Tag Archives: manhattan wedding

NYC Destination Wedding at the Essex House

Callan and Bryan from Milwaukee, Wisconsin wanted to have a small NYC destination wedding with some close friends and family. They chose the Jumeirah Essex House hotel since it could accommodate their small intimate wedding ceremony and dinner reception. Plus the hotel has a great midtown Manhattan location! It’s across the street from Central Park and only a few blocks up from Times Square.

They had an intimate ceremony performed by Reverend Will in the hotel’s Petite Salon. Afterward, we took a quick ride to get some photos in Times Square.

Times Square Wedding Photo

We hit a couple of more spots near the hotel and made it back in time for the newlyweds to join the fun at their cocktail hour. We were just in time to catch the impromptu sing-along with the pianist.

Essex House wedding

The Essexs House is a NYC landmark. We had to get photos of Callan & Bryan in the hotel’s beautiful art deco lobby and hallways.

NYC Destination Wedding
Jason Kwintner from the Essex House was on hand to make sure everything went smoothly. He even arranged for the town car to take us on our quick photo shoot. If you want more information about their destination wedding packages you should call Jason at 212-484-5140.

Church Photography Restrictions Didn’t Prevent Us from Getting an Award-Winning Photo

Alice and I are both members of the prestigious Wedding Photojournalist Association (WPJA).  This exclusive organization represents some of the most talented wedding photojournalists in the world. An offshoot of the WPJA is the Artistic Guild of the Wedding Photojournalist Association (AGWPJA). The AGWPJA focuses more on special effect photos.

We are excited to announce that both of the images we submitted to a recent AGWPJA photo contest have been honored with awards.  One image was taken during a wedding at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Manhattan. St. Patrick’s is both breathtaking and an important center of Catholic life. We can definitely understand why brides would want to get married there! Unfortunately, for us wedding photographers though, St. Patrick’s is difficult because it has very strict rules.   They actually assign security personnel to keep an eye on us during the ceremony!

St Patrick’s does not allow the use of flashes or tripods.  We, however, have one of the best cameras in the industry for taking photos in low light even if we can’t use a flash. Its speed also allows us to create High Dynamic Range (HDR) images without having to use a tripod. HDR photos are created by combining several shots into one final image to show the dramatic details in both the bright and dark areas of the Cathedral.   For those not interested in the technical details, let’s simply say we didn’t let the church’s restrictions prevent us from creating an award-winning image!

st-patrick's-new-york-city-wedding-photo

The other winning image was taken at an Indian wedding reception at the Hyatt Regency in Long Island.  We love photographing Indian weddings because of all the vibrant colors in everyone’s clothing.  We caught this great moment of a young kid dancing in his white suit to the cheers of his friends and family.  We changed some of the color tones to spice up the moment.

indian-wedding-photo

We hope you enjoy these photos as much as the contest judges did!