Chris & Lisa's Italian Wedding

At the risk of sounding like a long running comedy musical, I thought the theme for this post appropriate.

This was my first wedding at Anthony's Ocean View in New Haven and it was definitely one of the most entertaining weddings in a while. I had the assistance of a couple of great photographers from Boston, Jim & Lisa Engelbrecht along for the ride. There's a great photo of Jim later on in the post.

You might remember Chris & Lisa from the Jet set engagement session post a while back. Well there wedding day finally happened and here are some highlights from the day.




OK boys, show off your tools!




I saw this little circle garden and thought it would make a cool group photo. The only problem was how to get up high enough to capture it.


Let's just say, long legs come in handy. Hi Jim!


OK, which one likes to be the center of attention?




Cute cake topper!


Smoke and lasers for the first dance. But Chris didn't let that steal the show.


Off came his jacket and the real dance began! (you had to be there to see the whole thing).




The rowdiest table surprised the bride and groom with a blues brothers number...




Very touching dance with daddy.


One of best toasts I've heard in a while. Nice job Chris.


OK, I've never seen this before. Chris went down to find the garter...


...and he came up with these baggie panties!


OK, that's better.


Mmmmmm.... canoli!


And, Mr. Center of Attention turned out to be quite the entertainer, belting out two Italian favorites that really got the crowd on the dance-floor. Nice going!






Enjoy this slide show of the days events. (click here for a larger version).


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Christian and Seema's Wadsworth Mansion Wedding

What do you get when you cross the Wadsworth Mansion with an Indian wedding? What do you get when a great gal and a great guy fall in love? You get Christian and Seema's wedding, that's what!

A couple of years ago, I had the privilege of photographing my first Indian wedding. Wow! What a blast! That bride was Seema's Sister Shetal. It was great to see so many familiar faces this weekend at Seema & Christian's wedding. A lot of guests remembered us from Shetal's wedding and we remembered them too.

Since returning from Italy last week, it has been very cold and rainy but the sun came out for these two. Check out the slide show below or click here for a larger version of the slide show...



This venue is so impressive!


Seema waits patiently...









My favorite part of the Indian wedding, the Baraat!


Go Raj! Break it down!


What an awesome day!




This is a cool part of the ceremony. Several of the bride's family whisper advice into her ear. This is guaranteed to produce smiles and laughter.














This is one of my favorite dance photos in a long time! Christian's brother blew everyone away with his dancing.


Congratulations to the both of you!

Matt & Melissa's Wedding...

...and rehearsal dinner!

Many of my clients are opting to have me join them for their rehearsal dinner to provide continuous photographic coverage of all of their wedding celebrations. It's a great way to get to know the "key players" and the "inner circle" of family and friends before the big day.

Anyway, we made it back from Italy just in time for Matt & Melissa's rehearsal dinner and wedding this past weekend.

Matt & Melissa chose a great location for a rehearsal dinner, Abbot's Lobster in the Rough. It was so rainy and humid that I just had to photograph the cloud coming out of the ktichen.










And the next day....

They had SUNSHINE!!! All of the day's events took place at the Spa at Norwich Inn. It was kind of funny seeing people in white robes roaming the grounds and the hallways all day. Kind of felt like I was in some monastery or something.

Here's a small version of their slide show to watch (full-size version click here). The music was specially selected for them. I think they played this song 8 times at the rehearsal dinner.











Hey! How did this get in here?










Look! It's the Kowalski family!

Italy Trip Part VII: Wedding in Rome

An unexpected treat to end our Italy trip was to be invited along with Girolamo Monteleone to photograph a wedding in Rome. Wow! What fun!

It was interesting to note the similarities and differences between the weddings I have photographed here in the USA and this wedding in Italy. The day started very much the same as most weddings begin in the States, at the bride's house. Here's Pamela getting ready.


Gigi & Pamela ended up with a rainy day for their wedding. It was still beautiful to me.






The man in the white hat is Dirk. Dirk is not an Italian name. In fact, Dirk is from Germany and married into the family... no not the mob. I know, his hat reminds me of that mobster in Godfather II. Dirk had a lot of fun with his camera and enjoyed talking "shop".



Here's a behind-the-scenes photo of me trying to keep the bride and groom dry while Girolamo runs to the car for his fancy wedding umbrella. What a sacrifice!




Now "That's Amore!". It was hard to believe that in 24 hours, I would be on a plane heading back home.... Bummer!


Congratulations Gigi & Pamela! All the best! Tanti auguri!

Italy Trip Part VI: Texas meets the Italian Far North?

Texas? Italy? What I mean by that is, our friends (and clients) Jordan and Stephanie met up with us in Udine in the far North-East corner of Italy. We picked them up at the airport (only took us 2 tries to get the correct airport). Here are a few photos of us at the airport with our new friend Sara.



The next morning, we finally found a mercato that seemed to have decent stuff at reasonable prices. This trip it seemed like the items being sold in the markets were mostly stuff made in China or just low-quality items and OK prices. On previous trips we did much better.

Here is Teresa with our host Rosita.


The babies in Udine like to keep up with the news.


We had to watch our back at all times. Here is a not-so-undercover agent roaming the streets of Udine.


Our hosts took us to see a beautiful city, Cividale di Friuli. Here is a view of Ponte del Diavolo. Look how clear that mountain water is!




Here is a talking french fry trying to tempt me to come into this place. But wait!


Ahhhhh, frico! This stuff looks much more authentic (and delicious). Cheese, potatoes and onions baked into a delicious mouthwatering pie.



Here we all are with Teresa...


And to prove I was actually there, me.




Something about this sign just cracks me up.


The lovely canals of Udine... not very deep, but quaint.


We didn't end up going to Venice, but this photo makes it look like we did.








We finished up the day in San Daniele, capital of the world's best prosciutto. I've never had so much prosciutto in one sitting. Incredible!


We said good night to the happy couple. See you back in the States!

Italy Trip Part V: Workshop Day 2

Here's my happy class!!! Check out some of the great photos we created at Terre di Nano.

Girolamo and Barbara helped us find an incredible dress designer, Sonia Lupo. I have never seen dresses like these in my life. AMAZING!

Marika and Davide got right back into the wedding spirit for these photographs.






And as for Veronica & Luca, they got to do a trial run for their wedding day. Thanks for doing such a great job modeling!

Italy Trip Part IV: Workshop Day 1

Morning is my favorite time of day, especially when I'm in such a beautiful place as this in Tuscany. Everything was quiet as the sun graced the sides of the Tuscan hills as the countryside awoke. OK, enough words! On to the photographs!

One of our two canine hosts: Valser and Pippi!


Love these cypress trees!


Olives anyone?




Well, that filming of the Twilight movie ruined our plans to photograph in the Piazza of Montepulciano. Several of our students got separated from the main group in one of the most confusing and frustrating driving experiences ever. Anyway we made it down to the outskirts of town near this old temple. Beautiful views and a wonderful sunset helped us get these great photos.


Emanuela really enjoyed the entire class, especially the engagement session.


This was fun...


Then Valerio popped his head into the scene...


This guy looks so cool!

He looks like he could kill someone with that Canon. Brings new meaning to the words "photo shoot".


Our models Veronica and Luca... really engaged.








And Marika & Davide (already married and still in love).

Italy Trip Part III: Workshop at Terre di Nano

Terre di what? Nano! Not the Nano-Nano greeting of Mork from Mork & Mindy (does anybody still remember that show?). Terre di Nano is a beautiful country villa retreat in the heart of Tuscany that highly recommend after staying there.

We arrived on Sunday afternoon to check in and get ready to meet our students for the Italian-language photographic workshop on Monday and Tuesday. We checked out some of the nearby towns for ideal location for our model engagement session and bridal photo sessions. Montepulciano looked good. Sunday there were quite a few groupies hanging around trying to catch a glimpse of some of the actors during the filming of the new Twilight film there.

We then hopped over to Montichiello, a Tuscan hill town with a medieval tower. As I was location scouting for our engagement session, I saw this guy with a tan vest and a very 70-200mm Nikon lens. We greeted each other and we soon realized that he was one of my students. Leonardo D'Angelo is an experienced sports photographer who has traveled the world making great photographs. Check out his website here. Here he is photographing me from the top of the entrance to the town.


As we made our way back to Terre di Nano for our welcome dinner for the workshop students, I took advantage of the Tuscan sunset to take some photos of these really cool invitations that we brought with us from Praez Occasions Custom Couture Invitations & Accessories. They have some of the most incredible over-the-top designs for invitations I have ever seen. Check out their website too if you get a chance.



This was an awesome meal! Local foods cooked to Tuscan perfection. Everyone present enjoyed getting to know one another.



No one wanted to leave the table as the sky darkened. But get some rest! Class starts tomorrow!