She’s an amazing young lady.

We also had to dodge acorns. I totally thought she was kidding when she did this for her personality shot. Nope! Real acorns were hitting them on the head and it wasn’t a staged photo. HA! This will absolutey be in the outtakes blog later this year!

Jonathan’s mom then helped him finsh getting ready and then we took the men out. I always love when we have a group of men who go “all in” for photos. This group? NAILED IT!

We never ever have extra time on our hands to really just take our time and not constantly run. That theme didn’t stay with us the whole day…but that’s a story for later in this blog. At this time, we made a pit stop at the Pine Room before headig to the ceremony which was being held at Oglebay’s mansion’s woods!

Then, it was time for the ceremony! Courtney’s sister walked her down the aisle in place of her late father. Jonathan’s reaction was everything. Audra (who I actually know from a 2018 wedding) did an AMAZING job officiating. Basically? 10/10 Hannah Barlow Photography rating on this wedding!

I tried to include all the great moments. Beautiful bridal party moments. Audra laughing when Jonathan said “I do” entirely too early…but eagerly. The best man acting like he forgot the rings. And those first kisses!!! The new Mr. and Mrs. Droginske, everyone!

Ok. Here’s where it all fell apart (a bit). That calm, relaxing beginning of the day? Gone…but we knew this ahead of time. We knew the after ceremony portion of the day was going to be hectic. Courtney, Jonathan and I had prepared for it. Without a first look, this is totally normal BUTTTTTTTT THENNNNNNN we lost a groomsman. That’s right. We were missing one which smashed the brakes on our grand after ceremony plans. So, after family formals, the bridal party got on the phone in search of said groomsmen (we found him…he had gone to cocktail hour). COME ON, ZACK! (I’m dying laughing typing this…). So, in the moment, I did what Hannah does best. I don’t stand around…I say, “OK! New plan…” We got right down to bride and groom portraits! If there’s one thing I’m good at, it’s making the best of all the time I’m given…and I mean EVERY second. Between Becca, Ashleigh and I….we filled their gallery RIGHT up! So, shoutout to my assistants for giving me ALL the angles!

I thought this “don’t step on my dress” moment really turned into a beautiful photo!

I actually have a behind the scenes video of me screaming “ZACK! Hurry Up!”. It was like 15 minutes before cocktail hour end. We still had so many photos to take! I was most defintely using my “bossy professional Hannah” voice and shoutout to either Becca or Ashleigh for catching this so we could shame him in the blog. All in good fun…all in good fun! Run, Zack….runnnn!

Once we had a full bridal party again, we got right down to it sleeping baby and all!

Then, we raced off for some more bride and groom portraits. Bless this couple…because they put up with me rushing them around! BUT JUST LOOOKKKKK…so worth it! I just chased them (literally) paparazzi style!

No, for real…I was hot on their heels!

We literally had five minutes to spare before DJ Brian Oliver was going to be calling me asking me where I was and why was the food getting cold because I was LATE! I’m joking…kind of! BUT…if you’ve ever been to a wedding where you’re waiting…and waiting…and the food is getting cold? Yea…no one wants that! I even had Jonathan call the trolley and tell them to swing around so they didn’t have to walk back! Saving time…that’s what I try and do! I NEEDED this little location though! It’s the first time I’ve taken wedding photos in this spot (and that’s saying something given the amount of Oglebay weddings I photograph). I’m in LOVE!

Off to the Pine Room we go! Brian introduced the couple again!

AND something happened that’s NEVER happened before…ughhhhh. DJ Brian Oliver had prepared me. We were going to do introductions of the parents and bridal party and then go STRAIGHT into table racing. Cool! I’m all in for a good table race! I usually have time to breath and sit down or get a drink but he thought it’d be fun to mix it up while the crowd is still excited. I agreed! HOWEVER…I got too confident. I didn’t check my camera’s battery (which I would normally do during my break). SO, we were like three tables in…..battery DYING! I yelled for Ashleigh. She came right up and got me a new one….and guess what….MEMORY CARDS FULLLLLLLL. WHAT ARE THE CHANCES?! Well, I can tell you….slim to none. I can confidently tell you it’s been over two years since I’ve filled up memory cards and had to change them which is why it never even was a consideration in my mine. BUT we’d had such a good morning and afternoon I had taken a ton of photos. I’m not used to that. So, I then chased Ashleigh down (literally…mid song) and ripped her camera off her arm (literally) and we STILL won the table race with about 15 seconds or something to spare. HA! Take that! I also got every table (which was actually up for debate since the long tables had three tables and we kind of broke them up…but I tried and did my best! HA!)

Black and white first dance photos TO Taylor Swift (for the second song)! I loved it!

Then, DJ Brian Oliver got DOWN with the party. Hollllyyyyy goodness on the dance floor! It was WILD!

Then, Miah (Miah Runkle Events) started handing out the glow blinky wands (listen…I do a lot of weddings but don’t actually know the real terms) and the party got even wilder!

This wedding was amazing! It’s a wedding I’d do over and over and OVER again…lost groomsmen hiccup and all (we’ll never let him live it down). Courtney and Jonathan were a dream couple. Honestly, 2023 has been the year of dream couples and I’ve still got 8 more weddings or something like that to go! One more time!!! CONGRATS TO THE DROGINSKES!

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Vendors

Venue/Coordinator – Oglebay/Lauren Mitchell

Hired Planner/Coordinator – Miah Runkle Events

Bridal Gown – Call Blanche – Kaden — Luxe Redux Bridal in Pittsburgh

Bridesmaids’ Attire – Azazie

Men’s Attire – Suzanne’s Fashion and Bridal

Hair/Makeup – Cloud 9 Salon

Florist – Bodnar and Son Florist and Greenhouse

Videographer – Jay Morris Video Productions

Wedding Cookie Cake – Brandon Wallace

Cupcakes – Riesbeck’s Bakery

Cookies – Family 🙂

DJ – DJ Brian Oliver

Catering – Chef Michael Travis

Transportation – Oglebay Trolley

Stationary – Shutterfly and Etsy

Officiant – Audra Droginske

Cocktail Hour Music Mix – Matt White and Sean Decker