there was just no way for me to narrow down shoots to “just one favorite” from them… so sit back and enjoy this. and this is set to complete random mode for your further enjoyment and to keep your eyes on their toes. or your toes on their eyes. or something…

i went into 2011 completely unsure of what was to come. i come out of it completely surprised. i go into 2012 with a couple of new tricks up my sleeve, a couple of definite goals and open arms for even more of what 2011 brought.

here’s to a fantastic year for all of you, whatever it may bring… may it be good! happy new year, and thanks for everything y’all have done for me.

anyway, i loosely stayed in touch here and there with michelle over the years and as fate would have it, there i was, flying out to chicago to be highly honored to shoot the couple’s wedding. furthering the awesome power of the interwebz, was the fact that my second photographer was another fantastic soul that i befriended years ago through flickr, katelyn vonfeldt.

some of the other pertinent vendors on hand, who all contributed amazingly to this beautiful day:

flowers: deerfield florist
cake and all desserts: the bent fork
catering: catering by michaels
ceremony special musical guest: dan nichols
band: upbeat music productions
videographers: aaron margolin and ben sherry of batix productions
party planner: marcy fortnow
congregation: congregation beth am
make-up artist: susin greenberg
hair: lisa whitefield of raymond’s hair design in glenview – lisawhitefield61@gmail.com 847-910-8380
and of course the chupah and ring bearer pillow both created by auntie robin

the details played a big part in the day, the majority of them handmade by michelle, her bridesmaids, her mother and her aunt. even these miniature cake candies that the guests left with:

the ringbearer’s pillow was created by her aunt, all of the little pieces pulled from different family members and fabrics from grandmothers’ wedding gowns and such. a fantastic idea:

as you can see, buttons were a big part of the wedding. the men even wore “button-eir’s” on their lapels. here is a view of how they complimented the bouquets:

mother of the bride getting her hair done while her daughter gets make-up:

seth had a fun group of groomsmen.

before we get the bride in her dress, let’s take a look at it, shall we?

katelyn and i then got to take michelle around her aunt’s (add just about any adjective here that is similar to amazing, awesome, beautiful, gorgeous, jaw-dropping) house for a bit for some photos. i have said a few times that i want to start adding a section to my contract that gently demands (how do you gently demand something? should i ask alanis morissette about that too?) for at least 30 minutes to shoot with the bride.

the couple opted for having a “first look” before their ceremony. in this case, it was extremely helpful for them to have some better photographs of their families with them and their wedding party. of course, it also made for some excellent time with the two of them for photos before the day kicked into full swing as well.

could michelle’s aunt have been any more hospitable? she built her house with just the right number of arches for the wedding party! how sweet is that?!  :)

i loved the design of their temple. the star of david in the ceiling was a great little addition.

during the vows, one of a few fantastic little personalized “michelle moments”, when she sang “i do… i do… i do do do do… ” super cute.

mazel tov!!

it was back to michelle’s aunt & uncle’s house for the reception. this sign was made for the day and we tried to get all of the guests standing on the staircase holding it, as kind of a digital guestbook:

before their grand entrance, i was able to take a few more photos with the couple in front of this spectacular wall.

a group of ‘faux-to booth’ shots was a must.

another surprise michelle had up her sleeve for seth (and everyone else). before their first dance, she serenaded him…beautifully.

the band, upbeat music was so so good. that isn’t just lip service. they rocked everything from bon jovi to lady gaga and did it well!

i love when the wedding guests let loose…

a few words from the newlyweds before they cut the cake…

and back to dancing…

one of the things i love most about how many jewish weddings i have been able to work with, who doesn’t love the hora dance??

a great moment with mother and daughter on the dancefloor…

how can flowergirls not love to be in weddings? they get to stay up so late and dance the night away.

michelle and seth: thanks again for trusting me with your big, big day! it was such a beautiful day filled with fun and love from all sides. i had a great time with all of you and felt incredibly welcomed by all of your family and friends. i wish you both the most life has to offer you in your lifetime with one another.

we had other plans originally for this session, but we ended up back at what is starting to become my “home studio”, the salton sea. we were mainly targeting a place called salvation mountain, actually. so that is where this all begins.

as we started to head off from the mountain to explore some other places along the salton sea, all of the beams of sunlight through the stormclouds were phenomenal.

i’ll take abandoned warehouses for the win, alex.

sometimes, the jump can be even more about the moment just before or after:

another good and successful trip out to one of my favorite places in the state. stay tuned if you like these from that area… looks like i may be going back again in december or january  :)

thanks again for scheduling this extra session with me, you two. i hope you love what we got from the journey out there!

wedding / reception venue: the hills hotel
second photographer: kelly with true bliss photography

special thanks to kelly mendoza, my second photographer. photos with the guys were taken by her, as well as some of the other photos that you do not see my watermark on  :)

the girls were getting ready at the st. regis hotel in monarch beach. gorgeous.

how popular are these personalized hangers right now? a cool little touch. well done, last name personalized wedding hanger inventor guy (yes… i should create those bud light real men of genius commercials).

how about some champagne bottle opening teamwork?

meanwhile… in san clemente at one of the groomsmen’s house, kelly got some cool shots of mike and his guys:

and then we all met up at the hills hotel.

wrapping a wedding gift is so last year  ;)

and now for some brilliant dancing…

at some point i told these guys at the start of the reception, that it wasn’t a party until they were doing egg spins on the dance floor. they didn’t disappoint!

here they are mad-dogging kelly…

and they rode off into the moonlight… as their new life together began…

an abundance of fun was had by all that night. we wish you both a lifetime of happiness with each other!

i had not photographed a wedding at strawberry farms before, but i was in one of my brothers’ weddings there years ago. i was thrilled to be able to finally photograph there, since it is just such a beautiful venue (for the ceremony and the reception, alike). here are the stats for other vendors involved before we head to the photos:

videography: still moments studio
dj: elevated pulse

also huge thanks to my second shooter, kelly mendoza of true bliss photography!!!

the morning started with val and her girls at the beautiful pacific edge hotel in laguna beach.

yes, i know you can see me in this next one. i’d rather have not made it that way, but without my reflection, there was no way to see val. so… sometimes you make sacrifices.

there was more than one time that i said: “are you a model, or what?!” to val. this was one of those times.

when the women coordinate, it is almost expected, but fun to see what they come up with. now, when the guys coordinate, i want to just high five all of them for their thought and effort.

hello wind. meet val’s wedding dress. you two have fun together.

i love this father/daughter moment from the night:

one of my favorite bride photos ever. (as a note: val does not have some sort of blue tongue disease. this was from the blue icing ribbon on the wedding cake.)

the “v” and the “t” on the doors of the barn were such a fantastic little touch. we grabbed this photo very quickly before they left for the night.

i know you both will continue to have a wonderful and loving life together. but, just because, i wish you all the best, and all the love your hearts can handle.

you may remember these two little lovebirds from their memorable engagement photos we created together.

i’ve known jaimee for around 10 years. it’s a long story, but her dad lives next door to two of mine and my wife’s best friends. this wedding had been a long time coming, and it was well worth the wait. the wedding and reception were held at the gorgeous and newly renovated franciscan gardens in san juan capistrano, very close to the mission. to the stats, and the photos:

location: franciscan gardens in san juan capistrano
florist: natural charms
dj: brian from elevated pulse productions
photo booth: photo booths for parties

i loved this shirt that jaimee had made to wear pre-ceremony. super fun.

my second “blue shoes” wedding this season. blue might be the new black being the new pink. did i miss orange in there somewhere?

after everyone was ready, it was a short walk to the san juan mission for a “first look” for the bride and groom, as well as some bridal party photos.

a while back, in one of our conversations, jaimee and i joked that her and her bridesmaids should re-create the poster for the film ‘bridesmaids’ for a photo.

proof that even when the couple does a “first look” before the ceremony, there is no loss of the emotion when he first sees his soon to be bride coming down the aisle…

sometimes, when you’re not wearing socks, you have to rock something else off…

presenting, josh… he is not for hire yet for dancing at parties… but he sure should be!

josh calls out the father of the groom to break it down next.

fountain + bridesmaids (-fear) squared to the third power… oh never mind… i am not great at math…

a blog post just in time for their arrival back to their new lives after their honeymoon. thanks again, you two, for hiring me and allowing me to not only document your amazing day, but to share in how much love there is from so many people for you!

more to come at a later date…

let me say a little about the couple here, since i took the last post to introduce you to the island. i have known gina since we attended the same church, back in the early 90′s. i didn’t see or hear about her for maybe more than a decade before running into her at a concert in san diego some time back. we re-connected and, for the most part, have kept in steady contact since then. she is one of the most passionate and fun people you will ever meet. when i heard she was engaged to adam, i was ecstatic… but i didn’t take it as a given that she might be interested in hiring me to photograph everything for her. so when she contacted me to tell me that she did want to, i was both overjoyed and honored. when she later told me that after seeing some photos of a beach wedding i had taken and that convinced her she might be interested in an outdoor wedding on the beach somewhere i started to get excited. things took off from there…

now we can get to the photos.   :)

did i make it clear enough before how awesome her dress is? let me just remind you…

i love it when the guys do something fun or creative for the wedding as well. high five, adam!

literally, just a couple of ceremony photos….

before they were even announced as husband and wife, the officiant sat them down to put their names in the wedding book and sign all of the legal documents.

we took just a handful of photos of the couple before heading to the reception site.

we took the little ride on our golf carts from the wedding site to the reception site. it’s always fun (if you get out and about with the bride and groom when they are all gussied up) to see the general public’s reactions to them: the honking of horns, the “Congratulations!” yells, etc. driving behind them through the town and seeing the residents’ response to them would make even the grinch or mister scrooge put on a huge grin!

and on to the first dance…

when i talked about people dancing with overflowing energy in part one of their blog post, i wasn’t exaggerating. gina and her bridesmaids get gold stars or smiley face stickers or whatever you’d give someone for busting out some of the best reception dancing ever witnessed. behold a small sampling of their greatness:

you can ask some of my friends on this one… a wedding reception goes up a notch or five once people from the wedding party go in the pool. a wedding in the bahamas? how could you not expect that from this one?

i cannot put into words what a tremendous experience this all was. all of the adjectives i use will sound contrived and are likely words we hear all too much. but, truly… it was such a pleasure and an honor to photograph this wedding for a great friend. a great opportunity to meet the love of her life. an unexpected joy to meet so many members of gina’s family after so many years of knowing her. it goes without saying that i wish you both the best in your life together, a life full of love and adventures. thank you again for the honor of allowing me to join you on the island for your wedding; a memory i will never forget.

the sign on the left is no joke. the people there were so friendly the entire time. and the shot on the right is what you see when you first get in to dock in the town.

this little restaurant is one of the places i would tell everyone to go who may end up at H.I. the chef is known as either “chef” or “chef the cool”. he was such a great guy and made quite delicious food. if you know me, you know i don’t eat fruit or seafood at all. well, being on an island, obviously they have a lot of seafood. one of their biggest delicacies there is conch (yeah, like the animal in the shell). i was not brave enough to have that, but i had some grouper here and it was so yummy.

i loved all the bright color all over the island:

so, now you all know the island well enough. harbour island, this is everyone…. everyone, that was harbour island. let’s get to the wedding day, shall we? we shall.

gina DIY’ed a majority of the little items for the tables and the reception location. she did an amazing job and had some terrific help from her bridesmaids. she flew out with so many supplies for a candy table. this may explain why some people were dancing so vigorously throughout the night  :)

i have lost count on how many weddings i have been to that have had rain in the area the week or even the day leading up to it. but as of now (knock on wood) they have all ended up being lovely days for the actual wedding. this wedding was no exception.

look at that menu!!! yummmmm

gina’s dress ranks right up there with one of the best i have seen. i know people probably get married on this island semi-regularly, but there was a buzz on the island about gina’s dress. especially after we went out and “trashed” it (don’t worry… ‘trash’ is just a term there. the dress is fine…) for everyone to see it in all it’s glory.

even adam had an extra splash of color with his shoes. i took a brief golf cart ride to where he was getting ready and shot a couple of images with him before returning to his bride-to-be.

gina found this great bracelet for the wedding with the initials of both of their names on it.

and so ends part one… i love the old radio shows, where there was always a cliffhanger. this is kind of like that, right? part two will come soon, though. don’t worry… i won’t make you wait until next week, with the whole “same time, same channel” idea   :)

i will give more detail on their little sneak peek from their wedding… but this all took place on harbour island in the bahamas. after an hour or so of scouting for places to do this session, we didn’t even have time to get to half of them. the small island was a goldmine of cool locations. but, here are my personal faves from the time we spent:

so this tree, where we started, is clearly something that will be an “urban legend” on the island. i think i heard three different versions of stories as to how it arrived there, on the beach. this stretch of beach it is on is perfect for it, too. the water will be up around the tree during the more high tide, and it will be all sand like this during low tide. (in future blog posts, you will see the other versions of this)

we took leave from the tree (get it? took leave… oh man… do i need coffee…) and headed out for some of the local color…

as we left the little scene we were creating on that corner (it is fun when a bunch of people stop to watch you shooting… but i know it can be intimidating or embarrassing for the model/bride, too), we drove past a little ice cream shop and turned back as gina said how long it had been since she had ice cream. when i say “little ice cream shop”, i mean it was someone making it out of part of their house. we had three flavors to choose from, and strawberry seemed the way to go.

i love these next shots. there was a family (and others just on the street) across the way peeking their heads out through their front door watching us. made for some great expressions on gina’s face:

as the sun was about to set, we headed back to the shoreline. unfortunately, there was a cloud cover above the horizon that kind of killed what had been beautiful sunsets that week. but we got some great light and color still:

again, there will be a lot more to come from my week in the bahamas for gina’s wedding with adam. so stay tuned….