Bayanihan Arts Center Wedding | Phuong and Quoc
I recently photographed my first Vietnamese wedding and it was a great experience. One of the wonderful things about being a wedding photographer in Tampa Bay is that we have so many different cultures here. I’m sure there are places where wedding photographers spend every weekend photographing the same type of wedding but here we get all kinds and it makes the job so much more interesting.
Phuong and Quoc decided to schedule a separate bridal session with me a month before the wedding. The great thing about doing that was we we able to print two large canvas pieces for their home that they then displayed at the reception. I’ll be honest, it made me smile to see those two beautiful canvas’s showcased at the wedding. They even made the wedding video!
They were married over the course of two days. The first day was traditional, with visits to the houses of both families, traditional gifts and a tea ceremony. The second day was a regular wedding reception at the Bayanihan Arts Center. I’ve worked at the Bayanihan Arts Center a bunch of times. It’s a great venue.
It’s not every day that a wedding photographer gets to photograph a wedding party in two completely different outfits!
Phuong was beautiful in her traditional wedding dress…
Did I mention the food? Oh my…. the food was fantastic. I usually don’t get much time to eat at a wedding and this was no exception. I never saw so much food at a wedding before.
They also had a live band and several guests got up to sing during the course of the night. Of course, it was all in Vietnamese so I couldn’t understand it but they sure seemed to be crushing it!
Phuong and Quoc sent me a copy of their wedding video. It’s a great video and if you pay attention you’ll even see the World’s Greatest Wedding Photographer make an appearance or two. :) You’ll also see a lot of my posing as video guys tend to shoot while we photographers are shooting (and vice-versa).
It was a wonderful experience and I’m looking forward to my next Vietnamese wedding!
Planning a beach wedding in Clearwater or St. Petersburg? Go to Perfect Florida Beach Wedding for all your beach wedding needs!
Cross Creek Ranch Wedding | Gary and Stacy
I was fortunate to photograph a wedding at Cross Creek Ranch a few months ago and I’ve been so busy that I haven’t had a chance to blog about it. We were very busy in the later months of last year and I just haven’t had time to do any long blog posts. So, today is my “catch-up” day!
Gary and Stacy were married in October at Cross Creek Ranch. They had a “fall decor” theme and I loved every bit of it. Fall colors are the best… so warm and cozy… it’s was a real pleasure to photograph their wedding and, as always, the staff at Cross Creek Ranch is organized and efficient. I always feel that “everything is under control” when I work there. :)
The wedding was medium-sized. Gary and Stacy are older, with grown kids of their own. The one request that Stacy had was that she wanted good portraits of her family. Not portraits with the bride and groom… portraits of the families alone. She said that she wanted to take advantage of the rare occasion that had everyone there and dressed nice (good idea!). So, instead of the normal “wedding formals” where everyone takes pictures with the bride and groom, we did a little “mini-family-portrait session.” (including some great baby portraits :)
Here are a few of my favorites from the day along with some great images of the wonderful decorations at Cross Creek Ranch.
Stacy changed clothes during the reception. :)
Cross Creek Ranch Wedding |Marty and Lauren
I just want to get a few pictures on the blog from Marty and Lauren’s wedding last weekend at Cross Creek Ranch. I’ll post a lot more later but I like to get a couple online as fast as possible in most cases because everyone posts pictures from weddings to Facebook and it’s nice to have at least one really nice, professional image to show people in a sea of blurry cell-phone pictures.
The wedding was great, weather was fantastic and as always, Cross Creek Ranch does a thorough, professional job. I posted two pictures to Facebook the day after the wedding but today i was transferring the pictures from the photo booth to my work computer when I came across one of the bride and groom. I couldn’t help but laugh at the extreme difference between these two images, taken just minutes apart on their wedding day:
That just cracks me up!
Professional
Photographers
Association