Yes you read that right. Aspen, Colorado. What an amazing location! Please forgive me for posting so many environmental shots but as most of my clients are from South Florida I figured they too would, like me, be awed by the fantastic scenery.

You may remember Jaelin and Dave from the South Florida Engagement photography session we did in Deerfield Beach. They were down here from Colorado planning a wedding in the Bahamas at the time… and if life hadn’t intervened you probably would have seen a Bahamas wedding sometime in the next couple of months. But life did intervene and plans changed, and I had the amazing opportunity to bundle up and fly out to Aspen to photograph this fairy tale of a wedding.

Yes for my fellow Floridians who weren’t following along…the bride is indeed standing on snow… and yes she is indeed completely sleeveless… and believe it or not she’s wearing regular bride shoes under that gown. Let’s just say Jaelin can probably make ANYTHING look easy

Before I go any further, a heartfelt thank you to Mark Arnold from the big D down in Texas, who flew up to Colorado to second shoot for me. Mark was a pleasure to work with, a fun guy who fit right into the group, and a talented photographer on top of that. Development choices, cropping, and post-processing of all the images was done by me and all photos were shot by me unless otherwise specifically identified in the text.

Yes… definitely NOT South Florida

The second photo above is the view from the window of my room. Jaelin and Dave rented a fantastic, huge house in Aspen, which served as home base for all the activities of the days, sleeping quarters for most of the guests, and the location for cocktail hour and the reception.

Did I mention that Jaelin has awesome taste? Proof is in the pudding… check out this wedding dress! Elegant… simple… and perfect for showing off how stunning she is!

Those are the shoes she wore all day. Including in the snow. If I told you I had bought patent-pending waterproof socks that go up to the knee… and wool-coolmax wicking/warm socks to go under those… and Timberland Pro-Level guaranteed waterproof, ultra-insulated boots would you at least begin to imagine how silly I felt when I saw HER shoes?

Nicole helps Jaelin into the car.

riding home to see her groom to be…

Oh yeah… that above is the expression of someone who has just been told by the Valet that they have… get this… LOST HER CAR. No really. I thought I’d heard them all. The Valet actually had to use another car to drive Jaelin’s mom and Nicole to the house … yes they eventually found the car

Meanwhile back at the house… Dave is transcribing his vows onto holdable cards…

photos in collage below: Mark Arnold

and then he waits…

…and waits…

and it was definitely WORTH THE WAIT!

A quiet moment for the soon-to-be new family…. Jaelin, Dave and Scrappy! Scrappy was awesome! he rode with Dave and me from Denver airport to Aspen and he was super-friendly and incredibly well-behaved. He was also featured prominently in a gazillion photos, though you’ll only see him in a few here

Ok, everybody’s ready to go… let’s head to the ceremony!!!!

But what should we ride?!?

Oh yeah … of course! Horse drawn sleighs! We do that ALL the time down here in So-Fla

The “official” sleigh with the Bride and Groom and the immediate family…

And the “cool cats” sleigh with the rest of us… what a fantastic group of people… it was as if I were around my own friends, great people, super-friendly … all about having a great time! Thanks guys for making Mark and I feel like a couple of guests (weighed down by absurd amounts of photographic equipment)!

We’ve reached our destination… the ceremony begins

photo below: Mark Arnold

Jaelin trying to keep her composure while reading her vows…

united by two rings…

…and sealed with a kiss

right under their favorite mountain… I don’t know about diamonds… but mountains are certainly Forever. Certainly a humbling place to start a new life together.

photo below: Mark Arnold

Mr. and Mrs. Dave Mayer!

as we’re sledding down the mountain their guests hop off the “cool cats” sleigh and write messages in the snow for the newlyweds

Back at the house it’s time to get serious with the formals…

uh … could someone roll back that reel… I said time to get serious with the formals…

No more formals for now… the rest will be in the proofs gallery in a few days…

Ok, I have to confess… I don’t think I’m the first photographer ever to take a shot like the one below.

But I may be the first to ever post the “How to get down from that once you’re done” … thanks Dave for demonstrating for us!

Since they had a small group of friends and family Jaelin and Dave chose to skip some of the more traditional things like tossing bouquets and garters etc… but I wasn’t going to have any of that…

photo below: Mark Arnold

some of you may have already noticed the twist… as she holds her bouquet ready for the fake launch, behind her I lined up….

All the men at the party!

as you can see even Dave is back there… hold on a minute… didn’t you JUST GET MARRIED?

I’d really love to show you a lot of the photos from the reception. Jaelin and Dave hired a word-class chef to prepare an exquisite meal (ask me how I know <grin>) and serve it to their guests. However I’m quickly running out of internets here… so I’m going to have to leave those for the proofs section.

Here’s a sampling of the food/details from the reception room:

photos in collage below: Mark Arnold (I think all of them)

the first dance … Dave’s mom and sis looking on, teary-eyed… lots of emotions at this wedding for sure!

a quick dance with the parents…

and then on to the final event! The Aspen Fireworks!

And that is where the curtain falls.

I hope you enjoyed those photos as much as I enjoyed photographing them and developing them.\

Jaelin, Dave… thank you for making me a part of two very special moments in your life. You were outstanding hosts, your family and friends opened up to Mark and I in a way I could not have dreamed of beforehand. I hope you find the photos to be a good way to help you remember these special days in your lives 100 years from now.

Oh… Mark and I hard at work while the ladies get their hair done (I don’t need to specify who took the photo, do I?) I’m the incredibly good looking one in the picture, of course

I have to confess that when I was asked to cover a client’s son’s Black Belt ceremony I may have expected some of the karate fighting I got to witness, but I had no idea what else (if anything would go on).

It was a very interesting experience.  The students who are vying for the belt must pass an oral examination involving demonstrating knowledge of the history of Karate, and of the specific style employed in the dojo, they also have to demonstrate the ability to perform specific moves when asked to do them in the native Japanese, they have to recreate imaginary fights (Kata) and finally demonstrate proficiency in a demonstration combat session.  It was great!

Relaxing before the exam

100% focused

All of the body’s strength,  focused by the mind in a clenched fist

One of the more “intense” guys…

…and yet none of the guys could hold a candle to this force of nature in terms of sheer icy determination:

you want intense?  Here’s intense!

Sensei looks on…

I was particularly drawn by the whole ceremony aspect of it…

I hear these two are great friends!  Hey with friends like these…. LOL

I hope you enjoyed the photos… it was a trip outside of my comfort zone, many lessons learned, one for all… it’s definitely fun to shoot something totally different every once in a while!

Hundreds of photos are in the proofs gallery

Those of you familiar with me know that aside from doing my best to provide my clients with awesome photography (it says it right on the back of the business cards:  You, Looking Awesome) I am very aware of the need for a professional to go well beyond by ensuring that all risks where they are identifiable are handled in  the most professional and smooth manner possible.

In a previous blog post I addressed the question of How my Clients’ Images are kept safe.  If you haven’t read it I would certainly advise you do so.  In the future I will address other “catastrophes” and how I have implemented plans to deal with them.

Before I go any further… I want to point out that I realize many people are uncomfortable with even thinking about something like My not being able to shoot their wedding (due to illness, or worse) and I understand that.  But at the same time, having put a strong plan in place (and one that I continue to improve upon as time goes by) I am actually freed from having to worry about this… and my clients are too.

Ok, so … what happens if for whatever reason I can’t shoot your wedding?  Well for one you can rest assured that if this were to happen it would mean that I’m either too ill to physically stand up and think straight, or that I’ve suffered an incapacitating injury that makes it physically impossible for me to peform as expected, or worse yet that I am no longer among you.  In any of those cases, please spend a moment to have a warm thought for my wife and children.

The key point above is that I’m very aware of the demands of the job and while I can certainly come up with scenarios that would prompt most to not feel capable to “show up for work” … I will show up for work unless what I mentioned above has happened, and let’s leave that at that.

So…  what have I put in place to mitigate the “loss” to my clients in the event of my inability to shoot the wedding?  As with everything else there is no silver bullet… however I feel fairly comfortable with the plan I have in place:

• I select second shooters whose skills I feel confident in.   While you can certainly expect me to bring along someone with limited experience on an engagement shoot, a family portrait session, or any other session where their presence isn’t really “required”, you will not see a rookie roaming your reception on your wedding day.  While they might not shoot exactly the same way I would, second shooters are familiar with my style and would most likely be able to provide you with photography you would be thrilled with.  Of course that would NOT leave you without a second shooter as I try to have a “bench” I can draw from should the need arise.  This would be the default solution if something were to happen to me during the event or immediately prior, where any thought of finding a replacement would be moot.

• I am friends with a network of professional wedding and non wedding photographers many of whom shoot in a style similar to mine – I would be able to tap this network to help you quickly find a replacement photographer if that is your preference.  Note that the netowork is actually two networks… one local and one global… so even in the event of a destination wedding I should be able to quickly find an awesome photographer that could replace me should you approve of such.

• I “charge” a set “fee” to myself against every wedding I shoot and set that money aside in a self-insurance fund.  The purpose of this money is to pay to have a higher-priced photographer come in and shoot your wedding if I can’t – having such a fund makes it so that if the situation were to arise I could truly recommend based on my perception of the other photographers’ work quality, rather than having to be significantly limited by a budget.  Of course this may not be an issue depending on the relationship I may have with the photographer

• Finally as a member of the Professional Photographers of America Association I am covered by an indemnification trust that would cover many kinds of losses, including possibly restaging the wedding for the purpose of taking the photographs.  This one is clearly not a particularly appealing solution, but it is a final safety net in the event that nothing else worked.

If you read this and think of other things I could/should do to further contain this risk, please share it with me either via email or by commenting at the bottom.

If you find this useful and think you will benefit from what you read here, I would really appreciate it if you would add a link to my site from yours.
Please use the following html for the link:

Many Many Moments photography by Alessandro Di Sciascio <a href=”http://www.manymanymoments.com>South Florida Wedding Photographer</a>

if you add a link please send me a quick note at my email address so that I may thank you.

Had a blast photographing this wonderful family in Downtown Hollywood.  The weather was great, the light was fantastic and Rosie and Joel were awesome, open to trying all sorts of different things and having a good time!

 

 

Rosie looking at her little man

 

Here’s what happens when you leave a 6 year old loose while you’re getting your camera equipment out of your trunk

 

I Love this one

 

Here’s another one of my favorites… nose to nose

 

I still can’t believe his mommy let me plop him up there!!!  ok, ok there was soft Astroturf below … and I did shoot it from an angle that would make him look higher up than he really is

 

“Where do you think you’re going young man?” … ok I have to admit it… it’s a total setup

Guys, thank you for a great session.  Joel thanks especially to you for being such a good sport and going along with all the setups and all, thumbs up for sure!

You can see the rest of the set on the proofs site by clicking here

When Kelly and Dan throw a party, they THROW A PARTY.  And when they throw a RockBand Party, it’s like a freggin’ Rock Concert… complete with players decked out in Rocker Attire, enormous projection screen, multiple stages, great eats…  these peeps can throw a party like nobody else can.

So when we were invited to go play I figured why not bring some camera equipment and try to do justice to their awesome setups?  Some gelled flashes, some creative compositions with flash flare in the shots and I’m happy to say that I got exactly what I was looking for.

Enjoy!

Our gorgeous rock star host:  Kelly

 

…and her hubby Dan

 

 

JMZ

The second stage

 

my (much) better half.. probably expressing her joy at having landed me

 

Shawn easily taking the “Best move of the night” with this impromptu dance to a James Brown song

 

fake moustache

 

love this candid

Many more photos are available on the proofing site, by clicking here

Before writing anything else, let me just say what a fantastic experience I had shooting this wedding. Michael and Patricia could not have been kinder and friendlier. I had a blast photographing the groom and his attendants getting ready and the day just got better from there.

Patricia and Michael, gorgeous on the outside, awesome on the inside! Congratulations guys!!!

We started out at the “W” in Fort Lauderdale. It’s a good thing we had watches with alarms set to move us along, otherwise that place is a photographer’s paradise… what a gorgeous, gorgeous hotel! That, however pales in comparison to how incredibly cool Michael and his groomsmen were about the shoot. I suggested a playful mocking of the typical “Bride getting reay” shots and they were ALL FOR IT. Ok… cue the photos….

The incredible invisible photographer:

A pool shot…

…and another pool shot

Even the Church itself seemed to know love was about to be celebrated within it’s walls….

ok, if you missed the reference above… check out the reflection of the stained glass!!!

Michael’s first glimpse of his bride…

..as her father proudly walks her down the isle

my favorite photo of the day: “Reflections about Love”

The Bride may indeed have been the most beautiful woman in the world on this day… but she sure had some stiff competition:

Some of the gorgeous details…

The First Dance

Patricia’s mom reacting to the toasts…

…And Michael’s dad doing the same

The Parent Dances…

Tony… hard at work

In Marie-Antoinette’s words… “Let them Have Cake!”

Papa… Papa …. Paparazzi

Dancing with an angel…