Johanna & Ralph, A Wedding In Ludwigslust

Johanna and Ralph are the kind of people you cannot help but like. They were my first clients this year who booked me for the special Hasselblad portrait option. Ralph is film photographer himself and having medium format film portraits of their wedding day was a must.

So we met up a few weeks prior to the wedding to discuss our options and to scout locations. Johanna and Ralph clearly didn’t mess around when it came to getting those portraits done, they had specifically dedicated a couple of hours before the ceremony to get them done. This really allowed us to take enough time to get to a few locations and get all portraits, including family photos, done before the ceremony. Which meant Johanna and Ralph could enjoy the rest of their wedding day with their guests without having to leave to have more portraits taken.

They got married on August 6th 2011 in Ludwigslust, Germany.

Johanna’s dress is bespoke and was an incredible piece of handiwork. Delicate lace and a figure-hugging cut made her look so beautiful, it fitted her just perfectly.

Amongst the locations we looked at and chose for the big day were the train station, the local cinema and a supermarket. Yes, that’s right. And this is where my theory of them being a likeable couple is proven. Both the owner of the cinema and the supermarket agreed to let us take photos in their venues. They even opened especially for us. And could not have been more excited about doing all this as well! A massive thank you goes out to the Luna Filmtheater in Ludwigslust and the Nahkauf supermarket in Picher. I don’t think I have experienced anyone being as eager, helpful and excited about their shop being used for photographs before. It was a real pleasure to be welcomed so nicely! Another big thank you goes to Marco for being my irreplaceable assistant and second photographer.

Nice people have a lot of friends and after we finished our portrait odyssey through the neighbouring villages over a hundred of Johanna and Ralph’s friends and families greeted them in the beautiful church in Leussow. They wanted to enjoy the service as it was and didn’t require any photos to be taken as it was going on.

Afterwards their parents had organised an oldtimer as a surprise to take them to the Forsthof in Glaisin where the reception took place. Just in time to get a typical German wedding tradition done – saw up a log together.

The place cards on the tables where made up of old photographs of every guest – such a wonderful detail and very fitting to the whole familiar atmosphere!

Throughout the day we had been quite lucky with only a few showers of rain and even a little bit of sun but by the time Marco and I left a giant thunderstorm was in full swing. I hope you made it through the night, Johanna and Ralph! It’s been such a pleasure to share this much of your wedding day with you. All my best and thank you for having us.