Transportation Inspiration

The grand exit is always something to take into consideration. After all, it is the first departure for the bride and groom as husband and wife! Many of our couples have creative ways to exit their ceremonies, either by car, by boat, or even by horse and buggy :) Below are some samples to inspire our brides...

How will you make your grand exit??

Congratulations to Beautiful Blooms by Jen!

Yesterday the Grand Lubell team stopped in at the grand opening of Beautiful Blooms by Jen in Sylvania, what a turnout!! It was great to chat with other wedding professionals, and check out Jen's bright new space. There is a great meeting area for brides, and tons of samples and photos for inspiration. Many members of the community showed up to congratulate Jen and her team, we wish them all the best of luck!

Beautiful Blooms by Jen is located at 5646 Summit St. Sylvania, OH, 43560 Call her today at 419-517-8821

Whiteout Wedding

Now, we've shot many weddings in snowy weather. We've photographed brides twirling in the show with their fur capes and muffs, then we all quickly run to the warmth of the waiting car and off to the reception we go. However, the wedding we photographed on February 1, 2011 in Farmington Hills, MI was a whole other type of "snowy weather" wedding. Bloomie and Bentzion Shemtov were married at 6:30pm outside. In the middle of a blizzard.

Some would call that peculiar, but Bloomie and Bentzion were married under the chuppah, a canopy outside, amidst 40 MPH winds with snow and sleet showering down. It is the couple's belief that being married outside would "yield the blessings of children as numerous as stars of the heavens." The ceremony was officiated by the couple's fathers and grandfathers, all Rabbis. The bride and groom and guests escaped the horizontal snow and headed indoors to celebrate. Below are some photos from their unique and special day...

Dale Fordham, of Fordham Footage, was the videographer and offered a unique service for the bride and groom. The entire wedding day was streamed live over the Internet, it was seen by friends and family all over the world including China, Israel, England, Canada, Argentina, France and Spain. Here's Dale adjusting the computer feed:
We were honored to be a part of this special wedding day, mazel tov to Bloomie and Bentzion!

The pefect stage...

We are so excited and honored to be published in The Knot Ultimate Wedding Lookbook. Here's a peak at our page, taken at one of the most beautiful and extravagant outdoor weddings we've ever shot!


The book is now available online at The Knot Wedding Shop, http://www.TheKnot.com/shop, at Amazon.com and also at Barnes & Noble and Borders. We thought this would be a great time to showcase some of the gorgeous canopies and alters we have photographed recently. Having a unique canopy to recite your vows under makes for a beautiful ceremony and sets the stage for a spectacular evening.


Hopefully this inspires our brides to create their own perfect stage! Happy Friday :)

Winter Wonderland for Christa and Aaron!

The Toledo Club was the perfect setting for Christa Arkebauer and Aaron Pumerantz's winter wedding. Christa and Aaron were married on December 11 at Rosary Cathedral with a reception to follow at The Toledo Club. The Club was decorated with all things "Christmas," complete with lit trees and garlands in every room. Entertainment was provided by KGB, and each guest couple received a hand-blown glass wine stopper crafted by Steve Cothern, assistant manager of the Toledo Museum of Art Glass Pavilion, as a special remembrance of the occasion.

Aaron is a Captain in the U.S. Army and is completing his residence in internal medicine at Walter Reed Medical Center in Washington, DC. Christa has a Master of Biomedical Science Degree from the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine (which is where they met) and is pursuing advanced degrees in occupational therapy. The couple currently reside in Silver Springs, Maryland.


We wish you a happy lifetime together and we enjoyed spending this cold December day with you!

Ringing in the New Year!

New Year's Eve is always a blast, so imagine celebrating your wedding AND bringing in the new year on the SAME DAY!! We had two spectacular weddings this year on New Year's Eve, and what a blast we had!

Olivia Kemmer and Ryan Hunt were married at the Christ the King, followed by a beautiful reception at the Hilton Toledo. The decor and flowers were done by Keith Brooks Florist, and Bee for the Day Wedding Consulting helped to make sure all the wedding planning went smoothly. Olivia's mother is the one and only Alice Kemmer, of I Do Chair Covers, so she had a lot of experienced professionals to work with! With a little time to spare between the ceremony and reception, the bridal party stopped at the Toledo Museum of Art and the always gorgeous Lights before Christmas at The Toledo Zoo.






Katy Boyle and Dustin Williams tied the knot at St. Joseph's Sylvania with a stunning reception at the Sylvania Country Club. Katy and Dustin are both resident doctors at the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, AZ so thankfully our typically frigid Ohio weather wasn't as bad as it normally is! Katy's family lives in Sylvania, so the wedding party stayed toasty indoors and had many of their formal photos taken at her family home. Dustin's aunts are florists from California and flew in some spectacular flowers, and the always wonderful Bartz Viviano Flowers allowed them to borrow their workspace to make their arrangements. So a special thanks to Bartz Viviano for helping Katy and Dustin's wedding day beautiful!









Congratulations to our New Year's Eve couples, it was a great way to bring in the new year!

Tina and Ron's sunset wedding

Stevie and Bob traveled to beautiful Lido Key (Sarasota, FL) for Tina Billmaier and Ron Shapiro's wedding day. Although a bit colder than expected, the sunset was beautiful. The beach was snow white and the couple exchanged vows amongst close friends and family. A lovely reception followed at the Lido Beach Resort. The evening ended with the groom and friends playing music and singing along.