D&J Photography wins a 2009 Bride's Choice Award!

Thank you to all of our wonderful clients and their amazing reviews of our services. Because of your awesome raves, we were selected for a Bride's Choice Award from WeddingWire.com! We are very greatful for the recognition you have given us and feel fortunate to have had yet another good year in 2008. We are also excited about 2009 as we have an amazing list of clients so far and cannot wait to start doing some engagement sessions as soon as things warm up a bit! 2009 is shaping to be a great year and we are glad to have you be a part of it!

-D.




Official Press Release:

WeddingWire, the nation’s leading wedding technology company, just announced that D&J Photography has won the 2009 Bride’s Choice Awards™!

In its inaugural year, the Bride’s Choice Awards recognizes and honors vendors from the WeddingWire Network that demonstrate excellent quality of service, responsiveness, professionalism, value of cost and flexibility. This year’s recipients represent the top three percent of WeddingWire’s vendor community, which includes over 100,000 wedding vendors from across the US. That means D&J Photography is one of the very best Wedding Photographers!

Unlike other awards in which winners are selected by the company, the Bride’s Choice Awards are determined exclusively by recent newlyweds through surveys and reviews.

“We are excited to launch this annual award program to honor high-performing vendors based solely on the experiences of our WeddingWire community,” according to Timothy Chi, WeddingWire’s Chief Executive Officer. “This year’s recipients have set the bar high, exhibiting excellent service and expertise in the wedding industry.”

D&J Photography would like to thank our past clients for speaking on our behalf and helping us win the 2009 Bride’s Choice Award!

Bella at 7 months (and a couple weeks)

Today was such a great day out it felt like Spring! Nice break from the cold, so we took Bella outside for a few quick shots marking her 7th month. Wow...she will almost be a year old. We cannot believe it!

Come visit our booth at the Bridal Showcase Sunday, January 25th!

Join The Bridal Showcase Sunday, January 25, 2009 12pm-5pm for North and South Carolina’s largest bridal event! Come see over one hundred wedding professionals as they showcase their products and services. The Bridal Showcase in Charlotte, NC is held twice a year at The Charlotte Convention Center and is sponsored by Belk Department Stores, Party Reflections Inc, and Carolina Bride Magazine. Don't miss the grand finale fashion show presented by MW Tux and David's Bridal.

Watch a preview! May take a moment to load but is worth the wait!Fashion, photography, honeymoons, flowers, catering, bakers, rentals, and plenty more… there’s something for everyone. Brides & Grooms, register now online, get $2 off admission, and become eligible for gifts, including a grand prize honeymoon vacation!

To learn more visit The Bridal Showcase Website!

Congratulations Holly & David

It's hard to believe that it has been a year since Holly and David first contacted me to photograph their wedding. It's been a fun year getting to know them.

We did their engagement portraits way back in March of 2008. We had a blast, making use of the colorful walls of NoDa and even got "lucky" with a serious downpour at the end of our session.

For her bridal portraits, Holly chose an old burned-down church. The old stone ruins were a perfect complement to her retro-style dress. We also took her inside the studio for a shot in our leather booth, also playing on that retro style. Kym McClean of Who's the Fairest once again did an amazing job with her styling.






Then we also headed down to the tracks to catch a train...

Here it comes...





Here's a few of my favorites from wedding day:



I have never seen a bride call an audible with her hairstyle just a few hours from the Ceremony. But, Holly is not your average bride and went with a different look at the last minute. That's impressive! And she totally pulled it off and looked absolutely amazing. Hat's off to the team at All About You for improvising along with the bride.

Here she is thinking about it...



Happy with her choice, they put on the veil. No turning back now!



Here's Kym doing the final touches...

Congratulations Amy and Jonathan!

Okay, it is a bit late to post your blog, but better late than never!

Here are a few shots from their engagement session. Amy preferred studio work for all her images, but wanted an upbeat style, not traditional portraiture. Jonathan likes what she likes (good man). So, the goal was high-energy and fun versus traditional portraiture.

Amy also wanted studio portraits for her bridal session. She had her heart set on B&W images. It's not something my brides are usually after, so it was a welcome change of pace! Amy makes such an extraordinarily beautiful bride and because she wanted more traditional portraiture, I chose dramatic and hard lighting to really make sure her images stood out.

Here's some "Hollywood style" lighting and film grain...





One of my favorite smiles from the bride:





I like this pose because it showcases her figure and the back of her dress:





And now some shots from the big day:








I love this picture of the girls clowning around before the Ceremony. They were a cool group!



Father and daughter share a kiss before the Ceremony begins:



A little practice run down the aisle before guests arrived:



And now for the real thing:



Jonathan anxiously awaits the arrival of his bride:



The church does not allow photography from the Santuary, so I had to grab the shot over the bride's shoulder of Jonathan watching Amy come down the aisle, then quickly run upstairs to the balcony to catch her father give her away...whew, there was no time to spare.













Their reception was held at The Mint Museum of Charlotte.