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!

Steve Burns

By Steve Burns

A while ago I had the pleasure of photographing my dear friend Manny son’s wedding.

Karyn and George where married in a Greek Orthodox Wedding Ceremony at St. John The Theologian in Tenafly, NJ.

Their ceremony is one that I particularly love to witness.   It’s with good reason that I’ve fallen in love with the various aspects of, and the symbolisms in their service; having documented several over the years.

After their wedding mass, Karyn and George chose to have romantic photographs done at the beautiful Davis Johnson Gardens in Tenafly, NJ, a donation supported formal garden that loves to work beautiful brides and their grooms.  Without donations those lovely gardens would not exist.

The reception was held later that evening at the beautiful Graycliff in Moonachie, NJ.

Karyn and her girls getting ready.

Karyn, as a very beautiful bride.

Karyn being escorted down the isle by her father Carlos.

Karyn and George during their marriage ceremony.

Greek Orthodox Wedding Ceremony.

Beautiful late afternoon sun at Davis Johnson Park.

Karyn’s first dance with her now husband George, as their wedding guests look on.

And of course George and his uncle had to lead the cheers that evening!        Steve Burns

By Steve Burns

“Little White Rose”

Little white rose that I loved, that I loved,
Roisin ban, Roisin ban!
Fair my bud as the moring’s dawn.
I kissed my beautiful flower to bloom,
My heart grew glad for its rich perfume-
Little white rose that I loved.

Little white rose that I loved grew red,
Roisin rua, Roisin rua!
Passionate tears I wept for you.
Love is more sweet than the world’s fame-
I dream you back in my heart the same,
Little white rose that I loved!

Little white rose that I loved grew black,
Roisin duv, Roisin duv!
So I knew not the heart of you,
Lost in the world’s alluring fire,
I cry in the night for my heart’s desire,
Little white rose that I loved!

Dora Sigerson, (1866-1918).  A poet from, “The land of happy wars and sad love songs”, Ireland.

A short while ago I had the honor to photograph the wedding of Anne and Paul at the Fordham University Church on the Rose Hill Campus in the Bronx, N.Y.   And I will tell you that their wedding celebration was most definately not a sad love song!

The wedding mass was co-celebrated by Father Bill O’Malley, and Anne’s friend, Father Chuks Afiawari.  Their day was witnessed by the rounding up of the usual supects of close family and friends from around the golobe.  Their wedding reception was held at the New Leaf Cafe in Fort Tryon Park.  The New Leaf Cafe, a wonderful intimate venue, is one of Bette Midler’s New York Restoration projects, were private events are planned by Tiffany Hogan.

Anne and Paul:  “May the road rise up to meet you, may the wind be ever at your back. May the sun shine warm upon your face and the rain fall softly on your fields. And until we meet again, May God hold you in the hollow of his hand.”

These are just a few of the many images captured during their day…

Steve Burns

Paul Gauguin, one of the most prolific 19 century painters, at some point in his life in his longing for savage and unexpected beauty, made a conscious choice to escape the sufocating world of European civilization for South Seas. He settled on Marquesas Island in French Polynesia where he created some of his best works. His vividly colored, highly abstract paintings lead Impressionist painter Camille Pissarro to remark, “He’s in another world.”

Some hundred years later I share Gauguin’s fascination entirely. This past April when I arrived in Manzanillo, Mexico to document a super intimate destination wedding of Hope and Cody, my creative muses were flying high!

It is the lush colors of exotic locales, the technicolor light, the gentle fragrant whisper of mango blossoms, the tropical balmy air, the calming and never ending crashing of the waves that makes the couple, their families and friends feel and look marvellous. The sweet artistic challenge of the photographer is just …. to absorb it all, share the fun and the inspiration will follow, resulting in dramatic, juicy images. The visual appeal of Cody and Hope’s wedding was enhanced by Gaby www.simplyperfectmexico.com