What a great day! It was about 16 degrees outside, but I don’t think anyone noticed. It would be difficult to find so many smiling faces gathered in one place.
Alisha Witmer married Bill Simon at Calvary Baptist Church in State College. The reception was at Toftrees Resort.
Henrico & Riette – 23 October 2009
Fate must have played a major part in bringing these two people together, the most unlikely ‘by-chance-meeting’ in none other than Temple Walkabout, London, November 2004.
This Ausie Sportsbar / nightclub was an all too regular hangout for Henrico, but not a place Riette would ever have seen the inside of without that free/sponsored VIP ticket
from a friend… Henrico may have been hooked by ‘love-at-first-sight’, but his suntanned charm, beachboy hairlocks and oh so blue-eyes did not get this Namibian boertjie the
desired response that night; and he had to endure many more battlescars before she eventually fell for his persistance…and yes…his blue eyes!!
This couple got married at Nooitgedacht just outside of Stellenbosch and me and Iza had A LOT of fun during their photo session. Awesome people whos going to have a an awesome marriage!
Venue: Nooitgedacht, Stellenbosch
Dressmaker: Marianne Jessica, Bromley, UK
Hair and make-up: Iza Loubser
Flowers: Susan, Kleinemarie Blomme, Stellenbosch
Wedding planner: The bride herself!
Videopgrapher: FJS
See their photos here
Just a few moments ago I visited my local Barnes and Noble for a copy of the latest Eric Jerome Dickey novel…when I stumbled across this rare gem at the newsstand – Munaluchi Bridal Magazine.
Right off the bat, I inwardly screamed with joy. That’s Igbo! Munaluchi if you split it up is two common Nigerian names for male and female – Munachi and Oluchi. (Hmm…perhaps these names are her children’s?? More on that later.)
And so when I saw it I grabbed it and quickly flip through. My jaw remained open….for a good minute as I read each feature. My initial thought was this is a great quality African-catered bridal magazine. (No shade to those in the same African bridal market!)
MUNALUCHI BRIDAL also features Real Everday Weddings, Native Couture (bridal wear designs from Estella Couture, Linany Couture, Jezreel, Cote Minou) and as well as the traditional bride gown.
Shout-out to its editor in chief Jacqueline Nwobu! She started the magazine out of frustration while looking for unique Ankara fabric inspiration for her own wedding three years ago. (Every African girl knows the thrill of looking for a perfect traditional outfit from the fabric to the design.)
The magazine lives true to its slogan – Catering to the Bride Who Craves Culture & Style. Remember where you read about Munaluchi Bridal magazine right here on FG2BH! Learn more by visiting MunaluchiBridal.com.
photo credits: Munaluchi Studios.
Sexy, financially independent, mature and single woman! She has it all but on top of it she still can drive much younger men crazy, have them crawling to her feet begging for love and because she knows what she wants; she keeps the love she gets!
They call her a cougar or a sugar mama, but she just sees herself as a generous lover. Even celebrities have assumed her way of doing things because for her it brings happiness. The general conclusion that most of us come to is ….there’s a catch, right…whether that be money, fame or great sex…
View the gallery
http://www.sevafrica.com/modules/travel/article.php?news_id=77
On your wedding day you should be passing the responsibility on to everyone BUT yourselves. [This is the golden rule and is easy to achieve with some good planning and good help]
So here’s a request to pass along to your caterers and/or reception manager:
Make sure they feed your vendors their meals after you and your wedding party (head tables) BUT BEFORE the rest of your guests. While you and all the VIPs start dinner, so can the hard-working vendors. Like your photog!! (dj and band too!!). You didn’t really need action shots of the eating anyways. If your vendors are the last to eat, they might miss you mingling when you finish your steak/chicken/fish dinner.
So get them fed. And as soon as you’re up, so are they . Refueled and ready for many more hours of dancing.
I would first and foremost like to apologize for my blog being so quiet of late.
Secondly may all the guests to my blog be blessed with a wonderful year filled with lots of love, happiness and blessings. I am back in the saddle and hard at work editing my first wedding for 2010.
The lucky couple was Ciska and Ernst who tied the knot at Isiphiwo Guest Lodge and Spa in Pretoria on January the 9th. It was a blast and landed up going home later than expected. I know their friends and family are eagerly awaiting a sneak peek but I will have to keep the lid on a little while longer.
Isiphiwo Guest Lodge & Spa, Pretoria
I’ve known Meghan since one of the first days of college. We lived on the same dorm floor freshman and sophomore year and were roommates our junior year. As any of our other college friends would probably admit, we all spent plenty of time imagining the guys we would each end up with…and…maybe a little too much time scheming about how to make our moves. Meghan and Cory’s wedding marks the last wedding of the Magnificent Seven, a group of seven of my good friends from college (we named ourselves…cute, huh?).
Meghan and Cory live in Hawaii, so I was thrilled that their wedding was in Minnesota and even more thrilled that I got to be their photographer. They had a beautiful wedding at the Carlos Creek Winery in Alexandria, MN. It was a wee bit on the chilly side, but the winter weather made for beautiful surroundings and lovely outdoor lighting. It was fun to be a part of the day! Congrats Meghan and Cory!
You’ve got to do something to stay warm!
Handsome groom:::
Beautiful bride:::
Five of the Magnificent Seven made it to Meghan and Cory’s wedding. We missed you Maria and Kelli!
by Peter Zack
Shooting weddings can be a challenging and rewarding aspect of photography. I hope from these articles, you get some inspiration and tips that will help you develop your own style and business. The funny thing with a blog publishing setup, the articles are posted by date and you may be seeing the most recent first. If so, go to Shooting Weddings Part 1 and then you can follow each section in the series.
If you have a question or idea for this or other articles, contact us here.
So you’re looking at the title of Part 3 and saying, he’s mixed it up. The client chooses me to be the photographer. Nope that’s completely wrong for a number of reasons. I mentioned this in an earlier article and didn’t elaborate. This is in my opinion, as important as anything else you will do with your business. You must make every effort to meet the clients a couple of times to discuss what they want and your style of shooting. I said earlier that, we have to be open to different shooting styles and what the client wants. As photographers, like painters, we are better at some things than others. You might be a great street shooter and can nail that candid type of photograph better than anyone in your market. I might be a great landscape shooter and have the ability to visualize and capture a great landscape with the couple. Sometimes it’s very tough to meet the couple because we live in the internet world. They may be in a distant city and trying to book you online. In that case you should send them a large sample of your work via an FTP transfer site or something similar. Then call them to discuss what they want and and what you do. Make sure everyone is clear on what you offer and can produce.
So if you meet the couple, bring a big sample of you work. A completed wedding album would also be good. Don’t just show them your best stuff. Let them see what a package will look like. There should be no surprises for the couple when it’s delivered. Remember that it’s 2-6 weeks + for delivery and they have been waiting for the most important memento of that great day. Meeting them offers you some very big hints as to whether you will work with them. One of the biggest mistakes for both you and the couple is taking every job you get because you know you can do it and you want the income. It’s not fair to the couple and a mistake for your business.
I like this image for a number of reasons. Her face shows the love she feels expressed fully. They are clearly having fun by the ocean. Nice afternoon light. It has an air of romance.
I like shooting a romantic and fun couple that really like to try different things. A bride that doesn’t mind ‘kicking up her heels’ and getting the dress dirty. The more adventurous she is, the better the photos will work. You need to assess the couple at the first meeting. I look for a few cues. Do they touch each other a lot when you meet? Are they comfortable in front of a stranger? Do they disagree on aspects of the wedding? Is he involved in the planning with a genuine interest or just can’t wait for all this to be over. Does he have ideas about certain photos? Do they hold hands? Can you sense that they are not only in love but also best friends? Do they get each other and you?
If the answers to these questions are an overwhelming yes, then I want these people as my clients. I say this from experience. I’ve take the wedding because I wanted the work and didn’t think these were important issues. Generally the work turned out fine and the customers were happy. But it was the most exhausting wedding work I’ve ever done and seemed like a mental battle to make each shot work the way I’d like. Why? We didn’t connect.
One good example is a couple I booked a few years ago. It was early in the season and bookings were slow. I had just moved to a new city and wanted to get established. At the meeting, I had noticed that she was doing all the talking. It felt like they were planning a funeral, not a wedding. There wasn’t much joy in the process. They sat in seperate chairs. I have 2 comfy chairs and a sofa in my office. I invite couple to come in and see where they choose to sit. There’s a table in front of the sofa and the chairs at one end. So if they go to the sofa, it’s a good start. If they sit apart in the chairs, I’m now looking at how close these 2 are. So this couple sit in the chairs. They never held hands or touched each other the whole time. I booked them anyway. Through all our discussions (they didn’t want engagement shots), they didn’t mention their comfort or lack of comfort with PDA (Public Displays of Affection). The entire wedding day was a workout for me. All the shots I had in my head were useless and I had to create a whole shot list based on very stiff and uncomfortable clients who wouldn’t kiss and didn’t like touching each other. If you were a street shooter as described above, you’d produce a better package for this customer than I would. They liked the finished product, but if all my customers were like this, I’d get a job flipping burgers and just take pictures of flowers.
Consider this. It’s not wrong to be this way. Some people are very shy and prefer their intimate moments at home. Others are not. It’s not for any of us to judge. The flamboyant clients may not last and the shy ones might celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary. My point is, that you have to be able to work with them and get what they want. If you can’t, don’t take the job. It’s not fair to them and too hard on you.
I’ve said before that you need to be adaptable to their wishes and shoot in a style they like. But that doesn’t mean every wedding job is right for you or that you are right for them. Or that you have the skills and natural ability to shot the style they want. Consider your shooting style carefully and analyze your strengths and weaknesses. You might be a great candid shooter and can do a nice PJ style album. You might not feel comfortable creating and capturing good “classic” wedding shots. Those posed shots that you think look stiff and unnatural. We all excel at different styles.
This is an example of an adventurous couple who wanted to try different shots. We found an abandoned car that was unlocked for a fun shot.
Book the weddings that are appropriate to your comfort and skill levels. It does not mean that you can’t learn and practice other styles. How? Study other peoples work, study other portrait art forms and photography. Also when there is time, with the weddings you have booked, try a new idea for a few minutes. Go to a wedding every time with a new idea. Make each one a learning experience with a fresh approach to the work. Some couples want those close up shots that are really intimate. Maybe you’ve never tried this. So take some time with them and set up an idea. I’ve told couples that I’ve never done [this or that] and would like to try something different. If you have a good connection with the couple, they will agree and you might get a great series to give them and at the least, you have started to learn how to apply the lessons for the next time. The other thing you can do is work with another pro on an off day. Volunteer your time to work with a respected pro once in awhile and watch his/her style. In fact work with someone of the opposite gender. If you are male, a female photographer is great to work with. They have a different and often more “romantic” eye. My assistant is female and I love the different look she can bring to a photo. But please do not book a couple that wants PJ style and you can’t do it. Taking the job for the money is a mistake. It could even land you in a courtroom. Reputations take years to build and seconds to wreck, never to be recovered.
This could ruffle some readers feathers but I hope more photographers would be in a courtroom when they can’t deliver what they promise. Pushed out of the business because they are incompetent. There are too many Cowboy shooters looking for a quick buck and not taking into consideration how important this day is to the couple and their family. They pass off a CD full of snap shots that your 10 year old could do. I welcome competition in my market when the other shooters are all considerate and hard working pros. It makes me work harder and study the craft. There’s a big difference between a shooter who studies and works this job every day, full time and those that take rent money every couple of Saturdays’ .
Consider this scenario. I have a photo of a grandmother that was a candid portrait at a wedding. I knew that she was the oldest member of the family and everything revolved around her. She was mentioned many times at meetings before the wedding day. I must have tried 40 times to get a nice shot of her not staring at the lens. Finally one worked. She loved the shot and so did the family. She said she hated having her photo taken (and it showed) and had never seen a good one till this. Unfortunately, she’s no longer with us. The couple and members of her family wanted so many copies of the shot, I sold them the image and rights to it, to do as many reprints as they wanted. If you are there just to make money and don’t care about the couple’s needs, then you deserve to be in front of a judge. Your work is far more important than you may ever know. If you mess it up, there’s no turning back the clock and a refund just doesn’t cut it.
So you take your experience and use that to assess whether you will choose that couple to work with. If it’s doesn’t seem or feel right, or you can’t shoot it the way they want, be gracious and turn them down, recommend another photographer. Have a well reasoned explanation as to why you will not be able to take the job and hopefully you can get that from this article. There’s nothing wrong with telling a customer that your style of work will not suit what they have told you they want in the album.
One further thought. Know your competition. How they shoot and how they work. Meet with them and look at their stuff. Have a relationship with them. I’ll discuss the reasons why in the next article.
So the title is correct, you choose your customers, not the other way around.
Cheers and good shooting – Peter Zack
Pei Wedding Photography
23 Jan 10 We were back again at the quaint chapel of the Church of the Holy Spirit to set up the place for the holy matrimony of Indonesian couple Charles & Nathalia. We loved the coziness of the chapel and coupled with the theme of “quiet elegance”, the stage was set for a graceful wedding bathed in the soft glow of candlelight and sheer organza and the muted scents of white roses and lilies.
The non-traditional bride (she had a train of red and black!) looked radiant despite the little sleep she had while the bridegroom was all smiles, looking smart in his newly cropped hairstyle. Going off somewhere ‘cool’ for their honeymoon, we wish them lots of ’snuggling time’ and a little one on the way soon … 
It’s a very welcome indeed leave weekend about to begin here – the couple of weeks since the Christmas holidays seem to have just flown past and already they and the incumbent festivities seem like a short lifetime away.
Leave weekends here usually for me mean that there will be a wedding and this afternoon is no different.
Lovely Gullanites (if that is the correct appellation for people who live in Gullane) Michael and Angela will be marrying each other today and as ever it will be a privilege to play a small part in the proceedings.
On account of the time of the year that it is they are having the Robert Burns’ masterpiece as one of the readings:
O my Luve’s like a red, red rose
That’s newly sprung in June:
O my Luve’s like the melodie
That’s sweetly play’d in tune.
As fair art thou, my bonnie lass,
So deep in luve am I:
And I will luve thee still, my dear,
Till a’ the seas gang dry:
Till a’ the seas gang dry, my dear,
And the rocks melt wi’ the sun;
I will luve thee still, my dear,
While the sands o’ life shall run.
And fare thee weel, my only Luve
And fare thee weel, a while!
And I will come again, my Luve,
Tho’ it were ten thousand mile.
First wedding of the year down. Congrats to the new Mr. and Mrs. Kim & John, who had an awesome reception by the way. I may or may have not dropped the bouquet. :/ But there were definitely lots of fist pumping throughout the day.
For those of you who think STDs mean something oozing from your privates, I’d have to dispel that notion by saying it also means Save The Dates. That would be referring to weddings of course.
Usually, couples would send out STD cards about a year or so before their wedding. It’s just a reminder to well, save the date. It’s not really considered a proper invitation. Those will be sent out a few months prior to the actual wedding. That given, I probably would not be spending money on STDs. Unless of course, they’re kickass like THIS:
Now how awesome is that? It’s like an action romance comedy. Love the whole concept of it and I’m pretty sure all their guests would be looking forward to the actual event. Hell, I’m not invited and I’M excited for them!
Congratulations to Jeff and Erin!
[via Offbeat Bride]
Kris and George were married in a beautiful ceremony on December 20th at Willows Lodge in Woodinville. As we were shooting on almost the darkest day of the year, we had scoped out our photo game plan the week before to maximize the limited amount of light we would be getting after the ceremony. With only brief periods of sprinkling rain, we were able to get a great variety of outdoor shots and thank goodness, as Willows Lodge has a plethora of gorgeous and fun outdoor locations.
Their reception was fun and lovely with live hula dancers to honor George’s native Hawaii, hundreds of handmade paper cranes, and delicious food and drink.
The rooms at Willows Lodge are gorgeous (so want to come stay here!) and were great for getting ready shots.
The groom was super lively, happy and ready to ham it up!
Got to warm up by the fire on a cold December day…
It was overcast and DARK that night so we had some fun with our video light…
Congratulations Kris and George! Thank you so much for having us to celebrate your amazing day!
