naples wine festival dinner at Pelican Marsh

Rene and I had a wonderful time photographing one of the naples wine festival dinner’s hosted by festival trustees Linda & Jim Malone and John Scot Mueller & Judith Liegeois Mueller at the Malone’s Pelican Marsh home.

The dinner theme for the evening was Birds of a Feather. On hand to bring the vision to life was designer Gary Shanabarger, partner at 50Fifty Flowerphilosophy.

Celebrity chef for the evening was Richard Reddington of Redd and the vintners for the evening included Piero Incisa della Rocchetta of Bodega Chacra in Rio Negro, Argentina and Marc Perrin of Château de Beaucastel in Courthezon, France. Unfortunately, Mr. Perrin was detained in France but his wine made it all the way to Naples safely! :)

Aside from the fabulous smells emanating from the kitchen, the senses were flooded with beautiful bright shades of emeralds and burgundys, bright vivid reds and regal whites. Two peacocks graced the dinner providing a beautifully elegant backdrop and a visual feast for the eyes!

Linda and Jim Malone

 

One of the centerpieces included a delicate wooden bird cage with bright red and black feathers intertwined around the cage, raising a few feet above the center of the table. Crystal birds atop gilded branches adorned two other tables.

Naples

 

With an absolutely incredible full moon out that night and perfect weather, what more could you ask for? How about fire art entertainment from Blaze Naples? Wow….talk about really lighting up a dinner party (ok, I know, totally cheezey but I had to say it).

Naples

 

And of course, the wine and the food and executive chef Reddington….

Naples

Happy New Year, a better world and thank you…

Another year has come and gone….and it’s been quite a year for us and well, for what feels like most of the planet. So many good things have happened to us this year but in retrospect, our events really shadow in comparison to all of the things happening around us all over the world. With the economy taking a dip, and so much poverty and crime, our biggest hope for the future is a safer and more prosperous Earth for all of us. And while it seems cliche to say, more peace for all of us would be a blessing. There seems to be so much hate in the world….and for the New Year, my hope is that we all progress forward in some positive way so that we can create a more loving and caring world for our children and our future.

As we end the year, Rene and I want to thank all of our friends, our family, and our clients for all of the support, challenges and excitement they have brought us.

Aside from our children and each other, our lives are full because of the many faceted relationships we’ve built this year. We’ve met so many new friends in the wedding industry here in Southwest Florida. New friends who have treated us as friends instead of competition and have welcomed us with open arms, great advice and a shoulder to vent, cry and laugh on! Never forget that in business as in life, if you build an island around yourself, you won’t get far. Letting our guard down has been the best thing we could have done for our business this year and we thank all of our new industry friends!

This year we’ve met beautiful brides and grooms beginning a new life together. Brides and grooms who don’t know us but yet trust us with one of the most important days of their lives. They’ve given us the opportunity to participate in a day so special, so unique and so important that for us, that in the end it’s a humbling experience. Rene and I want to thank each of you for letting us be a small part of that special day. For us there is no greater joy than hearing that our work will remain in your hearts and in your family’s hearts for generations to come.

And we’ve grown older with our families by our sides this year, too. Both Rene and I consider ourselves very, very luck to have both of our mothers here in Naples. Without them, we would not be able to do the work we do. Leaving our two girls with our mothers gives us the peace of mind we need in order to do the job we love to do. Thank you to our mothers for all the hard work they do for us and for their granddaughters. We are so lucky to have such beautiful, smart, hard-working, patient and loving mothers who serve as the very best role models for us and for our girls. We never take for granted all that you both have done for us. We love you both so much!

In the society we live in, it’s easy to forget what life is really about. The grind of daily life takes us over and we lose ourselves in work and responsibilities and the material things that so easily come in and out of our lives. For the New Year, Rene and I plan to strengthen our efforts in becoming better stewards of the Earth, stronger supporters for our friends and colleagues and even better image makers for our brides and grooms! These are no easy feats! But what does make it so obtainable a goal is that the people in our lives make it easy to want to be better.

And with that, we leave you with the glowing faces of our 2009 brides…

…..Rene and I wish all of our friends, family, colleagues and clients a safe, prosperous and rockin’ 2010 and the very best that life has to offer!

Naples wedding photographer

Happy Holidays from Astrid and Rene!

May this holiday season and the New Year bring you all lots of reasons to smile. Happy Holidays from Astrid, Rene, Aliyah and Helena!

Astrid and Rene Photography

annemarie and brian: rehearsal dinner at the Strand

I don’t usually post rehearsal dinners, but this one was so beautiful that I wanted to share with it everyone. Annemarie and Brian had their rehearsal dinner at The Strand at dusk. Wow! Lilly at the Strand did an amazing job! Just look at how beautiful everything looked. I love dusk outside get-together’s and this one was fabulous!

Not only did the design and ambiance look wonderful, but Annemarie and Brian had a caricaturist on hand to capture the guests’ likeness! So cool!

They also had the BEST custom drink made for the evening, the ‘ABtini’ (the A from her name and the B from his). A fabulous Cosmopolitan Martini. Now that’s my kind of drink! Annemarie and Brian tied the knot a few weeks later at La Playa! Can’t wait to post their wedding on here. But for now, enjoy these!

And for those of you wondering, this was all shot (except the portrait of Annemarie and Brian) using handheld-available light with my absolutely-fantabulous Nikon D700. ISO’s ranged from 3200 to 6400, f2.8-6.3 at 1/20s-1/50s. LOVE my camera…. :)

Astrid and Rene Photography
Naples Wedding PHotography

Naples Residents - Help by Donating supplies to Domestic Animal Services

SAVE A LIFE! ADOPT A SHELTER DOGI’ve always been an animal lover! And if you are too, won’t you help us help the dogs, cats and other homeless animals at Domestic Animal Services of Collier County (DAS) this holiday season?

Temple Shalom Preschool is collecting supplies for DAS for Mitzvah day until November 15th. The preschool kids (including Helena!) will be making (yep! from scratch) doggy biscuits for all the doggies at DAS! Isn’t that the best! :)

If you’d like to donate supplies, please stop by the preschool to drop off your goodies.
The preschool’s address is 4630 Pine Ridge Rd. Naples, FL 34119 - Phone: (239) 455-3227Click here to view a map of the preschool and enter your address for step-by-step directions.

If you need someone to help you pick up goodies, contact me and I can see what we can do! Here’s a list of the supplies that DAS needs the most. Of course, if you can, the best way to help is to stop on by DAS to see all the beautiful homeless animals that need a loving forever home!

  • KITTY LITTER
  • LEASHES
  • 13 X 9 ALUMINUM PANS
  • NON-SCENTED BEACH
  • TOWELS AND BLANKETS (NEW OR GENTLY USED)
  • NEWSPAPERS (NOT THE AD SECTIONS)
  • PAPER TOWELS
  • CEDAR CHIPS (BEDDING FOR BUNNIES, HAMSTERS, ETC…)
  • BIRD SEED FOR PARAKEETS AND COCKATIELS

Halley Hound Dog thanks you for your kindness and generosity! She didn’t come from DAS but she came from the Pinellas County Animal Control and has been with our family for over 8 years. Remember: save a life! Adopt, don’t buy from pet stores!

Save a life! Adopt a dog or cat from DAS!

holiday sessions - Florida Style!

Fall is here! And yes! Even down here in SWFL we’ve experienced a bit of a temperature drop. What a blessing after such an intense summer.

With fall starting, we are happy to introduce our first set of custom-designed holiday cards for 2009. What better time to start thinking about holiday cards for friends, family and loved ones? I know, it’s a little early, but remember how hectic things get when you wait till the last minute. I know I’m guilty of it and I end up regretting it later.

We are also happy to offer a wonderful special to commemorate our very first custom-designed holiday card sampling! Book your session by October 16th, and receive 25% off your second set of holiday cards! Sessions run 30-minutes long and can be held at any Naples-city limit spot such as the beach, a beautiful park or your home!

To set up your session or order holiday cards, contact us or call the gallery at 239.248.8354.

Already had a family session with us or want to use an image we’ve already created for you? No problem! Give us a call and we can set you up with an order of custom-designed holiday cards with your image choice! And yep! Order before October 16th and receive 25% off your second set of cards, too!

To take a closer look at our custom designs, visit our 2009 Holiday Card Gallery! We offer beautiful press-printed 5 x 7 cards in both a flat (back and front) or folded designs. Cards come with beautiful parchment envelopes. All holiday card orders need to be in by November 1st to ensure timely delivery to you. Sessions are not available Saturdays or Sundays.

Holiday Cards Florida Style at Astrid and Rene Photography

We have a new gallery space!

When we started our business we were meeting our wonderful clients at coffee shops, venue lobbies or at their homes. And while we love a good cup of Joe just as much as the next person, being able to meet our clients in our gallery space is fabulous! Not only does it make our clients feel a lot more comfortable, but I get to have that pristine and beautiful modern living room I can’t have at home with a 3-year old and a 5-year old! :)

Sticking to the tried and true approach of clean and neutral color, we chose a beautiful slate gray for the walls and then used onyx black for the trim. Love this look….the black works great with our sofas and helps frame the room nicely. And the neutral gray on the walls makes our artwork and the wood floors POP! Here’s our front door. I found this absolutely gorgeous gun metal fabric that I had made into curtains.

Astrid and Rene Photography

 

There wasn’t a wide variety of modern furniture here in Naples. But there were two fab stores! Denmark Interiors has some absolutely AMAZING stuff. We bought an awesome Euro Style bungee office chair, which rocks by the way! Totally comfortable and totally fun to sit in!

Then there is Roche Bobois! Walking around in this store is like walking into a time machine which transported you into the not-so-distant future sans the cheese and with all the mouth-watering furniture you could want! When I went in one day to get some ideas, I happened to walk in during the last three hours of their 3-day moving sale. Man! Talk about bad timing. Needless to say and much to my great sadness, they had pretty much nothing left on the showroom. The end of Roche Bobois? That thought alone left me feeling empty. But not so. The store was just moving to the IDC in Fort Myers! Yay! Oh, and if you’ve never been to the I.D.C., do yourself a favor. Grab your best-est friend, leave the kids and the husband at home, wear comfy shoes and bring your iPhone to take pix of all the FABULOUS design inspirations that abound!

Astrid and Rene

 

Some of you who follow me on Twitter or Facebook may have heard my late night rantings concerning said glass table that I had been trying to acquire for centuries it seemed. Well, millenia later, my beloved glass table did arrive! I am not usually a ‘have to have it’ type girl, but for some reason, this table just did it to me! Sculpted out of one sheet of glass, the lines and curves on this table have to be seen in person (hint hint) :) Here’s my pride and joy at the gallery courtesy of 2bmod.

Astrid and Rene

 

Another view! And yep. That curved in space serves as a great place to hold magazines etc.

Astrid and Rene

 

And last but not least, our goodies room. The landlord owns a business that creates high-end cabinetry (some absolutely gorgeous stuff) and this room was a showroom of one of the closets and add-ons they could build. When we moved in, the landlord asked me if I wanted to leave it, well yeah! What else can a gal ask for other than custom built cabinetry and storage for her products? Recessed lighting complete with crown molding and gorgeous craftsmanship really made it super easy for us to move right on in!

Make sure to give us a call if you’re in the area! We’d love to have you over for that cup of Joe or glass or wine!

Astrid and Rene