Weddings evoke emotions worth remembering for a lifetime. We love photography and we put our hearts into our work.
One of my favourite venues to work at as a wedding photographer in New Jersey, is the prestigious Florentine Gardens. I frequently describe it to brides as a place that is 360′ of pretty. The lush gardens are beautifully maintained and decorated. The venue itself is large and spacious and grand.
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
I’m very pleased to show a selection of photos from Molly and Mike’s wedding. Molly got ready in Princeton and the ceremony was at Pennington United Methodist Church in Pennington, NJ. The reception was held at The Ridge at Back Brook in Ringoes, New Jersey.
Well… not really! At least not anymore. I am so sorry if this is going to sound harsh to anyone but if you are one of those people who say “I don’t get Twitter” then… you may as well say “I don’t get internet”. We live in the world where technology changes fast, new things come around before you even know it. Twitter is one of them. Twitter is just the next step in our evolution, in the way we communicate. It’s not just another clone of facebook or social media application that will be fogotten in a few months. Here’s why:
1. WHAT’S GOT YOUR ATTENTION?
Yes, it did start with status updates. Then, at some point the leading ‘Twitter question’ transformed into something a lot more meaningful. Instead of informing the world about what you are having for lunch Twitter users started posting a lot more valuable content. Tweets about how the excessive amount of mayo is spilling beyond your sandwich – indeed, have no value. Tweets about new design resources online, wordpress blog tutorials, exciting photography, current events around the world – just the opposite, they are amazing eye openers and very often carry more value than any other social media connection you make out there.
2. IT’S LIVE!
Yes, you can use google and find information about pretty much ANYTHING online. There is however one important difference between searching Twitter and searching web content. Twitter is a live stream of information. Whatever you search for online had to be composed by someone, posted and indexed to come up in web searches. Nowadays it is faster than before yet Twitter is even faster than that – it’s instant, immediate without any delay. I have recently almost completely switched to searching Twitter over Google for information online. It’s amazing what and how fast you can find out as soon as you realize how powerful of a tool Twitter can really be.
3. CONNECTIONS
What seems to be another misconception about Twitter among those who are not using it is that what you ‘tweet’ about is only visible to those who follow you. This is only partially true. Add a ‘#’ tag right before the word that desribes the topic you are talking about and it will be visible to anyone who searches for that particular topic (any other word in your tweets is of course searchable too). The list of currently trending topics is always visible on your Twitter home page. You can join any conversation you want at any time. For example the trending topics at the time of writing this article are: #Sept11 #Facebook Lite #Jay-Z #God Bless America #TGIF #CoastGuard #Michael Jordan. Click one of them on your Twitter home page and you will see what people are saying about the given topic AT THE MOMENT. Reply to any of the users who’s tweet you find interesting. You just made your first connection. This is how I found out that you can buy the new Canon 7D at Circuit City for 15% less than anywhere else. It’s how I increased my knowledge about using word press blog from zero to confident within one afternoon. It’s how I connected with some amazing photographers out there, found new friends in other areas of life but most of all…
4. BOOKED MY FIRST WEDDING via TWITTER!
Have you heard yet that it pays off to use twitter for your business? You keep hearing that a lot of companies are on Twitter and are ‘using Twitter for business’ but you also keep wondering whether they have any measurable gains from wasting so much time on this new social media phenomenon. Well… it did pay off for me and my story is only a drop in the ocean. There’s of course plenty more significant stories out there but for us – wedding photographers this is what’s important right now. We spend a lot of our time breaking our heads about how to reach this ideal client that we are looking for, how to get noticed and put our wonderful work in front of the eyes of those who need to see it. Yet, there is a wonderful new tool out there that is based on the same principle any successful business uses – relationships between people! If you haven’t managed to appreciate it yet – it might just be worth exploring!
Some of us, members of G10 are active on Twitter. Follow us! David, Neil, Josh, Zlatko.
What a great day we had!! A brightly sunlit day on the Hudson River in Hoboken can be fantastic lighting for engagement photos. There is always something new to do, and places that are meaningful to my clients. For instance, one of these locations was where Billy proposed to Erica 
Love this couple – can’t wait to photograph their wedding at The Palace at Somerset Park next year!
By Steve Burns
A ways back I covered a wedding of one of the leads from “The Phantom of The Opera.” The newly married couple had a small intimate wedding. Their wedding reception was held at the Westbury Manor on Long Island, NY. At the reception places were set for 40 guests, with the music being provided by a 16 piece swing band! The happy wedding couple and that band elevated the wedding day experience of their guests from what would have been nice, to one that was sublime!
Music at weddings, as in life can leave one with many feelings. It is not a visual thing, however it is something that triggers things in the hearer’s mind that evokes emotion or feeling. Well chosen music played at a wedding does exactly the same thing. It helps to support the days emotions.
Music can be loud, sharp, soft, sexy, sweet, sultry, romantic, brassy, sensuous… You name it, and it can say it.
How music is delivered can also add to its impact. As a wedding photographer, I’ve witnessed weddings were music was delivered via an iPod, from a DJ, to music performed real time by a band. All of the mentioned ways of delivery can be done very well, and all of them can have a significant impact on a wedding day.
One of the things that separates really good photography from OK photography, is that the former leaves you with the thought “this is what it felt like to be there,” vs. “this is what it looked like to be there.”
A responsibility of a good wedding photographer is to communicate to the viewer not just what the day looked like, but what the wedding day felt like. You want to be taken back to the feelings of your wedding day when you look at your images.
When photographing a wedding, I’m sure to include something that speaks of the music presented that day, as it plays such a large part in the day. I have to admit that I’ve never photographed an iPod at a wedding reception. However I take great, great delight in photographing a band!
Here are some favorites which when I revisit them, I feel as if they take me back to that day.
Working the crowd at a wedding reception at the Fresh Meadows Country Club.
Sounding brassy at the Fresh Meadows Country Club.
A very hot wedding band vocalist at the Fresh Meadows Country Club.
Letting it loose at a wedding reception at the Ridgewood Country Club.
A sassy bass at the Chart House Restaurant. Enda playing for his wife at their reception, the Molly Pictcher Inn.
My hat is off to those that have come before, those that currently do, and to those that will provide the music which makes our lives so much richer. Our world would not be the same with out you!
If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it. Ferris Bueller said this. More importantly, the late John Hughes wrote, directed and produced the movie.
This quote reminds me of all that I am lucky to have, a loving and caring wife, two adorable, smart, funny and healthy children, a home that is ours and a business that is my passion. But with all of this, it is easy to get caught up in life (bills, work, taking out the trash, running errands, etc.) and miss the important parts that mean the most to you. For me, that is my family.
Family portraiture is a growing part of my business. A photograph is a perfect way to ‘look around’, not miss life and what matters most.
All of us in Group of 10 are wedding photographers with some considerable experience. While I cannot compare my own to George Weir’s or my flash photography knowledge to Neil van Niekerk’s – we all bring something to the table when it comes to wedding photography. Each and every one of us has photographed enough weddings to be well familiar with the “do’s and don’ts” of the industry, the wedding etiquette, the cultural differences and traditions of different weddings, the proper equipment we need to get the job done, the lighting challenges we may encounter while photographing brides in New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Pennsylvania and actually all over the rest of the World. We studied our craft for years, developed our technique, shaped our styles, gave our hearts to what we do. Yes, all of us. Therefore, it’s no surprise that we are constantly trying to bring it to our client’s attention how important it is to hire someone who is not only a good salesman but actually a true photographer (with all the absolutely necessary skills and experience) for their wedding.
Most of this blog is about the art of our images. We love sharing our work with all of you and will continue to do so. We hardly ever reference other photographers and – correct me if I am wrong – never repost articles from other blogs. Today however, I would like to reference an article that in my humble opinion is an excellent testimony to WHY… please read: “PHOTOGRAPHY” by Cody Ellerd.
Few recent favorites!
Getting Ready:
Couples:
Ceremony:
Reception:
Kids:
I’m very pleased to show some of my favorite photos from a recent wedding:
I love when the sun peaks out through the clouds during the ceremony!
Photographed at Wainwright House in Rye, New York. To see more photos from this wedding, please click this link and this link.
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 ..
