Tarrytown Wedding ~ Emily & Mitch

I had the honor and pleasure of photographing Mitch and Emily's wedding April 17, 2011 in Tarrytown, New York. The ceremony and reception were both at the magnificent Tappan Hill Mansion. The on site event manager, Kathy Policastro was amazing. She handled every detail with grace and professionalism.

For those of you who don't know, I totally "geek-out" over weddings. I get so excited to see the dress, the shoes, the flowers, the hair and make-up. Look at Emily, so radiant!

The gorgeous bouquet.

Emily has two sisters, Sara and Rachel. They were so fun and playful. This photo was a quick shot I took emphasizing Emily's cool hoodie that reads, "Mrs. Weiser." What I love about this photo, is that I asked them to come together and put their arms around Emily's waist. They so easily snuggled in and surrounded their sister, and dropped their heads. Maybe it wasn't intentional, but it looked to me like they were in prayer or at least a moment of contemplation. It also indicates the obvious closeness between them.

So here is Emily immediately after she put her dress on. I LOVE this moment at every single wedding! It still gets me, to be able to be there and witness when the bride puts on her dress. This is a big time "geek-out" moment for me. I try to contain my excitement and play it cool. Sigh...... just look at her, she is so gorgeous. And look at her mother, Terri, so proud of her daughter. By-the-way, now I know where all the girls get their amazingly beautiful brown eyes. So next up is the moment when Emily and Mitch see each other for the first time. Tappan Hill Mansion has this stunning staircase which was perfect for the moment.

Emily's father seeing her for the first time in her beautiful gown.

We went outside for some couples shots. It was a little windy but what a beautiful day! Did I mention that Emily and Mitch met in med school? They are both finishing soon and will be doctors. Yes, doctors. Mitch-surgeon, Emily-anesthesiologist. Very, very impressive.

What I love about shooting weddings is that I have the opportunity to get to know the family. I had Paul and Terri, the mother and father of the bride, right in front of my camera here. Instead of smiling at me, Paul planted this deep kiss on Terri. To me, that says something about the passion and love between them. Absolutely, wonderful.

 Signing the ketubah.

The ceremony was lovely.

There was such joy and laughter during the reception. Both families clearly love and support Emily and Mitch with all their hearts. They definitely know how to have a good time. 

I absolutely love this image of Mr. Weiser being raised during the hora.

This is one of my favorite photographs from the evening. At the end of the reception Emily & Mitch embraced, totally naturally, spontaneously. Thank you both for sharing your beautiful wedding day with me.

I would like to mention Mikkel Paige, she was my second photographer. She took some amazing photographs. Please check out her blog Mikkel Paige.

Sneek Peek ~ Mitch & Emily's rehearsal.

Emily and Mitch had their rehearsal dinner in New York City tonight. I took this photograph

of them in Grand Central Station. The wedding tomorrow is going to be amazing!

Second Shooting

I once again had the honor to second shoot with Vlad Chaloupka. He is an amazing local photographer in Santa Fe, New Mexico. What I love about second shooting is that I get the opportunity to work with another photographer. I also get the chance to shoot the event from a different perspective. I can kind of be invisible while the principle photographer is in charge of everything. In a sense, I can relax and capture things in a photo journalistic way. Here are some of my images from the wedding that Vlad so generously allowed me to post.

I love this image because I happened to capture the father looking at his beautiful daughter as he was walking her down the isle.

The ceremony and reception were held at the amazing La Posada resort and spa in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

[SIN]pathy band shoot

I had such a great time doing a photo shoot with Jessica's band on Sunday. I photographed Jessica's wedding last September and heard her amazing voice that weekend when she sang to her new husband Brad. I'm so excited that she is in a band again. It truly is her calling. So when she asked if I'd shoot some band photographs I was excited. I practiced some new techniques that I learned at the annual convention I attend every year for WPPI ~ wedding and portrait photographers international in Las Vegas.

I went into the room where the band practices, turned off all the lights and shut the curtains (learned this from Gerry Ghionis, attended his two day plus class) . Beginning with a completely dark space, I brought back light by opening the curtains slightly. These portraits were shot in front of the window.

Geraldo Garcia drums and Jessica Preston vocals.

Sean Pilgrim guitar.

Jose Hozer Granados bass and Roberto J Lujan guitar.

Then we went across the street to shoot some group shots near the Santa Fe River.

Roberto had access to this awesome building with great light.



Doriane & Scott Engagement

I had so much fun meeting and getting to know Doriane and Scott. We met in Amarillo, Texas for the engagement session. Why Amarillo? Because it is half way between Oklahoma, where Doriane and Scott live on a horse ranch and Santa Fe (where Doriane's famliy is from). Doriane's mom Tina and her friend Kathie helped orchestrate the weekend. Not only did they plan to have me shoot the engagement session, Doriane and the girls went dress shopping the following day. I mentioned that Doriane and Scott live on a horse ranch. Well, I was told that they are all "horse" people. Initially, I didn't know what that meant. After getting to know them, I learned that they are serious horse people. Scott trains and competes with cutting horses. Doriane grew up with horses. Her parents live on a ranch near Santa Fe and have their own horses and board others. They are getting married at this beautiful equestrian part of Buffalo Thunder that traces back to her father's family. I am just so excited to have the opportunity to photograph a wedding in a new location with HORSES as an element of the day.  I simply can't wait for the wedding on June 4th. It's going to be amazing.

I asked Doriane and Scott if they had any pets. They told me that their two dogs were in the car. Of course I had to see them and get a few shots.

Santa Fe Wedding Fair

I had a booth in a wedding fair yesterday at the Santa Fe Convention Center. It was so much fun meeting brides, grooms and their families. I took a few pictures of my booth, the wonderful people I met and some of the other amazingly cool vendors. Santa Fe is a great place to get married. We have a beautiful community here.

I brought these two matching vintage chairs from home. They actually belonged to my husband's grandmother, they date back to the 40's. I wanted to create a comfortable space for people to sit and view my sample albums.

My husband is so thoughtful. He bought me a HUGE plastic tub of licorice for my booth, you know the kind that you can get at Walgreens or Costco? As enderaring as it was, the big plastic tub was just not going to fly. I gave it some thought, and decided to dress the licorice up a bit by putting it in these jars.

Hi Kathie, Tina and Deborah! I can't wait to meet Doriane and Scott.

These beautiful cakes were by ABC Cake Shop & Bakery of Albuquerque.

These folks had the booth right next to mine. They were incredibly nice. It was clearly a family owned business. Check out their jewelry at Jewelry by Josana.

Models wandered the floor wearing dresses from various shops.

Amanda's Flowers ~ Santa Fe's Living Art

Hi Jessica! It was so good to see you and the entire clan again.

Yay, Maria!

The beautiful models for M & J Boutique.

M & J Bridal Boutique.

This is Kathy and Babak of Insight Foto. They are incredibly nice and they do amazing work. 

The gang at DJ John Edwards.

DJ John Edwards