Tag Archives: Atlanta GA

Valerie & Will in Atlanta, GA

I first met Valerie and Will a few years ago when I covered her sisters wedding in Charlotte, NC — Natalie and Ben. Way back then, Valerie and Will had just had their son Jude and a lot has changed since then. Jude has gotten a lot bigger and Valerie is getting ready to launch Blanqi a maternity fashion apparel company that I’ve produced imagery for and that will launch on Nordstrom.com in a few weeks.

They were married at the Cathedral of Christ the King and hosted their reception at the Ritz-Carlton in downtown Atlanta where we shot their engagement session back in December.

As you take a look at their slideshow, you’ll notice that not only does Valerie have the coolest vintage dress ever – there aren’t many women who can pull it off like she did — she changed during the reception into a more modern and fun dress. Take a look and leave a comment below…

Facebook readers: CLICK HERE to view the slideshow.

Published: Atlanta Occasions Winter/Spring 2010

I’m so excited to write this post!

Last summer Atlanta Occasions approached me about shooting the cover of their second issue. PWP Studio shot the beautiful cover image for the first issue so I had a lot to live up to. As Heather and I were scouting locations for the cover shoot I happened to learn about Ventanas, a beautiful rooftop venue to in the midst of downtown overlooking the Luckie Marietta District and Centennial Olympic Park. The best part was it was brand new event facility that hadn’t even opened yet.

In addition to the amazing patio view (the image on the cover) they also have a helipad on the rooftop for when you want to arrive in style. Once the team had our first meeting there, we were all hooked… here’s an image I took point-n-shoot style during our first walk-thru. I mean, WOW!

Inspiraton Station: Sherbet Chic

There was a dedicated team of professionals to make the shoot happen.

Location: Ventanas Atlanta
Coordination: ellyB Events
Florals & Decor: Amy Osaba
Linens: I Do Linens
Cake/cupcakes: Sugarplum Visions
Tableware: Owen Lawrence / Bloomingdales
Hair & Makeup: Scoobie West, H.S. West Hair & Makeup
Invitations: Sandi Spells Designs
Wedding Dress(es): Priscilla of Boston
Rentals: Event Rentals Unlimited
Venue lighting: Active Production & Design
Photo assistant: John Ellis

Rooftop Venues: Bird’s Eye View

In addition to the cover shoot I photographed the Ventanas Grand Opening for the feature story on Atlanta rooftop venues.

We went back to Ventanas a few times to get the right weather (mother nature wasn’t cooperating!) to shoot the cover image. Between the photo shoot, the Grand Opening, the cover shoot and all our meetings, I felt like I was living at Ventanas for half of November. Of course, I never complained about the view…

** CLICK HERE to view the entire issue online.

Last month…

Last month Steve Bales and the Bold American staff hosted an intimate holiday evening for a few industry professionals at Steve’s home and he was kind enough to ask me to come shoot details for the event. The evening unfolded in stages as different rooms were prepared in secret… to be revealed when the time was right. It was fun to have the rooms to myself as the others arrived for the evening — I could hear them chattering as I snapped away, unbeknownst to them.

Here are a few of the details…

A little glimpse into the preparations before the guests arrived…

Valerie & Will at the Ritz

I’ve mentioned both Valerie and Will on this blog before. Valerie is a founding partner in BLANQI, which I can’t tell you much about but she called me with some really exciting news this morning that I can’t wait to share, and Will is a world-class stylist with Van Michael Salon who I’ve worked with before and hope to work with again soon.

I first met Valerie when she was a bridesmaid in her sisters wedding a couple years ago and have looked forward to shooting her wedding ever since. They’ll be getting married soon at the Ritz Carlton, Downtown Atlanta so it provided a great opportunity to grab some interesting portraits of the two of them. I’m saving some of my favorite locations at the Ritz for their wedding images. I can’t wait to see what we come up with at the wedding!

So here we go…

And just fyi, there was no “posing” in the image below…

Shelby & Josh in Atlanta

I first met Shelby and Josh in 2008 when Josh was the best man at his brothers wedding — Amanda and Ryan. It was great to see Amanda and Ryan again, and this time Ryan was the best man and Amanda was helping Shelby with coordination duties. Amanda was also sporting quite the baby bump since they’re expecting their first child shortly!

They were married at St Mark United Methodist Church in downtown Atlanta (midtown, technically), and the reception was held less than a block away at the beautiful Biltmore Ballrooms, Georgian Ballroom.

I want to take a moment and give kudos to the Biltmore for this event. On the evening before the wedding there was an electrical malfunction at the Biltmore that caused a small fire and loss of power for most of the city block. The problem continued throughout the weekend but by the time the wedding reception rolled around they had arranged for portable generator power for the entire facility, including the lights, band audio, kitchen, everything. The best part of it was that nobody knew, least of all Shelby, who could’ve had her wedding reception ruined by a less professional venue. In fact, Shelby didn’t find out until the next day. So there’s my hats off to the Biltmore.

It was fun knowing and recognizing so many faces from Amanda and Ryan’s wedding in 2008. There wasn’t TOO much kidding about whether Josh was going to faint at the altar like he did when he was the best man at his brother’s wedding and Shelby was the picture of calmness on her wedding day. The reception was quite the party and everybody had a blast!

Here’s a quick peak at their beautiful wedding!

Can you tell that everybody had a great time at the wedding?!

And last, my usual hats off to my 2nd shooters, the trusty Huy Cat and Cathi Milanes, who delivered as usual for Shelby and Josh.