Okay: I’m being (more than) a bit flowery, but I think it’s a valid point. Light is our medium.
Congratulations, Amy & Osamu!
photo: Gia Canali
Archive for the 'Photography' Category
I love the sweetness of Brandon & Serra’s wedding. Everything, everything was fashioned to be personal, to be romantic, to be sweet and meaningful. And the results were just about perfect. Plus, this was one of the thriftiest and most resourceful wedding planning crews I’ve encountered. Brandon and his twin brother, Brian, are the photographers behind Twin Lens Life. And Serra is a maven of vintage fashion, and all-things-vintage, come to think of it. Everything from fashion to decor was handmade or scored from vintage stores and thrift shops around Los Angeles.
Below: a few photographs of Serra & Brandon getting ready. I took just a moment right before the ceremony to get a couple photographs on my 4×5 camera.
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Below: some of the ceremony details. Click any image to enlarge. Brandon & Brian made the wooden signs (that fancy W and the plumage!). I love the lace draped tree. And the just-gathered feelings of the bouquets and arrangements. Florals by Amanda Claverie, Rosebud Floral Design.
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Above: one of the zillion polaroids from Brandon & Serra’s wedding. Below: This ceremony was just about perfect (and complete with a rooster strolling through, if you look closely!).
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After the ceremony, while we took group photos and photos of Brandon & Serra, the guests entertained themselves with games and tea. This is handy tip to steal: have something fun for your guests to do while you do your formal photographs. This is especially important if you plan not to see each other (and therefore not do any of the group photos before your ceremony).
It was hard to get Brandon’s twin brother, Brian, to hold still for a photo during cocktail hour. Since the boys are also wedding photographers, Brian made the rounds during cocktail hour getting a Polaroid—er, Fuji instant print—of each and every guest for the escort cards / guest book. They blogged {here} and {here} over on their blog, Twin Lens Life, about this project, which I think would be fantastic at any small wedding. Not exactly diy if you’re not a pro, but definitely handmade and one of a kind. I’m looking forward to seeing—and doing!—more of these unique one of a kind projects at weddings, which seem to be gaining in popularity.
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Everything about this wedding was so romantically-styled, down to the tiniest detail. There were piles of old books, and gatherings of baby’s breath, an old typewriter, candles, vases of a few blooms, tiny ceramic birds. The table was like a tableau. But my favorite little details, besides the “tree” with the Polaroids that Serra and Brandon had taken together over the course of their relationship (pictured below), were their love birds, Frankie and Allie.
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A few more quiet moments before the end of the day:
We had so much fun rotating through our (and Brandon & Brian’s!) collection of vintage film cameras, toy cameras, instant film cameras, et cetera. I loved getting to share in the absolute joy of shooting along side other lovers-of-photography (their crafty guests were snapping as many photos as I was, it seemed!). Congratulations, Brandon & Serra! Thanks for sharing! May your years ahead be happy and filled with lots of Polaroids! This wedding is also being featured {here} over on Snippet & Ink today!
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photographs: Gia Canali, venue: Heritage Square Museum, LA; florals: Amanda Claverie, Rosebud Floral Design; super 8mm wedding film: Tim Neilsen, Flicker Films, shown {here}; hair, Louis Santelices; pretty much everything else: handmade, thrift store or vintage shop finds.
This year, perhaps even more than in years past, and despite practically daily notices of film-discontinuations, I am being commissioned to do my slowest work: photo sessions driven largely or entirely by my dear and clunky 4×5 cameras. Behind the scenes, I am working on printing techniques that make the platinum printing I do feel like instant gratification. And I have been thinking: the slower the wedding, the slower the photography I am able to do. Slow photography requires breathing, reloading, time to think behind the lens, time to tinker, and, usually, a mess of polaroids—in other words, the freedom to be deliberate. (I also love that first reaction to a moment, and also seek that out in my work, just as anxiously, but I am getting at something different here).
I was rummaging through photo books this morning (my second favorite method of procrastination*), and pulled out a copy of Paul Outerbridge’s Command Performance. The prints reproduced in this book are platinum prints and carbro prints. Carbro prints, if you are unfamiliar, are made by a painstaking, triple-glass-negative technique. Printing is ridiculously labor intensive and unequivocally rewarding. Dazzling. Unfortunately these prints are a see-it-to-believe-it kind of experience.
But I’ve seen them, and the book was a gift to my husband after we went to the exhibition. The inscription I wrote, in part, says, “Cheers to doing things the hard way when it’s also the best way, an innovative or extraordinary way, and especially if it’s (at all) exquisite.” This apparently has been on my mind for quite awhile and I’d like to extend the toast to all of us photographers and commissioners-of-photography. So: as we all, myself included, race forward into photography’s future, clicking away at all manner of cameras, high-fi and low-tech, antique and newly-minted, let us not forget to breathe between shots. Let us hold dearly as a value thinking behind the lens. I think, my friends, that we are. But let’s make a point of it.
photo: Gia Canali
*my first favorite method of procrastination, at the moment, is browsing etsy.
Negar and Peter’s wedding was fantastically formal, glamorous, and richly textured in a way that very few weddings here in California ever are. If I could think of one phrase to describe this wedding, it would definitely be, dressed to the nines. Of course, that phrase makes a lot of sense when a fashion stylist weds a writer.
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Above: Tiny Pine Press designed and handmade these formal letterpress wedding invitations for Negar & Peter. I love how they look like they might have come out of grandma’s wedding album … or an F Scott Fitzgerald novel. They make me hope for a return to classical wedding design.
Negar & Peter had a traditional Persian ceremony, fireside, with a beautifully decorated sofreh. In Persian ceremonies, I love when all the girls (sisters, friends, mothers, aunts, etc.) get up and sprinkle the couple with sugar flakes. What wedding couldn’t use a little sweetness like that?
Negar called on her gifted pals, Joseph Free and David Rogers, who are usually busy designing events for Vogue and fashion designers, to design the florals and decor for her wedding. Inspired by their handiwork, and not surprisingly, this is the wedding that made me rethink baby’s breath. Heaps of lacy-soft baby’s breath and the warm glow of candlelight, it turns out, are pure magic. Here are a few of the intricate and particularly stellar details:
Even the wedding’s tiniest guests were dressed up and ready to party:
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We were honored to have this wedding featured in C Magazine’s C Weddings this April and are doubly thrilled that it’s being shown off on Style Me Pretty {here} today as well.
photographs: Gia Canali; venue, The California Club; invitations: Jennifer Parsons, Tiny Pine Press; floral design: Joseph Free; event decor: David Rogers; gown: Monique Lhuillier; bride’s jewels, vintage Neil Lane; shoes, Valentino
We’ve got celebrity wedding planner, Yifat Oren, back with us today, offering one more expert wedding planning tip and it’s an especially good one to heed:
“There’s a whole art to the pacing of a party and the energy of a party.”
“If you create too many lulls, your reception will not be as great as it could be. Waiting in between courses too long without giving guests something to do – like geting them up and dancing or listening to toasts – can really suck the life out of a party. When creating your timeline, pay special consideration to timing. A good rule of thumb is to serve a course and then have a couple of toasts. After the toasts, clear the course and either get your guests up for some dancing or come out with the next course immediately. For all this to run smoothly, your caterer/banquet captain at a hotel and band leader must work closely together with a well-thought-out timeline. Ideally, you would also have someone there on the day of the wedding to manage this process and be the liaison.”
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Thinking about the flow of your party when you create your timeline is essential, particularly in considering your guests. But a well-thought-out timeline won’t help you if you don’t stick to it (or, at least, as much as is up to you). I’m not saying, don’t let yourselves be spontaneous. I’m saying: plan for the experience you want to have and share with your guests and then have it (don’t just think it’ll happen). Your wedding crew will be busy doing the best job they can to realize that dream wedding day for you. Poor planning and big deviations can impact what they can do for you and can halt the party you’ve hoped for and imagined. Plus, a lively party renders much better on film. Thanks (again!), Yifat.
photo: Gia Canali
Yifat Oren has spent the last dozen years planning weddings and parties for some of the most discerning folks in Hollywood. When asked about her work, Yifat says, “I love what I do because I love what goes into weddings: design and décor, food and wine, fine papers, entertainment, and even the creativity that goes into executing it all flawlessly. I think the best weddings I do are a great collaboration between the clients and myself—that kind of collaboration breeds the most creative, trend-setting results.”
Those clients are high-powered and high-profile, everyone from Mariska Hargitay & Peter Hermann and Christine & Kevin Costner, to a host of Hollywood producers and business moguls. And while a lot of what these folks do for their weddings seems (or is!) totally unattainable for most of us, some of the most important and impactful aspects of planning a fantastic wedding translate perfectly to diy (or do-it-with-a-little-help) wedding planning. You don’t necessarily need more money or a bigger wedding budget; you just need a little forethought.
Consider The Guest Experience:
“Be thoughtful and cover your bases. When I’m planning a wedding, I walk through the entire event ahead of time, as if I am a guest. I imagine, for instance, “I just got off the shuttle. I left my hotel room an hour ago. I’m probably thirsty and I need shade because it’s hot. So we would serve cold beverages as soon as people get off the shuttle to quench their thirst and either a canopy or some market umbrellas for shade. The grass is tricky to walk on because ladies’ heels will sink. So we put out ‘heel savers’ … and so on, throughout the rest of the party, ending with a heater near the valet station, to be sure your guests aren’t freezing as they wait for their vehicles.”
Here are a few specific areas you can consider:
1. Be thoughtful about parking.
If you’re not doing a valet, it’s okay—just make sure there’s plenty of parking so your guests don’t have to walk too far or fight for spots.”
2. Consider the weather.
If there’s sun in everybody’s eyes during the ceremony, it’s awful. So offer some parasols or change the direction of the ceremony if possible. It’s nice to let people know, especially the ladies, what they can expect in terms of weather and terrain for the wedding day. If they’ll need to wear wedges, let them know. If it’s going to be cool during the evening but hot during the day, they might not think to bring wraps, so let them know ahead of time or provide them yourself.”
3. Consider the general appeal of the food.
You can be a total foodie, but if you want to serve something that’s wild and out there, do it as one of six appetizers, not as the main entreé that comes out for dinner.”
4. Consider your bridesmaids and groomsmen.
Usually they have to be there hours ahead of time. Make sure there are cold drinks for them, somewhere for them to hang their coats and stash their stuff, somewhere to sit down, and some shade, especially in the summer.”
5. Consider the bathrooms.
Have someone checking the bathrooms throughout the night. Make sure they are clean, well-stocked, and that the plumbing is working. We like to set out nice hand-towels, not linen ones, but nice linen-like paper ones. We also leave things your guests might need in the bathroom—a nail file, clear nail polish, extra deodorant, nice soap, lotion, safety pins, a mini sewing kit, and feminine hygiene products.”
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I think that we (the wedding-ready universe) spend a lot of time thinking about who to invite and about hiring services, but not so much time about the experience of those services for ourselves and our invited guests. Hiring services is not the same thing as creating an experience. These tips are really helpful in taking diy wedding planning that one very important step further—having bathrooms at your venue, for instance, isn’t the same thing as having continually clean, well-stocked bathrooms for you and your guests all night long. Small but important details can be not-thought-of at all. Of course, in a world where we all had business-mogul-sized wedding budgets, we’d want to hire an experienced and expert wedding planner to think of all these things for us (because, believe me, Yifat thinks of everything). Check back tomorrow for part two. Thanks, Yifat!
photo: Gia Canali
We love wedding toasts! For one thing, hearing how other folks love the bride and groom makes us—and everybody at a wedding, I think—adore the bride and groom even more. And the photographs of the bride and groom and the guests reacting to toasts can be so fun (though, in fact, that could go either way if the toasts are deadly-long or if there are too many of them, come to think of it).
Somehow, toasts are more-often-than-not overlooked in the orchestration and choreography of the wedding day—but they’re important because the toasts themselves can be very meaningful and the photos do actually sometimes make it into the finished wedding album. So, naturally, you want the toasting photos to be their best selves. (And don’t think that this magically won’t happen to you on your wedding day … )
Here are a few easy tips for setting yourself up to have picture perfect toasts:
- Have the speaker stand somewhere with a nice background and nice light, even if that spot is right at his or her dinner table. Ample ambient light is the best kind.
- Please don’t put your toaster in front of an EXIT sign. (This is just an expansion of point #1, I suppose).
- Make sure your photographer is present. If you have a planner, he or she can help with this. If you are diy-planning, you’ll need to keep an eye on this yourself. Although your photographer may stick close by your side the entire rest of the day, during dinner time, she could be off taking photographs in another part of the event, or trying to take a quick dinner break. If unscheduled or unannounced toasts happen, she can miss them.
- Toasts REALLY TRULY need to be short and sweet. Haute wedding planner, Yifat Oren, notes,”it’s a toast, not a roast. Toasts should be short and sweet and moving and anecdotal. The longest amount of time for any one toast should be seven minutes, but preferably no longer than five. You can say a lot in seven minutes.” And, “if you’re planning to have 35 minutes of toasts, don’t do it all at once.” It’s hard for the guests to sit through a bunch of long toasts (read: boring) and can bring the whole party to a halt. If someone really wants to give a long toast or say something much more expansive to or about you and your beloved, the rehearsal dinner might afford a better and more intimate opportunity for that kind of thing.
Check back tomorrow for an interview with Yifat, full of tips from celebrity weddings that are applicable to weddings on any budget.
photographs: Gia Canali
