Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Key Largo



Since Saturday, I've been down in Boca Raton, Florida, visiting my Mom. The purpose of my trip was to see my grandparents, which I will blog about soon. However, while I was down here, I spent some time on Sunday with my cousin Jared and his wife Colleen. They were married a year ago at the Marriott Key Largo Bay Resort.
Sunday was their one year anniversary, so what better way to celebrate then to go back to the Keys and do a Trash the Dress shoot at the Marriott where it all began.
Ellen and Rich shot the actual wedding. I was so jealous. I couldn't go having my own wedding to shoot in the Finger Lakes. They did a great job. So good in fact that we were added to the Key Largo Marriott's preferred vendor list.
I was very excited for this shoot, not only to see the tropical venue first hand, but to add to the portfolio of images they could show to potential wedding couples.
Colleen and Jared were awesome, putting up with my crazy ideas, even swimming with some interesting sea creatures, like star fish and jelly fish.
We should probably call this a Drown the Gown session instead of a Trash the Dress. Yes, the dress did get wet and sandy, but it is no worse for the wear. In fact, Colleen is having it cleaned and is donating it to charity for some one less fortunate to have a beautiful gown.
Happy Anniversary Colleen and Jared. Same time and place next year? :)






















Nor' Easter



I wrapped up my stay in Massachusetts with a wedding in Spencer, MA during a Nor' Easter. Despite the adverse conditions, we got some nice fall photos. Julie and Jon took it all in stride and had a ton of fun. The wedding and reception were at Zukas Hilltop Barn, located in the hills of Central Massachusetts. The setting was spectacular, I just wish we had more of an opportunity to be outside. The bride was holding a huge umbrella for a few quick photos outside and at one point it took all the bridesmaids to hold on to it so the bride wouldn't get air born from the wind. I was picturing a scene from The Wizard of Oz only with the bride spinning inside the tornado with the Wicked Witch zooming by.












Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Not Your Mother's Wedding Album



For years we have shifted away from the standard wedding album, offering couples Coffee Table albums with a magazine style layout. We have now taken things a step further designing a new package, called the iPackage, which replaces your album with an iPad. The iPad comes packaged in a unique custom made box with your choice of several accompaniments. You can choose from 10 matted prints, a disc of images or a 5x5 hard cover book to go with your iPad. Preloaded on to the iPad will be your album layout as if it we created it for print, along with a multimedia slideshow set to music.
We recently purchased on iPad to show as a sample with this package and have fallen in love with it. We can watch Netflix movies on demand, use it to read iBooks, play awesome games and more. I have to convince my wife to let me pry it from her hands whenever I have a wedding consult. Along with my iPhone, it's quite possibly the best "toy" ever.








Witch Hunt



I'm not sure if I've ever actually come face to face with a real witch, however last Saturday's wedding in Salem, Massachusetts was surrounded by a very interesting crowd. The village of Salem turns in to a festival of witch's and warlocks for the month of October, creating among other things, massive gridlock. The wedding of Ryan and Erin had to be delayed for a while since so many guests were stuck in traffic.
The environment felt like a movie set with the streets and alleys overflowing with crowds of people dressed in all sorts of creepy attire. Despite the entertainment factor of what was going on, the village itself was dripping with history. Many of the buildings and the entire layout of the town date back to pre-Revolutionary War times. We even did a few photos at the harbour which is home to the three-masted Friendship, a 171 foot replica of the original ship from 1797 at the Salem Maritime National Historic Site. It wasn't until after we were done photographing that not only did we not know we where on a National Historic Site, but we needed a permit to be there. The nice man in his green park ranger outfit equipped with a large side-arm made us aware of that. I'm still waiting for my ticket in the mail. Live and learn I suppose.
Erin and Ryan were awesome though, taking all the "trials" of the day in stride. Their ceremony was at the Salem Old Town Hall. Old Town Hall is the earliest surviving municipal structure in Salem, Massachusetts (dating from 1816-17) and an outstanding Federal Style building. The ceremony was held on the second floor of the building in the Great Hall, which has always been used as a public hall, and contained Town offices until 1837.
The reception was held at the beautiful Salem Waterfront Hotel.