Sneak Peek - Rebecca and Walt's wedding

Rebecca and Walt came to Florida this past weekend for their destination beach wedding. Unfortunately, it's been pouring buckets every day here for the past week and their wedding day was no exception. The ceremony was scheduled for 7pm. At 5pm it was storming and then cleared up so we thought that maybe we got lucky. But about 15 minutes before the ceremony began, it started thundering and lightning. Rebecca and Walt decided to get married out by the water, rain or shine so off we went.

For the first 10 minutes, the rain held off but the thunder roared. More than 100 guests came in from all over the place to witness the ceremony and union of these two incredible people. Midway through the ceremony, the rain began to come down, first in a light drizzle but then it poured! Everyone was completely soaked but nobody left. Everyone stayed and watched as Rebecca and Walt shared their first kiss as husband and wife. Everyone clapped and laughed and was filled with joy even as they were being drenched. It truly was an amazing experience and one that will never be forgotten. For about an hour afterwards, many people walked around in towels (luckily their wedding was at the beach area of a hotel and there were plenty of pool towels that they brought and gave to the guests.

Just one photo for now... the shot we waited in the pouring down rain, risking our camera gear to capture. More photos coming later!



Until next time..

Meow, Meow, Meow

My oldest cat, Precious is one of the sweetest cats ever. She runs up to me the moment I come in the door and rubs her side against my hand and purrs. She loves attention and she's spoiled rotten. I love her to pieces though. I realized I never share photos just from my life so I thought I'd start sharing photos of other things I take pictures of from time to time.

My sweet Precious...



Until next time..

Eve and Dan's Engagement - 1 more photo!

Just wanted to share another photo I just finished editing from Eve and Dan's amazing engagement session. I thought you might like to see a photo that actually has them and a plane in it :-)

And lots of color! I just love it!



More to come..

Until next time...

Tampa, Florida : Eve and Dan's Engagement Photo Sneak Peek

Eve and Dan met on an airplane. They were seated next to one another and by the end of the flight to their destination, the sparks had flown and they knew there was something special there between them. From the moment we sat down together at a Starbucks, several months back, I knew without a shadow of a doubt that these two people radiated the stuff that love is made out of.

During our entire consultation, they talked about how they met, how they fell in love, their wedding plans, etc. and they would look at one another with such heartfelt love and warmth. Talk about sparkling eyes, grins that cannot be wiped off of precious faces and a love that could shine light in the darkest room.

It was only fitting that we would do their engagement session with airplanes since that's how they met. We got access to a private airport and we used a helicopter and several planes. We had so much fun. I can honestly say they were my first couple to ever "make out"!! And I mean, make out! Some times, we had to break them up. Isn't love sweet?

Normally, I post 2-3 photos in a sneak peek and they actually have the people in them! Haha. Well, I just got done editing another session and wanted to get one up real quick from this session since their photos are next for me to edit.

The photo isn't of Eve and Dan. Sorry! It is however, a cool photo that was never meant to happen. We had just walked up to the helicopter to take our first shots. My assistant, Latanya had set the strobe light on and turned on the pocketwizard and told me to turn the one on the camera on and to do a test to make sure they were communicating. I just held the camera down by my stomach and pressed the shutter button and snapped a photo to make sure the strobe would fire. The resulting shot came from that test fire that for all I knew was just of the ground. The portion of a person whose arm is framing the flare would be Dan. :-)

More to come soon!



Until next time...

Tampa Florida: Wedding Photographer : Jamee and Alex!

I've never blogged a wedding before because I always wind up with way too many favorites to narrow it down! But since I update my blog way more than my website, I thought I would share my most recent wedding here on my blog.

This was my first Jewish wedding. I had never attended, nor photographed a Jewish wedding before this one. I read up a lot on the traditions and the order things would happen in so I could be as well prepared as one could be without ever having attended one before. It was fun and different and I had a great time!

P.S. There's going to be a ton of photos!!

Jamee and Alex have been such a pleasure to work with since the beginning. The love that bonds them together is exceptional and I loved watching them feed off of one another.

The wedding was planned as a beach wedding with the reception to follow at the Pelican Pointe Country Club. Unfortunately, mother nature didn't agree with the plans the bride and groom had made and it stormed the entire day, leading up to the ceremony. So, as a last minute decision, the ceremony was moved into a room of the country club. Despite the set backs, Jamee and Alex had a great time and their love for one another shone through.

Here are a TON of my favorite photos. You might want to grab some popcorn! :-)


The ladies getting ready


Jamee getting the final touches on her make-up


Jamee let me take off with her dress when the rain cleared up for a few minutes and there was this old archway outside against a wall so my assistant and I grabbed it and moved it so we could hang the dress from it to get this shot:


Jamee's bouquet


I took a ton of photos of their rings and I narrowed it down to 3 to show you. See, I couldn't choose just 1!









A couple more getting ready shots:






Jamee and Alex signing the Ketubah:






The boys are always ready before the girls so we grabbed a couple of impromptu shots of the boys before the ceremony began:




I have to admit, I was slightly nervous when the ceremony started. I didn't want to miss anything and nobody really knew the order that the ceremony was going to go in. So, I just kept taking pictures. The nerves were a good thing because I was extremely focused! This ceremony went by blazingly fast. I think it lasted about 8-12 minutes total!






The Rabbi blessed everything before passing it on to the bride and groom and said a few words about it's significance.










And then he blessed the glass for the breaking of the glass:






Married at last!!


Boys will be boys - I just love when I can get them all to jump really high!


A couple minutes alone with Jamee and Alex before the ceremony out on the golf course!












Toast time! Jamee lost her father not that long ago and the toasts were both joyous and emotional for her.








And Alex was there to hold her hand:


The best man brought his speech on his cell phone. Notice the bridesmaids giggling about it in the background! So cute!


And then grandpa (whose swagger and style just tickled us all night), gave his toast. (I think he danced with almost every lady in the room that night!)






The girls bustling up Jamee's dress to prepare her for her first dance:


What a beautiful bride:


Dance time!








Everyone prepared me that when the Hora started, I should be up on a chair and that everyone would go nuts. So, up in a chair and bracing myself, I went. This was the most fun part of the day. I have another Jewish wedding coming up this Saturday and I cannot wait for the Hora again!






Alex's mother and father dancing and having a good time:


The DJ got out on the floor and busted a move and taught everyone a line dance:






What a stud muffin!


I thought this was a cute moment. The maid of honor was showing Jamee a photo she had taken.


Mwah!




I don't usually give much direction on a wedding day because I prefer to let moments happen naturally but we were about to leave and I asked Alex to pick Jamee up and run around the dance floor with her:


The end:


Hope you enjoyed them! There's tons more photos that include more of the guests dancing, garter toss, bouquet toss, etc. So, if you really want to see more, just go to the client proof gallery on my website at www.PureEmotionsPhotography.com and enter the username: moses2009 and password: wedding

Until next time......