Miami!

I woke up this morning at 5am and schlepped my luggage down to my car in 26 degree weather feeling like misery.

Got to LaGuardia, where I had a 7am flight to Miami. (I'm shooting my friend Stacey's wedding on Saturday up in Boca Raton.)

Slept on the plane, and by noon I was lounging on the beach at SoHo Beach House.

As usual they are pretty strict about picture-taking on the property, but there are plenty of pics on the internet.

I jacked these from google. This place is heaven.

Formerly the Sovereign Hotel, it was converted into a sick little SoHo House resort back in 2010 with multiple pools, bars, restaurants, a spa, gym, and its own branch of the famous West Hollywood joint Cecconi's.

They also have a private beach area right on the northern end of South Beach.

And an amazing pool that was awesome for people-watching.

I cannot think of any place I'd rather be today!

Got a ton of work done, and even had time for a workout in their awesome gym overlooking the pool at the Fontainebleu.

Then I stopped into Cecconi's for a delicious lunch of Chicken Paillard with a side of meatballs. YUM.

Just finished editing Sam & Aliisa's New Orleans wedding. Wooo!

Now I'm off to dinner with my wedding planner friend Jassi.

Super special shoutout and thanks go to Charlie, Caroline, and Megoon whose combined efforts got me my membership here at the SoHo House. I love you guys soyyyyy much.

Croci's Wedding Preview

I put up a teaser gallery on Facebook because I was feeling particularly motivated and there was very little retouching to be done and the picture were too funny not to share immediately.

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10100337098269171.1073741844.1001693&type=1&l=a4e55d17e3

Croci's Wedding this weekend in Florida was SO MUCH FUN. In terms of fun it was in the top 5% of weddings. In terms of FUNNINESS...it was the most absurdly hilarious wedding I've ever been to.

Just non-stop laughter and silliness
Here's a sneak peek:

We got ready in a fabulous penthouse suite overlooking the ceremony site:

I'll blog about the ceremony and rest of the day later. (Maybe.)

Party pics are the easiest to prep for posting though so here are some of those.

It was insane.

Mostly due to stolen props from the epic photobooth.

I love a job where I get to party with my friends!

And I really really love this headband/hat that I borrowed for the evening. Wish I could have kept it.

There was even a point in the evening where we all did "ballet"...

So much fun...

So. Effing. Funny.

Here's a pic with me and all my amazing DKbrides who were present.

I've either shot or will be shooting all these girls' weddings. And I owe everything to KristenGastlerPalmisano, who went to college at Denison University with them all.

It all started with her recommending me to Sam (2nd from the right) three years ago. I photographed Sam's wedding which was my first official wedding as the main shooter. Very thankful to Sam for taking a chance on me and kickstarting my career.
 
From there I shot Morgan's (far right). Then another Kristin's (not present). Then KristenG-P's herself. Then Croci's (bride, pictured). And I have Weglicki (far left) and Sarah's (third from right) coming up next year. At this point these girls are such good friends to me that I don't know what I would be doing if I WEREN'T at their weddings shooting... Love seeing them all every few months for a reunion of sorts. Makes me feel like I almost have a regular social life.

After an incredible weekend like this, I definitely feel like I have the best best best job ever and I'm doing exactly what I'm meant to be doing.

OK, just arrived in Arizona and am exhausted. Talk to you soon!

Goodbye Palm Beach!

Charlie and Caroline's wedding yesterday was absolutely GORGEOUS.

I have to get permission before I can post pictures from the reception because they (the venue, not the couple) are a little funny about that...but it was one of the prettiest venues I've ever seen.

AND they should be getting a New York Times Wedding Section front page FEATURE (squeal!!!) in two weeks...

Palm Beach itself is just one of the most pristine places.

We woke up this morning and lunched poolside at The Breakers, where most people were staying...

It's quite a bit of work, but I LOOOOOVE making a morning-after slideshow because it gives them (and me) instant gratification and validation on a job well-done.

Also sometimes the pics are just hilarious.

The pool area at the Breakers is enormous and the sky and sea are so blue it is unreal.

Really good pina coladas and empandas also.

Alrighty...hoping on my flight back to NYC! Goodbye Palm Beach!!!! I will be back!!!!

Florida / Felix's Bachelor Party!

For Felix's Bach a few weeks ago we headed down to his fancy new house in Florida.

It was a weekend of sports and competition. Honestly, I had been dreading it for weeks since I am the least athletic and most injury-prone person in the universe. (See: Worst Day Ever)

We were divided into teams for various competitions involving drinking...




More drinking...



Poker...



Bloodsports...



Batflip - a game where we stood around in a parking lot throwing a bat in the air and taking turns catching it...








Various arcade games...



And laser tag...



Basically it was a bachelor party / 10-year-old's birthday party.

It ended up being a lot of fun.




We went out for a delicious brazilian churrascaria dinner.





It was all-you-can-eat / all-you-can-drink.





Then we piled into cars (don't worry, we had three designated non-drinker-drivers).



And hit the bars of Ft. Lauderdale.





We got PRETTY rowdy.



At one point, Felix got lifted so high into the air that he came centimeters from breaking his hands or the beer bottles in his hands on some high-powered ceiling fans, which would have been A DISASTER. The bouncer came over to yell at him.



In response, Felix and AC just continued jumping around even more aggressively, right in the guys face. LOL.




The bouncer just slapped his hand to his face, shook his head and walked away. Being a bouncer must be the most annoying job in the world.



We were there three nights. And every morning this is pretty much what we woke up to.

Bodies everywhere.




Great weekend.






So glad that I left unharmed.