Nicole’s awesome gown, shot at the beautiful Grandezza, took home first place in the Wedding Gown category! Judge’s comments: “Great use of window light and flare”. And yep. That was natural lens flare, not fake Photoshop flare!

Annemarie’s infamous (for Naples, anyway) La Playa balcony shot took home 7th place in the Framing the Subject category. Judge’s comments: “Absolutely stunning image”.

We placed 19th out of 20 overall from all the entrants all over the world, our first time placing in the top 20 since we started competing (we started in the Fall of 2009 and placed for the first time in the contest of summer of 2009).

So we are were pretty stoked overall…..it’s always a wonderful validation when your favorite images place. I love both of these images….and whenever I select images for contests, I always try to select images that I love, not what I think the judges will like…..’stay true to your vision’ is what we always try to do! It’s never let us down….

Congratulations to all the other winners….there is some FAB talent going on and if you have a minute, we encourage you to take a look at all the winners. Some uber-talented photographers from all over the world placed and it’s a real honor for us. Check out the results right here at ISPWP’s gallery results page!

This edition features Liz and Sean’s awesomely beautiful and fun wedding that we shot at Miromar Lakes Beach & Golf Club here in Southwest Florida! What a great place to shoot! At every corner we found great spots and the decor is fabulous! Lesley and the staff at Miromar did an absolutely outstanding job making sure everything flowed smoothly and everyone was happy. And we couldn’t have been happier shooting at such a refreshingly unique spot!

I know that the wedding magazine industry experienced some losses last year with the loss of Modern Bride and Elegant Bride so we are SUPER ecstatic to see such a beautiful magazine going strong and representing some of the best vendors, locations and talent here in Florida. We are also very honored to be featured in Weddings Florida.

For us, it’s really wonderful to see this area of Southwest Florida receive the recognition it deserves as being a hot spot for destination weddings. Not only is the area beautiful, but we have some absolutely fantastic talent in the area that will do everything possible to help create a bride and groom’s vision. And part of that success comes from a strong network here of industry vendors that work with each other and support each other.

Thanks again to Weddings Florida for featuring Liz and Sean and thank you Liz and Sean for trusting in our ability to preserve your wedding day.

~ Astrid and Rene ~

 

 

 

If you’d like to learn more about Weddings Florida, check out their Facebook page and their website!

If you are in the Southwest Florida area and want to get to know some of the best vendors (including us) in the industry, make sure to attend the First Annual Clearwater Beach Bridal & Fashion Show produced by Weddings Florida Magazine, Sunday, January 24, 2010 at Clearwater Beach. Check out their website for more information and pre-registration.

Placing is definitely something that made us feel great but even more rewarding was having our work alongside some amazing talent! Check out Christobal Perez’ (from Azul Photography in North Carolina) first place entry in the Pure Art category! That’s a beautiful black and white portrait. My favorite of all the entries? Emin Kuliyev’s entry for Getting Ready, which he won first place for. His work is fabulous!

You can take a look at all the winners in the Pure Art category from this link! Make sure to scroll down to view entries from all the categories. Congratulations to all the winners!

Here’s our two entries that placed:

In its inaugural year, the Bride’s Choice Awards recognizes vendors from the WeddingWire Network that demonstrate excellent quality of service, responsiveness, professionalism, value of cost and flexibility. Unlike other awards in which winners are selected by the company, the Bride’s Choice Awards are determined exclusively by recent newlyweds (brides and grooms) through surveys and reviews. Our winning vendors have set the bar high for this competition, demonstrating excellent service and expertise in their industry.

Woo hoo!! We put together a little collage of our brides and grooms that reviewed us below. A very, very special thanks goes out to them (and their moms) for leaving us such great reviews on Wedding Wire.

When you love what you do, it’s easy to do it well and with passion!

With thanks,
Astrid and Rene!

2008 marks our first year in business for ourselves. While we were totally gung ho and eager to jump in, some people questioned our decision to start a business during these ‘recession’ months. But for us, it was the next logical step in our journey.

So we did a lot of research and found out several large successful corporations had started during recessions. And we also found out that owning your own business was a lot of hard work, and harder work and even more work! But it feels great to be charge of your destiny. And for me personally, it felt wonderful to be able to make my own creative decisions about the art I wanted to create for my brides and grooms and clients.

So, with a lot of hard work, great things come! We’ve only yet started on our first year and already we have met some incredible people. This industry can bring the best and worst out in people. But for us, we’ve only seen the very best from the wonderful people who have shared their passion, their knowledge and their pearls of wisdom with us! To all of you who have helped us out this year, thank you from both of us! Your generosity and kindness has not gone unappreciated.

We went to a Mike Colon seminar a while back ago. And something he said has really gotten me through times when I wonder if I am doing the right thing! Mike compared the growth and success of his business to pushing a boulder up a hill. He said that after 10 years, his business was at a point where he didn’t have to push so hard. Our first year was very tough and I imagine it’s going to get tougher. But his words echo in my mind and keep me going!

Two key moments stood out for us this year: we were honored to shoot with Huy from f8studio.com at the Naples Ritz Carlton and we were accepted into Modern Photographers!

Coming from a photojournalist background, I was immediately drawn to Huy’s exceptional ability to reduce his subject down to his or her most natural essence. This isn’t always so easy when you are dealing with high-stress moments that happen during weddings. But from studying Huy’s imagery and methodology, I have been continued to be inspired to keep searching for my voice and my style and keep becoming better and better at what I love: photography. Thanks Huy for giving us your time and showing us a bit of your magic (look for our mug shot with Huy in our special end-of-the-year slide show). You are an awesome source of inspiration and shooting with you was priceless! Thank you again…

A few weeks ago we applied to Modern Photographers. Modern Photographers is a community of photographers that adhere to professional standards and commitment to excellence in the field of wedding and portrait photography. The members of this community are voted in by professionals in the industry. For us, it is an honor that we are a part of this organization. Thank you for choosing us!

Thanks again to everyone who has contributed their knowledge, time and passion! We have a long road to travel but we feel we are in the best of company to do so! What a great first year!

Astrid and Rene

We have been hard at work creating a special video for the Grande to send to their brides. We wanted to share it with everyone…enjoy!