Monthly Archives: January 2009

All You Need is Luv

Dah-dah-dah-dah-dah.  :)

Today I am feelin’ the luv, as I just learned from Rebecca, over at Tastefully Entertaining, that she has honored MDP with a Blog Luv Award!  Isn’t she just the sweetest?!  Thank you so much for such an awesome gift from such an amazing blogger.  :)   (Many thanks also for getting a catchy Beatles tune stuck in my head.  :)   This is a good thing.)

I completely believe in paying it forward, so now I’d like to share the LUV with some of my own fav blogs (in no particular order).

1. I’m an Organizing Junkie

2. Jasmine Star Photography

3. Proud to Plan

4. Zen Habits

5. Humbled Eyes Photography

6. Majesta’s Olympic Dream

7. Cake Wrecks

8. Litrato Photojournalism

9. Wedding Chicks

10. Photo Lovecat

Honorees please follow these instructions and share the LUV!

1. Put the logo on your blog or post. (You can highlight the photo and text of this post and copy/paste wherever you need to…start your highlight from the bottom up to get the photo)

2. Nominate at least 10 blogs which show GREAT ATTITUDE and/or GRATITUDE

3. Be sure to link to your nominees within your post.

4. Let them know that they have received this award by commenting on their blog.

5. Share the love and link to this post and to the person from whom you received the award.

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Debbie & Tom | Colonial Dames Christmas Wedding

When I woke up the day after Christmas, I was pumped!  I had already carefully thought out my wardrobe, reviewed my shot list and I was READY for the Christmas festivities to continue in the form of Debbie & Tom’s wedding.  Feelin good, I sat down at my computer to check email, as I often do first thing in the morning, and then……PANIC.  My second shooter just canceled on me.  Sick in bed with the bug that had been making its rounds.  Ok.  Ok.  Breathe.  It’s ok.  No big deal, I told myself.  I can fix this.  I got people. (Like they say in those tax commercials we see a lot this time of year.)  I sent out some emails and within an hour had a new second shooter and all was fine.  The uber talented Joel Plotkin graciously agreed to give up his day to spend it with me, shooting a wedding.  How amazing is he?!  Whew!  Crisis averted.  Thank God for having people.  :)

Life, my friends, is all about having people.  When I say people, I mean the fabulous, wonderful people who make up our personal and professional support networks.  The people we turn to for help, the people we trust.  The people who love us and we love them back.  This wedding, in fact, was all about having people.  Debbie & Tom have people – most importantly, each other, but beyond that they have an abundance of family and friends who support their love, who would break from their own holiday festivities to celebrate this couple as they wed, on the day after Christmas.  But see Debbie & Tom also had ERIN.  Folks….if you don’t know about Erin, please please please do yourself a favor and get her on your radar!  This fantabulous woman is Delaware’s Wedding Planner to the Stars, the Queen of Craft, the Candle Connoisseur, the Decorator Diva….I could go on.  She just simply ROCKS and I love working with her.  :)   Erin is the go to gal for everything wedding related and I’m happy to call her one of my people too.  hehe

Debbie & Tom had a beautiful holiday themed wedding, the day after Christmas, at the Colonial Dames in Philadelphia.  It was cold, but perfect for the season.  A perfect contrast to the warmth of their love.  (I had to do it!  Ok, ok – no more corniness, I promise!  Please don’t gag!  LOL)  Seriously though…it was so beautiful.  The white Christmas lights, the festive red and green, the glamourous bride, the immaculate details….amazing.  and what better way to spend time around the holidays, than to witness and document LOVE.  Seriously.

Ok…on to the pictures.  :)

We started the day with Debbie, as she got ready at the Radisson: Warwick hotel.  Debbie & Tom were not your typical bridal couple….not nervous, not stressed.  They saw each other every step of the way.  Tom’s daughters were excited to be involved in every way as well.  It was a nice change of pace from your average every day wedding stress.  :)

The Dress – Simply adorned.

Debbie has simple taste.  I love petite bouquets.

Notice how the shoes also have a simple adornment, matching the dress?  I’m telling you – no detail went unnoticed.

LOVE this shot that Joel got of the rings!  Completely different than what I got, but still complements it.

Debbie and I agree that there is no such thing as too big of a diamond.  ;)

Debbie gave her new step-daughters a gorgeous snowflake necklace to commemorate this day.

LOVE this spontaneous moment!

GLAMOUROUS!

While I was grabbing the detail shot above, Joel grabbed the full length shot below.  Two parts of the same story, yet totally in harmony.  Love it.  :)

The Colonial Dames was only a short walk from the hotel…

With the sun setting earlier this time of year, Debbie & Tom opted to see each other before the ceremony.  I love Debbie’s expression here!

I knew the light levels would drop rapidly so I came prepared with a video light.  I enjoyed creating my own lighting for a change!  I want to do more with creative lighting this year.  I love how this portrait of Tom turned out.

OMG I think this is my new favorite picture.  :)

Great placement of the Christmas trees here.  All of the details were perfect.

LOVE the stockings!  Such a great touch!

The guests place cards were attached to candy canes and hung on the tree.  Another novel idea.

Oh how I love the cake.  The sleigh, the reindeer, every bit of it.

Look at the detail!  Bredenbeck’s did a magnificent job!

Oh yes, couldn’t have a Christmas wedding without a Gingerbread house!  Complete with GingerBride and GingerGroom.  Too cute!

The tables were named after Santa and his reindeer.  Love it.

When I saw family later this weekend, they all asked how the wedding went, as they usually would.  Many speculated that there must not have been many guests, being that it was the day after Christmas.  Yeah well…..like I said….Debbie & Tom have people.  ;)   LOTS of them.

Thank you so much guys for inviting me to share in your holiday wedding celebration.  It was such a joy!  HUGE shoutout to Erin Proud and Joel Plotkin for being such fabulous people to work with!!  Here’s a behind-the-scenes shot of each of us, hard at work…

This girl can lug some chairs, let me tell you!  She works hard for her money!

Joel in deep concentration, us photographers really get into our jobs.

Me – workin on those rings.  I love the smallest details.

…and a shot of me and Erin cheesin it up.  :) Queen of Craft meets Queen of Self Portraits.  LOL

I think Erin was trying to look like GingerBride here.  Isn’t the kissy face resemblance just uncanny??  LOL

BTW, in an attempt not to overload the blog with tons and tons of photos, I’m gonna try to limit the number of photos I post per wedding.  BUT, since I love sharing LOTS of pics, you’ll be able to see more pix from any blog post (going forward) on both Flickr and Facebook.  Let me know what you guys think of this method!

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Debbie & Tom : Rittenhouse Engagement Session

I met Debbie & Tom up at the Colonial Dames in Philadelphia (where they would soon be married) on a VERY frigid day in December, to shoot their engagement session.  We walked around the Rittenhouse area, frequently seeking refuge from the bitter cold.  We dipped in and out of a few shops, in between shots, to escape the grip of winter but the cold seemed to make no difference to these guys!  They cuddled up to each other quickly and happily.  Totally made my job easy.  :)

This is my favorite shot of the afternoon.  There is nothing I love more than catching such a natural expression of love.  :)   This makes me want to curl up and cuddle with my hubby.  :)

Christmas Tree lights!!

We ducked into Barnes & Noble to warm up for a bit before braving the cold again.  I happen to have a great affection for escalators.  :)

I just adore this loving look that Debbie is giving Tom.

I love how their warm embrace contrasts the cold barren landscape of bare trees and dried up leaves.

Stay tuned for tomorrow’s post featuring Debbie & Tom’s {Day After} Christmas wedding, chock full of holiday spirit!

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