This year's big wedding date was Oct. 10th. Why October 10th? Well, if you were married on Oct. 10th of this year than your wedding date was 10/10/10 and that's a cool wedding date to have! I'll bet there wasn't a single wedding photographer in Tampa Bay that wasn't working on that day. I personally had at least three couples meet with me about getting married on that day but the ones that got me were Jeff and Jessica.
I love a client who loves good wedding photography.
Not everyone is as concerned about their wedding photography as they should be. Jeff and Jessica are the kind of clients that I love because they not only felt that their photography was the most important thing but they had ideas. You might remember them from the engagement session that we did in the Ybor section of Tampa. They showed up dressed up and ready to rock. We got incredible images. I even entered a couple of them into photography competition this year.
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| The courtyard at The Renaissance Hotel, Tampa |
The Renaissance is a great place for a wedding. I've photographed several weddings there as well as a few special events. The banquet room is great, very stylish and I love the courtyard area with it's fountain. There's also the benefit of being attached to the International Mall which can make for some fun pictures if you have time to go to the outside promenade area called "Bay Street."
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| I love Bridesmaids with a sense of humor.. |
What a great group of people at this wedding! The bridesmaids were awesome girls... fun and willing to do just about anything I could think of. We were on our way to the Bridal Suite when I had an idea for a picture.
"Would you guys like to take a really fun picture?" I asked.
"You bet," they replied.
That's how I ended up photographing all the bridesmaids in bed. As a Tampa wedding photographer, I spend more time photographing beach weddings than I do fancy hotels so this was a rare picture for me. Plus, you have to have a group of girls who don't blink when you say, "Okay, everyone get undressed and get in the bed." :)
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| One dress, two pairs of shoes... |
These girls were so in tune with Jessica's love of photography that they started moving furniture around. At one point they dragged a couch into the elevator!
The wedding ceremony
The ceremony was lovely (aren't they all?). There was a white curtain set up behind the couple. The thing about a white curtain is that it doesn't make for a very good background for wedding photography. White dress, white background... not the best situation. However, it does make it very easy to "blow out" the background and focus solely on the couple. I really like the first kiss picture from this wedding because it's not the sort of picture you can take in a colorful church setting.
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| White backgrounds can make for special shots.. |
Jeff and Jessica didn't disappoint their friends and family when it was time for their first dance together as man-and-wife. They had practiced a whole number and it was wonderful to see. I've written before about my love of wide-angle lenses and I was glad I had one on-board during the first dance. This shot is a favorite for the great lighting on Jessica's face and gown. Notice how you can see the detail and fold of the dress?
Finally, here's another big favorite of mine from the wedding. A friend of mine said that he thought it was, "too passionate" for a wedding picture. I take that as a compliment. Weddings should have passion. The wedding couple can be so busy with the details of the day that they forget to take a minute to relax and drink in the feelings. Sometimes, posing for pictures like this one is the only "break" they get where they can just be together.
All images copyright by Tampa Bay Wedding Photographer Booray Perry
