Author Archives: Alison

{Real Jewish Weddings} Malibu, CA

Posted on March 4, 2014 by Alison in Real Jewish Weddings, Wedding Cinematography

This wedding, you guys, is eye candy. But instead of lollipops and chocolates, it’s stunning bride and breathtaking venue. Both adjectives also apply to both nouns.

Mackenzie was constantly beaming her entire wedding day. And why shouldn’t she? She was marrying her handsome groom, overlooking some of the most gorgeous Southern California landscape, and celebrating on a property that made her feel like the queen she truly was. After all, it is said that on the wedding day, the bride and groom are royalty, and there was nothing less than the royal treatment given to this couple.

Eric and his groomsmen all looked devilishly handsome as they got ready together and, later, celebrated with the entire wedding party.

It’s hard not to drool over all the modern touches of this Jewish wedding: their take on a chuppah with a floating chandelier in the center was chic to the chic-est power; Mackenzie’s dress was the perfect combination of sexy and romantic with classic and timeless nods thanks to the lace; and their tablescapes, while draped in whites and silvers, whispered hints of geometric styles in the centerpieces and chargers.

What a truly remarkable wedding!

Mazel tov, Mackenzie and Eric!

Photographer: Sergey Green through Luxury Estate Weddings and Events
Venue: Private Vineyard Estate through Luxury Estate Weddings and Events
Rentals: A1 Party Rentals
Cake Designer: Hansen’s Cakes
Floral Design: Petals By Xavi
Cinematographer: Sergey Green
Photo Booth Equipment: SoCal ShutterBooth

Submitted via Two Bright Lights

Surprise Wedding Dance at A Los Angeles Jewish Wedding

Posted on March 3, 2014 by Alison in Wedding Cinematography

David and Dorsa’s traditional Jewish wedding took place at the Universal Sheraton in Los Angeles, and the two sparkled while they exchanged smiles with each other, their friends, and their family. Dorsa’s walk down the aisle was dramatic and stunning as she edged her way to the chuppah under the dark sky, complemented by twinkle lights. Then, when she circled her handsome groom, the tears of joy tickled her face in a way that most brides understand as she experienced generations of tradition.

After their ceremony, festivities came to life with joyous dancing and classic, feminine decor. The room was filled with cheers and laughter along with stunning aesthetic details (notice the table linens! Elaborately delicate!). The true highlight? A surprise that took a twist! You know David and Dorsa are clearly a perfect match when they know each others’ shenanigans too well!

Ahava Films did a wonderful job capturing David and Dorsa’s beautiful wedding, and, as usual, integrates the perfect mix of music, camera shots, and clever editing. If you’re on the fence about hiring a video crew to document your wedding, films like Ahava’s should convince you to go for it! Your photographs will last you a lifetime with beautiful still images, but a video will also allow for you to see dances and hear speeches for all your days to come.

Dorsa + David from Ahava Films on Vimeo.

From The Expert: Three Ways You Are Ruining Your Wedding With Social Media

Posted on February 25, 2014 by Alison in From the Expert

Photographers know a lot as they are on the front lines of wedding planning and the wedding day. Ashleigh Henning of Ashleigh Taylor Photography is here today to tell us the three ways that social media is ruining your wedding experience and what you can do about it.

Love it or hate it, social media is here to stay! And while it can be a great resource and add a lot of fun to your wedding planning process, it can also ruin your big day! Wait what? As a wedding photographer, I have seen it happen. The good news is you don’t need to fall victim to the social media induced wedding day blues. Here’s three ways social media can really ruin your wedding experience and what to do about it so it does not happen to you!

1) FACEBOOK

Sharing big life moments on Facebook has become the status quo. It’s easy on a big day like your wedding to want to update your status, check out all your likes, and all the lovely words of congratulations people are writing on your wall! However, I am always amazed by how many brides spend a lot of their time in the hair and make-up chair looking at their phone & Facebook on their wedding day.

The Problem: There are three big problems with this. 1) It makes it much harder for your hair and make-up artist to do their job when you are constantly checking your phone for updates. 2) It doesn’t really look that great in photos to see a bride engrossed in her phone. It’s totally not that idealistic image of a bride looking excited as she’s being primped, but rather one where a bride looks concentrated on something else other than her wedding day. 3) The biggest problem of all is that it is actually taking you out of the moment of enjoying what is actually happening. Your wedding day only happens once, but your Facebook wall will still be full of messages tomorrow. It’s so much better to live in the day rather than the social network because, well, YOLO.

The Solution: Turn your phone off or give it to your MOH so you don’t feel tempted to check it. Maybe your friend can even periodically check your fb for you and report back. But you should really do your best not to check it and enjoy the moment!

2) PINTEREST

Pinterest is practically synonymous with wedding planning these days. Most brides have several Pinterest boards dedicated to wedding inspiration with everything from their dream decor to must-have shots they want for their wedding pictures. I do love Pinterest and think when used wisely it can be a great resource, but it also has its pitfalls.

The Problem: Pinterest creates a LOT of unrealistic expectations for your wedding day which can lead to a lot of disappointment for brides. Keep this in mind: when you are pinning photos you are pinning one or two of the BEST photos of someone’s wedding. So your Pinterest board is not actually representative of every shot every person gets in one wedding but rather a “best of” compilation of photos from hundreds of different weddings. And there are a lot of unique factors to each wedding such as location, scheduling/timeline, whether or not a couple did a first look, weather and lighting conditions, etc., which may make recreating these “best of” shots hard to accomplish. Each wedding is unique so it is very unrealistic to think your full wedding folio will look like the highlights from many other weddings. That’s not to say your photos won’t be AMAZING, it’s just to say they might not be a shot-by-shot recreation of your pin board. Beyond just unrealistic expectations for photos, pinterest can also create unrealistic expectations for what is doable in decor. A lot of stuff that is popular on Pinterest is from styled photo shoots — not even real weddings — and to execute that look for a real event would cost $$$$.

The Solution: I am not saying you need to get rid of your Pinterest board, just to keep your expectations in check. Use the boards to figure out the overall style you’d like for your pictures or decor, and then find a vendor who fits that style and can create something ORIGINAL just for you within that style. Your original photos created by a photographer you trust are going to be so much more genuine, beautiful, artistic, and meaningful than recreations of shots on your pin board. And heck, a few of them may even end up being popular on Pinterest down the road too.

3) INSTAGRAM (or similar photo sharing apps/sites)

Your friends, family, and even your bridal party are whipping their phones out to live-Instagram your wedding day! That might seem great in theory, as you are excited to see some photos from your day right away, but there is a real trade off for this.

The Problem: First, by live-Instagramming the day, your friends and family are not being in the moment with you. I’ve actually had to ask bridesmaids to stop taking photos of the bride getting into her dress so she could actually be in the photo with the bride and be a part of the getting ready process. Really?! Yes, really. I’ve seen moms so focused on getting a photo of the bride walking down the aisle with their phone, that their face registered no actual emotion as to what was going on other than the concentrated look of “must take this photo.” It is really so sad, especially since part of the reason you hire a professional photographer like me is so you don’t have to get the shots yourself and can enjoy the moment of the day! Second, it actually ruins your pro-photos when you have a bunch of people trying to take amateur pictures. It can be as simple as looking at your ceremony photos and seeing a sea of hands holding iphones where your guests’ heads should be. But it can be much worse too. I’ve had guests get up and stand in the aisle to take pictures during a ceremony blocking or limiting my shots. I’ve even had a guest during the cake cutting ask me if I could move out of their shot, but I am pretty sure at the end of the day the bride preferred my pro-shot to her guest’s blurry Instagram one.

The Solution: Have an “unplugged” wedding or at the very least an unplugged ceremony. This means asking guests to put away their phones and cameras and not take pictures during the ceremony (or sometimes the entire wedding). You can do this really nicely by putting up a cute sign, a note in the program and/or by having the officiant say something about it prior to the start of the ceremony. I’ve had several couples do this and it has had a tremendously positive impact on both the photos and the whole mood of the day!

In conclusion, I think the common thread here is that all three social media outlets (Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram) detract from your wedding day because in one way or another they take you out of enjoying the moment of your day. Whether it is referring back to your Pinterest board to make sure all your “must have shots” got taken, or checking your Facebook feed for messages from friends, or your guests jumping up with their phones to take tons of pictures during your ceremony instead of actually watching it, all of these things prevent you from fully experiencing one of the huge milestones of your life. Your wedding day will go fast. Enjoy it fully.

Based in Santa Barbara, California, Ashleigh loves to be behind the camera, documenting the most important moments her couples get to experience. She loves getting to know her couples and offering them guidance and direction so they can look back at their photos and feel happy about their time in front of the camera. Ashleigh’s work has been featured in many major wedding print magazines and on high-end and frequented wedding planning web sites. Her favorite part about the gig: connecting with real couples, telling their story through vibrant images, and helping people see themselves as beautiful as they truly are.

Visit Ashleigh Taylor Photography, “like” her on Facebook, and follow her on Pinterest and Twitter. … just not during your wedding day.

{Real Jewish Weddings} Florence, Italy

Posted on February 23, 2014 by Alison in Destination Weddings, Real Jewish Weddings

Having developed a love of fine shoes late in life, it was upon wearing a newly-acquired pair of red velvet Marc Jacobs heels that Lauren met Joe — or rather Joe spied Lauren’s red shoes — as she crossed the road to attend a plush London soiree. It so happened that Joe was also attending the same event and spent the rest of the evening trying to find the owner of the red shoes. Eventually, after much searching, he did and they hit it off immediately. The rest, as they say, is history and Lauren and Joe were married in the incredible grounds of ‘La Sorgente di Francesca’ — a lovingly-restored Borgo dating back to 1400, which nestles gently in the rolling Tuscan hills of the ancient village of Fiesole, just outside Florence.

Before the wedding. the couple were photographed around Florence with Lauren wearing her red shoes in a nod to how they first met. The following day, wearing an elegant, beaded strapless dress, flowers in her hair, and carrying a bouquet of cream roses, gardenias and jasmine, Lauren married Joe who wore a suit he’d had handmade in Venice with a Scottish thistle as his button.

Following an intimate chuppah ceremony, their guests enjoyed an aperitivo of local delicacies and fine wine and relaxed by the poolside in the warm afternoon sunshine, as the sound of jazz filled the air. After the official photographs that included shots of the beautiful surroundings and Tuscan scenery, the couple and their guests were piped into dinner by a Scot’s piper before dining on a feast of Italian specialities at a square table decorated with sunflowers. Later in the evening after the sun had gone down, the courtyard became their dance floor where the jazz band took to the stage once more to entertain Lauren, Joe and their guest as they danced under the stars.

Mazel tov, Lauren and Joe!

Photographer: Belle Momenti Photography

Submitted via Two Bright Lights

{Real Jewish Weddings} Baltimore, MD

Posted on February 18, 2014 by Alison in Real Jewish Weddings

You know it’s going to be a good day when you walk in & the bridesmaids are doing the Soulja Boy dance together! That fun energy set the tone for Alyssa and Jonathan’s Sheraton Inner Harbor wedding, and the rest of the day followed suit! Even though it was freakin’ COLD out, Alyssa and Jono did their First Look out on the convention center walkway, and the rest of their bridal party joined them. Afterwards, they signed their Ketubah, Jono veiled his bride, their sisters lit the 4th candle of the Chanukah menorah, and their moms smashed a plate — all before they headed down the aisle to wed.

Alyssa, a huge Disney fan, was escorted down the aisle by her parents to “When You Wish Upon a Star” performed by a string quartet, bringing smiles to all who know her. Under their custom-made Chuppah, they opted to read love letters that they had written to one another, instead of saying vows. Beautiful, emotion-filled love letters. A joyful “Mazel Tov” filled the air, and rose petals were tossed, as the newlyweds made their way back down the aisle.

The reception was kicked off by the band “Spectrum” and everyone joined in for the Horah! The dance floor was packed the entire night, and every last detail was attended to by the amazing Lemon+Lime design team. The purple uplighting, beautiful floral arrangements on the tables, and the sparkly table numbers added the perfect purple stylings to create a festive, formal, and romantic atmosphere. Jono appeased his guests by getting up on stage and singing his famous rendition of “Love Shack” with his best man – it.was.AWESOME!! At the end of the night, guests picked up a satchel of donuts on their way out the door, in celebration of Chanukah!

Mazel tov, Alyssa and Jonathan!