Hangers

Every wedding I shoot, I lament about why wedding dresses are put on cheap plastic hangers. The bride from the last wedding I shot had something a little different though, a hanger customised with her name!









I didn't think to ask her where she got it, but a little Googling came up with this site on etsy.com.
Check them out, they're a nice personal touch and WAY better than a plastic hanger.

It's been a while!

It's been a while since I've written a blog post. It's not really for lack of content, well maybe a little since the winter is a slow time for weddings. It's also not that I can't think of things to say about EVERY wedding because each wedding I do is fun, interesting, and unique.

HOWEVER, this most recent wedding just had all the right elements- a truly wonderful couple who I hadn't gotten a chance to meet until the day before the wedding, absolutely beautiful weather for a Bethany Beach wedding, great reception at Bear Trap Dunes, and my all-time favorite local band Love Seed Mama Jump.

I didn't get to meet Jill and Mark until the day before the wedding since they live in New Mexico. He's in the Air Force, which explains why Jill chose the theme from "Top Gun" for her processional! The sky was Air Force blue, the temperature was perfect with a slight cool breeze and a warm sun.

The reception was held at Bear Trap Dunes with Love Seed Mama Jump keeping the crowd entertained. Now, I'll be honest, they only booked me until 9:00 but I stuck around until 11:00 because LSMJ is my favorite local band! I threw in the extra two hours of photos in appreciation of Mark's service to our country ;)

Here's a few photos, you can see the rest of the preview here.

Get engaged??? Here's some tips.

This is an article I wrote for Sussex County Woman / Worcester-Wicomico Woman Magazine. I am their photographer and contributing writer when I feel inspired.

The time between the holidays and Valentine’s Day are a popular time for guys to “pop the question.” Whether it’s a Christmas present, a New Year’s surprise (that’s what I did), a romantic ski or Caribbean vacation, or the ever popular Valentine’s Day gift, men seem to get inspired to propose this time of year. Let’s face it, not all of us are as creative as those who dream up intricate plots to create a memorable event. I will say that I have photographed two actual proposals and both relied on some pretty advanced planning and creative, ahem, lying.
If you do find yourself suddenly engaged, it’s never too early to begin planning, and there are numerous resources on the Internet to help you out. It’s also a good idea to seek professional help. With busy schedules, a wedding coordinator can be a HUGE help. There are a few things you need to think about (and it’s a good idea to consult with your fiancé too) before getting to the details. First and foremost, you need to decide when and where you will have the wedding and reception. May, June, September, and October are the busiest months for weddings in this area and many of the best venues book more than a year in advance for Saturdays in these months.
Once you have your ceremony and reception locations picked and the date locked in, you can start deciding on the other details. I’ve found that couples usually find a photographer next. Of course, some people plan their wedding around the availability of their favorite photographer too! It all depends on what is most important to you.
When looking for a photographer, there are almost infinite considerations but the most important one is the quality of their work. Many of the popular wedding planning websites suggest viewing full weddings done by the photographer. This is important because just about anyone can come up with one or two impressive photos from a wedding, but can they do this for every aspect of the wedding? Looking at a complete wedding allows you to see what a photographer does throughout the day and gives you a broader picture of what their style is. Experience plays an important factor as well. In the digital photography age, there are a lot of people who try doing weddings. It’s best to hire someone with experience and skill to capture such a once-in-a-lifetime event.
Photographic styles can be broken down into three categories- traditional, photojournalistic, and a hybrid of the two that is sometimes called editorial. Traditional photographers pose most of the photographs they take, sometimes interrupting the flow of the event by asking the couple to stop so they can get a photo. At the opposite end of the spectrum is the photojournalist style. A true photojournalistic wedding photographer will not pose any photos, but captures images throughout the day in a more candid manner. Many photographers use a combination of both styles in order to capture the wonderful candid moments and emotion of the day along with the time-honored formals of the wedding party, families, etc. Look at several photographers and see what styles fit you the best.
Viewing the photographer’s website is only part of the selection process. It’s important to meet the photographer in person to make sure your personalities match well. This person is going to be spending anywhere from four to ten hours with you on your wedding day, so you want to like this person and be comfortable around them.
Before meeting with the photographer, plan ahead. Chances are, you’ve never been married before, so go online and look for questions you should be asking. You will probably find something you haven’t thought of before. You’ll want to know what their prices are, obviously, but also what comes with the wedding packages. How long will they be there? Is an album included? Do they have backup equipment? Have they photographed at the location where your wedding and reception will be? What happens if they have an emergency and can’t make it to your wedding? Do they offer a dvd of the wedding photos? How much they charge for reprints? All these are good starting points, but decide what will be important to you. Consider asking your recently married friends what they asked, or wish they’d asked, their photographer.
Once you decide on a photographer, make sure you get a contract. This protects both YOU and the photographer and clearly identifies exactly what you will be included in your wedding package and what you will be paying. You want to make sure there are no surprises before, during, or after the wedding!
Once you have your date, ceremony location, reception venue, and photographer, you can start planning the rest of the wedding! Ask your photographer and the coordinator at the venue for recommendations. They’ll know the best florists, djs, videographers, and limo services because they get to see all or most of the wedding day. The sooner you book things, the higher the likelihood that you will get the best service and the vendors you most want to work with.

The bouquet catch

Watch the bridesmaid in orange. She looks like she's uninterested in catching the bouquet, but then she almost takes out the 9 year old the flowers were headed for LOL!!!

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Robin and Chris

So I haven't blogged in a while, it's not for lack of things to say, I've just been enjoying the summer! Tonight though, I'm pretty eager to share some photos from Chris and Robin's engagement session. They didn't want the "standard" photos and leaned more towards my artistic style. That can be tough when my art photos are more still-lifes, how do you add people to that mix?
Robin sent me some inspiration photos and one was a couple riding bikes in a vineyard. They have retro bikes, I know a great vineyard (Nassau Valley Vineyards in Lewes), so we met there. Unfortunately, they weren't able to bring their bikes, but we got some cool photos of them in the vineyard.

Next it was on to a sunflower field I spotted earlier in the day. Gotta love sunflowers!

From there, we went up the road a little to a super-secret location on the canal. It's not so much a secret as a private estate. I brought a couple there a couple years ago for wedding photos and the woman who lives there is so sweet she let me shoot there again. You can barely make out the towers in the background.

And one in the garden.

Then it was off to downtown Lewes to wrap things up.

I'm really looking forward to their October wedding at the Addy Sea with the Doug Segree Band! I LOVE LIVE BANDS!

C R A Z I E S T wedding EVER!

We had the most insane wedding tonight and had to blog about it right away.

First- we're doing the photos after the ceremony and I think to myself, "I'll get a shot from on top of the lifeguard tower." The sand in front was messy, so I wanted to drag it over a few feet. I handed the camera to Brandon and started to try to tip it over to move it (done this hundreds of times as a kid). The groom comes over to help and gets on the other side and picks his end up. This throws the balance off and the whole tower starts to fall on top of me! I yell out. "RICKY, WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO ME???" but it's too late and I end up pinned on the beach by the tower! I could NOT budge the thing and I'm calling out to my assistants to get it off me. Brandon and Ricky (groom) lift it up enough that I can slide out unharmed. I look at Ricky like WTF??? He felt soooo bad, it was funny. I just started cracking up, Brandon wanted to do it again because he didn't get any photos, Jenna was just stunned at what happened! Definitely one of the stangest things to happen to me at a wedding. I ended up getting the shot I wanted though :)

Second thing- The reception venue is on the top floor of a hotel, there's nothing else up there. When you come off the elevator, there's a long hall leading to the dining room and that's where the gifts were stacked up, including the box for the wedding cards.
Some guy comes up and STEALS the box of cards!!! Two cousins of the groom see him headed down the hall and chase him down eight flights of steps to the lobby. They catch him, BEAT HIM, and throw him through a plate glass window in the lobby! The cops come, arrest him, but first have to take him to the hospital for a broken jaw and giant gash in his back!

Third thing (and I only heard the story, but it happened last night)- The bride's grandmother drank too much and got sick in the toilet. After she flushed it, she realized her TEETH just got flushed! Maintenance had to come and take the toilet out, crack it open, and free her teeth! This morning, she shows her son that she has her teeth back and he says, "Now that's a shit-eating grin if I ever saw one."

To top it all off, Brandon (associate photographer), is out on the dance floor dancing with the bridesmaids then slow dancing with a guest! She asked if it was okay for him to dance while working and I told her I was fine with that LOL!

That's not all- strip tease garter placement, amazing toasts (maid of honor was in tears), cake smashing, and "rad" shots out on the balcony LOL! Here's a few shots of the "crime scene" and a preview of the wedding photos is here' http://www.samellis.com/gallery/8467506_n4Fz3

This was one of my favorites from Danielle and Mike's engagement session at Cape Henlopen State Park. Gotta love sunsets at the beach!