Leighanne and Brian’s vow renewal came just weeks before they announced the NKOTBSB Tour, so they were throwing a lot of hints at the Entertainment Tonight crew that was also covering the event for national television. In fact, I was excited to see the back of my head gracing big screens in living rooms across the nation!

They had placed their original wedding attire on display overlooking the back of the house. That’s a stunning Vera Wang dress from the earlier days of Vera’s success.

One thing I learned in our meeting in the days leading up to the event — Leighanne and Brian are the biggest hams. They love to make each other laugh and have a great time.

These are Leighanne’s flowers from her wedding day and a few more getting ready details…

You won’t often see this side of Brian!

This was just a fun snap of the E.T. crew at work (and yes, that is Steve Moore with the Moore Agency).

Their son, Baylee, was happy to entertain everyone. You don’t see pictures of it here, but he even grabbed a Sony HD camera and was documenting the crew documenting him. Already an entertainer…

Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do…

Behind the scenes of the main interview that was aired on Entertainment Tonight.

Look at all the fabulousness!

As people gathered, synchronized swimmers entertained the guests.

From here on out, it’s all about Leighanne and Brian!

Robert Long Flora Design provided florals for the event and Tents Unlimited/Event Rentals Unlimited provided the tent, outdoor air conditioning & equipment. As an aside, even though the Littrell’s have a gorgeous property, having the fully air conditioned tent as an event space was truly a God-send when we had a torrential downpour right after the ceremony. The event went off without a hitch thanks to all the hard work of these folks.

Look at this amazing cake from Classic Cheesecakes and Cakes… and Baylee doing his best Michael Jackson!

The Littrell’s with Howie and his wife, who both had a blast at the reception!

Brian surprised Leighanne with a song he wrote for their first 10 years of married life.

And this, friends, is how you cap off a party!

Last month I was asked to do double duty for the Cobb Energy Center for the Performing Arts and for Occasions Magazine. Some guy named Usher (a.k.a. @UsherRaymondIV) was in town with Usher’s New Look, a youth mentoring program he founded, for the 1st Annual 2010 World Leadership Awards and they both needed it covered.

I spent the afternoon shooting decor and all the details that went into the VIP reception and the evening covering the red carpet, the VIP-only Reception, and finally Usher’s performance to cap the evening. During some downtime in the middle of the day I was able to get some of my favorite images during Usher’s rehearsal with Ciara…

Later in the evening Usher spent the better part of 45 minutes on the red carpet talking to every single media outlet there.

But in the end you probably came here to see Usher, and Ciara and Justin Bieber performing… there was a fair amount of media there and we all had our designated spots to shoot from. I managed to get mine changed at the last minute for a better vantage point. You’ll notice that there aren’t any images of Bieber below. As he was getting ready to perform we were told that no pictures of him were allowed to be taken whatsoever. In fact, I had a PR guard behind me during his entire performance to ensure I didn’t take any pictures. Sorry all you Justin fans!

But here are a bunch of Usher…

Here’s Ciara looking MUCH more dashing…

Did I mention that former President Clinton was on hand to receive an award?

Back to the subject at hand… every month Linda Surles (twitter | facebook) from the Bride & Groom Planner and Heather Vreeland (twitter | facebook) with Occasions Magazine team up to produce the Atlanta Wedding Professionals Networking Luncheon. I was excited about this months luncheon because it was being held at the Fox Theatre, Grand Salon Ballroom.

I’ve been to The Fabulous Fox many times for shows, but I’ve never shot or even set foot in the ballrooms and I finally got to see what I’ve been missing!

Our speaker was professional productivity expert Peggy Duncan (twitter), who I personally REALLY enjoyed listening to. She is the kind of disciplined person that makes me quake in my boots… as in, I’m ashamed to be in her presence quake in my boots kind of way.

These amazing florals were provided by Bloom Floral Design

Look at this amazing cake from Sharon Alexander at Sweet Sensations.

A BUNCH of industry friends were there but here’s just a few that I managed to grab. My apologies to the photogs that I didn’t get.

First up is Nadia with nadia d. photography who creates some awesome dramatic portraiture!

Next up is Laura with Artstar by Laura Stone, whom I famously told how annoyed I was by how good her photography was. It really is.

Next is the über chic Hollie with Lytle foto, who shot The Not Wedding recently and has been featured all over the national blogs.

And last, but not least, is David from Optimum Productions who helped shoot the behind the scene’s video for our recent Occasions Magazine cover shoot at the beautiful new 200 Peachtree in Atlanta. By the way, he’s single…

Here’s a list of the industry professional involved:

Venue: Fox Theatre, Grand Salon Ballroom
Catering & Decor: A Divine Event
Cake: Sweet Sensations
Florals: Bloom Floral Design
DJ: Joel Rabe, Lethal Rhythms
Media Sponsor: Bride & Groom Planner
Media Sponsor: Occasions Magazine

You can view more images over at our Facebook gallery of this event.

The amazing Robert Long provided florals.

Jamie Fine with Sugarplum Visions brought these magnificent tasting cupcakes. I promise I only had one…

Here’s a list of the industry professional involved:

Rentals: Event Rentals Unlimited
Venue: Le Fais do-do
Catering & Decor: Soiree Catering and Events
Cupcakes: Sugarplum Visions
Tables: Party Tables
Drapery: Event Drapery
Stationary: Marguerite Peele Papers
Florals: Robert Long Flora Design
Media Sponsor: Occasions Magazine

You can view more images over at our Facebook gallery of this event.

Here are a few of the details…

A little glimpse into the preparations before the guests arrived…

Atlanta Occasions Magazine Cover Release & Venue Showcase Party

Let’s just say that if you want Ben Vigil Photographers to cover your wedding, you will definitely want what’s in the swag bag! Here are a few more reasons to come…

• I haven’t been this excited about an event in a long time, so that’s reason enough!
• It’s FREE!
• You get to see the cover location in person, shot by yours truly.
• You get to see which of my brides made the back cover. Maybe she’ll autograph it for you!
• There’s a helipad!
• SWAG Bag for every bride and giveaways.
• You get to meet the TOP wedding pros in the industry.
• Every bride who attends gets a free ticket to The Not Wedding ($25 value).

** CLICK HERE TO REGISTER **

Brought to you by Atlanta Occasions Magazine and ellyB Events.

PAUL PHILLIP

We started off 2009 very different than it ended. At this time last year Maria had been in and out of the hospital more than once in her struggle to carry our 3rd son to full term. But the new year started with a bang. On January 6, we welcomed Paul Phillip Vigil into the world…

Paul came about a month early and he spent a couple weeks in NICU, but it marked the end of months of bed rest for Maria. It was truly a welcome time for us as a family. And he’s grown into quite an adorable little kid. Much better than the first two

Here he is back in October in our foyer…

…and just a few weeks ago trying to stay awake with my wife Maria at a family wedding…

FIRSTS

2009 was a BIG year of firsts. In the past year I’ve had my first $20,000+ bride, my first book cover was published (even if it was in German), I was invited to shoot my first magazine cover (more on that in a minute), and I shot my first military wedding and first high school sweetheart wedding that was 50 years in the making.

In 2009 I also took my first and second “serious” forays into commercial advertising work with Blanqi and 4Laces, both of which launch in Q1 of 2010 as women-owned and -driven apparel businesses. I’m super excited for both of these companies and where they are going. Commercial work (headshots, architecture, advertising) has never been a large part of my business and I’ve never targeted that market segment but if the fit is right and I’m confident that I can serve my client well, I’ll take the business.

WEDDING INDUSTRY

2009 saw a big shake up in the bridal magazine industry. A whole spate of bridal magazines have closed and a few more have popped up. January saw the first anniversary issue of The Atlantan Brides, a sister publication to the Atlantan. The Atlantan Brides was a key part of my marketing efforts in 2008 and 2009 and I still think they represent the pinnacle of luxury bridal magazines in Atlanta.

I was fortunate to be able to work with Celeste, the [now former], Publisher of the Atlantan Brides. She continues to be one of the most impressive and talented people I’ve ever met in this industry. I credit her with starting my “vendor headshot side gig” when she asked me to shoot her headshots when she became associate publisher, and then, publisher. Alas, she was married and we were all sad to see her go as she followed her new husband on a great new adventure across the big pond in England.

Meanwhile, as The Atlanta Brides prepared for their 4th issue to go to print, there was a celebration taking place down in Hampton, GA as Heather Vreeland was preparing to launch the first issue of Atlanta Occasions Magazine. She flattered me by asking me to cover the launch party which took place in July.

Heather has since become a good friend and I’ve had the opportunity to work with Atlanta Occasions, including a photoshoot and event imagery for the Winter 2010 issue and shooting the cover for it too. The new issue officially launches today and in a day or two I’ll have a full post on all our work for this issue.

In addition to shooting Heather in a magnificent Anne Barge dress in October, during the magazine cover photoshoot we managed to squeeze in a moment and shoot her headshot for the new issue of the magazine…

I’m already looking forward to the incredible work Ben Vigil Photographers and Atlanta Occasions will do in 2010!

WEDDINGS GOING STRONG

2009 brought a number of really amazing weddings but one of them sticks out for a personal reason. My good friend of many years now, Skotti Ray Frese (I love her new name! It sounds like a super hero character, doesn’t it), married the man of her dreams in June. I actually spent 3 full blog entries on it — Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3.

To this day, I still credit Skotti with almost single-handedly launching my photography career. She’s been a constant cheerleader and personal inspiration to me. I can’t thank her enough and I wish her all the best in 2010.

BEN v2.2

Today, January 1, 2010, also marks the beginning of a new stage for Ben Vigil Photographers. We’ve rolled out a slightly tweaked branding, an entirely new pricing structure and we’ve laid all the ground work for a new stage of our business, the upcoming Ben v3.0

Here’s evidence that I’m still a total geek at heart: as a holdover from my days in software and web development, I’ve started giving version numbers to each stage of my business. You may or may not have noticed that for the better part of the last 6 months we’ve been sitting at Ben v2.0. Today marks the upgrade to Ben v2.2.

Thanks for coming along for the ride and I look forward to sharing a fantastic 2010 with you!

Here are just a few images from a wedding reception at the Piedmont Driving Club put together by Susan Graham Signature Events. In fact, this first image shows a few of the letter press RSVP’s that Susan put together for the bride and groom…

ASIDE: Oh, and you may have noticed that my site has changed just a bit…everything is bigger, everything better… but I’ll get to that later.

Wow… what a launch! Heather asked us to cover the magazine launch and of course I was excited to help out. Atlanta Occasions took over the Foundry at Puritan Mill, Tony Brewer and Company provided the decor and Doc from Full Circle Lighting provided the lighting. Everything was all wrapped up in a package by Eliana Baucicault at By Your Side Events.

Check out these amazing treats from Mindy over at M Cupcakes!

These bottom-lit tables provided some fantastic ambiance.

The official welcome from Heather.

For event pros who are always behind the scenes, they sure didn’t have any problems on the dance floor!

Joel Rabe from Lethal Rhythms was on hand to keep the music pumping and everybody on the dance floor.

Here’s a plug for my new photographer buddy, Patrick Williams, his wife and his designer. We commiserated a bit after I dropped and broke my precious $1800 Nikon 14-24 lens.

Somebody’s having some fun…

Congratulations Heather!!!

Check out the slideshow below. If you’re looking for ALL the red carpet images CLICK HERE after you watch the slideshow.

Enjoy the show!

I wasn’t sure what images they were going to use, but these are the ones the magazine ran with.

Elizabeth Ralls, Editor-In-Chief

Celeste Couvillon, Associate Publisher

And speaking of The Atlantan Brides, the Fall/Winter issue just hit the newstands and it looks A-MA-ZING!

Seriously, it’s the best wedding magazine in Atlanta for sure. Nevermind that I have a full-page ad up front in the magazine and a few weddings in the hitched section…

If you’re a bride and looking for some great ideas and great imagery, definitely pick one of these up. You can even thumb through the entire digital version of the magazine here.

Ben Vigil, blessed.