Bludgen Duty at the Rialto Square Theatre

Video Document: marriage of Todd Duty and Jennifer Bludgen on September
23, 2006.

The ceremony took place at the Shepherd of the Hill church in Lockport,
25 miles west of Chicago. The personnel were shockingly gracious,
giving us carte blanche regarding camera positioning. I was able to
coordinate with the church’s audio technician to a get direct feed form
the church’s mixing board and acquire clean sound via wireless.
The day had started out dreary and gray but by the time guests started
arriving the sun was shining and puffy white clouds dotted the sky.
Todd and Jennifer arrived in a vintage Rolls Royce limo. I grabbed
shots of Jennifer and her father preparing for the ceremony while Billy
Rood recorded guests gathering in the lobby. It seemed as though
everyone in the bridal party had a small child in tow and toddlers were
meandering hither and yon. After the ceremony I worked with
Photographer David Wittig to get exterior shots of Jennifer and Todd
posing amongst the foliage of the Western suburbs.
We relocated to to the town of Joliet for the reception which was held
at the Rialto Square Theatre, a vintage 1920s movie theatre. Guests
went to the ticket booth to receive their seating cards. Each table
was named after a notable musical (ie, South Pacific, Pippin).
The ornate theatre provided a wonderful photographic background for
the various formal dances. The bridal party dance quickly mutated into
a bizarre melee as each of the bridal parties offspring joined the
adult couples. The highlight of the event was getting some shots
with Todd and Jennifer after the sun set. We went out in front of the
theatre and grabbed some very dramatic images in front of the giant
illuminated marquee. Todd and Jennifer were very playful and David
and I were able to round out the evening documenting ebullient faces
and idiosyncratic poses .


Carl Wiedemann: Lead Videographer

Equipment: Sony PD170 camera, Samson wireless mics, Canon XL-1

Video assistant: Billy Rood, Fig junior videographer, editor

DJ: Jim, Music Mania

Photography: David Wittig