Marni and Brett’s Wedding

This weekend, another one of my cousins went from Miss to Mrs. at a beautiful celebration in New York, NY at Cipriani Wall Street.  And once again, instead of taking cel phone pictures, I used my camera (and some extra gear that I brought along on this trip) to capture some special moments from the event.  The bride and groom were absolutely glowing, and I know this will sound cliché, but it’s absolutely true that Marni appeared happier than I’ve ever seen her from the moment she walked down the aisle until the band played its last note.  She looked absolutely stunning, and I would have expected nothing less from this fashion blogger (check out Style on the Rise).  Their party was like a candy shop for this photographer, from the architecture and lighting of the venue, to the flowers, and not to mention the party hearty band, and guests.  There was confetti for the first dance, an energetic hora, stage dancing, and both the bride and groom being lifted into the air more than once!  I wish Marni and Brett the best in their life together, and if this weekend was any indication, it’s gonna be a great one!

My Life: Pirate Pool Party

It's been a while since I did a 'My Life' post, but it's definitely something I want to catch and keep up with as we do things that are interesting and/or photogenic.

My little guy recently celebrated his birthday.  Since he’s a summer baby, we’ve typically celebrated with pool parties.  This year, I wanted to take it up a notch, so we planned some pirate-themed pool games.  I hired an enthusiastic teenager to lead them in the games so I’d be free to take some pictures (and take A/C breaks). 

Target Practice
First up was a game we called target practice.  I found it here on Amazon.  Any other form of pool ring toss would work as well.  The set only came with several yellow foam balls (which my kids lost under the couch the first week it arrived), so I bought several packages of ping pong balls and a little basket to store them in at Dollar Tree.  I was finishing making the salad while the kids were playing this one, so I didn’t get any photos.


Walk the Plank
This is self-explanatory.  The kids each took turns creatively “walking the plank”, aka, jumping into the pool.


Cannonball Toss
Next up was the cannonball toss.  This is the classic egg toss picnic game, but with water balloons as the ‘cannonballs’. To play, the participants select a partner and start standing close to one another and toss and catch the ball, stepping farther apart with each successful catch.  The leftover water balloons were used for a ‘cannonball fight’.


Joust
For the joust, the boys sat on larger pool noodles while trying to knock each other off with smaller pool noodles.  The larger pool noodles were a bit too steady and hard to knock each other off of, so I’d recommend trying the smaller pool noodles to both sit on and joust with.


Bury Your Treasure
For this next game, we blew up a bag of balloons with regular air (with a hand pump I found at the Dollar Tree).  The object of the game was to see who could hold down the most balloons under their body under the water.  For an added challenge, try the game without hands!


Pirate Ship
And last, but certainly not least, the birthday boy got to take a ride in this adorable inflatable pirate ship, which I  had gotten on sale at Walmart.com for $15 and change.  It was a total surprise to the birthday boy, and he loved it!


Pirate’s Booty
The boys came inside and those who brought them wore pirate costumes, and they had pizza and ice cream.  We always do ice cream for our pool parties.  Since we’re home and therefore have access to the freezer (and it’s hot), why have regular cake?! 

The guests took home water squirters (Dollar Tree) and Pirate’s Booty.  I’m here with my dad wearing this fun pirate costume t-shirt that I found on Etsy.

Alexis and Manny’s Engagement Session

This lovely couple is headed to wedded bliss this November, so we met up this weekend to capture an Engagement session.  Engagement sessions are a great way to get to know your photographer, get comfortable in front of the camera, and have some great casual photos with your fiance.  We started off our session in a fun urban area.  It had rained earlier that day and I took full advantage of the super fun puddle reflections.  We continued our session downtown after the sun set for some interesting and equally fun night portraits, and concluded with a sparkler light painting.  This couple really knows how to make each other laugh.  There was some gentle posing guidance from me, followed by lots of laughter, which allowed me to capture some really genuine expressions.  Thanks to Alexis and Manny and Alexis’ mom for braving the heat for these great moments, and I look forward to capturing many more on your wedding day!

Matt and Kevin’s Wedding

Matt and Kevin were married this weekend at their alma mater, the University of Miami.  We began the afternoon with some portraits in the shelter of the new student center, which overlooks the campus’ iconic lake, because the sunshine state isn’t always sunny.  The ceremony was held at the school’s alumni center, where while we were dry inside, there wasn’t a dry eye in the house.  Much love and hugs were exchanged over cocktails, followed by a joyous celebration.  There were welcome speeches, a song by the bridal party, a flash mob dance, and a music video slide show.  The table cards were hand drawn by Matt, and upon his request, we re-created a wedding photo his parents took many years earlier.  It was a pleasure to have captured the love and energy shared by and for this couple, and that they carry that love and energy throughout their life together as husbands!

Stella’s 1st Birthday Party

This past weekend, this little cutie celebrated her first birthday!  She is the one who makes my job so easy, with those expressive eyes, beautiful smile, and delightful personality.  She participated in circle time with her family and friends, and a good time was had by all.  This group is especially fun, b/c it’s the second generation.  I’m sure we could dig up photos of her mom with these kids’ moms.  Maybe these kiddos will look back on these photos with their kids for the third generation!  Her cake smash was delicate and relatively clean, which is only fitting for such a sweet little girl.  This post is timed on the eve of her first birthday, and I wish her the happiest of days, and many more to come!