Erin and Nathan were referred to me by my [then] secret fan over at The Knot, Ali Mize. Ali must have sent me 5 referrals before I even knew who she was. Brides would call and say Ali referred them thinking Ali and I were best buddies and I’d be like, “Ali who?” So I finally gave her a call and insisted on meeting her for coffee, which we did. She was also at a wedding I shot a few weeks ago and she’s a blast.

As with all things, you never know the ripple effects that just one person can have in your life. People like Marilyn (who introduced me to my stunning wife) or Skotti or Susan or…

Ali.

See, Erin and Ali are friends. Erin’s mom then referred a Mother of a Bride in her neighborhood to me, who also happened to hear my name from a second Mother of a Bride in the same neighborhood, whose daughter is getting married next month, and whose engagements I will be shooting on Monday. So when the first Mother of a Bride called about her daughters 2008 wedding she had heard of me from two unrelated people in her circle of friends, which honestly, is a good position to be in as a photographer. Vicki is her beautiful daughter and I’ll be shooting her wedding next April.

So thanks again Ali!

Speaking of amazing… back to Erin & Nathan. I had a great time shooting with them at the beautiful Atlanta Botanical Garden in Atlanta. I had decided to forego some of the obligatory flora and concentrate on them since they’re getting married there in a couple weeks and we’ll have plenty of opportunity for that. Plus, the scenery will look even better in a few weeks. As you can see, Nathan settled into the lack of structure quite well…

I think this is my favorite shot of the day. I love the chocolate-y tones and serene moment.

See you guys in a couple weeks!

Ben

Jenna contacted me a few weeks ago as a referral from another photographer. Neither of them live in Atlanta and she’s one of the growing number of people that are booking before we even meet face to face.

But Traditional Bride Magazine X had an article where they say you should meet your photographer beforehand to make sure you “click”!

That’s totally fine. If you’ve read all my rambling on here and seen all my work up here, but you’re the type of person that relates to people one on one, I’m more than happy to meet with you. But here’s the great part about the world we live in — with all the technology at our fingertips (mobile phones, websites, blogs), I knew so much more about Jenna & Bobby (from their wedding website) before I even met them than I know about some of my past couples. I knew how they met, about their school and work and I even know that Jenna was crying when Bobby proposed to her overlooking the Mississippi river.

It’ really cool for both of us because they live a busy lifestyle (who doesn’t?) and it frees me up to do the really important stuff like shooting their engagement photos.

Ben

Sophia first contacted me in July about their wedding next summer at the beautiful Villa Christina here in Atlanta. We met over dinner at one of my favorites places ever — Houston’s. They booked shortly thereafter. Now I’m not saying Houston’s was a factor but it certainly can’t hurt, right!

We all took a trek down to Piedmont Park when the fall leaves were just about perfect!

It’s kinda fun seeing these real dramatic images because they are so not like that. They liked joking around and posing it up for the camera.

I can’t wait to get a really big print of this one. That’s the two of them down at the bottom of the circle.

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

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

I had another e-session with Katie and Nic tonight who have known each other or been dating for 8 years and it really shows in the subtle ways they communicate. I’m shooting their wedding in September and they were telling me that they were going to have a trolley to get them from the church to the reception. How cool is that!!

I had a great time getting to known them and we had some tremendous mexican grub at Agave in downtown Atlanta.

Thanks guys!

Ben

I had a blast with Amanda and Bryan yesterday at Piedmont Park in Atlanta.

I had an engagement session with Amanda’s sister and fiance last fall so it was fun to see how the little sister was alike and different from the big sister. I am honored to be shooting both weddings this summer about a month apart, which in some ways is a parents worst nightmare or best dream, depending on how you look at it.

So here’s Amanda and Bryan…

As the afternoon passed, I’d show them pictures on the little camera screen to get them pumped up and give them confidence that they really did look pretty amazing. People are always afraid of looking silly or stupid in front of the camera but I always asure them that if it didn’t look good, I wouldn’t be taking a picture of it.

Here’s one where Amanda saw it on my screen and asked me not to show Bryan because she wanted it to be a surprise. So Bryan, this one is just for you!

Thanks for reading and have a fantastic day!

Ben