Inside Weddings magazine, Winter 2010

We are grateful to have our work published in the latest issue of Inside Weddings magazine, Winter issue 2010.

Meghan & Jordan had a colorful beachside destination wedding at the Port Royal Club in Naples, Florida. We photographed over 3 days including a welcome dinner, the wedding day that included a clubby midnight after-party and a beachside brunch. The bridal party wore a muted blue that represented the water and sky, which complimented the very Floridian hot pink and orange flowers arrangements.

Watch Meghan and Jordan's Love Story.

Tristan & Matt, 08.08, The Perfect Gastronomic Pairing

Tristan and Matt are both attorneys in Los Angeles and met working in the same law firm. They are both 'foodies' and fell in love with the Napa region, so it was fitting to have their wedding weekend there. Their rehearsal dinner was held at the premier Italian restaurant Tra Vigne in an lovely outdoor courtyard under the stars. The wedding was held in St. Helena at the Culinary Institute of America at Greystone, one of the premiere chef schools in the world. While we were scouting the location the day before, Emeril and his crew were filming for the Food Network, and when the were wrapping up production my second shooter got to have a bacon wrapped fig made by Emeril himself! You can imagine that our dinners that evening were the best I've ever had.

Tristan's Caroline Herrera wedding dress had a lovely jewel sash. The ceremony was held outside at the C.I.A., and Tristan and Matt were married by one of Matt's friends in an untraditional Jewish ceremony. At the end of the cocktail hour, one of the chefs came down the stairs, banged on pots to let everyone know the the doors were opening for dinner and to take their seats. Their colors were deep blues and purples, and the hydrangea flowers and dramatic lighting by Kate Stanley Design were amazing. The silvery coordinated linens provided by La Tavola. The band Mixxed Company rocked the house, and at the end of the evening the couple were showered with rose petals as they made a grand exit in in a vintage 1940's white Rolls Royce.

View Tristan and Matt's Love Story here!

Sally and Dan Hit a Home Run at Fenway!

My good friend Sally got married in Fenway Park a few weeks ago--How Beantown-Red Sox-pride cool is that? I made her and Dan this Love Story for their wedding gift, and I even found a great version of 'Take Me Out To The Ballgame' by the Boston Pops with a special nod to the Sox at the end. Sally's dad was watching live via Skype from Japan and spoke during the ceremony. Wally the Green Monster made a guest appearance to the delight of all the kids and adults. (Oh, and check me out-- I'm the one blowing bubbles before the ceremony. Nice to be included in the photos and not just be behind the camera!)

Watch their Love Story HERE.

(You can view the images individually at your own pace by clicking the 'show contols' button on the right, and then 'Browse Gallery View".)

Meghan & Jordan, a Steamy Beachside Affair in Naples

I mentioned the connection to Meghan & Jordan's to my last post, but I will elaborate: Back in 2006, Chris and Lauren (Bromley) were married in Naples, Florida at the Port Royal Club, and had their rehearsal at the Naples Beach Club. Their wedding was published in the 2007 issue of Inside Weddings.

Lauren's sister (Kristen) got married 2 years later and her wedding was also published in Inside Weddings. And almost one year later on Kristin's wedding anniversary, I was shooting Meghan and Jordan's wedding, and they had their rehearsal also at the Naples Beach Club, as well as the ceremony/reception at the Port Royal Club, and almost all of the same wedding professionals were there: Milda Vaivada from Soiree (whom I've now done 3 Naples events with!) Hair (with lovely stephanonis flowers) by Randy Burke and make up by Tracy Gravois; amazing lighting affects and colored lanterns by Frost lighting; Luis Torres did a great job as always from Utopia Video; beautiful gerbera daisies bouquets and displays from 50/Fifty Floral Art, delicious and moist (really- I always sample my reviews!) cake by Daniella's Cakes- all great professionals to work with. Theme colors: dark muted blue bridesmaid dresses by J.Crew, navy blue jackets/light blue shirts for the men and a bright blue wedding cake (blue representing the sea and sky) made the main opposite colors of orange and fuscia really pop. Very Floridian! Meghan's flowy dress by Anne Barge. Invitations and menus by Arabesque of Naples.

The weather threatened rain and it was steamy, temps the 90's made my lenses fog up when we left the a/c, but the rain held off for a great outdoor ceremony and sunset pictures on the beach. They had a midnight afterparty with mini hotdogs/ buns, mini egg and cheese croissants, and my favorite-- mini 'milkshake' shots of ice cream blended with Bailey's and Godiva liquor- refreshing and sweeeeeet!

I did somehow manage to get poison ivy at the rehearsal, and I started scratching my face thinking I got a few mosquito bites...Carlton and I flew back to Boston on Sunday and by Tuesday my face turned into a swollen, itchy gross pizza, and I could barely see out of one eye..It made for difficult editing and I was taking Benadryl and wearing gloves for 2 weeks. I'm still scratching a bit as I type, but most of it's gone now from my face at least... but it was worth it to capture such great images and colors... Meghan and Jordan are big country music fans (they named of their dogs Johnny Cash and Hank Williams), so I incorporated some of their music selections, including their first dance song, 'Forever & Ever, Amen', but I didn't think the original Randy Travis version worked as well as this other romantic version I found by Anne Lise.

Watch their rockin' rehearsal party and 13 hours of their steamy ceremony and colorful reception condensed into 8 amazing minutes of their Love Story!

Congratulations M & J!

Inside Weddings Summer/Fall 2009

We photographed Kristen Bromley's sister Lauren ( featured for this wedding) back in 2006, whose wedding was also featured in Inside Weddings - see 'Lauren & Chris, Naples, Florida' on my Media gallery on the website and on my blog Philadelphia Story. I'm glad both Bromley sisters got featured, I know how sibling rivalry can be! It was a little over a year ago last June that my second shooter Mary Flatley and I traveled down to Philadelphia to photograph the rehearsal and the wedding that we shot simultaneously in 2 states! (the guys got dressed in Philly, the girls back in their home in Pine Valley, New Jersey). It's funny how all my weddings have a connecting thread going through them- I just photographed a wedding 2 weeks ago at the Port Royal Club in Naples, Florida, where Lauren Bromley was married 3 years ago. I had the pleasure of working with wedding planner Milda Vaivada of Soiree and most of the same professionals from Lauren's wedding...I'll give you all the details in the next blog!

To view Kristin & Doug's Love Story, click here.

'Wedding Photography Unveiled' book release!

It was about 18 months ago that I got a call from Jackie Tobin, the deputy editor of Photo District News, about putting together a book featuring some of the best wedding photographers, and I was thrilled. Over several months, Jackie has called me for interviews on everything from marketing,

 advertising, booking, shooting, what's in my camera bag, albums, websites, getting published. Even though the conversation was on business, it always ended up drifting into other stuff, and we 

would be on the phone for hours at a a time talking about everything from our jobs to dating. I haven't formally met Jackie in person but I feel like she's now a good friend of mine and I'm so excited for her book, not just my feature. I am so proud to be part of this book, and many of my bay

 area colleagues also featured in the book such as Meg Smith and Suzy Clement were my early inspiration for becoming a wedding photographer and eventually following my dream to move out west three years ago. Wedding Photography Unveiled, Inspiration and Insight from 20 Top Photographers by Jacqueline Tobin is now on all major bookstores in US and Canada.

Melissa's images to be featured in the award winning M.I.L.K. book series

Back in 2001, I entered an international photo competition for a new book series to be the new "Family of Man" series of the 21st century called Moments of Intimacy, Laughter and Kinship (M.I.L.K.) . 150 images were chosen out of 250,000 entries sent in. It was an honor to get my work published, receive a substantial monetary prize, be part of such an historic book with some of the best photographers around the globe, and a real honor that the chief photo judge was the great Magnum photographer Elliot Erwitt.

The producers of  the series announced last fall a new competition called Fresh M.I.L.K.

and I just found out that 2 of my images will be included! The new book series, calendar and photo cards are set to release in bookstores fall of 2009. Thank you to my clients that let me peer into their lives and capture the quiet and humorous moments in their day. Thank you again to Elliot Erwitt, your images have always been a huge inspiration to me.

Love in Tandem: Katie & Mike, Carmel-By-The-Sea, 1.31.09

I met Katie at a Bay area wedding networking event last year, we talked about her redesigning my website, but we got busy with other stuff and lost touch until.. flash forward to fall 2008 and she called me to let me know she was engaged to her boyfriend Mike (they had been dating for 10 years!) and they were planning a wedding in late January in Carmel. They planned on having the intimate wedding at Casanova ("Carmel's most romantic restaurant") as it was one of their favorite places and Mike proposed there. Also, the weather could be rainy and chilly, so having it inside was one less thing to worry about. It turned out the weather was unusually perfect for late January in Monterey-- 70's, dry and sunny and whole weekend. I had to keep reminding myself of the season and where I was-  (my east coast brain kept believing it was September and I'm in Martha's Vineyard or the Cape.)

Many weddings have a theme, and their them was a tandem bicycle on their invitations and menus. Katie's mother runs Inprint, a local invitation and calligraphy company, and she and Katie designed and produced the invitation/menu/seating card ensemble. I love the bicycle theme as I'm a cyclist and love to ride, so this was close to my heart (I'm making a mental note and may borrow this idea for my own someday wedding..) The tandem symbolizes going forward together in life, both partners needing to work together so they don't get stuck or fall over. 

Casanova has an old bicycle in front that was perfect to have in the foreground for pictures, and Kate and Mike rented a tandem to ride around the street after the wedding. Katie wore a tea-length dress, perfect for bike riding and heading down to the beach for sunset pictures in the cold surf. 

on February 9, 2009, at 11:41am, Kate B. wrote:

Melissa- you are GENIOUS! The pictures are amazing and we love the music you set to it-perfect timing as you said! Thank you for all your hard work and running around chasing us on the bike.

Their music selection was quirky and fun.. Come view their Love Story!

Heather & James at the Flood Mansion, San Francisco 1.24.09

I didn't meet Heather and James face-to-face until 2 days before the wedding as they live in L.A. and Heather knew from a very young age she wanted to get married at the James Leary Flood Mansion. The building houses the Sacred Heart School during the week, and I was told by manager Randy Sargeant that it's rented out for 48 weddings a year..Heather went to school at Sacred Heart from elementary through high school, and even had her prom where she had her first dance with James. She put on her dress in her old history classroom (you'll notice the old wooden desks in their Love Story, it's very cute.) The bride wore feathery, strappy Manolo Blahniks that would make Carrie Bradshaw proud, and her wonderfully Marilyn Monroe-esque dress was from Pronovias. The wedding was an intimate affair of 80 guests, and the food, lighting and floral design was provided by McCalls, and Anna Williams (the coordinator for McCalls) is always a pleasure to work with. A photo booth was a big hit where guests had their pics taken and could leave a copy for the couple and get a copy to take home. For dessert, instead of a traditional wedding cake they had the best red velvet, vanilla and chocolate cupcakes that Betty Crocker couldn't pull off! Provided by Sibby's Cupcakery. Yum. 

On Feb 2, 2009, at 11:14 PM, Heather Jenkins wrote:

 Melissa-

We got your email while in Maui and have watched the love store at least 100 times.....I can now watch it without crying.  It is AMAZING!!!!!!

We can't wait to see the rest of the pictures.Thank you for everything

Heather           

View their yummy Love Story.

The Wedding Show at the Four Seasons 1.18.09, San Francisco

It was the second year we did the SF Wedding Fair at the Four Seasons. I saw some amazing booths that gave me ideas to make our booth have more of lounge, cool clubby feel for next year. The food was divine as always, and the vendors scrambled like little rats at the end of the show to help 'clean up' the food and cake booths. My favorite is Sibby's Cupcakery (who just did the cupcakes for my clients wedding last 

week at the Flood Mansion (see my next post.. best red velvet cake I've ever had!) We also saw our friend Sabrina Moyle from Hello Lucky! custom letterpress invitations, and lucky for us we had a booth next to them. We're excited to be part of this exclusive show and enjoyed meeting hundreds of brides-to-be (as well as the grooms-to-be that were dragged along as well)!