'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)!

It's All Relative- Ginger & Peter Mermin, 11.16.08, Sarasota, Florida

It is ironic, many people have pointed out, that I'm a wedding photographer and yet I walked my dad down the aisle first. He and his girlfriend (that sounds so funny for a 60-something year old) of several years tied the knot on November 16th at the Chelsea Center in Sarasota. And let's get the annoying question out of the way: No, I was not their wedding photographer. If I was a professional chef who catered weddings, no one would expect me to attend my father's wedding behind a chafing dish serving guests salmon and pasta, so why do some people think people you can be the hired photographer and still be an honored guest? This has come up a lot in my family as I'm the "family photographer".) Enough ranting, back to wedding reporting. The ceremony was held outside, and during the recessional they danced and shimmied down the aisle to a jazz tune, very sweet.. Music during the reception was heavily influenced by my dad's favs (who taught me how to dance to the Beach Boys at age 9)- a lot of '50's dance classics as well as a lot of Dylan and The Stones, and my dad requested Billy Idols' "White Wedding" as a father/daughter dance (my dad knew all the words as I apparently played it ad nauseam throughout the house as a fifteen year old. Poor dad.)

Ginger and my dad are both avid readers, so for parting gifts they gave their guests keepsake bookmarks, and on the back they read, "To marry again is the triumph of HOPE over EXPERIENCE." (between the 2 of them they have 7 marriages- now that's experienced!) I now have an instant (just add a wedding and some 'steps' to the relation)

step mother (Ginger),  older bro Philip and step sister in-law, as well as a cute set of twin step nieces and nephews. So if your great uncle and older but cuter sisters are driving you crazy this holiday season, remember this: you can pick your nose, but your can't pick your family. Where am I going with this (and is this appropriate to post on a wedding photographers blog? I don't know, it's therapeutic.) Happy 

Holidays!

Halloween Pet Parade, "Divas Unleashed", Boston, Woof! 10/26/08

I met Rob Galeski, owner of Doggie Day as well as Twig, a floral shop in Tremont street in Boston, at a wedding show a few weeks ago. He was excited when I agreed to photograph the adorable costumed doggies the the Divas Unleashed event. Also marching in the parade 

was the Vote Yes on 3 group, a 

measure to ban greyhound dog track racing in Massachusetts by 2010. Vote for the dogs and vote yes on question 3 on November 4th! Woof woof, bark, bark, Barack!