How many brides have been serenaded by the groom on the wedding day?  Now, how many brides have a song or music written in your honor all dedicated to you?  The prelude from slide show below was composed by the groom, Eric, and it is called, “Fur Adina”.   What a romantic gesture!

Snow Doesn’t Stop A Wedding!

As theAssistant for Willi, theStoryteller, I have to arrange for most if not all of Willi’s transportation. On the day before and on the day of Adina and Eric’s wedding, there was a big snow storm. The driver that we have arranged to take Willi to the East Meadow Jewish Center in Long Island for the wedding called early in the morning on the day of the wedding to let us know that his car was buried in snow and that the streets in his neighbor was not yet plowed.

The East Meadow Jewish Center is about 30 miles from our studio in Manhattan and on a normal day with no traffic it shouldn’t take more than 40 minutes to get there. We figured that it’ll take us over 2 hours to get there on a bad weather day. We weren’t even sure if all the roads and highways were plowed, but our first concern was getting hold of a car. In our neighborhood there are a handful of car services. One after another we were told that they have no available drivers. Thank goodness to friends and referrals that we finally found a ride to Long Island.

We didn’t even bother calling the groom to confirm if the wedding was still going on despite the inclement weather conditions. Weather has never stopped Willi from photographing a wedding; therefore he didn’t think a bride and groom would call off their special day because of a little snow on the ground. The snow on the ground only made it look more like a winter wonderland.

Adina and Eric’s beautiful ketubah was custom made by Adina’s mom, Janice Cepler of Yaffa Studios. You can see more of Janice’s magnificent work of art and creativity on her website: http://sites.google.com/site/yaffastudiosjc/Home

Good Omens for a Happy Winter Wonderland Wedding Day:

Snow falling on the wedding day is a prophecy of great happiness.

Snow on the wedding day brings money.

When December snows fall fast, marry and true love will last.

Snow on your wedding day is a sign of fertility and prosperity.

If it snows on your wedding day, you will get a dollar for every flake that falls on you.

If snow falls on their wedding day, it means happiness for the bride and groom.

Amanda & Jordan thank you for letting us know that your wedding story is featured in the Spring 2010 issue of Contemporary Bride magazine.  Thank you for the copy of the magazine, and most importantly, thank you for submitting your wedding story to Contemporary Bride.

After going through the magazine, I understand why Contemporary Bride registered the phrase, “The Engaged Girl’s Survival Guide“.  They just know what every engaged girl needs to know.  They cut down to the chase and list every wedding vendor and detail of the bride and groom, even how many buttons are on a groom’s tuxedo.  In this New Jersey issue of the magazine they have 17 couples share their wedding stories.  The following is 1 of the 17 stories.  It is the wedding story of Amanda & Jordan.

August 8^th, 2009 was a day of many firsts for me.

It was the first time I:

* was at The Prospect Park Audubon Center at the Boathouse (for a wedding or personal leisure)
* was at The River Café
* saw a handmade silk bouquet by Twigs & Honey
* met stylist Sissi Chan
* assisted on two weddings in one day (yes, TWO (2) weddings!)
* was in Dumbo for a wedding day photography session
* assisted Willi and associate photographer, Ben
* brought a mp3 player with a recorder with me to a wedding
* tasted a Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory ice cream
* ate black cod with miso
* and so much more that I’m not going to bore you with

When I first walked into Prospect Park; it seemed like dejavu. I couldn’t pinpoint it until I’ve reached the Boathouse. I felt as if I was on the movie set of  Somewhere in Time; when I saw Cynthia and Matt in their wedding attire. The Boathouse is such a romantic setting for a wedding.

I did not plan on using my mp3 recorder, but when I heard the harpist playing Pachelbel’s Canon I couldn’t resist pressing the record button. A few days after the wedding when I listened to the recording; I was surprised by the content. Unknowingly, I had left the recorder on for the entire wedding ceremony. It recorded Cynthia and Matt’s wedding vows.

Now, I understand why talkies were such a phenomenon in the 1920s. Adding sound and especially dialog to photographs enhances the emotional content.  With Willi’s photo storytelling skills and my mp3 recorder we may have just added a new a la carte service.  Do let us know what you think.

By the way pescetarians I highly recommend The River Café’s black cod with miso!

The River Café
1 Water Street
Brooklyn, NY 11201
(718) 522-5200

Prospect Park Audubon Center at the Boathouse?
95 Prospect Park West
Brooklyn, NY? 11215
(718) 287-3400?

Cynthia & Matt’s slideshow was first published on September 27, 2009.

Dumbo, Brooklyn  is a very beautiful setting for not just wedding photography sessions, but also engagement photo sessions.

I hope everyone had a warm and wonderful holiday season!

Willi, theStoryteller, a Modern Lifestyle photographer, is still in the mist of post production and album making. Looks like he won’t be able to come up for air until the end of February; but in the mean time we would like to share an intimate wedding of a lovely, beautiful & fun couple from London, England.

Helen contacted us to photograph her intimate get away New York City destination wedding a month before their City Hall civil wedding ceremony. No contract was drawn; we promised to meet each other at 8 a.m. at the Hudson Hotel on one of the coldest day in December 2009.

They had a total party of three people: Helen, John, and Helen’s sister, Heather. Here are the challenges in a nut shell: Willi had to create a story of three people who comes to New York City’s City Clerk’s Office Marriage Bureau for a less than twenty second civil wedding ceremony to be pronounced husband and wife in 10°F (it sure did felt like it) weather and make it fill with fun, emotion, warmth, and NYC chicness, because that’s what the bride and groom came all the way to New York City from London to do. Thank goodness that the love was already there, because luckily for us Helen and John are so much in love that it shows.

We started the wedding photo shoot at the elegant Hudson Hotel Penthouse then we headed out to City Hall, Brooklyn Bridge and Grand Central Station. Due to the inclement weather; we tried, but were not able to utilize the terrace with panoramic New York City views. I was surprised that we were able to shoot in bathroom, but then it was chic and luxuriously stylish.

Well, here are the results from the challenges given! Be sure to view the slideshow too!

Please click on the play button to see more of Helen & John’s gorgeous wedding pictures taken in the penthouse of the Hudson Hotel, New York City Hall, Brooklyn Brooklyn and Grand Central Station.

Hudson Hotel
356 West 58th Street
New York, NY 10019
(212) 554-6000

Wishing you health, happiness & prosperity throughout the coming year

While going through our pile of magazines once more before they are recycled; I found this very interesting article from Fast Company magazine.  We may be in wedding industry and photography is our speciality, but we do not know all the facts and figures on weddings except for fact that June is the most popular month for weddings.

2,190,363 couples were wedded in the U.S. in 2008.

The world’s longest-married living couple, Zelmyra & Herbert Fisher of North Carolina, were, at press time, preparing to celebrate their 85th anniversary.

$707,051,028 worth of wedding cake and fondant frosting (more than 16 tons) was consumed last year in the U.S.

The average American wedding costs $28,704.

In frugal Mississippi the average drops to $18,562.

In spendthrift New Jersey that jumps to $36,113.

Behemoth David’s Bridal claims roughly 30% of the wedding-gown market, with dresses that start at $99.

Steel tycon Lakshmi Mittal spent an estimated $60 million on a five-day French wedding for his daughter, Vanisha, which included a 1,000 person engagement party at Versailles.

The discount chain Filene’s Basement has held its Running of the Brides event at dozens of stores each year since 1947.

At one store, shoppers cleared the racks of 3,000 marked-down dresses in a record 37 seconds.

In 1960, an American bride was typically 20 years old and a groom was 23. Today, they’re 27 and 29, respectively.

Six countries currently allow same-sex marriage: Belgium, Canada, Holland, Norway, South Africa, and Spain.

December is the most popular month to pop the question, accounting for one in five engagements.

\?pe-sk?-?ter-?-?n\

pescatarian or pescetarian: one whose diet includes fish but no meat

Etymology: probably from Italian pesce fish (from Latin piscis) + English vegetarian

What do pescetarians eat on Thanksgiving? Tofurkey? No, not this year, this Thanksgiving it’ll be curry fish head for us.

Have many of you wonder how Willi capture his images?  He  shoots high, he shoots low and don’t forget the Asian squat!  Don’t believe me!? Scroll down to see Willi, theStoryteller, in action during a recent pre-wedding photo shoot.

The images were captured by the future bride, groom, a friend of ours and yours truly using a smart phone, iphone, Canon G11 and Canon Powershot SD40.

A few of weekends ago; we met a little girl while shooting a Modern Lifestyle Family Portrait session.  By the end of the session Willi and the preschooler became buddies. 

Children are very observant and it’s amazing to see a child’s reaction to the new things and new events happening around them.  We told her to carry on as usual as if we were not in her home.  She was not at all shy with us nor was she shy in front of our cameras.

At the end of the session while we were putting away our cameras and equipment she quickly drew a picture of Willi.  She insisted on walking us out to the elevator.  When the elevator came she surprised us with the picture.

She drew a very handsome Willi with his camera on his hand.  She even noticed the way Willi has to wink his eye when he looks through the viewfinder.

I am very touched by the little girl and her drawing. It brings tears to my eyes each time I look at the beautiful hand-crafted Thank You note.  This is by far one of the best Thank You notes that Willi have received.

We want to take this opportunity to thank this little preschooler for making the Modern Lifestyle Family Portrait session so special for us.   We were there to capture the moments in her life, but in the end she captured our hearts.  I am sure that she made a greater impression on us than we had on her.  

Click here for expert advice from a modern lifestyle portrait photographer on getting the best photos from your family portrait session.

What is the typical age of a ring bearer? The younger the cuter! Must he be old enough to understand the importance of his role? No matter the age of the ring bearer, the rings are usually kept in the safekeeping of the best man. The trick is getting the ring bearer to walk down the aisle. More often than not; the shy younger ring bearer will stop after a few short steps and begins to look scared.

Don’t worry mommy is waiting at the end of the aisle with the arms open and candy in her hands.

Is it possible to plan a wedding in four months? Sure, why not? Listen to the story of Brooke and Michael and you’ll agree that anything is possible when there’s love and faith. Four months after their engagement they were happily married at The Castle at Skylands Manor.

Music playing in the slide show is by cellist, Chun-Hsin Chang, a former Willi Wong bride.

The Skylands Manor
90 Route 46 East
Mountain Lakes, NJ 07046
973.256.9380