And as a case in point, here are some images from a recent wedding that I photographed at the Florentine Gardens ..

… and finally, the stylish main reception room ..

 posted by:  Neil van Niekerk

Avery, who I’ve photographed as a younger baby, checking in with dad along the way down the aisle.

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This cute little flowergirl who was so into strewing the petals around that she became distracted by the task and needed some prompting to continue walking down the aisle ..

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One very enthusiastic flowergirl ..

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Jillian, the super-cute but shy flowergirl ..

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Sometimes it’s better as a team effort ..

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And that basket of flowers looks like so much fun, that even ringbearers have to check it out ..

Neil van Niekerk

NYC photo shoot – Linda & Gary 06-14 from Neil van Niekerk on Vimeo.
[ if the video is choppy, let the clip buffer completely first, or turn off HD ]

Here is a glimpse of how much fun it is to work with a couple during their engagement photo session.  Linda and Gary’s wedding is coming up later this year, and I met up with them this weekend in Manhattan and we roamed the Meat-packing District and Times Square for some vibrant portraits.

A slightly surreal image from a recent engagement photo session - the couple, Shannon and Peter, played with the idea of not just walking across the reflecting pool at Skylands Manor (Ringwood, NJ), but levitating across ..

.. and this gave me the idea for a theme for this post – jumping shots.  Bridal parties and couples who jump.  Some may think it cliched, but I love it when a bridal party has energy and is excited and willing to play around.  Anything to break it up from that ‘usual suspects’ kind of line-up.  Exuberance and excitement goes a long way to making the photography on a wedding day interesting.

The next image is from a recent wedding in Manhattan, where I shot with the hugely talented photographer, Monika Broz.  The bridal party was unstoppable!

… and another wedding which I had the pleasure to photograph, with an enthusiastic bridal party.

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And who wouldn’t have boundless energy on a beach, especially when on a destination wedding in the Bahamas?

During their engagement session, Stephanie, the bride-to-be, jumped with such enthusiasm that a shoe went flying!

I just know a wedding will be fun to photograph when you have a bride like Kristen,  just leaping into her groom’s arms.

So to round all that off, I’d like to show some of the most interesting wedding details I saw in 2008.  Hopefully this might even give future brides a few ideas for their own weddings.  You can easily see from these images that the couples put a lot of thought and care into the details of their wedding receptions.  Enjoy!

[ Neil van Niekerk ]

As a New Jersey wedding photographer I’m  accustomed to a certain rhythm and flow of the party at a wedding reception.  (I’m sure the DJ’s have seen this as well.)  You know from experience which songs will pull people onto the dance floor every time.  You know which songs hit just *that* spot for most of the guests. 

And maybe it’s because Bon Jovi is from New Jersey, or maybe the lyrics speak of a universal hope for love-no-matter-what, or maybe it’s just a damn good song … but Living On A Prayer is one of those songs that I can predict will have the guests on the dance floor, and going just a little bit crazy.   The way people react to it, and how frequently it is on the playlist at weddings here in New Jersey, is the reason why I’ve dubbed it the New Jersey National Anthem. ; )

[ posted by Neil van Niekerk ]

While helping my friend David M photograph a wedding recently, the maitre’d excitedly came to tell me that there is a full rainbow outside after a rainstorm had blown through.  I grabbed the wedding couple, and went outside, and saw the beautiful rainbow and set the couple up for this simple, but romantic portrait.

Yet, it wasn’t that simple.  Here is what the reality looked like:

While looking at a scene, we tend to not see the clutter and the things that detract … until we get the photo.  The camera tends to be relentless in how it reports something.  At the time, we would tend to only see the beautiful rainbow, with our brain ignoring the uglier parts such as utility wires.

It then often needs the Photoshop skills of the photographer to recreate the image as we perceived it at the time.  And that’s the subtle challenge for me as a wedding photographer, not just capturing the memories of the day, but also creating the images of the day as we would remember them.

Something I find myself doing quite often on days when I photograph in the sun, is to seek out the sun purposely in the frame of my camera .. and allow the sunlight to flare as a burst of light streaking across the image.  I find that if I can place it carefully, it adds a cinematic feel to the images – and for me, also a sense of lightness and sometimes even a touch of the dramatic.

[ Neil vN ]

Let me say this out straight – I hate gazebos. I hate gazebos and fountains and I especially hate having to photograph a couple at whatever landmark/feature that a reception venue has, where every other couple from the last five years has been photographed. There, I’ve said it. I feel better now, with that weight off of my shoulders.

Wedding portaits should be about capturing the romance, and capturing the relationship between the couple. I would much rather work with the couple and with the light available. I want to show how much they are in love with each other, rather than the wooden structure that the reception venue bought from Home Depot.

The portrait above from Simone and Damien’s wedding was taken in the late afternoon. The maitre’d of the venue suggested I use the fountain as a backdrop for the couple – the same fountain that every other photographer uses as a backdrop for every other couple who gets married there. Instead, I looked at where the light was coming from … and it was stunningly beautiful glowing light. And the best was, the spray from the fountain was lit up by the glow from the late afternoon sun. This created that ethereal looking golden mist behind them. Looking for and using great light, and looking for a beautiful backdrop to place the couple in context … is so much better than photographing them against unconnected objects in the landscape.

Wedding portraits should be about romance, and not the gazebo or fountain.
Indeed, we need more cowbell, less gazebo!