Some of you might know that I am hispanic even though I don’t speak spanish and I grew up here in Atlanta. For some reason growing up people always thought I was Jewish. Go figure.

I only mention that because this is the first hispanic wedding I’ve done this year and being in that environment always reminds me of my own relatives and family. You know… the chaos, the kids everywhere, the bright colors, the statues of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. But above all, there is one cardinal rule of hispanic-dom: everything must start late, be late, and finish late. Late. At least 20 minutes.

So when I ran into some mutual friends in the vestibule of Holy Cross Catholic Church as they were arriving for the 2pm wedding at approximately 2:31, I said what any hispanic would say, “Hey what’s going on… [etc] you’re right on time, it hasn’t started yet.” But here’s the best part: for once it wasn’t the hispanics fault. The church was having audio problems that needed to be fixed.

Enough babbling. People like this make my job easy…

Let’s back up. At her parents house getting ready all things are as they should be…

And THIS, my friends, is a VEIL!

I absolutely love John’s expression when he sees Brenda for the first time!

This is what you do with a veil like Brenda’s:

Christina and I were both quite taken aback by just how stunning Brenda was!

This coming weekend is a catch up and rest weekend before heading down to Savannah to shoot a wedding over labor day weekend. But I’ll keep the bloggin’ coming…

See you soon!

Ben

Angela & Noah are getting married next month at Holy Spirit Catholic Church in Atlanta and I recently shot their engagement session at the Georgian Terrace Hotel downtown in the middle of a sweltering heat wave we had a few weeks ago.

Angela and Noah run in a lot of the same circles as my wife and me so I can’t wait for everybody to see them! In a few weeks I’ll be posting photos from the wedding and I imagine there’ll be no shortage of amazing stuff to shoot and no shortage of friends to embarrass.

Until next time…

Ben

So this will be my first time posting a picture of a future bride.

She was a bridesmaid at a wedding I shot back in February and she was so taken with my wit and arresting personality that she asked me to come and shoot her wedding this coming October in New Orleans.

Personally, I think she probably just liked the pictures I took at her friends wedding but who’s to argue. Here’s a “for your eyes only” sneak peek of Lesley:

I haven’t been to New Orleans in forever and Lesley is totally into the photography aspect of the wedding, so I’m super excited about the whole thing and I just had to blog it.

Remember the Wood family that I did portraits for a few weeks ago and how I threatened to post embarassing photos of the big sister? Well this one is quite the contrary. This shot grew into an image very unlike I originally envisioned but I really like the edgy hip colors.

Ben

It’s funny being in the same church two weeks in a row, St Brigid Catholic Church in Duluth, GA. You’d think that it would be hard to capture unique images, but honestly, even though almost every wedding has most of the same elements, every one is totally different.

Check out their slideshow!

I met Shealyn early on Saturday at Carter Barnes Hair Salon in Alpharetta, GA where they made her look like a million bucks!

Saint Brigid has some beautiful architectural elements that make shooting there fabulously easy in a way.

This was one of those rare moments when Dan was not smiling. He does a pretty good GQ “serious look” don’t you think?

Here’s a shot during the Act of Consecration, which is the most holy moment during a Catholic Mass. The main celebrant is Father Joe Corbet, Vicar General for the Archdiocese of Atlanta, and concelebrating is a visiting priest from the Archdiocese of Savannah who actually went to college with some of the wedding party. The two deacons kneeling are (l-r) Deacons Dennis Dorner and Lloyd Sutter.

First dance.

This kid was ham-ing it up for the camera all night long.

Remember the visiting priest from Savannah? As it turns out, that boy can dance!!! Technically, it’s not the greatest shot ever but this is one of my favorite shots of the night and it needs some explaining. The priest and the maid of honor were seriously swing dancing and they did one of those moves where she “unravels” and they stop when their joined hands are fully extended [can you tell I don’t dance?] Well their hands slipped and she went careening across the dance floor almost completely loosing her balance. She recovered in totally dramatic fashion (but not before I got off a few shots) and they went on dancing. His pose totally makes this image — as if he’s just standing there saying “I’m waiting…”

More blogging tomorrow…

Ben

Where to start… where to start…?

Okay let’s start with the College Age Mutant Twin Bridesmaids. Perhaps I’ve been living under a rock but I don’t recall having met a person with independent eye control, much less twin bridesmaids with independent eye control.

So what is this condition? Imagine being able to do this at will:

We’ll see in just a few minutes how this can come in handy…

If you are a regular reader, you remember Amanda, whose engagement session I did just a few weeks ago. Well Ashley is her sister and preceeded Amanda down the isle by about a month. So Amanda will make her second blog appearance in a few weeks when I shoot her wedding.

One of my trusted assistants is Christina who is sooo helpful! And not just with me but with anybody that needs help at the wedding (even when she’s supposed to be helping me!). Here she is helping out the groom…

Here’s my first ever Dick Tracy Groomsman shot. He had the coolest stylin’ hat and he pulled out the gadget phone…

Father and son.

Ah… the bride! Ashley was such a trooper. Her sister had to have her hair done twice and all her guests had to arrive in the middle of a vicious rain. This is one of the College Age Mutant Twin Bridesmaids helping out with the makeup.

Oh the details…

I love those little glances that just speak volumes. Ashley’s mother is waiting to walk down the aisle with her son when she steals a glance at her husband and daughter waiting in the wings.

Jason’s happy, you think?

At a LOT of receptions they do the “how low can you go?” type dances (there are a few), and I have to say that this little girl pretty much wins them all hands down:

Now remember that independent eye control thing and how it can come in handy. At the end of the night as the wedding party is packing up, a few of them were standing around. For obvious reasons, one of the groomsmen pulls me aside and says “hey, get a picture of me and the twins!”

And I just couldn’t help it. Sue me. This is the picture he got…

Congratulations Jason and Ashley!

Ben

Every so often I get a family that saw some images I shot hanging in their friends foyer or maybe I shot their daughter in the Pure Fashion Show or maybe they just saw my wedding work — and the question always comes around, “do you do families?”

Meet the Woods

OKAY!! I confess. The reality is this: the mom asked me to take some first communion photos and when we were planning the shoot, she asked if I could take a few shots of her and her daughter like I did for her friend (see how that referral thing works, more on that in a minute). I told her, “look, once I have my camera out and start shooting I’m gonna take pictures of everything within 75 feet, so you’ll be in the pictures whether you like it or not.” It was my attempt at humor but I was at least half-serious too. And the whole family was ready when I arrived.

Here’s the beautiful reason I was there…

I got some real embarrassing shots of her big sister that I threatened to blog. I haven’t decided yet if I will.

Okay, so back to that referral thing. I called Skotti and she answered her obviously Caller-ID capable phone like she always does, “Well hello Mr Vigil!” I thanked her not just for the referral, but for being the first link in the chain in a big long chain of events that has lead to much of my current success in the wedding business. See, I took pictures of my friend Skotti and her family not just for fun but also because I know Skotti is a mover and a shaker and Skotti can move mountains. She’ll deny it. She’d say, “Well, clearly, somebody forgot to tell my children that because I can’t get them to [insert today’s drama]!”

Then a mutual friend, Kristen, saw Skotti’s photos. And Kristen told Sujay about “this guy I know….” who told her coordinator to hire me. Sujay’s coordinator, Susan Graham, saw my work from that job and told Greg and Alexis, whose wedding I shot two months later. Those images have opened untold doors for me. One of those doors was a wedding just 3 weeks ago in Asheville, NC for Liz and Brian who, along with their families, blew me away with their kindness and generosity. That wedding is one of those that most photographers would die for. And the doors continue to open…

So what did Skotti say? “You never told me I was on your blog!! A friend showed them to me a couple days ago. [with a laugh in her voice] How could you put those pictures up and not put up my favorite one?!?”

So I apologized and made a promise that I’d put up her favorite one.

Thanks again!

Ben

It seems like I’ve been doing a lot of eSessions lately which is great because it means there are a lot of weddings in the pipeline. Introducing Peg and Price…

They both live in the Washington, DC area and are getting married here in Atlanta later this fall. She’s in the hotel industry and he works for uber top-secret folks in the government (shhh!). They got engaged IN the White House. Yes, the big one in DC. How cool is that?!!

I had the wonderful experience a few weeks ago of shooting them in the elegant Georgian Terrace Hotel in downtown Atlanta. Here are 3 of my favorites:

Play Fighting

Sweep Me Off My Feet

Sshhhh…

See you soon!

Ben

Every once in a while I get a call from someone who already has a photographer for their wedding but somehow saw my work and asks if I can do their engagement photos. This was the case with Jenny and Mike, who were a blast to work with. They were willing to try almost anything and we managed to escape without someone falling out of a tree.

This was right before a gang of… guys… walked by and said my assistant looked like Mystique/Raven (the blue naked mutant) from X-Men. Maybe I’ll post a picture of her sometime. My assistant, that is.

I love these pictures where it looks like they just want to hold each other forever.

Notice the ever so subtle, “look at my blingy ring!” action from Jenny…

See you soon…

Ben