When I think of that kind of love that is the truest kind of love, the kind of love that endures through life’s ups and waaaay downs, the kind of love that makes you feel like nothing in this world can bring you down, and the kind of love that lets you be yourself completely I think of Liz and Sean having that kind of love!

A few weeks before Liz’s wedding day, I stopped in to talk to her. We got on the subject of love and I told her that it seemed to me that she and Sean would end up just like Rene and I: dieing together. I know! I know! It sounds melodramatic and a bit morbid too, but it’s true! You can just tell and with Liz and Sean, every picture we took of them together always revealed that sparkle of pure love between them. I love when I can take pictures like that…..it’s pure magic.

~ The Details ~

Liz and Sean exchanged vows at the beautiful Miromar Lakes Beach and Golf Club. 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!

Venue: Miromar Lakes Beach and Golf Club
Florist: Express Florist
Videographer: Beth Schell, Elite Weddings
Band: Modulation
DJ: Omar Baker

Happy, happy faces on such a special day!

Liz is blessed to have a beautiful family and wonderful friends! Just look at her bridal party and her daughters….

I love this portrait of Liz….she really does make my work SO easy!

 

I got teary-eyed during the ceremony…

A more perfect backdrop to such a perfect union….just does not exist!

 

Ok….how fab is Miromar Lakes to have a wedding??

Details, beautiful details!

And did we mention just how much fun Liz and Sean and their family are? Not only did Liz and Sean perform THE most original first-dance skit we’ve ever witnessed, but their kids absolutely know how to dance and make people laugh! In the second picture, they are getting down to Thriller, only one of the many songs they included in their surprise firs-dance skit!!

And our first installment of our ‘off the wall’ wedding portraiture series….here, Liz and Sean donned their Everblades gear! Thanks for such a cool portrait guys! You guys rock and many thanks for letting us be part of such a memorable day!

Tags: Florida Weddings, Naples Florida weddings by Astrid
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Brides and grooms, make sure you save the date and attend the exclusive Naples Bridal Show, Love in Bloom! It will be held at the fantabulous Strand Country Club in Naples, Sunday, March 15th from 1:00 – 4:00!

If you missed us at Bridal Blast, make sure to come out and visit us! We will have our fantastic albums on display along with some beautiful and truly unique wedding works of art! Questions about the show or visiting our booth? Shoot us an email!

Proudly sponsored by NAWP – The National Association of Wedding Professionals

Tags: bridal shows by Astrid
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In our inbox this week was an email message from Wedding Wire, letting us know that we had been selected for a Wedding Wire Bride’s Choice Award! Yay! We love winning and it feels SO much better when we win because our brides select us! Here’s the scoop about the award straight from Wedding Wire:

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!

Tags: accolades by Astrid
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Moving along with editing, I wanted to post this quick teaser of Jon and Abigail’s wedding. Having such a fantastic backdrop that is the beaches here in Naples, Florida, we don’t often get to shoot weddings at churches. And I love to shoot in churches! The challenges are great and when done right, the lighting can be dramatic and quite lovely. And thanks to my trusty Nikon D700, shooting low light without a flash is a total breeze!

This shot was taken in the front of St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church. This was our first time shooting in this lovely church. As expected, the church had some great spots to shoot like wall to wall stained glass in the front (which made for some amazing portraits of the bride and groom), a fantastic patch of sunlight streaming into the aisle of the church, right in front of the alter and perfect for creating beautiful portraits of the bride. After the ceremony, we headed to the beach for some romantic bride and groom portraits, then it was off to a fabulous reception at Grandezza. But more of that to come!

For now, I have posted this shot that I really love! I am a total sun flare aficionado (be it lens flare or sun flare). I had seen this technique perfected by some fantabulous, great, rockin’ awesome wedding photographers out in California and I finally got just the right opportunity to try it out. The idea is to shoot directly into the blazing hot afternoon sun, using enough flash to light up the subjects and still get a beautiful sky and a flare sun. I’m happy with the results and I hope to create more portraits like this in the near future. The sky and sun here in Naples, Florida is perfect for just this type of portrait.

For those of you who have asked to see the Edison/Ford Winter Estates images, they will be up soon!

Thanks and happy week!
Astrid

Tags: Naples Florida weddings by Astrid
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One of my resolutions for the New Year is to try to get better organized with my time! So I’m finally catching up and blogging about Agata and Steve’s lovely wedding held at the Naples Grande Beach Resort here in spectacular Naples, Florida!

The Naples Grande puts on quite a backdrop, and shooting here is such a pleasure. Of course, working with a beautiful bride like Agata doesn’t hurt either!

Steve and Agata both wanted a small, elegant and modern wedding and it couldn’t have come together any better. We started inside with the signing of the katuba, then moved outside for the ceremony. And that amazing Southwest Florida sun provided just the right light for a heartfelt exchange of vows. After the ceremony, we headed inside, where Steve and Agata enjoyed their newlywed status with friends and family.

Check out the fantastic decor of the Grande, too! If you are visiting Naples and prefer a more modern style, (not to mention being right on the beach AND in the heart Naples style) look no further than the Grande!

I love the lobby here….and look at the pictures…you’d never guess it was the lobby of a hotel. The modern and minimal furniture, colors and accessories were so easy to work with.

Thanks Agata and Steve, for giving us the opportunity to share this very perfect day with you and your family!

Astrid and Rene

Tags: Florida Weddings, Naples Florida weddings by Astrid
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The totally cool Wedding Chicks has a feature on erica + tanner’s very special day in the real weddings section! If you haven’t visited Wedding Chicks yet, head over there PRONTO! Amy and Jocey run an absolutely must-visit-very-often site, dedicated to all wedding-style-fashion related! And they do it with amazing style and elegance. Subscribe to their RSS feed, too!

Click on the graphic below to view our featured wedding in the real weddings section or click me!

erica + tanner featured on wedding chicks

Tags: published! by Astrid
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We love what we do! I mean how could we not? We are invited to the most important day of two people’s lives. We are at their side all day and it’s our responsibility to capture those moments that go by in a blur.

After all is said and done, after the flowers are gone, after the dress is cleaned and packed (or trashed) and after you come back from the honeymoon, what other way is there relive your wedding day than through photographs? And not just any photographs, but photographs that tell your complete story, beginning to end in a professional and poignant manner?

For us, it’s a vitally important job that we happily and passionately do for our clients. I think that often times some wedding and portrait photographers forget just how important what we do really is! Both Rene and I still have our cherished grandparent’s and parent’s wedding portraits. We have portraits of family members who have passed on and special family reunions that will never happen again. If it weren’t for those beautiful images, it would be harder for us to keep those memories alive in our hearts and in our minds.

I often think about the photographer that took the image of my grandmother’s wedding portrait and my mother-in-law’s wedding portrait. Who were these men or women? Did they realize just how important their actions would be? Did they realize that the one moment they captured on film would be appreciated by so many generations?

So, after having these thoughts about our own personal images for the longest time, Rene and I take our job very seriously. And we wanted to present this bit of prose as we update our blog with a sampling of Tara and Mark’s collection. How wonderful it was for us to be part of this amazing family’s very perfect day! There was so much laughter, love and pride that day that capturing cherished family memories was super-easy for us!

Take a look at their gallery and you will see picture after picture of smiling and happy family members and the bride and groom. This is as real and as good as it gets! It’s solid gold for us photographers and I really don’t need to say much else!

Oh, and check out the mega-talent that is Tara’s mom and sister! They did absolutely all the decorations from the palm tree name cards to the totally cool flip flops for guests to the cupcakes to the smart and quirky quotes on the walls! Ladies, you need to start a new business!

~Astrid~

Tags: Florida Weddings, Naples Florida weddings by Astrid
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