The pressure was on. Jamie and Randy chose to forgo a professional photographer at their wedding so they could invest in something more unusual. Randy had his heart set on having a tintype wedding portrait made and after poking around on the Internet, he found us. (Yes, the irony of looking for tintype photography on the Internet was not lost on me).
Luckily we had a beautiful warm day in which to make our plates. Jamie and Randy looked adorable in their wedding clothes and embraced the methodical process of wet plate photography whole-heartedly.
We made several plates, but this one is my favorite. The pose came from the newlyweds’ themselves. They wanted to juxtapose, Jamie’s cuddliness with Randy’s more stoic side.
I think this image captures their relationship beautifully
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Who would ever think that an old Smog Shoppe in Culver City could be the perfect venue for a romantic, whimsical wedding? Luckily, Rebecca Stone of Duet Weddings did, and her clients Peggy and Chris readily agreed.
The stage was set with an eclectic mix of décor. Everything from the mismatched chairs to the assortment of vintage vases sitting atop moss runners on the long family style dining tables served to charm. Instead of a traditional cake, a “buffet” of cookies was on hand for guests to enjoy. Yeah, okay the photographers may have enjoyed them as well.
I especially loved the escort card display and menu board. They stood over 6 feet tall and had a chalk board like appearance.
With Peggy being in the Reality TV. biz, a video confessional was set up for guests to tape their advice and good wishes to the newlyweds.
While all of this was really fun to photograph, what really made the day lovely and special was Peggy and Chris’ graciousness and warmth. They are the kind of people that upon meeting, you feel like you’ve been friends forever. It’s been truly a pleasure getting to know them
The weather was perfect the flowers were in bloom and the Adamson House never looked better. Gil and Andrea got the beautiful wedding day they so deserved. It was a day of lots of merriment. It was hard to tell the adults from the children, every one was in such high spirits.
Since Gil and Andrea are into body art, vintage tattoos were featured on the place cards and on their hand made guest book. Guests were also given temporary tattoos, which were sported in all sorts of interesting places!
The highlight of the day however, was when the bride and groom decided to fake out their guests by turning what began as a sedate waltz for their first dance into a hilarious, funky dance routine that had every one of their feet and cheering.
Rebecca of Washington Place really outdid herself. Architectural branches were draped with orchids for the centerpieces and strings of exotic flowers were strung from the branches of the large oak tree at the ceremony site. Pink orchids were also configured into a gigantic heart and it was within this heart that Gil and Andrea pledged their love for each other in front of their family and friends.
Julie Pryor of Pryor Events brought her usual grace and great taste to the event and made certain that every detail was just perfect.
Larry and I have worked with Mariah at some pretty fabulous weddings. She is a very popular makeup artist and all around sweetheart.
We’ll frequently run into each other at various industry social events and Mariah is always decked out in some adorable outfit and super cute hat.
I’ve wanted to photograph her for quite a while now so I was thrilled when she agreed to come to our tintype studio in Ventura.
I love any excuse to shop for great accessories and the shots I had in mind were portraits of Mariah sporting flowers and feathers in her hair, so I was off to the mall (with a legitimate excuse this time). On the way, I made a quick stop at Pier One for a single curtain panel and voila, the perfect backdrop was found.
Our shoot day was overcast but bright which is perfect tintype weather. We were able to keep our exposures to a “speedy” 5 seconds!
Thank you Mariah for your patience and for doing such great hair and makeup. Don’t be surprised if you see me sporting one of these hairpins at the next cocktail party although you can be sure they won’t look nearly as gorgeous on me as they did on you!
To see more of Mariah’s makeup artistry, take a look at her website. www.mariahnicole.com
Amy and Sam and have been in love for over 10 years – pretty unusual by today’s standards but what is more extraordinary is that they still positively glow when together. To see them cuddle and kiss (and believe me they do a lot of that!) you would think they are in the beginning stages of their courtship. Amy’s already radiant smile becomes even more so when Sam comes into view and when Sam puts his arms around her, a proud, protective look comes to his face. They are such an accomplished, talented couple and have such a charming playful side too. Larry and I had so much fun traipsing through the woods with them.
Sam is the creator of the smart, fabulous new hit show, “Lie to Me”. Be sure to check it out when it returns to Fox in the fall.
We met Ronit and Ari at the gorgeous Ojai Valley Inn & Spa for drinks before we began our engagement photo session. While there, we couldn’t resist taking a few snaps on the grounds.
Ronit had her heart set on having a vintage car for the shoot and after a fair amount of pleading and bribing, we were able to come through for her. Our friend Kurt agreed to let us borrow his “baby”, a mint 1967 Renault Caravelle.
We turned quite a few heads as we drove it through the back roads of Ojai. Once we reached our primo shooting spot, Ronit and Ari quickly got into character. Ronit and I had discussed the mood we wanted to convey prior to the shoot- sort of a young, hip “European” couple out for a drive through the countryside – with a slight vintage twist of course!
We love going the extra mile for our clients. It’s always so much fun when we get to collaborate on ideas and create something really special and meaningful.
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You’ve got to love a wedding that revolves around cocktails! Let me explain, Dave and Ali own a really amazing bar in New York City named Death and Company. I don’t usually get too excited about hard liquor, (I’m more of a glass of Cabernet kind of girl) but the drinks served at this super cool watering hole can only be described as spectacular. Pre-prohibition style drinks are made with fresh juice and served on large blocks of ice. The flavors are so unique and absolutely out of this world! Whether at work or in planning their wedding, Dave and Ali are all about hand crafted quality, which really resonates with us. Needless to say, their special day was filled with lovely elegant touches with a nod to the cocktail.
Saral, the officiant (who by the way is the best officiant ever and I ought to know, she married Larry and me) joked that in all the years she had been presiding over weddings she had never blessed a cocktail.
Before dinner guests were led to their seats by place cards resting on cocktail strainers and once there, they were treated to cocktail spoons and letter pressed booklets instructing guests on how to set up their home cocktail bar. This gorgeous keepsake was written by Dave and Ali and designed by Tim, the best man. Mindy Rice created gorgeous floral arrangements for the tables and again Tim, along with his wife designed all of the table signs, which were of course named after classic cocktails.
To satisfy the late night sweet craving, jars of old fashioned candy were arranged on a large table and the white on white wedding cake featured cut outs of all of Dave and Ali’s favorite things.
At the helm of this gorgeous wedding was Jill LaFleur who made sure every detail was perfect.
Here are links to the websites of every one who made this such a great event and by the way, Dave and Ali are planning on opening a bar here in Los Angeles so I will keep you posted!
As true artists, Isabel Gomes & Lawrence Gund capture the underlying beauty of life, love, family and friends. Using a wide range of cameras, artistic techniques and real film to capture your loved ones, your photographs will hold the timelessness of your love for one another.
