As many of you who follow us on our blog, Twitter and Facebook already know that our great friends Ana & Garry Parzych of Ana's Custom Cakes had their cake chosen for NBC's Today Show Throws a Wedding in NYC. This of course is a huge honor for Ana & Garry and a huge honor for us as they asked us to come with them to the city to photograph their cake and all of the events of the reception which was held at the Hudson Terrace on the west side of the city.
We had a super early day today (getting up at 3:45am) to be into NYC at 6:00am. So for now I hope you will be happy with a quick preview. We will be sure to have much more to come later. For now I think I am off to take a nap! :) Hope you all are having a great Thursday! Congratulations again to Ana & Garry and of course congratulations to Melissa & Jeremy!
There it is, Ana's winning cake.
Before the cake cutting, Ana got to pose for some shots with Today Show hosts Matt Lauer and Meredith Vieira.
Courtney has always been a big fan of Audrey Hepburn - her movies, her style, her grace - she loved it all. Maybe that was because in the actress she saw a kindred spirit, someone who had her feelings written all over her face, whose love of life was completely contagious, and who captivated everyone that was around her. Courtney was doing all that the morning of her wedding day. Surrounded by her closest friends and family, she was a ball of excited energy, lighting up the room with a flash of her dimples. Her friends rushed around, primping and pinning - making sure everything was perfect for Courtney. In another room, her flower girls gathered around an aunt as she showed them Courtney's parents wedding album and talked about that wedding day so many years before. It all had an old-fashioned feel, like a scene from a movie that could have even starred Audrey Hepburn way back.
When a gift from Michael was handed to her that morning, Courtney's smile grew even wider before she even opened the box. It was yet another indication that the day had finally arrived, the wedding gift from her soon-to-be husband was now right in front of her. As she peeled away the paper from the small wrapped gift, a familiar blue box peeked out from underneath. Underneath a white ribbon tied around the box was a little white envelope with a card, a message from Michael. "You can always tell what kind of person a man really thinks you are by the earrings he gives you," the card read, a quote from Ms. Hepburn herself. She laughed as she read it and then opened the box. Inside, tucked into a tiny little blue pouch, were a pair of pearl studs that let Courtney exactly how Michael saw her - elegant, classic, the epitome of understated beauty.
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It was an early morning for us - we filled up the car with our gear, grabbed some coffee, a new mix CD (yes, we still make those) and some (sorta) healthy snacks and headed out to Long Island super pumped for the day we had in store. Our energy level was heightened when we arrived at Courtney's parent's house, which was a flurry of getting-ready excitement with Courtney at the center of it all. She had already had her hair done and was having the finishing touches of her make-up done by the ladies of Drew Patrick Salon in Bay Shore. We took a few minutes to enjoy the beautiful weather outside, giving Courtney's details their very own photo shoot, including her gorgeous Paloma Blanca gown and cheery lime green and fuchsia flowers made by The Little Flower Shop.
Once Courtney was dressed and ready to go, including her brandy-new Tiffany & Co. earrings courtesy of her groom, it was time to head over to The Church of St. Patrick in Bay Shore for the ceremony. Michael was just as excited as Courtney was when we saw him before the ceremony began. He could not wait for Courtney to arrive and see her for the first time that day. It was a romantic ceremony, with Courtney and Michael each grinning consistently throughout it all - both of their dimples in full force.
After the ceremony, we headed over toward Captain Bill's The Bay View House were the reception would take place. Before we headed in to the reception though, we had a bit of a detour planned. Since Courtney and Michael met while working on the Fire Island Ferry together, they decided to incorporate that into their wedding day. They had access to their very own ferry and escorted their bridal party and family over to the island in between the ceremony and reception. We spent quite a bit of the time by the Fire Island Lighthouse, soaking up the end of summer weather with the ultimate beach session.
A short ferry ride took us back over to Captain Bill's The Bay View House and the party officially got under way as Courtney & Michael's band The Touch packed the dance floor. It's an all-male band, but they somehow play songs sung by both male and female singings that would make you swear the actual artist was in the room (I had to do a double take when they did Lady Gaga and then Katy Perry, I couldn't believe my ears). The guests were loving it, of course, with everyone crowding around Courtney and Michael in the center of the dance floor, having a virtual dimple-off. They had everything they could have possible need - each other, friends and family that love them and happiness. Because, in the words of Audrey Hepburn, "The most important thing is to enjoy your life—to be happy—it's all that matters."
When you walk around Courtney's parent's house, it becomes pretty clear what drew Courtney to go work on the Fire Island Ferry. There are tons of boats, lighthouses and shore-themed touches throughout the house. It kinda set the tone for the whole day.
For her something blue, Courtney had cute peep-toe blue pumps by Caparros shoes. They also happened to fit into her wedding color scheme, of course.
We always loving capturing the surroundings of the day, whether it be at the ceremony or the reception or even during the getting ready part of the morning. Something about seeing all the bridesmaids gathered around brings back the energy of that morning.
See what I'm talking about with that smile (and those dimples)? Doesn't Courtney just make you want to smile yourself?
For any beach-y wedding, it's always a great idea to incorporate bright pops of color - really stands out against the sand and the ocean. Courtney did that with the bright colors of her bridesmaids bouquets made by The Little Flower Shop.
The gift and card from Michael, which she opened right before she put on her wedding gown.
Courtney was incredibly calm as her bridesmaids and Mom zipped her into her dress, she was totally ready to get to the church and see Michael.
Courtney's grandmother arrived just in time to watch her get into her dress. She was so much fun to watch at the reception too, on the dance floor all night long. That's exactly how I want to be when I am her age.
I loved Courtney's Paloma Blanca gown, the big bow on the back seemed so totally her.
Before we headed over to the church, we gathered together Courtney's bridesmaid for a classic group shot. I loved how they all wore the navy blue shoes as well, which matched perfectly with the guy's blue suits and pink-and-blue striped ties.
Courtney rode over to the church with her parents in style, in a vintage Rolls Royce.
Random, I know, but we got very excited when we saw that Courtney & Michael's church was almost entirely made of brick. It's not something you see much anymore and made for some really great architectural shots inside.
Courtney's father escorted her down the aisle to Michael.
One of Michael's relatives was the Priest for the wedding ceremony, which meant the mass was filled with a lot of personal touches and some great stories.
As soon as we walked into the church, Rob had a vision of how he would show off the architecture. He headed up to the balcony during the homily to grab this shot.
While he was taking some wider shots of the church, I was at over on the side of the aisle grabbing some close-ups with Courtney and Michael exchanged their vows.
This picture is one of my favorites from the day - walking out of the church shots always get me, but in this one especially love the look on both of their faces and all the flower girls in the background.
Look at that bright blue sky - you can't make that kind of stuff up!
Immediately flowing the ceremony we returned to scene of Courtney and Michael's first meeting: the Fire Island Ferry. You can read more about their very cute story by checking out their engagement session.
Michael was actually a ferry captain, so he jumped right into the wheelhouse and drove (is that the term? I know very little about boats) over to Fire Island. Courtney even got a chance at the wheel as well.
A bride driving a ferry!? Seriously, sometimes we can not believe that is just part of a day at work for us!
The view from the Ferry was breathtaking. What a great way to spend some time with your wedding party and friends?
Ok, maybe this is my favorite image of the day. I love all the seagulls flying away.
Courtney & Michael's wedding party were very energetic, they were pumped after the ride over to Fire Island. We decided to capture some of their fun energy by doing a bridal party shot right on the dock. As you might remember from this preview post, in order to get the shot we had to take off our shoes, roll up our pants and jump right into the water. Probably the most time in the water we've had all summer, as you can tell by our super paleness.
Honestly, do these two get any cuter? I love the intertwining of their hands around each other - and, of course, those big smiles.
Right past the lighthouse there were some boardwalks out to the beach so we decided to see where they led while we spent some time with Courtney and Michael.
Any regular blog reader knows we are suckers for tall beach grass, so of course we had to stop off to get in the middle of it all for a few minutes.
The shot on the left was totally Courtney's idea, she wanted to show off her shoes and did so in a way that was really her - absolutely adorable.
We always think it's important to do some classic straight-forward portraits, something that your grandchildren can look back on and know exactly what you looked like on your wedding day.
Ok, maybe this one is my favorite shot of the day - way too many to choose! The ferry waiting for them, Michael carrying her shoes, the wispy clouds in the sky - love it!
Courtney and Michael kicked off the reception with their first dance to Jack Johnson's "Better Together."
I love the motion in this image - Michael swinging Courtney out during the middle of the dance and the smiles on both of their faces.
This is a very typical scene between Courtney & Michael - making each other laugh like this is something that probably happens every day.
Cake cutting, complete with some more dimple!
Courtney danced with her father to Paul Simon's "Father and Daughter," which totally gets me every time - so sweet.
The Touch had everyone busting out their best dance moves - especially Courtney & Michael who were clearly have an amazing time, down to the very last song.
Courtney & Michael, thank you so much for letting us share in your amazing day. We have truly enjoyed getting to know you both. We hope you had an amazing time in Greece for your honeymoon. Hope to catch up with you again soon!
I have been meaning to share this idea I had with all of you for quite some time now. Back in May our good friend and associate photographer Susan got us one of the coolest gifts ever for our birthdays. She got us a Fuji Instax Mini Camera. For those of you who have not heard of these yet, it is basically a Polaroid camera. It comes in two sizes, the big size and the mini size which produces a credit card size image within seconds. Sue knew we loved this camera and also knew that we would probably never buy it for ourselves so it instantly (no pun intended) became the perfect gift.
The day we got it, I had a brilliant idea to take a "no thinking" photo of everyone in our lives. Our family, our friends, our colleagues and peers and even pets and animals. I thought it would be a really great way to experience photography and the people that support and care about us. Since the photos are instant and don't get hidden away on computers, DVDs and hard drives it is really easy to do. We brought a really great pin board from Pottery Barn and hung it right above our kitchen table. We are constantly adding photos to it as more people come over or as we bring it to parties or functions, etc. It has become an ever changing art piece as well as a great conversation piece. I think we are going to find old pieces of worn wood or an old frame and put it around it just to give it a finished look.
I can't tell you how happy something as simple as this project has made us. Every time we sit at the table or walk through our kitchen someone different catches our eye and it makes us realize how lucky we are to have such amazing people in our lives.
If you have a fun and unique way to experience photography, we would love to hear about it. Let us know in the comment section below.
It's late on a Friday night of early on a Saturday morning (depending on how you look at it) and while we should be sleeping or maybe having a night out, we're too pumped to step away from our office. That's because we have so many amazing things coming up in the next few weeks that we are really enjoying working on. One of them is our upcoming trip to New York City. So in one of our frenzy-filled late night work session, Rob and I happened to start talking about all of the many things we love about Manhattan. It's the city we both fell in love with as children, the place we loved to go when we first started dating, and it just happened to be where Rob proposed to me. It has a special place in our heart, and I'm sure that's the case for many of you fellow tri-staters (totally a word, by the way). So in honor of our love of the city, we decided to share with you a list of just a few of the things we happen to love the most about the Big Apple.
#1: THE TRAFFIC
No, we're not talking about the bumper-to-bumper "I'm walkin' here!!" kind of traffic. More like the high traffic areas zooming along around (and underneath) the city, taking masses of people to and fro. You might already know about Rob's interest in airplanes (and ability to name pretty much any commercial airliner's seat configuration off the top of his head), but you probably didn't know he's also intrigued by coach buses, trains, subways, even taxi cabs. So when we head into NYC for any given event, Rob's fun time starts once he steps on the train, continues on the subway and if he gets the chance to marvel at a new set of (now hybrid) city buses, he's a happy man.
#2: FOOD
The smell of the roasted nuts on the side of the street, the hot dog vendors set up in the middle of the park, the black-and-white cookies from Juniors, the bagels as big as your face, the cute little old men in Little Italy who stand outside their restaurants and invite you inside. You could gain five pounds just thinking about all the things you could be eating in New York City. Which makes it totally our kind of place.
#3:CENTRAL PARK
There's a reason they film so many movies in Central Park. Not just because it's so quintessentially Manhattan, but because it's as beautiful as a movie set without the trouble of having to actually build one. Even more, it has it's own vibe. Just steps away from the hustle and bustle of the city, the park has areas so tranquil you could easily forget you're even in New York. Plus, there's just so much fun stuff to look at: the Bethesda Terrace, the row boats, the Mall, not to mention the people watching and those guys who do the backflips and Michael Jackson impersonations.
#4: BROADWAY
It's no secret that I am a huge theater nerd. I can't get enough of it - the lights, the sounds, the dancing, the costumes, the songs. If I could justify breaking into song in real life, I totally would. Walking around Times Square I have been known to break out into some of my favorite showtunes. You never know, there could be a casting agent that falls in love with my natural exuberance - right?! (OK, maybe not - but standing in the center of the theater capital of the world is almost as good.)
#5: TAKING OFF {NYC} OCTOBER 12-13, 2010
Ok, so forgive us for a bit of shameless self-promotion but we just can't help it. We are beyond excited for our upcoming seminar and thrilled to be able to share with just a bit about what we have in store. With the help of the ever-fabulous Candice Coppola and her team at Jubilee Events, we have put together a team of fellow wedding professionals so talented that when Martha Stewart found out they were coming to NY she decided to move to the Hallmark Channel. (That's right, she's running scared.) But that's not even the best part, believe it or not. The part is that there are a couple of seats left but only if you ACT FAST!!! Click here to snatch up your seat. If you would like more information on "Taking Off" {NYC} - Please click here.
*** To Sign Up for “Taking Off” {NYC} CLICK on the link below ***
To get you even more excited, here is a sneak peek of where we'll be staying and the team of vendors and sponsors we have lined up. We hope to see you there!!
We have always felt that one of the key things in any business (or relationship) is the community you build around yourselves. In the past several years in business, we have been working on building a solid group of fellow wedding industry professionals that we can rely on and that can rely on us. We have been really lucky to find so many supportive, positive peers who inspire us with their passion, creativity and drive. Being around them makes us want to try even harder and do even better, because they show us what is possible when you really put your mind to something. In return, we hope to do the same for them and help them out along the way any time we can.
Ana Parzych is one of those people. She is completely and utterly passionate about what she does - an artist in every sense of the word. Drawing, sculpting, baking and creating true works of art with each and every cake she makes, she pours her heart and soul into every one. She's always striving to do more, to outdo herself and continually working on her craft. We totally get it, because we do the very same thing with our photography. So when we got a phone call from Ana and her husband Garry telling us that one of her cakes would be featured on the Today Show's "Today Throws a Wedding," we couldn't have been happier for them. Because it was just another example of their hard work really paying off. (One of many, actually, Ana's work has been nationally recognized several times before.) And when they asked if we would take a picture of their cake, we didn't hesitate for a second.
When we arrived yesterday morning and saw Ana's cake in person, we were blown away even though we already knew we would be. Like any artist, Ana toiled over her idea for days, building an impressive five-layer cake, hand-painted flowers on the cake itself and hand-shaped edible flowers adorning the top and bottom. That's right, all those flowers are edible - they look so incredibly real even up close in person the only way you know they're not is because they smell even sweeter than any flower ever could. They are all formed by hand, made completely of sugar. Clearly, her hard work definitely paid off, resulting in one stunning cake that any bride would love to give a place of honor to at their reception.
Safe to say, the couple that the Today Show is throwing the wedding for, Melissa and Jeremy, would totally agree Ana's cake is the only way to go. Unfortunately, they don't get to decide. YOU DO . If you're familiar with the way it works, viewers of the show get to decide all of the details for the bride and groom. So, please help them ensure that Melissa and Jeremy have the absolute best cake possible: Ana Paryzch's!!
