Mandi & Mark - March 1, 2008

Last Saturday was Mandi & Mark's wedding at The Renaissance Waverly hotel. They are such a cute couple and we had a fantastic time photographing their beautifully simple and elegant wedding. I had the pleasure to photograph the day with my friend, Matt Yung. So fun to work with photographer friends. I just love seeing how we can be in the same place at the same time but capture the moment completely differently.

Matt helped me break a personal record for the number lights we used at the reception. We had 1 on each of our cameras and 5 set up around the room on stands. Wow! Toward the end of the night I realized that the light by Gale, the DJ, was so blinding to him and Margie that they were seeing spots all night. Ok, I didn't exactly "realize;" it was more like Margie "pointed it out to me." Sorry, you guys! Just trying to light up a really dark room. I think the results of all those flashes were worth it.

One of the reasons why I love photographing Jewish weddings like Mandi and Mark's is all the rituals that are repeated from generation to generation. For one, Mark wore his father's tallis (prayer shawl) and they used Mandi's parents rings during the ring ceremony. (There is a Jewish tradition that the wedding rings must be a continuous piece of precious metal without any stones or adornments to symbolize the continuity of their marriage and their commitment to one another.) I love that they used these items to include their families in the ceremony of the wedding.

When we went off to photograph Mandi and Mark's wedding portraits after the ceremony, I was excited to use the grand architecture of the huge atrium and wide open marble floor for some beautiful portraits, BUT we were disappointed to find about 150 people mingling around the hotel bar and tables covering the entire wide open space. Oh well! Plan B it is.... Thanks to the hotel staff, we were able to use the check-in desk for some fun shots. I love the one that Matt caught of the hotel guest completely oblivious to what was going on just 5 feet from him! And we had a great time in the glass elevator too. Thankfully none of us got sick riding up and down.

Check out the Sneak Peak slideshow below. To see it full size Click Here.

Venue: Jill Kantor, Renaissance Waverly
Coordinator: Margie Sikes, Affairs of Elegance
Flowers: Rich Larson, Creative Events by Sunflowers
Ceremony Harpist: Julie Albertson
DJ: Gale Fulton, Grand Affairs