Fall/Winter 2009 Special Packages!

That’s right folks!  If you’ve been lurking, now’s the time to book us for your wedding!  I’ve just created some AWESOME packages that are packed with goodies at a great price.  Have you been dreaming of having a photobooth at your wedding?  Well, now you can have it included for FREE with any package!  We’ve also got some deals on albums – save even more on parents’ albums if you buy two.

These specials can be booked from now until December 31st however, your wedding can be any date.

REMEMBER:  There is a  BRIDAL REGISTRY for any products we offer!  This means your family and guests can purchase credits towards the wedding album of your dreams!  Register for canvas and print packages, too.

Click HERE for a downloadable PDF file of these offers.

And hurry! We only shoot ONE wedding per day so don’t lose your date.

April Weddings!

Once again, I find myself behind on blogging so we’re just going to update by combining several posts into one!

A Work of ART:  Sonia & Jan

Sonia & Jan,  my uber-cool couple of the year were referred to me by my uber-cool couple of last year, the rockin’ Debra & Tony!  Sonia was Deborah’s maid of honor and even caught the bouquet at her wedding!  So when this gorgeous twosome contacted me about their wedding photography, I was honored and excited.  Not only was this going to be a Hindu wedding ceremony but Jan is from Denmark so they were also planning to incorporate some of his native traditions, too.  I was going to have such a great time with this multi-cultural celebration!

I honestly don’t know how to show you just a few of my favorites.  You see, I’m fascinated by Hindu weddings.  I love the culture and the beautification rituals that proceed the wedding day.  I even got a Mendhi tattoo on my hand at Sonia’s Mendhi party.

Here at Sonia’s Pithi Ceremony, she is smeared by her best friends Deborah & Dow during a beautification ritual.

Sonia began her wedding day getting dressed and made up at the Four Seasons.  Not only does it take an expert to wrap her wedding day sari but to help her be adorned by all the jewelry.  Her sister helps her with the many bangle bracelets.

It was my first time visiting the Mason Murer Art Gallery and of course, my first wedding there, too. The gallery a perfect location for the wedding of these two art lovers.  After all, our engagement session for them took place in the art gallery district of Castleberry Hill!  It was also a wonderful space with some truly beautiful modern art pieces.  I think Mandi, Marlene and I each had one we wanted to take home!

After some romantics and family shots around the gallery, we gathered for the ceremony.  This was one of the most unique mandaps I’ve ever seen – filmy and magical.  I happen to be partial to turquoise blue – it’s my favorite! – and it was the primary color of Sonia & Jan’s theme.

My favorite “cool” shot of the day is this angle where Sonia’s mother is performing a blessing ritual on the car they will drive away in after the Vidaai.  I saw that the car was very reflective and chose to compose the image almost entirely of pure reflection.

Sonia and Jan chose to have cupcakes instead of a traditional wedding cake!

For my first Danish wedding tradition, I was told that their first dance would start to a traditional Danish waltz, then the couple would be surrounded by friends and family until the circle got tighter and tighter. Suddenly, the groom’s friends lifted him into the air and cut off the toes of his socks!   I wanted to do some research on this bizarre tradition and found this quote from a blog called “The Moron’s Almanac”:

“There is some dispute about the origins of this tradition. Some say it has to do with checking to be sure the groom hasn’t been sneaking around at night—if his socks smell like rye, he’s a cad. Others say it’s intended to force the bride to prove her sewing skills. Both interpretations seem strained to me—after all, it’s a little late to find out whether the groom is a cheating dog or the bride is a lousy homemaker. Even if the experiment were undertaken with an eye toward annulment, you’d hardly need to take a physical sample of the groom’s sock—you could just smell his feet—and the bride could be handed an old napkin, a spool of thread, and a needle if her sewing skills were really in question. So I’m guessing people just like cutting the groom’s socks.”

Sounds good to me!

This was an amazing day and ended with the couple being applauded as the departed the gallery. Please be sure to watch their slideshow HERE.

Saturday In The Park:  Katie & Matt

We didn’t start Katie & Matt’s wedding day in the park but at the Marriott on 14th for every one to get ready for the big event.  The atmosphere was so festive and the girls and guys were having a great time!  I found a great location in Katie’s hotel room to shoot my dress photo.  I try to take time at every wedding to give the bride a dress shot that really is uniqe (not just the standard dress-in-the-window shot..).

That kinda goes for the rings, too!  The hotel’s TV was on this super glossy black credenza so I just stacked the bling and got a great reflection.

Next we headed over to my favorite church to photograph in Atlanta, The Shrine!

This church is always easy to work in, has great light and we just love Father Henry (and he loves us!).

Beautiful bouquets by  Tamela of Southern Bouquets!

Some of Katie’s “Vogue” bridals – always love the arches of this church’s doorways.

What I did not know about with their wedding is that Katie’s mom had arranged for a childrens’ choir, The Gwinnett Youth Singers, to perform during the ceremony.  I gotta say, that was a really wonderful moment. Their angelic voices gave me goosebumps!  It really made for a magical atmosphere and it felt like we were in a movie!

Oh, my favorite shot during the ceremony.  The sweet little flower girl was not too sure about going down that long aisle by herself until she finally saw mommy and RAN.

After the ceremony, we were off to Piedmont Park and Park Tavern for the reception.  I was on clooooouuud NINE when Katie & Matt agreed to spend so much time with us in the park! They seemed so content to just have as many photos taken as I wanted – what more could any photographer ask!  We are always telling couples to make time to do this -you will NOT regret this part of your wedding day years later.  Spending those extra 15-20 minutes is all I ever ask for my couples to give – and Katie & Matt were up for a bit more! Just look at the results – relaxed, genuine expressions.  Love them!

Leah Bilz of The Whole Shebang did her usual “bang up job” on the reception details – right down to the blue signature drink.  An orange football helmet cake matched the orange flowers perfectly!

We love a good dance party for the reception and Katie & Matt’s family and friends sure did oblige. These folks had so much fun, I was laughing the whole night!

Finally a fun departure mixture of bubbles and flower petals sent Katie and Matt on their new adventure as husband and wife!

See all the fun of their wedding day captured in their slideshow HERE.

March Weddings Combloggeration!

Abby & Michael

We’re going to play a little catch-up here with some past weddings all combined into one post.  Our spring was so busy with all sorts of sessions that blogging these weddings went way down on the priority list.  Now, I really cannot let these weddings go without blogging them because we had so much fun with these couples and March was a blast thanks to each of them!

When we first met, my most distinct memory of Abby & Michael was the emphasis they put on “not wanting to be hot” on their wedding day.  They had PLENTY of insurance by first of all scheduling their wedding for March 1st – almost guaranteeing a cold day in Atlanta.

And wouldn’t you know it?  March 1st gave us a random Atlanta snowstorm!  Their ceremony and reception were held at the Biltmore in downtown Atlanta.  We weren’t sure they would be up for it but they were so excited to go out in the snow for their “first look”.  We were excited, too – our first “snow wedding” ever!  Well, as many of you found out, the snow that day was actually pretty messy and wet but we all braved the conditions (basically rain once it hit ANYTHING) with umbrellas and smiles and got some wonderful romantics in the falling snow.

We also found some amazing light downstairs in the bridal room to do some very dramatic bridal portraits.  Abby brought out her inner diva for some old Hollywood glamour.

After we’d all gotten enough of the wet, heavy snow, we headed inside for more romantics and formals.

A tender emotional moment with her grandmother during the Ketubah signing.

Abby’s grand entrance with her parents for the ceremony. This is always a favorite shot for ceremonies at the Biltmore.

We had the most fun ever during their Horah dance.  I have always enjoyed this tradition at Jewish weddings but never have I gotten such amazing shots and expressions!  Abby just looks like she is having so much fun – no fear at all!

Their glam transportation for the departure – a swank silver Rolls Royce!

To see Abby & Michael’s magical snowy wedding, click HERE.

Renee & Milton

First of all, let me say that this is not only one amazingly glamorous couple but also amazingly LUCKY!  I was pretty nervous about the plans to have an outdoor wedding on the lawn of the Swan House in the first week in March.  Heck!  We just had SNOW six days earlier, right?!  But lucky they were and we had a gorgeous, perfect spring day ready to go in less than a week.  That’s Atlanta for you!

Besides the beautiful weather, these two are blessed with being beautiful themselves.  Both are natural models, I swear.  I’ve seldom had a groom like Milton that could pose so well – he could be THE ad for this tux, eh?

I LOVE the Swan House, ok?  And even more, I love the Swan House in infrared…  I’ve been shooting on the grounds of the Atlanta History Center since my early college days and it’s such a magical setting.

The veiw from the top of the Swan House lawn during their ceremony was amazing!  This incredible shot was taken by Mandi Singer for us!

The magic continued to amaze us throughout the day and as we entered the ballroom, I was once again blown away by the decor and design.  Carla Duncan of On Occasions of Atlanta gave us lucious floral arrangements.  The lighting and design are always incredible with A Legendary Event – it’s LEGENDARY! Look at this out-of-this-world cake set up! Each layer was separated by a glass vase filled with orchids and LED lights!  WOW!

It’s also really classy to have a Gobo with your names on the dance floor during your first dance.  I love this, too.  I want one!

Ah, perfect shot of them!

Renee & Milton each had an opportunity to be serenaded by their fraternity and sororities.  This was my favorite shot of Renee and her sisters – you can just feel how happy and proud everyone is!

In an ongoing challenge, I’ve been trying to get more and more creative with my ring shots.  I used their place card holders, these adorable pewter chairs, to balance their rings.  It took two chairs to hold Renee’s ring!

Another ongoing challenge is to incorporate more and more off-camera flash techniques.  Here we set up a flash in the back of the limo (HA!  same limo Abby & Michael used the weekend before!) to give their departure kiss an ethereal illumination.

Check out the rest of Renee & Milton’s wedding in their slideshow HERE.

Kelley & Jamie

For Kelley & Jamie’s wedding, we were lucky to get to go back to another favorite venue again – Callanwolde Fine Arts Center.  This time, I arrived early to the venue to really look around with a fresh set of eyes.  Having shot there so much in the last few years, I wanted to get some totally different shots for these two.

Still love hanging the dress from the chandelier, though!

And of course, every bride wants a photo on the stair case.  I love this view where you can see part of the ceiling above – a peek of the architectural elements of this historical home.

However, here was a room I’d never used before.  The crest in the stained glass window just feels so masculine so it immediately came to mind for a groom’s portrait of Jamie.

Kelley and Jamie chose to see each other before their ceremony and get all the photos out of the way early.  Their first look and other romantics were taken all over the grounds of the estate.  This time, I chose to do something different and chose some views that didn’t necessarily reflect the home.

The staircase silhouette at Callanwolde is another classic!

Kelley entered the ceremony with her father from the top of the staircase – very brave every time a bride chooses to do this!

Here are some of the yummy desserts provided by Bold American for their reception.

What a gorgeous cake!  The challenge here is always with getting the brushed aluminum monogram to show up light enough.  We used a reflector angled just right at it.

Another experiment with off-camera flash. Here we created a spotlight for their first dance!

Thanks guys for wrapping up an incredible March!

To see Kelley & Jamie’s slideshow, click HERE.

Alicia & Al – an Engagement Session in Two Parts!

Alicia and Al are two very special clients of mine.  So special that they got two engagement sessions!

Also, this blog post will be in two parts – fun, eh?!  Well, the reason why is there is a story behind me meeting this couple and ultimately my new partner-in-crime, Ms. Alicia Benson (soon to be Mrs. Przygocki).

A long time ago, at a bridal show not too far away (Cator-Woolford Gardens), I met a young bride looking for vendors for her 2009 wedding.  This was spring of ‘07!  And since I NEVER ever turn away booking a date that’s far out, we set up a consultation meeting to talk about her wedding photography.  We met and it was like we were old friends.  We had so much in common and hit it off -stretching an initial consultation meeting into almost three hours!  At some point, Alicia made the comment that she wished she could do what I was doing and said, “Come and let me show you how.  I need help since my mother needs to retire – soon.”  And I’d like to say the rest is history but every day we are creating more history together.  She began learning to second shoot with me that summer and worked several dozen weddings over two seasons with me.  She was essential to helping us win the 2008 Allie Award for Anna & John’s wedding, too!

As of April 6, 2009, Alicia officially joined SZP full-time.  SO, I’d like to also introduce the second half of the company now! )  We are the dynamic duo that is Shari Zellers Photography!

Ahem, as an employee benefit, Alicia and Al get a lot of cool coverage for their wedding.  He he he….  But as a benefit to ME, I get a lot of input on their wedding photography!  LOL!  She basically has to do whatever I say for their photography – well, almost anything.  You get the picture?!  I’m so pysched!!!!!

Alicia & Al’s first session took place last fall (yah, I know, I never blogged about it!) and we went to a favorite “fall session” location of mine, Emory’s Lullwater Park.  It’s gorgeous in the fall with lots of color and rolling hills of luscious landscape.

Al is a Georgia Tech alumni so they brought some important props for fall. ;o)  These are taken on a new suspension bridge in the park!  I was so surprised the first time I saw this bridge as I’ve been shooting here for almost 10 years and this was brand new! Great location for some fun stuff!

The new bridge also enables us to cross the creek a LOT easier than ever before. That means we can get to this cool ruins on the creek, too.

My fun idea that I was so happy to do is the leaves!  I wanted to do a multi-frame shot of them throwing leaves in the air and then kissing as they came down all around them.  It took several takes but I LOVED the results!  You get more of the full effect in their slideshow you can watch by clicking HERE.

Here is their save-the-date magnet I designed for them from this session.  I LOVE it!  I offer custom Save-the-Date designs to any couples that wish to order them from me!

Alicia & Al – Part Two!!  CARNIV-AL!

OK, maybe a little cheezy but it was a fun session after all?!  Steven joined us for this session and the four of us had so much freakin’ fun acting like little kids.  Ironically, the carnival we ended up at was made up entirely of “kiddie sized” rides – NOT made for adults!  Frankly, this generally just encouraged us to all be a little more immature…

I think the hardest part of this session (aside from the size of the rides;o)) was deciding where to shoot.  Oh, and shooting and posing on moving objects like the Shake Shack below!

I almost got a black eye trying to shoot them behind me on the roller coaster!  I quickly learned to just go wide and blind and hope for the best.  They turned out pretty dang good

For me, my absolute favorites were on the carousel.  I had so much fun shooting this part since every time around was a new opportunity to get a different look – both from Alicia & Al and in the image capture.  A little shutter drag and you’ve got some great motion.  A couple of clowns thrown in and you’ve got an amazing engagement session at the carnival!

We’ve just uploaded their carnival slideshow today so “STEP RIGHT UP” and watch it by clicking HERE!

Sonia & Jan in the rain….

Frankly, I was really dreading this engagement session….due to none other than the fact that we could not reschedule and it was raining – tons of raining for days!  I was totally looking forward to spending time with Sonia & Jan who I met at Debora & Tony’s wedding last year.  No, it’s just that I’ve never ever had to shoot an entire engagement session in rain or indoors!  So, this was a challenge to me.

Luckily for me, Sonia & Jan are suuuuuuper cooooooool.  I mean, so many other people would have been whiny and sulky with a rainy engagement session that offered no really good indoor options but they were super troopers.  I ran to Target really quick and picked up a clear domed umbrella – ah, flashbacks to my youth in the 70’s where these umbrellas were “cool”.  This offered some nice opportunities for us to still venture outside but to cover the cute couple. And it was fun shooting through the umbrella, too.  A little built in action for screening a discreet kiss? ;o)

We started at a favorite restaurant, No Mas.  Incredible!  Not only was the decor amazing but we had the most delish smokey chipolte salsa – I MUST go back with Steven.  He will LOVE this salsa!  Any way, we used a lot of the unique decor of this two story restuarant.  Even a cozy curtained booth for cuddling.

So a nice shout out to the manager on duty that day who let us basically shoot where ever we wanted. Thanks!

No Mas is located in their favorite part of town in Castleberry Hill. The CH is an artsy area with lots of galleries and a once a month “4th Friday Art Stroll” where all the galleries are open and the public comes together to stroll and view art. My kind of evening!  Well, we weren’t able to schedule their session for the Art Stroll but wanted to walk around the neighborhood and maybe?  get lucky to go into a gallery.  After all, their wedding is taking place in a gallery – Mason Muerer – this weekend!

On our own little stroll, we happened upon a gallery that while closed, was preparing for an event to show off the neighborhood. When Laurel, one of the event organizers asked if we were seeking shelter for photos, she offered up a warehouse space where some people were cooking food for the event.  She pointed us in the direction of an indoor space and told us to tell the guys at the door to let us in!  Awesome!  Whatever was there, I was determined to do something cool with it.

Some of my favorites – there were ladders – tall ladders – up against one wall.  They weren’t going to be moved anywhere by us but they formed a nice niche for some fun shots!  Next up, was a yellow cart that was just begging to be used as a prop.

Tug o’ war anyone?  Ah the essential power struggle between men and women!  Peace?

Ah, women end up on top any ways!!!! But of course with the help of our men….I just love how cool they look here.

As we finished up in the warehouse, it stopped raining very briefly. Very. Briefly.  I snapped a few on the red brick wall and as soon as we went out the gallery door to the parking lot, it started back up again!  They found a teeny bit of cover under the banana palm but we were pretty much done!

For a fun rainy day engagement session, you gotta check out their whole slideshow here!

Anna Kate at Five Weeks

Awwwww, don’t you just wanna eat her up!  You don’t even have to like veggies, she is so scrumptiously cute!

Anna Kate is the baby niece of my next bride I’m getting ready to post here.  After shooting their engagement session, Abby had her sister contact me for her newborn baby photos and I was honored to oblige.  Anna Kate is just five weeks old here and really was quite a trooper for all the fuss and bother of her first session!

And she didn’t mind at all being in this lil’ knitted coccoon I got off of Etsy from seller joliem6201.  I originally bought two matching cocoons (green seen here, and orange)  for my twins session in January however, since Jolie was making them as a custom order, I didn’t allow enough time to use them for their first session.  And when I received them and saw the size, I knew that the twins would have to grow a bit to not get lost in them!

I love that I’ve adapted now to shooting in my clients’ homes.  It makes their photo session so much better on several levels.  First of all, you don’t have to do all the work of packing and driving your child to a studio and HOPE they will be ok when they get there.  No, just relax and I bring the studio to you. Your baby doesn’t even have to be awake when I get there – I walk around shooting the nursery and all the cute personal artifacts of babydom.  Here I grabbed a shot from Anna Kate’s perspective of her crib mobile.

So while I’m unpacking, setting up and checking out different areas of light in your home, you can be waking and feeding your baby at your leisure.  That actually provides another nice photo opt, too:  the shoulder burp.

Another nice advantage of your baby session at home is that I can incorporate your baby’s personal affects, their nursery, toys and even include different areas of the home – your baby’s first home – they might grow up and forget if you move later on.

Of course, I always encourage having an item that’s been embrodiered with their name – instant identity shot!

Even though your baby might fuss a bit here and there, I allow plenty of time for feedings and changings – that’s the norm!  They dictate to me when and how long we will shoot together.  Often, it just takes a few minutes of playing with mom or dad and we get and angelic look like this.

So many changes so fast – they don’t stay this small for long!  It’s a good idea to schedule your first session as soon as you can and then set up appointments for periodic sessions throughout the first year.  My recommendation is newborn, 3 months, 6 months, 9 months and one year.  The changes between each session are amazing and the development of a tiny child is one of my favorite pleasures to document!

To see more of Anna Kate’s session click here!

Allie Award – AGAIN!!!! 2009 Best Event Photography!!!!

Alicia, Me, & Steven with the Allie Award for Best Event Photography!

I am so honored…and was almost speechless because I really wasn’t too sure this year how the decision would go.  Here, 7 years from the first time I entered the Allies in 2002, I have won my fourth Allie Award for Best Event Photography!  This is a local recognition by our peers in the special events industry in Atlanta.   We have VERY specific rules and guidelines which any one can see at the Allies web site, but to summarize we can choose an event in the last calendar year (Jan 1, 2008-Dec 31, 2008) and only ten photos from that event that depict the event’s activities, decor, participants, catering, venue and have a “Wow” factor.   We also must do a written, two-page description of the event, our responsibility, our challenges & obstacles, and our client’s goals and expectations and how those were met (whew!).

This year I chose to enter two entries since I am now a member of NACE (you are allowed an additional entry for each membership your company holds) so I entered Brittany & Chuck’s wedding at Lake Rabun and Deborah & Tony’s wedding at the Fox Theatre.  It was Deborah & Tony’s that got the nomination!  I called it “Rockin’ the Fox”!

Me accepting my Allie and slightly stunned by the outcome

This year was a record year for entries in the Photography category.  We had seven entries from six companies (two of the entries were from me) and four nominees resulted due to a tie.  When we are notified of the nominees, all we know is the company’s name that is nominated.  Only at the awards banquet during cocktail hour, will we see the actual entries and lay eyes for the first time on our competitions’ entries.  This time like always, I was pretty nervous.  I can be pretty hard on myself and my work and I didn’t have very high expectations once I saw who I was up against.

Big Band entertainment for the evening

I saw that the nominees with me were Mike Moreland, the Zenith Design Group (?  that one had us scratching our heads?), and my good friends Anna & Spencer Clark.  I really respect both Mike and the Clark’s very much so it was a honor to be nominated with them!  Both of their entries were fabulous so in my mind, it was a complete toss up as to the outcome.

The glam girls, Dames Aflame as awards hostesses

I was not even nervous when they got to our category – third in the program that night so fairly early, during salads!  I was genuinely expecting someone else to be announced….and then they said the magic words “Rockin’ the Fox….” and Alicia just SQUEALED and started clapping frantically…it took several seconds for it to register because I wanted to make sure I wasn’t aurally hallucinating!

Me & Mark's Allie

I am also so glad that of course (of COURSE) my good friend, Mark Brickman of Baker’s Man Inc won yet again (what’s this, the sixth time Mark?  I lose track…!) for Best Cake Presentation.  I’ve said many times right here on this blog, he’s the BEST for a reason!

You might notice they misspelled my name on the award – I’m supposed to get a new one this week.  I get my name misspelled a lot so it wasn’t a big deal to me when I saw it that way on the nominations. But now I know better – I should have told them right away!

Alicia, Anna & Spencer Clark at our table

I also want to congratulate my other good friends over at Spectrum Entertainment for winning their FIRST Allie for Best Entertainment on a Shoestring!  Congrats guys!  You’re the best DJ friends a gal can have! ;o)

And to all the other Allie winners…AND nominees, congratulations!  We’ll see you next year, too!

Here are the images I used in my entry, “Rockin’ the Fox” of Deborah & Tony’s wedding:

Renee’s Bridal Session @ the Swan House

Amazing – just truly amazing!  I was so completely honored when Renee wanted to me to be her wedding photographer.  This woman is just the picture of beauty and grace and the sun just seems to follow her where ever she goes!  When she told me that she was planning her wedding for March 7th on the lawn of the Swan House – uh, just one of my favorite ALL time locations in Atlanta or ANY WHERE – I was a bit skeptical, I’ll admit it.  March can be such a volatile month for weather.  We’ve had blizzards and tornadoes in Atlanta in the month that comes in like a lion and it worried me a lot!

What I didn’t know is that the good fortune that Renee seems to have. When I went to Raleigh to shoot the engagement session for her and Milton last fall, it was the epitome of a gorgeous fall day.  We had a great time walking the grounds of a beautiful park and a glamorous hotel while I also got to know the two of them better.  When we discussed when to schedule her bridal session, I was so nervous about the timing with bridals usually needing to be a month or so before – that would put it right in the heart of winter.  We scheduled her bridal session for February 7th and I crossed my fingers and said a little prayer…

And oh, what an amazing day it turned out to be.  Perfectly warm, slight breeze and just gorgeous sunlight.  The whole day was just beautiful and just right for a bridal session.  Renee is stunning and it takes very little effort on my part to make her look glamorous.  One of the things I wanted to play with a little is off-camera flash so when Marlene arrived, we messed around for a few minutes trying out different settings where the flash would be triggered by remote controls called Pocket Wizards. They worked wonderfully that day so I’m really loving some of the dramatic lighting I was able to achieve with Marlene holding the flash off to the side, just out of the frame.

The great lighting was also helpful in getting my all-time favorites – B&W Infrareds.  With infrared, it’s really effective with good sunlight coming from the side and foliage,  like this shot.  See the regular b&w in the close up and you can see how dramatic the infrared looks.

Well, Renee & Milton’s wedding day last Saturday was just as gorgeous as it could be. Just the right temperature again and plenty of sun!  It’s amazing when you consider that just six days before we had several inches of snow here in Atlanta and today, once again, it’s rainy and cold a week later!  Ah, the luck of the gods!  I can’t wait to post their wedding images, too.  It was OTt as we like to say – Over The Top!

Marlene Hawthrone Thomas for Shari Zellers Photography

My favorite shot that Marlene took that day – gorgeous! (I’m so jealous of her back ;o)

To see more of Renee’s images and her whole slideshow, click HERE.

Our New Photobooth!!!!!!

OHMYGOSH!!! This is so much fun and we are so excited to offer this to all our clients this year…..TA DAAAAAA!

Shari Zellers Photography now has a Photobooth!

We are bringing this to EVERY WEDDING that wants a Photobooth  – yes, and completely free of charge!

I was asked several times last year if we offered such a service and alas, all I could say was that I knew there were services to rent photobooths.  It seemed an ambitious effort to make one (I’ve seen some that my colleagues had built) and I wasn’t sure where to begin…

That is until I went to LA for Pictage PartnerCon and stayed with my good friend Paul Manke.  He and his partner Jimmy had built a free-standing remote operated camera “box” from IKEA and installed a camera with remote, a continuous light source, and a video screen so guests can not only “line up” their shot but see the photo right after it’s taken!  So, I snapped some shots of their set up and returned home with a gleam in my eye and went to work assembling all the parts.

It has three basic parts that we bring:  A) The camera box – a 5′ free standing enclosed shelf unit which contains the camera itself, the light, the video and remote for taking the photos. B) The backdrop which hangs from our portable backdrop stand.  We currently have black, red, silver, purple and royal blue backdrops. Custom colors available, too!  and C) the Bench with props included!

Now, our photo booth does not print out however, the images will be posted on each wedding web site along with the couple’s other wedding day images in a folder we’ll simply call “Photobooth”!  This way everyone that wants a copy can order one (2-4-1 in the first month!) and they won’t be lost or damaged at the wedding!

Also, all the images from the Photobooth will be included in the couple’s final collection – in their proof book or DVD of digital files, too!

Check out these hilarious shots from our last two weddings!  Can’t you just imagine you and your guests having this much fun!?

Alissa & Chris @ Park Tavern!

Our first wedding of 2009 was an amazing day!  Start off with an incredibly fun, cute couple – add a dash of beautiful weather at a wonderful Atlanta location, stir gently with a helpful and friendly family and wedding party and Voila!  You’ve got the recipe for a fabulous first wedding of the New Year!

Alissa and Chris are such great clients to work with and always seem up for whatever I suggest. ;o) We had a lot of fun shooting their engagement session at Atlantic Station so it’s no wonder I was really looking forward to their wedding day.  We started out with some shots of Alissa and her bridesmaids getting ready at a midtown hotel.  One of my favorite moments was the first time Alissa’s grandmother saw her that day.  She met Alissa out in the hallway and I got this great first look shot – what an expression!  Just love her grandma’s reaction to seeing her granddaughter for the first time on her wedding day…makes me all goosebumpy!

And as I mentioned, the weather was gorgeous for January!  Both their ceremony and reception were held in the Piedmont Room of Park Tavern.  We set Chris up just outside to have Alissa come up to him for their “first look” and to have a few moments alone.  We were then able to go out on the lawn at Piedmont Park and shoot plenty of fun shots of the wedding party and of Alissa & Chris.

Love this shot of the groomsmen!

The beautiful florals that day are provided by Monique of Blossoms Atlanta.  The glass bowls looked so sparkly in the late afternoon sun streaming in the ballroom.  I also loved the arch that was used for the altar piece.  It was draped with dozens of crystal strands that picked up the sunlight so beautifully.  This was such a magical room that day!

Their sunset ceremony was officiated by an dear friend of mine, Rev. Richard Prigmore of All Faith Weddings.  It was wonderful to see him again!  We must have done at least 100 weddings together over the last 10 years! The one comical moment during their ceremony that didn’t even register on me at first (I concentrate so hard on shooting that the content sometimes escapes me!) was during the candle lighting ceremony.  Apparently, Alissa & Chris’ mothers had already lit the unity candle!  It was still a beautiful moment, though.

At the reception, I was happy to see their cake by my other good friend, Mark Brickman of Bakers Man!  Yum!!!!!!  I LOVE his cakes – they look wonderful and taste oh so even better!

This was definitely a wedding for working with favorite vendors of mine as up next for our entertainment was Mr. Lou Guzzo of Spectrum Entertainment. Lou kept the dance floor hoppin’ all night long – and I do mean HOPPIN”!!!!!!!!!  Just take a look at this shot of one of Chris’ groomsmen!!!!  He looks like he’s pulling a Chris Angel!  How amazing is that?!?!?!

Finally, I am SOOOOOO excited to post about this new offer from SZP…..DRUMROLL PLEASE……..!

WE HAVE A PHOTOBOOTH NOW!

The SZP Photobooth made it’s official debut at Alissa & Chris’s wedding and if I do say so, it was a HUGE hit!  I mean we had EVERYBODY go and take photos in the booth.  Here is one of my favorites of the night – mostly because it’s our bride and groom ;o)  I am going to do a special post tomorrow just about the new photobooth offering because there is a very very special offer coming to celebrate this new gift to our clients!

Ah, this was so much fun to shoot this wedding!  Have fun watching their wedding day slideshow HERE.