Ceremony: Emory Glenn Memorial Chapel
Reception: Atlanta History Center
Coordination: Susan Graham, Bella Sera Weddings and Events
Catering: Bold American Catering
Cake: Buckhead Wedding Cakes
Florist: Awesome Blossoms
Hair & Makeup: Carter Barnes, Phipps Plaza & Michelle Morones, Trish McEvoy
Music: Twisted Hip

To view the wedding day slideshow ***CLICK HERE***

You can also watch the Rehearsal & Dinner Slideshow.

Peggy works for Marriott International and with the job comes certain perks — Marriott was kind enough to hook up her guests with great rates at the fabulous Ritz-Carlton Buckhead, the Buckhead JW Marriott and the Buckhead Spring Hill Suites. As you all know, those are some serious hotels but Peggy is good to her guests and they snapped up everything they had.

There were so many awesome things about Peggy and Price’s wedding day that I don’t know where to begin. Peggy and Susan Graham had all the details nailed down, from the colors to the arrangements, from the timing to the vendors. My trusty assistant Christina and my good photographer friend Huy Cat were on hand to help me capture the day.

These cufflinks used to belong to President Ronald Reagan. Price came by them from a friend and he wore them on his wedding day. You may remember that Price works as an advisor to Michael Chertoff, Secretary of Homeland Security and he proposed to Peg in the White House, so I suppose this shouldn’t come as a big surprise. Huy took this photo.

One of the best parts of my job is when we have the bride just standing there out in the middle of the grass on a beautiful fall day enjoying the breeze, and she has no idea what we’re taking a picture of, and seeing her reaction when she sees a picture like this for the first time.

Price is definitely the man. I’ll tell you why in a moment.

Peggy thought she was getting a regular wedding band but Price, being the studly man that he is, surprised her when he slid this diamond studded band on her finger during the vows.

Check out this awesome shot Huy got during the ceremony.

Peggy was probably thinking, “Look at Price, not the diamond band. Concentrate. Look at Price.”

While I was shooting the image above, Huy was at the Atlanta History Center getting shots like this.

Honestly, this is a mediocre picture of a really amazing looking cake from Buckhead Wedding Cakes. The best part is that it tasted good too. Everything from them and Bold American always does.

First dance

Peggy and her dad.

One of the nicest toasts of the evening came from Peggy’s brother.

The dragon dancers were tre cool.

Peg and Price are such a blast! At the cake cutting, the band started playing Rocky Top (yes, the country song) and they just spontaneously started country dancing in front of the cake. They were clearly having a blast and everybody enjoyed basking in it.

I’m saving this picture for when Price runs for president.

When you’re the last one to dance on stage in front of the crowd, how do you top the other guys? Obviously, you go for the suspenders…

Peggy’s thinking, who IS THAT GUY up there?

Here’s part of an email that Peggy sent me today…

So many people commented to me about how awesome you guys were….as photographers and just as people. Your willingness to help out all throughout the wedding day….even when it wasn’t about the photos really meant a lot to me and everyone noticed. My bridesmaids couldn’t stop complimenting you enough.

Thank you for making the day so amazing and for creating the memories that will last our lifetime.

How do I respond to such a nice email? We love what we do and people like Peg and Price make it easier to love our jobs.

Thank you for having us and have a great time in Paris and Hong Kong and Thailand!

Ben and crew

I’ve been wanting to post on this topic for a long time and the opportunity finally came up.

I had a wonderful meeting last night with a potential client at a local restaurant called Goldfish. The food was quite good (grilled salmon…hmmmm) and I had a great time getting to know them. I’m gonna shoot their wedding. I just know it. I can feel it in my bones.

Aside: I’m tragically un-hip. I don’t watch tv. I don’t own a tivo. But I did buy my wife an iPod, so that counts for something I guess. Anyway, if you ask me anything that begins with “Have you seen that new show…”, chances are we can cut to the chase because the answer is no. But when a restaurant has a one hour seating wait and is jam packed on a Wednesday night with loads of people that are clearly more hip than me, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know it’s hip.

Well, we got on the topic of the value (or not) of wedding coordinators and planners. Having been at all kinds of weddings, I can say this: except in one case, the weddings where the bride and groom have hired a coordinator have gone smoother, had less mishaps and been less stress on the bride and groom. One of my past grooms that I did a video interview for an upcoming project with, put it this way: “The stress of the groom is directly related to the stress of the bride. When you hire a wedding coordinator, the bride is not stressed. When the bride is not stressed, the groom is not stressed. And I like that.”

I’m going to pick on Susan Graham of Bella Sera Weddings and Events. If you’re following my blog, I’ve mentioned her before and I’ve had a chance to work with her a few times. And before you ask, I don’t get any kickbacks/referral fees from other vendors and I don’t give them out. I know that some people operate that way, but I don’t think it’s ethical or in the best interest of the bride and groom when money is flowing behind the scenes. But when I come across a great videographer like Ben Morgan and his team at Sanctified Crack Gorilla or amazing caterers like Lisa Hill and all the folks at Bold American Catering I like to plug them.

This is what a wedding planner/coordinator will do for you…

They walk you through the game plan, keep track of everybody and keep everybody on time and on the same page.

So while they’re working you get to really relax and enjoy your day.

When the flower girl rips the flowers out of her hair, they take care of it.

They are there to make your dad look his best for his little girl on her wedding day.

When is starts to drizzle during your wedding photos…

And how’s this for an endorsement — a bride and a former bride turned bridesmaid.

Of course, she’s going to kill me for posting that photo but I’m fairly certain she’ll get over it.

So I guess you know by now how I feel about the matter. After you’ve chosen the best photographer to shoot your wedding , if you can swing it, make it happen. You won’t regret it.

Ben

I had the pleasure of working with Sol Tamargo for a wedding in Augusta, GA this weekend. Sol is an amazing photographer based out of Cancun, Mexico near where I’ll be shooting a wedding this January.

Michelle and Vipul couldn’t have asked for a more beautiful day! Here’s a couple of shots of the beautiful Catholic Church of the Most Holy Trinity.

It was interesting to see the norms of traditional Indian culture firmly in place in the midst of the Catholic Mass taking place.

Every part of their wedding was beautiful and elegant and the walk down the isle was no different.

At the first reception Michelle wrapped up the “Catholic” part of the day, first dancing with Vipul…

and then her father.

Enter Vipul in his traditional garb. This is where things get crazy!!!

You can’t see it in this shot, but Vipul is riding in a horse drawn carraige just behind this all out dancing crowd in the procession from the hotel to the reception site.

Michelle was waiting for Vipul when he got there!

The toast from Vipul’s abused younger brother. He claims Michelle turned Vipul into a nice guy and he likes Vipul now. Everybody was laughing.

If you’re counting this is their second first dance.

Now I have to admit that I never knew that such a thing as traditional Hindu + hip hop + club grooves + Billy Jean (yes, Michael Jackson) dance mixes existed. But EVERYBODY was having a blast and dancing.

Thanks again to Sol for a great time.

Ben