Daina and Larry

Daina and Larry’s wedding was at the Trade Winds Resort in St Pete Beach. Her dress was amazing with lots of great detail. The day started out pretty warm but as the sun set it became cold fast. We managed to get some nice sunset images before we retreated to the reception. Everyone had a good time as George from Delite Entertainment was the DJ. We always like working with George. Daina and Larry had worked on a first dance number for a while and the practice paid off as it looked beautiful. They got back from their honeymoon and looked at their gallery, she says they “may need to upgrade their album” to more pages…we hear that a lot. Congratulations Daina and Larry!!!

Lynnette and Tim

Their wedding was at the Grand Plaza in St Pete Beach. What a great view from the reception room, up high overlooking the Bay. The weather was perfect for a beach wedding (we have done a number when it was really hot or really cold). Lynnette and Tim were very excited for their wedding day (which everyone should be ), no prompting by me to have them show affection towards each other. Her son, Marcos was quite happy as well. he made a good looking ring bearer. The flower girl was also very cute, they were on the dance floor together for several songs. Cheyrel florists had the perfect floral arrangement and Grande Occasions put everything together. They should be back from their honeymoon by now.

Here are only a few from their day.

Lynnette with Tim's Dad during Mother and Son dance

Tim's first warning in the early marriage

After a long party, it was time to go.

Melinda and Johnny

Melinda and Johnny were married at St Nicholas Church in Tarpon Springs. A beautiful church for a wedding. Much symbolism in the ceremony.  The reception had Greek music played by a live band. The dancing looked quite authentic to me (but I am not a good dancer). The toasts included many wonderful moments as these two very special people tied the knot. Congrats!!!

A continued tradition

 

Johnny and the guys waiting

 

Attentive attendants

 

We love window light

 

Finally to the reception we go

Becky and Dion

Becky and Dion were referred to us by one of our past brides (Tiffany and Martin). They were married at the Assembly of God church in Plant city. The reception was in the old Plant city high school. DeNeal captured some wonderful moments with Dion’s daughters during the ceremony, as they passed out tissues. The colors were very fall like, even though we don’t get much of that here in Florida. Everything went smoothly, which is always a good thing. The DJ was Bob Moore www.bobmooreentertainment.com He had plenty of games to keep the kids going, as there were lots of kids around. We also found some nice trees outside of the church for photos.

Rochelle and Dean, Souix Falls, SD.

We flew to South Dakota to shoot Rochelle and Deans wedding in late Sept. They were having the ceremony out side at a park. On Saturday morning we left the hotel to look over the park, but found the temps had dropped to 45! So I went back into the hotel to get my very fashionable Lightning hoody 😉

We won’t see temps like that until Jan. It eventually got up to the low 70’s for the service, so all went well.

We had very beautiful landscapes and colors to work with, then went downtown to take some images of them walking around.

Congrats Rochelle and Dean!

Recent Engagements

We have been spending some time with our couples shooting their engagement photos, some on location and some at our studio. Christina and Jeff wanted to try Channel Side area and the Times forum (they too are Lightning fans). Shooting at Channel Side can be a challenge because of the port security issues. You know, a guy with a massive camera and other things hanging all over him climbing on tables, railings, etc taking pics of  a couple who are trying to pretend they don’t see the photographer guy (me). Then add security guy who has a bit too much free time = “hey you…get out of here!” I wore my “police memorial 5k” t-shirt ( I run in that almost every year) That gives me some “street cred”, …I’m not totally sure what that really means, but they let us carry on, and that is a good thing! Here are some of the shots I want to share…

love the shadows on the wall

This is in the tunnel going into the court yard

Very vibrant windows

This is at the Times forum

 

Lynnette and Tim:

They came to our studio for some shots, we had a great time working w/ them. They are getting married in Nov. Not too long to go!

They seem to be quite crazy about each other!

I had to include her shoes

Valerie and Colin

Valerie and Colin’s wedding had a “40’s” feel to it. This was our first time shooting at “the church at the mall” in Lakeland. They did a great job transforming the old mall into their church facillity. The large windows gave us wonderful light (and you know I’m going to be all over that!) to work with. Sometimes when a venue does not give you easy shooting places, we look for any nooks or corners so we can create our own beautiful images. But it was very easy here. When we shot their engagement photos, we went to Ybor and used the old brick and colorful buildings as a backdrop. We even went into a trendy restaurant before they were open to get some cool “mood” shots.

Congrats Valerie and Colin

Letting natural light wrap around the bride

accent light behind Valerie

I could have shot here all day, but there was a reception to go to!

The wedding party

Portraits

Since hurricane season is here, there are fewer weddings to photograph. But we stay busy with our portrait work. Here are a few of the recent studio works:

Gavin brought in his parents (Cyndi and Ryan) for long over due family photos. He has many colorful expressions, no doubt from dad.

Gavin with mom and dad

 

Jocie and Shane are expecting their first child!

I’m told they are having a baby girl. I think it is a great idea for families to have professional portraits taken at key times of their lives. Not just because that’s what I do (well, maybe a little 😉 , but because it is well worth the investment to be able to have quality images to display in your home. To preserve and beautifully document your family history. Here are some of their images:

Erica and Roy.

We photographed Erica and Roy’s wedding some time ago. Then when Erica was expecting we did her maternity photos. Now we just photographed their beautiful daughter, Victoria. Photographing babies and children can be a challenge for sure. You never know what to expect. We strive to capture the families interacting naturally. Here is some of what Erica wrote to us…”Thank you for taking such wonderful pictures! You have done an excellent job with all of our pictures. Engagement, wedding, maternity and family. I will continue to recommend you guys to anyone needing any photography services!! Thank you”

Christina and Jose

Christina and Jose’s reception was at the Columbia restaurant. What a wonderful place for it. So much history! Our plan was to come back to the Columbia after the guests left to take some fun images, but no one would leave (even after they faked leaving). So we went into Ybor for a while to shoot, then they went off to their honeymoon. Any time our brides want to have fun taking photos is all right with us!

Stay tuned, I hope to post our HDR images from the Badlands and Devil’s Tower soon!

June Brides

Wedding season can be pretty hectic and here are some highlights from four of our June brides:

Sara and Geoff

Seems like Sara and Geoff booked us years ago!  But their wedding day finally arrived.  The ceremony was in Plant City and the reception at the Tampa Club downtown.  We were able to stroll around downtown and get some nice images.  It was a very special day for their families.  They packed out the Tampa Club.

 

Becki and Greg

Their destination wedding brought people from all four corners of the country to the Don Cesar.  When DeNeal and I met with Becki, we got to know her better and found out she was a bridesmaid in a wedding in Scottsdale, AZ that my best friend photographed.  His name is Steve from aphoto.us.  What a small world!  Everything was set for a beach ceremony, but an afternoon storm blew over the chairs so it was moved inside.  Becki took it in stride, and we were still able to get sunset photos later in the night.

 

Kristin and Ron

Their wedding was on Father’s Day.  Kristin seemed to be quite close to her dad and mom.  The wedding coordinator was Barb from Grande Occasions.  The flowers were by Cheral Florists in Citrus Park.  They always do a great job making sure everything goes smoothly.  The wedding was at Tradewinds Resort.  There was plenty of paparazzi all around.  The images taken in the gazebo were pretty cool!

 

 

Kristin and Brendan

Their wedding was at the Tampa Marriott Waterside.  Ours was not the only wedding that night.  Two others were going on and the bridesmaids were checking out the other groups and their dresses.  We photographed Brendan’s brother’s wedding a couple of years ago, so we got to see some familiar faces.  Kristin loved to go out to the trolly and get some fun shots there.  It was a very fun group!