Eliana & Dovid's Wedding Fri. August 27, 2010 i do
I've said this before and I'll say it again--I LOVE shooting weddings that are different, offbeat, interesting, and unique! Over the course of my career, I've had the opportunity to shoot weddings of many different kinds and religions, and I have to say, one of the most interesting is the Orthodox Jewish wedding. It's just SO different from what I see on a day to day basis that when I shoot one, I approach it as almost more of an event to document than a wedding. Of course it IS a wedding, but the schedule and traditions are so different that I don't like to try to shoot it to conform to that particular box.
A couple of weeks ago, I shot an Orthodox Jewish wedding I've been waiting a long time for: Eliana & Dovid. I first met Eliana in 2004, when I met with her older sister about her own wedding. Eliana was so effervescent and outgoing, she's the type of girl you can't help but like! She was too young at that time to be considering marriage, but she looked forward to the day it would be her turn.
I saw her again at Jazmon & Ramy's wedding, and she'd grown up so much, but was still the warm, funny, friendly girl I had met earlier. This time though, she told me that she was READY and was hoping that she'd be having her own wedding soon. She welcomed me at that wedding as a friend and part of the family, and I also hoped that her wedding would be next :)
It took a year or two more, but it was FINALLY Eliana's turn. She might tell you that she'd planned to be married earlier, but she would also tell you that nothing in the world can compare to finding the right person, which she did in Dovid. Dovid loves her in every way, all the flaws, the quirks, and is the one she's been waiting for. I am so excited to share their wedding with you!
I'm going to explain a bit about the wedding, but I really don't know everything--only from what I've been told on the job by the friends and family I've met.
Here we go!
(By the way, I have decided to process a bunch of these images in a new sepia action someone gave me! it's not available to buy yet, but I am LOVING it and as soon as it's ready to be released, I'll certainly share!)
Eliana's shoes: Eliana told me that she bought them FOUR YEARS AGO for her future wedding! That's planning!!
Before the wedding, it is customary for the bride to "Daven", which means pray. The bride's brother brought her the prayer book, which is the same one the groom will Daven from that day too:
Eliana made such a gorgeous bride--I always knew she would! The word for Bride in Yiddish is Kallah:
The Kallah had a beautiful daisy bouquet (and a beautiful smile):
Eliana is just such a superstar!
Not to mention, totally stunning:
Dovid told me that he doesn't wear cufflinks and when Eliana told him he needed them for the wedding, he wasn't super excited. His decision? Cufflinks that look like buttons!
He was so handsome. He told me that a groom's outfit for the wedding must be all new--100% unworn yet, down to the socks and underwear.
The Yiddish word for "groom" is Choson (ch pronounched like k"
Always a favorite at DuBrow family weddings, the adorable Mookie! His mom Shoshi might have planted one on him :)
What a cute little guy:
Aunt Eliana likes him, I think:
Before the Chuppah, the Kabbalas Panim take place, which are greeting of the bride and groom, which take place separately. The Kallah has a Bedeken, which is a time when the women can come up and greet her, pray, chat, etc.:
The men have a Tisch, where the terms and conditions (Tena'im) of the marriage contract are read aloud. The Choson sits between his father and father in law while the contract is reviewed:
Once that is completed, the Choson is escorted to the Kallah to place a napkin or veiling over her face, to symbolize Rebeccah doing this before her marriage to Isaac. She also receives blessings from her father, father in law, and grandfather.
The Choson goes to the Chuppah first:
The ring is placed on the bride's index finger. There are so many people under the Chuppah during this that it is a VERY difficult shot to get!
There is lots and lots of singing:
And lots of rejoicing!
One thing that is very unusual about Orthodox Jewish wedding is that the bride and groom are not to touch at all in public, even after the ceremony. I am always nervous to shoot portraits, because it's so hard to figure out how to post a couple that can't touch, but still show a connection and love between them.
I needn't have worried with Eliana & Dovid:
On the line of "touching" but not quite over :)
Might as well shoot some more portraits of Eliana while I was at it:
Eliana and Dovid have so much fun together! They are always laughing and smiling. I know they are going to have such a wonderful marriage:
Even though they didn't touch, the connection between them wasn't hard to find:
And it turns out, the portraits can be just as beautiful:
And just as adorable:
The party is where things really get crazy! The dancing is frantic and WILD! There is so much pure joy! There was also an incredible bar of the most amazing fresh fruit, the prefect thing after dancing like this for hours on end:
The men and women dance separately, and you never know what might happen:
A little playful interaction is okay :)
But honestly, I think the girls really just love spending time together:
A stolen moment towards the end during the Benching, which is a series of prayers after a meal:
I think every bride should look and feel like this on her wedding day:
One last little shadow:
Eliana & Dovid, Mazel Tov on your marriage! Thank you so much for letting me be a part of your lives and family, if only for a day!!
My Favorite Thing at WPPI Wed. February 24, 2010 my life
WPPI.
Yes, it's a photography convention, but aside from that, it's also where I have made SO many friends and connections over the years. I remember going when i was 19 or 20 and an associate for a studio back in North Carolina. I went for the classes and the tradeshow--I didn't know anyone to be able to get into any of the parties, so it was pretty much an all-learning, all the time trip for me.
BORING!
In 2004, I met Becker, and subsequently received an invite to the Annual [ b ] party, which quickly became my favorite part of any WPPI! At the time it was held in a small hotel room, and would get busted an hour or two after starting. Still, good times.
This is me with my NC girls, Julie and Stephanie. We met Joe photo and we're each rocking a pair of his sunglasses (he has a HUGE collection):
As time went on, the parties got bigger and bigger, graduating to an L Suite at The Hotel! I think this was 2006, and the people in this photo are David Jay, me, Jules Bianchi, Shyla, Kristin Renee, Liana Banana, and Sara France. You can't tell, but Liana and I are both wearing sweatpants in this photo--we were SO exhausted!
The same year, me with Jaclyn, Jen Bebb, and Jen Dery:
Now that Becker is running his own school, the party has sized out of hotel rooms and graduated to a HUGE space to make more fun for everyone! This is so awesome because now you can go even if you don't know another soul going!
Because of this, it has also taken on a ridiculous expense, thus the ticket charge. But trust me, if there is ONE SINGLE THING not to miss this year, it is this party!
Just click on the poster below to sign in to hang with us:
I hope that you all sign up to go, and that it becomes YOUR favorite thing at WPPI as it is mine!
CONTEST!!
I will be giving away TWO FREE TICKETS TO THE B PARTY to someone who joins the SHOOTSAC FAN PAGE between now and MIDNIGHT TONIGHT!! Make sure to leave a comment on the wall or here in this post to let me know that you joined!!
Thursday Thoughts With Jessica Claire Thu. January 21, 2010 my life
Hello everyone! In an attempt to post more personal stuff on my blog, I am starting a new feature called Thursday Thoughts, where each Thursday I'll chat about recent happenings, things that I think are funny, personal stories and photos, and anything exciting that is going on in my world. I will also include some things that I approve of, and some things that have induced strong dislike on my part :)
Here we go!
This past weekend, a group of friends and I took our annual trip up to Big Bear. Basically we rent a big cabin and then spend the next three days skiing, snowboarding, being lazy, and just generally hanging around. This trip, the popular thing to do was to play Words With Friends on our iPhones. It is VERY similar to Scrabble but with a slightly different board and it also has a chat feature :) You might think that this is lame (and actually a certain contingent of our members did too), and I'll admit that there was more than one time when 9 of us sat in a room and played one another on this game. BUT, it is FUN! By the end of the trip, even the haters were on board. You should download this app--it's quite addictive!
At the end of the trip, it started snowing. I mean, REALLY snowing, to the point where there were near white-out conditions at some points. We decided after our cabin lost power and the forecast called for 2-4 feet of snow to make a run for it while we still could. I kind of wanted to be snowed in for a week, but with some of us having weddings this Saturday, we played it safe and headed back. Here's a quick little photo of the view as we left--you can see Candice running down the stairs like a pack mule--we left rather abruptly :):
Here's the view of the road as we made our way through town-Michael drove very carefully and we made it home safe and sound, in plenty of time for a little poker game:
I received some photos back from the lab that I shot for fun over Christmas vacation this week! I had forgotten that I shot these, so they were fun to see. Here's one of Jeff's dad reading the Christmas story to the kids on Christmas Eve, before opening gifts:
We gave Aly a princess tent, which made Jeff really happy too. I don't really like to play princesses as much as he does, so he and Aly are quite a good match in that respect:
Kids somehow know that Jeff is just one of them:
We also made a visit to my Dad and Ruth, and while we were there I convinced my step-sister Liana to drag her baby out in the snow so I could snap a few photos. Maya wasn't sure what to think of it at first:
Once she was with her mom though, she seemed to think it was fun!
In other news, I reached 10,000 twitter followers today!
My goal is to increase that to 25000 over the next 2 years, so if you don't follow my Twitter yet, you can find it here: http://www.twitter.com/jessicaclaire.
Here's what else is on my mind:
-I need to take down the remainder of my Christmas decorations. I was trying to pass them off as "winter", but it's time for them to go, seriously.
-I'm annoyed at all the drama over the PDN "Influential" list. I do not think I deserve to be on it, but I am sad about all the nastiness it seemed to bring forward
-I went to the Utterly Engaged party last night, even though I swore off networking parties over the past few years and it was so FUN!
-A new PINK POLKA DOT cover is being launched in the Shootsacâ„¢ Newsletter tomorrow! If you want to receive it and snag a new cover, **click here** -I love s'mores. So much.
-Cyndie Norwood always beats me at Words With Friends. She is scary good at it.
-Jeff is awesome
-Every Thursday at 4pm PST you should make it a point to chat live with Becker and the guest of the week. This week is Jasmine Star! Go here and chat with them: the b school live chat
That's it for now, Happy Thursday! I'd love to see people leave a comment with one random thing that's happened to them this week, or a suggestion of something I should try this coming week for review next week :)
Hello faithful readers! My body is slowly but surely adjusting back to California time, and I've got a TON of blog entries in the queue for the next few weeks. I'm also plugging right away on my own wedding plans, so I should have some new posts about that this coming week as well.
Instead of posting my images from Sweden today, I want to share a little bit more of Liana & Mike's wedding, which I started posting a few weeks ago. The wedding was at Greystone Mansion in Beverly Hills, which is just an amazing, incredible property. Look:
One of the moments that I love during a wedding is that little bit of time immediately before the ceremony where everyone is getting ready. It's the height of the anticipation, and and the moment they've been waiting for for so long. Here's the girls about ready to walk down:
One last look between Liana and her dad before he gave her away to Mike:
Lines lines everywhere:
The ceremony site--perfectly backlit, of course :) That's what you get when you shoot another photographers' wedding!
A couple little ceremony details:
A great shot of Liana's dress:
I love the feeling of this one--Liana's expression and her Maid of Honor's expressions just make it for me:
A prayer and a kiss...
And a newly married couple!! I love this series:
Might be my fave of the day:
They sneaked off into the bushes for a real kiss once they tied the knot :)
Seriously, the property is so flippin' stunning:
Throw a beautiful bridal party in there and you've got a nice little photo:
Cocktail hour was simple and pretty in lovely light:
The setting is like a courtyard straight out of a European storybook:
A little sneak preview of the final part of the wedding---the reception!
Liana & Mike: Part 2 of ? Fri. April 24, 2009 i do
On to part 2 of Liana & Mike's wedding! So after they saw each other for the first time, they scheduled a few hours for us to run around Santa Monica to shoot some portraits, like most good photographers would. (side note--Jeff is more traditional and does not want to see me before the wedding so we will not be doing this--more on that subject later).
Anyway, we all piled in the limo and cruised from Beverly Hills down to Santa Monica:
We then arrived at one of my favorite places in the world. You can't tell where it is from this photo, but I love it anyway:
Some of you may have guessed, it's the Viceroy-Santa Monica. It was decorated by my style icon, Kelly Wearstler. I love everything about this place--the decor, the rooms, the food---everything. I took all my branding inspiration from this hotel because it has the exact feel I wanted to give my business. When Liana told me that she and Mike had chosen it for their wedding night, I could not have been more stoked to shoot there!
We had such a great time--it's so fun!
I hope to incorporate plates like this into my decor when I eventually own a home:
Liana is affectionately known as "Liana Banana", so these yellow chairs were oh-so-appropriate:
Liana sure can work it like a model, especially for a photographer!
Mike's no slouch himself:
A little bit of a Marie Antoinette feeling bridal party photo:
Then a few more portraits in the lobby:
I swear, I could move in to this hotel and be perfectly happy:
I wanted to make a more etherial portrait of Liana:
Then we went down to Santa Monica Pier:
So hot:
Don't try to shoot here without a permit. You will get kicked out, like we did. Luckily, I shot and they twirled mid-kickout, so we still got these couple of shots:
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