We all know it’s important to dance with your beloved. But don’t forget your friends! Not only does it make for good photos, it makes for good memories.
photo: Gia Canali
Tag Archive for 'Yifat Oren'
There’s an article in the Sunday Los Angeles Times about winter wedding bouquets. Dubbed “Love In Bloom,” it features Yifat Oren and Krislyn Komarov, two of my favorite people to work with. The article also includes a photograph I took of one of Krislyn’s permanent bouquets, which is decidedly and happily not “in bloom,” as it’s fashioned from balsa wood “flowers,” coral, and Swarovski crystals.
We ♥ Dara & Dan—and their picture-perfect wedding, of course! So we couldn’t be happier to share it with the readers of {StyleMePretty} today! Click {here}, {here}, {here}, and {here} to see the posts.
photographs: Gia Canali
Some weddings are so marvelously right. Julia & Eli’s was one of them. The equation might have read: happy couple + beautiful yard + perfect day + perfect night + joyous guests + “fireflies” = magical. We’ve featured bits of their wedding all summer, partly because I think this blogging real weddings thing rushes me much too much—as I prefer to turn over my photographic fascinations slowly—but mostly because we loved their wedding. Even the intangible things, like Eli saying his {vows}. Above, one of several Polaroid 55s I took.
{click any image to enlarge}
We loved the whimsical florals and decor by Krislyn. The groom’s boutonniere was fashioned from a single (tiny) perfect echeveria ‘afterglow’. I grow them in my garden, and in just the right light, the pinkish rims really do glow. Below: celebrity stylists Nina and Clare Hallworth help Julia into her gown. Sweetest up-do ever by Chris McMillan. Chris did Julia’s hair three or four times that morning before he came up with the final look, which made me realize how essential it is to allow all the vendors at a wedding time to give a top-notch performance. (More on that later.) I never would have guessed tulips would have been “just the thing,” but they were, and Chris’s hairdo inspired lots and lots of my photographs of Julia.
I spoke with Nina and Clare for a few moments before the reception, and asked if they had any advice for my blog readers. They said it was so important to take time (by which they meant quiet time) to get dressed. The way they spoke of dressing, it seemed like dressing oneself and composing oneself were the same act.
Some details from the ceremony. The huppah was one of a kind, with peonies, branches, and a quilt the groom’s mother made by hand. Yifat Oren & her gifted crew, led by Amy Cain, masterminded the design and production of the whole affair. Great job, Amy!
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Nina and Clare reused Julia’s veil as a wrap during cocktails and dinner. It was not only a very inventive instantly “upcycled” accessory, but offered Julia a second glorious look for the evening. Bride’s gown, Carolina Herrera. Groom’s three-piece suit (♥!), Tom Ford.
Above: a few images from Julia and Eli’s hora. I love getting guests out on the dance floor (and before sundown if possible). It’s one of the few chances we ever have in a wedding day for truly energetic and totally camera unaware photographs of everyone who came out to celebrate your tying-the-knot.
Because it was so sunny and because so much was going on in both the front yard and back yard all day, we couldn’t do any outdoor portraits. So Julia and Eli agreed to sneak away for a quick walk after their first dances. So worth it!
Julia felt differently about the sunshiny day. She was thrilled to wake at six that morning and see the sun was out. Those of you who live in Southern California will know “June Gloom,” and Julia & Eli’s wedding day was the first day after our (particularly long) June Gloom ended this year. I laughed when she told me this: when I awoke on my own wedding day, I, too, jumped out of bed to see what the light was like, but was practically gleeful to discover a bright overcast morning!
Julia’s advice? She says to take a couple days to do relaxing things before the wedding. On the day of the wedding, she had no stress for the first time in the planning process!
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The End.
p.s. I left lots of stuff out. I want to have photographs to illustrate my “real” posts!
photographs: Gia Canali
Or “Getting The Most of Your Portrait Time!”
There’s no need to tell nice people to be nice or smart people to be smart (of course!), so let’s just say I’m stating the obvious: We all work harder and perform better when we feel appreciated. On your wedding day, you want what I’ll call “inspired” performances from your photographer—and all your vendors. The running-to-get-more-portraits couple from last week’s post is a good model. We didn’t have a ton of time together, but Dara and Dan really wanted to take advantage of whatever time we could get. Their enthusiasm made me want to go out of my way to make their portrait time even better. We had a great time together, and are happy to share a few of the images from their sessions.
Click on any photograph to enlarge.
At Dara and Dan’s welcome party, we took about fifteen minutes to take photographs on the beach …
At the wedding, Dara and Dan decided not to see each other before the ceremony. So we photographed them each separately before the ceremony, and then took about thirty minutes—just before dark—to take photographs on the beach, in lounging huts, on the wooden paths that led to the beach and the reception. Taking a few minutes here and there in a variety of different locations can make a big impact.
Here are some in the last pink light before the sun set …
We were running in the sweltering heat to get these photographs, and the sun had just set as we took the last few frames. Even so, I couldn’t resist getting one more image on a toy camera:
It proved logistically impossible to schedule the photographs they wanted in this “domino hut” on their wedding day, but because their enthusiasm to work for good pictures was so contagious, I volunteered to meet them the morning after the wedding for a few more portraits.
The nice thing about a day-after-the-wedding session, or a respect-the-dress-post-nuptial-portrait-session, as one of my clients calls them, is that the session can be both more intimate and less formal. I love the balance between sexy and playful. Both bride and groom are much more relaxed.
To view more of Dara and Dan’s wedding, please feel free to visit their gallery on my website {here}.
sources: Monique Lhullier for both gowns. The one Dara wore to the welcome party and post-nuptial portraits was a shortened version of that lovely gray tulle one from Lhullier’s spring 2008 collection. Venue was Parrot Cay Resort. Thanks to Yifat Oren and her fantastic crew for helping Dara and Dan make so much time for portraits!
photo credit: Gia Canali
