Being such minimalists with our photo editing, we were pleasantly surprised when the AGWPJA honored 3 of our photos with awards in their first quarter contest.  That makes us the most-awarded AGWPJA photographers in the country  for 2011.   That’s a nice way to start out the year!

One of the winning images was a portrait taken in the Tuscan Garden at Celebrate at Snug Harbor in Staten Island.  Kristina & Dan got married at Snug Harbor on 04/02/11.  With the recent heat wave, I’m sure we’ve all forgotten how cold the Spring was.  The snow had melted just in time for Kristina & Dan’s big day, but unfortunately, the flowers and trees hadn’t bloomed yet.  With the right perspective, however, Mother Nature can be beautiful, regardless of the weather.  We had a happy couple and some sun, sky, water and trees.   That might not sound like much, but after a little editing to bring out the clouds and a change in the color tone to complement the setting, we had a winning combination!

The other two winning images were candids from an Egyptian wedding at the Valley Regency in Clifton, New Jersey.  As you can see, the groom was enjoying the ride much more than the bride.

Like most other cultures, Mona & Wael and their friends & family celebrated with lots of dancing.  We captured the celebration and changed the colors a bit to enhance the look of these images.

Weddings are full of great moments.  And with just a little bit of editing, these moments can look even more magical.

It’s always an honor to have our work recognized.  But the real reward comes from our couples when they tell us how much they love their wedding photos.  To all of our happy couples – thanks so much for entrusting us to capture your special day!

Doesn’t Salwa look so happy here?  She and Ahmed are about to start their Zaffa.  Many of you reading this are probably saying “a what?”  A Zaffa is an Egyptian wedding march led by performers in colorful garb with tambourines and other instruments.  That’s part of the fun of our job - we get to see how different cultures and religions celebrate marriage.  We’ve found that wedding celebrations across different cultures have a lot in common.  It must be because love is universal AND we all like to party.

Here’s Ahmed at the Zaffa with his wedding party.  You can see some of the performers with tambourines in the background.

Hmm…since most of them are kneeling, you can’t really see the groomsmen very well.  What is that we hear?  You want to see their handsome faces more clearly?  Voila!

This is another fantastic Egyptian wedding custom- dancing with swords.  As you can see, Ahmed and his brother are very good at this.

In February, we called Ahmed and told him about a great anniversary gift idea we had for them.  Salwa loved the slide show we had put together of their wedding day highlights.  We asked Ahmed to say a few words and then, we added his voice and message to the slide show and sent it to them for their anniversary.  Our intuition paid off because Salwa loved it!  In Salwa’s words, “I looove everything!!…Thank you so much for being a part of the most amazing day of our lives- I really feel like we’re family and am a little sad we don’t have any more work to do together.”

To see the slide show we created, click on the image below.

Sandy & Tamer had a very festive Egyptian celebration at the Lake Isle Country Club.  The couple had a great time (though Tamer looks a bit scared that his friends will drop him in this photo).  This is actually one of our favorite photos, partly because their very different expressions make us laugh every time we look at it.  

Even the musicians they hired really got into the party.

Sandy’s sister, Rania, gave a very touching speech.  Apparently, when their mother was pregnant with Sandy, she didn’t want Rania to be jealous of the new baby, so she told Rania that Sandy was going to be her baby.  Rania therefore felt a very deep bond with her sister and tried to teach her everything she knew.  Lo and behold, Sandy grew up to become a very kind and loving person and Rania ended her speech by saying that she now has a lot to learn from Sandy.  We were very touched by the heartfelt words and as you can see, so was Sandy. 

We like this photo a lot as well.  So did Sandy & Tamer, it seems, since they chose it for their thank-you cards.

In Sandy’s words, she is ”in LOVE with the photos!!!!  Thank u both so much!!!”  As always, we’re very happy to hear that our couples like their photos.

To see more of Sandy & Tamer’s photos, click below.