Trashing the Dress!

It all started as a lesson on using lighting for portraits. If you've seen me shoot, you know that I like natural light and rarely use flash unless I have to. So when Keith Emerich offered me a little lighting workshop in exchange for my helping him with an album design, I jumped at the chance. I love helping others and I love to learn new things and I think that is what helps keep me fresh and on my game.

Since I'm a portrait photographer we wanted to include some models for our shoot. I had originally posted the request on facebook, but then we were rained out. But I loved the response that I got and can't wait to offer something like this again. Then Jola and Stephanie both contacted me about doing a Trash the Dress session, so instead we had two brides! Cynthia from Magic Touch Salon jumped on board and offered to do the girls' hair and makeup and I was even more excited! So I thought why not try the power of facebook and try to find a florist and low and behold one of my best friend's happened to know Andrea of Andrea's Gifts and Florist and she agreed to make a couple of bouquets to use. I love the power of networking!

We decided on holding the shoot at Metro Beach, so that we could have a little nature and some beach and water shots. It was a beautiful day!

These are the bouquets that Andrea had made for us and she did an amazing job! I literally didn't get in touch with her until the morning of the shoot and when I called I was in no way expecting her to be able to deliver even one bouquet, let alone two! But she came through with such short notice and did an absolutely beautiful job. I really can't wait to work with her more and to my brides reading this, you must check her out! Her Clinton Township store is so bright and cheery, you'll automatically feel happy just walking in there.

This was one of our first images of the day and I have to say, I love the way the flash totally warmed the shot. Keith had shown me how to use some gels for my flashes, and I loved the results!



I was so surprised that Jola was so willing to "trash" her dress as she will be wearing it again for her wedding in Albania. You may remember Jola as one of my brides from last year. Unfortunately her parents were unable to attend and so they are planning another wedding this year with her parents! I keep telling her that I'm available to travel... :-)



Stephanie works for JD Entertainment and I met her and John last fall at the Andiamo Bridal Show. They're a great DJ and Video company and I'm excited to be working with such great vendors!





As we were coming out of the nature trail there was all of these deer just grazing away!



Being that I'm a little short, I couldn't quite get both of the girls in the shot, so Keith stepped in for me. Keith's like 2 feet taller than me so he had no problem!

Cynthia did such an amazing job on the girl's make up and hair! Brides, this is the reason to hire a professional for your wedding day. It makes such a big difference in your pictures!

At this point it was starting to get a little chilly as the sun began to set, but Stephanie and Jola were major troopers!





By the time we actually made it to the beach the sun had pretty much set and I love the shades of blue it brought with it!








Thank you so much to everyone that played such a big role in this shoot! Thank you Keith for teaching me your "secrets", Cynthia for the stunning job on the girls make-up and hair, Andrea for the amazing flowers and of course Stephanie and Jola for being our models for the day! It was an amazing time and I could have stayed out there forever!

One of the things that I loved the most about this was the opportunity to network with some great vendors and I'm looking forward to working with them in the future!

Here's a little slideshow of the rest of our images