Author: swarmowski

After years of building her reputation as a harpist in Northern Indiana, Devon Carpenter Haupt is coming back to Jacksonville, Illinois, with her business The Classic Harpist.

Devon and her husband, Jeff, are moving back to her hometown in the next couple months. The Classic Harpist will be available for weddings throughout Central Illinois, St. Louis, Chicago and beyond.

They have performed mostly in Illinois, Indiana and Michigan. They’ve been asked to play in Nashville, Tennessee and flown off to Florida and New York. They are available either individually or together.

“It doesn’t have to be formal,” Devon said. “I’ve played at a hog roast.” Events have ranged from 10 to 300 guests, and don’t have to be formal or fancy. Their presence helps create a unique experience for your guests.

They perform more than classics — jazz standards or contemporary music, whatever your unique tastes and vision are for your day. Also available for engagement party, shower, rehearsal dinner and wedding breakfast as well as other events.

See The Classic Harpist on Facebook or call 877.HARP-578 (877.427.7578).

Posted by Steve. New finds from the Jacksonville Bridal Show. Warmowski Photography, just like the Haupts a husband-and-wife team who give your wedding a special touch. Skilled and experienced photojournalists dedicated to telling the story of your wedding day.

Thanks to Jacksonville Main Street and all the sponsors and volunteers who made this year’s Jacksonville Main Street Bridal & Prom Expo a great success.

• Girls in White Satin Bridal and Formal Wear for putting on the style show
• Ashley’s Petals & Angels for flowers and centerpieces

• American Rental & Party Center for providing tuxedos
• A Head of Times Grand Salon & Day Spa for doing hair
• Hamilton’s for hosting the event and food samples
• World Travel for providing the grand prize vacation drawing
• Casey’s DJ Service and Artistic Portraits for providing music and sound (regrets to John Casey — he was sick and had to sit out the show! Dedication to still get everything up.)

Sorry if I missed anyone. I know many individuals came out to help Jacksonville Main Street to put on the show. The group, which promotes downtown Jacksonville, puts on the show to showcase all the wedding and event vendors located in downtown Jacksonville.

I was standing next to Becky from Girls in White Satin during the style show, and it was great to see the reaction the crowd had when some of the dresses were shown on stage. She was getting goose bumps! We’ve been working with Girls in White Satin on their updated web page and prom model search contest. Check out our section on the Girls in White Satin web page.

It was fun to run into Mary Kay consultant Kelly Jones. We photographed her wedding back in the old days of film, when Tiffany & I were still working at the Jacksonville Journal-Courier. The wedding was at the home of Janet Daniels, a fellow Mary Kay consultant. They remind brides to look their best to get quality make up. And, they show how to apply make up to make you look the best.

Also saw Hymes Videography for those wanting video of their day.

And, new to town (or back to town) are Devon and Jeff Haupt, harpists of The Classic Harpist who have performed around the country. 877.427.7578.

Posted by Steve. Warmowski Photography, husband-wife team of experience photojournalists available to tell the story of your wedding day in Jacksonville and throughout Central Illinois. Studio located at 611 E. State Street, Jacksonville, IL 62650 (hours by appointment only). Best choice for wedding photography, featuring coffee table books featuring photos from your wedding, crafted in Italy.

We are excited that we got to do the photos for the updated web site for Girls in White Satin Bridal & Formal Wear.

We put our model and fashion experience (assisting our friend and Florence, Italy-based fashion photographer Jerry Lee Ingram) to good use showing off their dresses. And, we put our interior experience (assisting Björn Wallander and Euro Trash) to show off the shop’s spaces, including the “ta-da” room where brides see their dresses.

We photographed the wedding of their first bride, Elisha (Langley) Lonergan – see their sample coffee table book in their shop any time.

Becky & Terryl were nice enough to include us on their new web site as the recommended wedding photographers.

While we’re at it, don’t forget to visit their booth (and ours) at the 2011 Jacksonville Main Street Bridal & Prom Expo Sunday January 30th at Hamilton’s 110 North East. Prom fashion show at 2 pm and bridal fashion show at 3 pm.

Check out Girls in White Satin at 300 East State Street, Jacksonville, IL 62650, 217.245.5400, right under Hamilton’s 110 North East.

Posted by Steve. Warmowski Photography, husband-wife team of photojournalists offering wedding photography.

Oh, and one more plug for Ken Ken Bradbury and his humble writing partner Roger Wainwright: A brand-new show heading your way, Springfield Theatre Centre presents the world premiere of a new musical, From Behind the Curtain February 11-13 & 18-20. Tickets 217.523.2787

Posted by Steve. Always willing to help out Ken Bradbury, especially because he’s such a fan of Warmowski Photography. Wedding photography offered everywhere Ken does plays, and beyond.

Spent last Sunday at the beautiful Virginia Community Building in Rushville, Illinois for the Fourth Annual Rushville Bridal & Prom Expo. The event is put on by Teresa Haines and the Rushville Times.

It’s nice to be able to spend so much time one-on-one with brides at such a small show. And, practically everyone in attendance took home a gift bag, gift certificate or other prize. The style show was put on by Bonnie’s Bridal & Prom of Macomb.

During the show, we chatted with some of the other vendors including:

• Always Something New Flowers & Gifts of Rushville, Marge is an interesting person with a great life story (a retired coal miner, among other pursuits) as well as pretty flowers.
• Tama’s Treats of Virginia, 217.458.2244. Her cakes were absolutely wonderful. She specializes in butter cream icing, and had an album full of cakes showing she can do everything fondant can. She’s the daughter-in-law of the owner of Kathy’s Kitchen of Virginia, using some of their preserves in her cakes. Her cake was so good I had to make multiple trips for samples, as Tiffany kept eating my icing.
• An option for transportation with a trolly from Havana and Scenic Havana, 309.338.0517. Transportation for up to 30.
• Let guests have fun with a photo booth from Rushville Fun Booth.

Posted by Steve. Warmowski Photography, photojournalists offering wedding photography in Central Illinois. Based in Jacksonville, Morgan County; also available in Rushville, Schuyler County; Mount Sterling, Brown County; Macomb, McDonough County Illinois; and beyond. See us on Facebook.

Besides working on pictures for last year’s couples and getting the word out about our wedding photography to find this year’s couples, we’ve been making pictures for colleges here in Jacksonville, Illinois.

Steve has been photographing campus life and sports for Illinois College. The college uses the images in brochures and on the web as they work to get the word out to prospective students and alumni.

For MacMuarry College, we both photographed basketball for prospective student brochures and Tiffany got a bird’s eye view of most of the student body for the latest alumni magazine.

(Note that Tiffany is a MacMurray College alumna who lived the dream – getting married at Annie Merner Chapel.)

Posted by Steve. Warmowski Photography, great images from your alma mater as well as from your wedding day. Photojournalists telling brides’ and grooms’ wedding stories all over Central Illinois.

At the monthly meeting of Jubilee Habitat for Humanity this week, Steve stepped down after serving two years as president of the board. He will serve this year as vice president.

He can’t make a lot of work days because he’s with me photographing weddings. But he helps with fundraising, planning and all the other not-so-fun stuff that needs to get done to keep the local chapter going.

Steve also is a member of the Kiwanis Club here in Jacksonville, and serves as the newsletter editor. (He’ll probably be doing something during Pancake & Sausage Day March 7th). He also serves on the Fox Trust and Missions committees at our church, Centenary United Methodist.

All his volunteer work is part of our efforts to be involved in civic life and to give back to the community.

Posted by Tiffany.