Fritz Photography wins Bride's Choice Award at WeddingWire!

WeddingWire, the nation’s leading wedding technology company, just announced that Fritz Photography has won the 2009 Bride’s Choice Awards™ for Portland, Oregon Wedding Photography!

In its inaugural year, the Bride’s Choice Awards recognizes and honors vendors from the WeddingWire Network that demonstrate excellent quality of service, responsiveness, professionalism, value of cost and flexibility. This year’s recipients represent the top three percent of WeddingWire’s vendor community, which includes over 100,000 wedding vendors from across the US. That means Fritz Photography is one of the very best Wedding Photographers in the Portland, Oregon area!

Unlike other awards in which winners are selected by the company, the Bride’s Choice Awards are determined exclusively by recent newlyweds through surveys and reviews.

“We are excited to launch this annual award program to honor high-performing vendors based solely on the experiences of our WeddingWire community,” according to Timothy Chi, WeddingWire’s Chief Executive Officer. “This year’s recipients have set the bar high, exhibiting excellent service and expertise in the wedding industry.”

I would like to thank our past wedding photography clients for speaking on our behalf and helping us win the 2009 Bride’s Choice Award! If you are a past wedding client of FritzPhoto, and would like to leave us a review, please do so here at WeddingWire.

Fritz Interviewed on the International Society of Professional Wedding Photographers

Would you like to hear the story about how I saved a girl's life at a wedding? Or about my addiction? Or about my trip around the US in a turquoise Datsun B210 with my dad? Or about the fire-breathing bride and her Cheez Whiz? I tell all these stories, and give a lot of good advice about how to hire a great wedding photographer, in a new interview.

The International Society of Professional Wedding Photographers just published an interview with me on their blog. Check it out! There are a lot of great stories, good information about wedding photography, and beautiful photographs. You'll get to know me and my passion for photography a little better, and there are lots of links to other photographs and stories you can view online.

When you are looking for the best Portland wedding photographers, call FritzPhoto!

Enjoy!

Amanda and John taken to The Cleaners

We had so much fun with our wedding photography at Portland's new Ace Hotel in downtown Portland this past weekend. John and Amanda were married in their event space called The Cleaners (yes, a converted dry cleaners, complete with the faded Peacock Clenaers sign still hanging outside). The wedding was cozy and intimate, and the Ace staff were super friendly.

We also had fun at their wedding photographing people in our Portland PhotoBooth. We set up a simple studio in the corner, and people come and goof around in front of the camera all they want. It's a lot of fun. People love it!

International Society of Professional Wedding Photographers

I'm pleased to announce I was recently accepted into the International Society of Professional Wedding Photographers. This exclusive association accepts only the finest wedding photographers from the world over. You can see my listing at the ISPWP site.

And visit our Portland Wedding Photographers site here!

Dave and Holly's Wedding with Gale Force Winds

If you keep up with dance, ballet, and culture in Portland, you may know Holly Tolbert. She is a dancer with Oregon Ballet Theater, and it's not uncommon to find her lovely figure in the paper or on a poster.

I had the privilege of being the wedding photographer at Dave and Holly's Cannon Beach wedding this past year.

(A side note: did you know that Oregon's Cannon Beach is famous the world over? While traveling in Europe this past year, it was not uncommon to see photos of Haystack Rock on the slideshows that run on video screens in airplanes....)

But back to the wedding photography. It was July, one of the most beautiful months in Oregon. The wedding was at the beach. Perfect. My kind of wedding: outdoors, summer, enjoying the awe-inspiring scenery Oregon has to offer.

But wouldn't you know it, as they set up the ceremony site, the winds just got stronger and stronger. And stronger. And stronger. After much debate, they made the decision to have the wedding on the beach in spite of the winds (which I respected; why have a beach wedding, and then not take what the beach gives you?). And it was quite a sight.

After they tied the windy knot, we all headed for Haystack Gardens for the reception. Even there, Dave and Holly were willing to brave a little misty rain for some portrait photographs.

I have to give them this: in spite of everything the day threw at them, they still had a beautiful wedding, and they still got married. And a memorable wedding day it was.

Christa and Mike

The few weeks surrounding Christmas and New Year's are kind of like a second summer in Oregon, in terms of weddings. Minus, of course, the sunshine and warmth of summer, and with the addition of a great deal of clouds and precipitation. Which is why, at Mike and Christa's wedding at the Oregon Golf Club in West Linn, they put everyone on Mountain Watch.

Oregon Golf Club usually has a fantastic view of Mt Hood, but not at this cloudy time of year. But the bride thought a little cloud break might just show a glimpse of the mountain in its winter majesty. Well, we didn't get a peek at the peak, but we did get a rainbow, right about where the mountain would be. We took it as a good omen, and took a picture:


Christa works in Washington DC for Oregon Representative Earl Blumenauer. She is a Legislative Assistant, covering such weighty topics as firearms, labor, civil rights, women's issues, social security, and more. So she's a pretty organized, plan-ahead-and-make-it-happen kind of woman. (As well as an absolute sweetheart with a great laugh.) Which is why she kept a copy of her wedding vows in a very accessible but covert part of her wedding gown. Which her bridesmaids thought was rather clever. And yes, she did end up needing it during the ceremony, and whipped it right out....


Did I mention that Christa is resourceful and organized? Here are the contents of her bridal purse: a compact, lipstick, a Tide To Go stain remover, and a list of people to thank at the reception.



Visit our website to see more wedding photography from Oregon Golf Club.

The Fire Breathing Bride at Mt Hood Bed and Breakfast

Elizabeth Kirk used to work in the circus. Willie Smith works in politics. Similar enough professions, I suppose, that it's no surprise that they got together. And when they get together, boy to the sparks fly! Literally.

Willie and Beth's wedding, was perhaps the most fun event I have ever photographed. Here's the lineup:

-A goofy, fun-loving couple (for further proof, see their engagement portraits, at Oaks Park);
-One of my favorite outdoor wedding locations (Mt Hood Bed and Breakfast, in Parkdale, Oregon);
-Willie's bosses: Congressman Earl Blumenauer, Congresswoman Darlene Hooley, and Oregon Secretary of State Bill Bradbury, and their staffs and families;
-Willie and Beth's fun Cheez-Whiz loving families;
-A groomsman with the funniest toast in the history of weddings. I was laughing so hard I could hardly take a photograph;
-Hoola Hoops in abundance;
-Guests who are in theater, are good dancers, and real pranksters;
-And a jug full of kerosene.

Ah, yes, the infamous jug full of kerosene at the wedding trick. Never seen that one? Neither had I. It was spectacular. I couldn't stop chuckling to myself.

Oregon Secretary of State Bill Bradbury, Congressman Earl Blumenauer, Congresswoman Darlene Hooley, and Willie and Beth Smith.

Fritz Liedtke
http://www.fritzphoto.com/

The Howley Wedding

If you know anything about my work, you probably know that I'm a sucker for photos of kids at weddings. This past weekend's wedding was no exception. Brian Howley and Sybil Weatherman were married at a family estate in Yamhill County. The light that day was awe-inspiring. There were probably about as many children as adults at the affair. Here are a few of them....

This is my new second shooter.

I mean, the picture is by my new second photographer Gretchen.

Gretchen wasn't wearing a fairy princess dress, although I'll have to rethink that rule.

View more kids at weddings on our Portland wedding photography website!

Sean and Quin and The Fire Truck

This past weekend I had the pleasure of photographing Sean and Quin's wedding, out in Laurel, at the base of Bald Peak, south of Hillsboro, Oregon. My wife grew up on top of Bald Peak, overlooking Gaston, so I know and love the area. The wedding was held at the Denfeld's orchards, and it was a beautiful (if hot) day.







Here's something I've never seen before: Sean is a volunteer firefighter. So his dad had this wild idea: While Sean's out fighting fires, Quin should have something to do as well. So I'll buy Quin...her own fire engine! And that's exactly what he did. He gave it to them that night, and it was something else. These guys looked like kids in a candy store:



We love photographing weddings in the Portland, Oregon area, in the city and in the country. Especially outdoors! We especially love being Hillsboro wedding photographers!

Kate and Keith in the Melon Patch

Yesterday, which was a Thursday, I managed to photograph a wedding ceremony, all the family and wedding party photos, and a sweet suite of bride and groom portraits in a single hour. Not only that, but I took my first portraits in a melon patch at the garden of McMenamin's Edgefield.

As some of the most experienced Portland wedding photographers, we would love to photograph your wedding!

Andrew Hoover and Tina Gonzaga's Portland Wedding

This past weekend we had the privilege of photographing Tina and Andrew's Portland wedding. They were married in what I discovered is the most photogenic Catholic cathedral in Portland: St. Mary's Cathedral. 

We took some portraits at the Rose Gardens, and finished the day with an elegant reception at the Governor Hotel's Grand Ballroom. Andy and Tina were gracious hosts for this lovely day.

See more of the best Portland wedding photographers at www.fritzphoto.com!