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Thanks to the Warmowskis from The Source

Kissing at midnight
Sherie Kording and Elias "Bubba" Trace ring in the New Year surrounded by friends at Hamilton's 110 North East. Photo by Steve/Warmowski Photography

This was published in the April 1-7, 2010 edition of The Source.

By Marcy Patterson

As many of you know, Tiffany Warmowski has been assisting us at the Source with our newspaper layout.
She stepped in as our guest editor during a difficult time, and we could not be more thankful for all she has done in this transitional period. Since meeting Tiffany and her husband Steve, I am wondering how I enjoyed my life prior to meeting them. They are wonderful people and treasures of our community. A familiar name in the area, the Warmowskis are involved in nearly all things good in Jacksonville. Photography, Spinning, fundraising, Rotary, Kiwanis – all around good citizenship. There will be a feature story covering Steve and Tiffany during May in the Source.
Until then, keep your eyes open for the Illinois Times 2010 Edition, Capital City Wedding Brochure. (I picked mine up at Lincoln Land Community College). The brochure, published annually, is filled with ideas and advertisements for the perfect Capital City wedding.
The featured photographs in the publication are provided by Steve and Tiffany Warmowski of Jacksonville, and many of the photos contain Jacksonville people and places.
Coming soon, stop in the Strawn Art Gallery, 221 West College Avenue, between April 3-25 where the Warmowskis will have their work, Wedding Photojournalism on display.
Please be sure to join them for an Opening Reception on April 3 from 6-8 pm, with a Gallery Talk at 6:30 that evening.
In addition, the couple will give a photojournalism lecture on Sunday April 11th at 3pm. For more information, or to sign up to attend the lecture, contact the gallery director at Strawnartgallery @verizon.net or call 217.243.9390.
Gallery hours are Sunday from 1-3 pm and Tuesday through Saturday 4-6 pm.
Other work to be showcased at the gallery in April includes Valerie Berta’s “Trailer with a View, Family Life with the Circus” Photography.
Please take the opportunity to see the hard work and dedication of these photographers and to enjoy a visit to Jacksonville’s Strawn Art Gallery.

Tiffany was a photojournalist and page designer at the Jacksonville Journal-Courier. She is enjoying her time helping Marcy and The Source.

This photo and others are on display at the Strawn Art Gallery in April.

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Wedding photojournalism show at the Strawn

Bride walks with bridesmaids in Washington Park, Springfield, Illinois
Jessica Sloan is accompanied by bridesmaids before her wedding to Tim Ervin at Washington Park in Springfield, Illinois. (Photo by Tiffany/WarmowskiPhotography.com)

The Art Association of Jacksonville has chosen Warmowski Photography to be the featured artists this month. Wow! A great honor and we’re very appreciative!

A selection of images will be on display through the month of April. It was hard to choose from all our weddings and all our favorite photos. We decided to focus on moments, and chose about 30 images (including the one above).

The exhibit kicks off with an opening reception 6-8 pm Saturday 3 April, with a Gallery Talk at 6:30 pm. The show runs through April 25th. Gallery hours are 4-6 pm Tuesday–Saturday and 1-3 pm Sunday.

Also featured in the show are images by Valérie Berta Torales. Valérie, who worked with us at the Jacksonville Journal-Courier, went out to photograph a circus in Beardstown. One thing led to another and she married the Peruvian acrobat she met that day. She and their two boys now follow him on the road, and their travels are chronicled in her blog The Mud Show Diaries. Valérie shares our love of photojournalism, and we wanted to include her in the show. She’s at work on a book project themed “it takes a circus to raise a child.” We were hoping she would come, but the circus is in Arkansas right now and it’s too much to break away.

Stories have appeared in the Jacksonville Journal-Courier, The Source (more to come on The Source story . . .) and is listed in the Illinois Times calendar.

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Now on Facebook

Sorry! We created our blog last year, and we haven’t been very good at posting! This winter we’ve been busy with friends, family and volunteering — we promise to get back on our horse and start blogging again!

Along those lines, Tiffany has created a Warmowski Photography page on Facebook, which we hope to use as another way to keep up with our brides (past, present and future).

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Vow variation

Allison and Eric wrote and spoke their own vows which included addressing the other one’s parents. During the vows part of the ceremony, Allison spoke her vows to Eric, then they both turned and Allison thanked Eric’s parents for welcoming her into their family and for raising such a good son. Eric spoke his vows to Allison and then turned and addressed Allison’s parents as well.

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Allison addresses Eric's parents during their wedding ceremony on Sunday, May 24, 2009, in the garden of Allison's family home in Jacksonville, Illinois. WarmowskiPhotography.com

I know the parents were surprised and honored at being acknowledged by their children’s new spouse and I don’t think there was a dry parental eye in the garden.

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The mother of the groom wipes away a tear as Allison addresses Eric's parents during their wedding ceremony on Sunday, May 24, 2009, in the garden of Allison's family home in Jacksonville, Illinois. WarmowskiPhotography.com
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Honoring married couples at your wedding

There are a few ways I’ve seen to honor other married couples during the course of your day.

One way is an anniversary dance during the reception. The DJ or band leader invites all married couples to the dance floor. During the course of the song, the couples are invited to sit down depending on how long they have been married. (“Couples who have been married 3 hours can sit down. Couples who have been married 5 years or less can sit down. Couples who have been married 10 years or less can sit down …”) until the couple married the longest is the only one left dancing. This couple is then asked how they  know the bride/groom and how long they have been married. They  might also be asked for marriage advice – which typically ends up with the husband advising the groom to learn quickly how to say, “Yes, Dear.”

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Allison holds her bridal bouquet while the couple married the longest finishes their dance at the reception celebrating her marriage to Eric Sunday, May 24, 2009, at Hamilton's 110 N. East in Jacksonville, Illinois.

As the bride, presenting the older woman with your bridal or toss bouquet is a good alternative to throwing it to eligible bachelorettes, especially if there are not many unmarried women on your guest list.

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Jackie & James visit with guests Sunday, June 7, 2009, at Starved Rock State Park in Utica, Illinois. WarmowskiPhotography.com

Another idea we saw for the first time at Jackie and James’ wedding was honoring couples at each table during the reception. Each table had a photo of one of the couples at that table with a write-up about them and why they were being honored. It was a great way to break the ice if those at the table don’t all know each other as well as a wonderful way to make others feel special during YOUR special day.

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A card honoring a couple was placed on each table at the wedding reception of Jackie & James Sunday, June 7, 2009, at Starved Rock State Park in Utica, Illinois. WarmowskiPhotography.com
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Happy anniversary, to me

Hooray for Steve!

This month marks my first full year of “retirement” from the Jacksonville Journal-Courier. Before leaving the daily grind of the daily paper, I worked 11 years in Jacksonville, two years at the Herald & Review (Decatur, Illinois), two years at the Freeport Journal-Standard, and 4 months at the LaSalle-Peru News-Tribune (the home of half-time overtime, ask me about it sometime). While at the University of Illinois-Urbana, I was a photographer and photo editor for the Daily Illini. I took a summer and fall off to intern at newspapers in Saginaw and Muskegon, Michigan.

People have asked me if I miss working at the newspaper. Honestly, not in the least. I see my years in newspapers as a past chapter of my life. And, I’m using all the experience and skill from that time to do something I absolutely enjoy — telling wedding stories for our brides and grooms.

(Tiffany left the newspaper earlier to start our wedding photography business. She did all the “work” while I just joined her for the fun of photographing on Saturdays. We now are happy working as a team for our wedding clients. When you add our years together we have more than 30 years of experience as photojournalists.)

A little something about the photo atop our blog. Tiffany & I had a wonderful honeymoon in Sweden. We were married 15 September (the week of 9/11), and took a three-week trip to Sweden the next summer. I was lucky enough to have visited Sweden for five-and-a-half weeks the previous year as part of a Rotary Club Group Study Exchange (if you’re a young professional and can take an extended leave from your job, I highly suggest applying for the program).

New friends invited us to come visit, so we did! We stayed a week in Malmö with our friend Martin Israelsson; another week with our friends Bengt Josefsson and Ann Wilhelmsson at their home in Mariestad and their stuga (summer home) in Sisjön; and a final week in Stockholm. Bengt was the trigger man for our blog photo. We were visiting the small village of Hjo on the shores of Lake Vättern, when I saw the cool setting. I set the camera up, told Bengt not to put us in the middle, and we posed for the shot. Not bad for an accountant! And, a great remembrance of a place whose slogan is I love Hjo (pronounced “you”).

By the way, we suggest taking a pre-honeymoon followed by a full-fledged honeymoon. We went to Southern Illinois and stayed in cabins at the San Damiano Retreat Center a couple days after our wedding, then were able to take our longer honeymoon trip to Sweden. That way we could use vacation time from work to help prepare for the wedding and to settle things afterwards before our pre-honeymoon. Then our honeymoon could be longer and at a time when there was less to worry about and we had more energy.

Steve & Tiffany on their Honeymoon in Sweden. (Photo by Bengt Josefsson)
Steve & Tiffany on their Honeymoon in Sweden. (Photo by Bengt Josefsson)
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A summer of wonderful weddings

Thanks for taking a look at the new blog of WarmowskiPhotography.com. 

I want to use this space as a resource of ideas for brides planning their weddings as well as to let former and current couples know what we’re up to! Enjoy!