Engage 13!!!!!

I'm finally ready to write about my life-changing week at Engage13 in Scottsdale, Arizona.

I was given the chance to meet and mix with the top wedding industry professionals in the US and I feel like the trajectory of my life and career has now changed forever.

It all happened because I was at SoHo House West Hollywood a few weeks ago having drinks with my friend Rebecca who made some offhand comment that she would be attending this bi-annual (does bi-annual mean twice a year? it's twice a year) event that brings together the best of best in the wedding industry: planners, magazine editors, florists, cake makers, caterers, etc etc. and that if I was free I should come check it out. Well it turned out I was free (it was taking place between wedding weekends in Florida and New York) and it sounded suuuuper awesome.

This year's event happened to be taking place in Scottsdale, home of Lady Di, so it worked out perfectly!

I thought it was going to be fun...I didn't know it was going to change my life.

Over the course of 3 days, we sat through seminars and talks and panels from leaders of our industry - people who regularly plan, design, photograph, and publish million-dollar weddings. Ate amazing catered meals in smaller groups designed to maximize our mixing and mingling with each other. And partied our butts off each night to incredibly designed events which were basically weddings themselves without all the ceremony stuff.

It was basically camp for wedding vendors. And it was awwwwesome...

DAY 1

Registration...

I arrived on Sunday and they were setting up for the big welcome party which would be taking place that night...

Immediately upon getting my registration packet, I was stopped outside the front desk by two pretty girls Anja and Samantha. They had been told to look for me by their friend/coworker Rebecca. (Rebecca's the one who told me about Engage.) Little did I know that over the next several days we would all become inseparable.

Weddings are all about the details... and for Engage, every single detail was so well thought out. There were amazing flowers everywhere (florists showing off their skills to hopefully book more million-dollar weddings). Itineraries and schedules and menus and stuff was all immaculately printed (lots of high-end printers, calligraphers, invitation-designers wanting to show off their goods to their fellow vendors). Amazing food and snacks (caterers etc). Plus it was all very well documented by a team of videographers and photographers.

We had a welcoming session and listened to some speakers and learned about what to expect over the next several days. Then there was a break for wine and cheese and meats.

It was quite a spread.

And this was just for our snack.

Then it was back in for several more sessions. Basically people talking about brides. And bridezillas. And billionaires. And billionaire bridezillas. I could listen to people talk about billionaire bridezillas ALL DAY LONG.

This guy is supposedly famous or something from Say Yes To The Dress.

Sessions ended around 5ish. Then there was a break for us to get ready for the opening night Welcome Party.

Tents and food and music had all been setup around the pool area. It looked pretty awesome.

I actually didn't have a hotel room (since I booked at the last minute) and was staying at Lady Di's, so the Knot Girls (Sam, Anja and Rebecca all work for and basically run The Knot) took my orphan ass into their suite during all our downtime to get ready for each nightly party. 

After getting some work done, we descended on the fiesta.

There was a dancefloor.

And an amazing wedding band.

It was basically a wedding.

Oh and I met Mindy Weiss, one of the most famous wedding planners in the world having planned thousands of celebrity weddings...LOVE HER.

There was plenty to drink and plenty to dance.

Pictured here are the Knot Girls and my other bestie Allan. Allan is a fellow wedding photographer. His website kinda sucks - www.allanzepeda.com - but he is amazing.

Besties besties.

We met lots of other fun people too.

And people love me because I'm a giant.

This whole event was so cool because these are all people who normally are WORKING during a wedding/event. So here we REALLY got to let loose without a care in the world.

LOVES getting my head chopped off in pictures. NOT.

------------------------------

DAY 2

OK. Morning number two we showed up at our session and everyone had little gift boxes in front of them...

The gift box contained notepads, pens, snacks, and little inspiration cards. So cute and thoughtful! Perrrrrfect for a wedding welcome bag or something (nudge nudge).

After some speakers...

We broke for snacks...

And then more speakers. Here we had Abby Larson, founder of Style Me Pretty, talking to Jose Villa, THE MOST INCREDIBLE WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER IN THE WORLD. (Congrats to you if you can afford him.)

We broke for lunch under these incredible tents...

Our place settings came with cute little inspiration cards showing off some ridiculous quality paper products...

And the food presentation also was awesome and delicious.

Upon returning to our session...

We had a new gift box, with even more neato gifts. This time they were electronic. Headphones, phone chargers, usb sticks, etc.

My pal Anja gave a talk.

And then we broke for snacks and THERE WAS A BACON BAR with 5 different types of BACONNNNN!!!!!!

Then we had a sit down dinner which was fish and I didn't like it but the flowers were pretty...

And then there was a dessert party with millions of desserts.

Since I was crashing w Lady Di, I invited her to crash the dessert party and everyone loved her obviously.

Such fun!

I have no idea who this is.

But this event just brings lots of wonderful people together.

(Well not EVERYONE was wonderful. But all our friends were. A lot of people were really...network-y...but you can see those people and their B.S. coming from like a mile away and we wonderful people just played with each other and had the best time ever.)

DAY 3

Breakfast the next morning was a carnitas benedict and it was YUMMY.

Again we ate among the tents and breakfast ended with a motivational speaker and exercises designed for us to talk to randoms about our goals and accomplishments etc.

Rebecca hosted a panel with Abby (from StyleMePretty) and Shira (editor of Martha Stewart Weddings)

They talked to the room about how to get published and what magazines/blogs are looking for and answered questions and shook hands with their superfans.

Then there was a wedding planner panel (a majority of Engage attendees are already-successful wedding planners aspiring to make it that top tier of million-dollar-wedding planners)...

And featured Bryan (who famously planned Chelsea Clinton's wedding), Mindy (who is doing Jessica Simpson's upcoming wedding and Bachelor Sean Lowe's as well, among others that she's probably not allowed to disclose), and Marcy (who did Padma Lakshmi and Salman Rushdie's wedding (RIP) and is best friends with BillyJoel, a fact that she stated several times).

Then there was Todd, Tara, and Ed. (If you are bored, all of their websites and portfolios are innnncredible...and will make you feel very very poor.)

Snacks!

And I met Sylvia Weinstock. World-famous cake maker.

Then there was a gifting suite where we got to run through and get lots of swag and feel like celebrities. Vera Wang had a station and there was a robe station and a station for free ballet flats (wooooo!) (Most of the attendees were ladies all week.) and cookies and cookies and cookies.

THEN we got ready for The Gala.

Upon entering The Gala (our final event) we encountered this incredible flower wall covered in glowing lantern escort cards telling us our table assignments.

Everyone looked purrrrty.

Such an awesome idea!!!

After cocktails, the doors to the ballroom opened, we walked in, and our jaws dropped.

The floral design was unreal.

Oh and there was a 20-person band.

These "centerpieces" were SO F*CKING COOL.

And the food was awwwwesome.

Truffle GNNOOOOOCCCCHIIII

We all looked soooo pretty.

Everyone take a selfie!

And the DRINKS.

They were served by the most beautiful bartender in the world.

He was 6'3" and Irish and I stalked him on Instagram and he added me on facebook and now we are friends and will probably marry.

*Sigh*

Oh right after that I dropped my camera and it broke (it is now fixed though) but I didn't take any other pictures except this iPhone pic with these amazing people who are the absolute best at what they do. It is amazing and inspiring (and a little bit intimidating) (but not really) to hang out with people who do exactly what you do (but do it like 100 times better).

Some faves from the photobooth.

It was so awesome. Thank you to Rebecca (especially) and the other Knot Girls (and Allan) for taking me under your wings and bringing me into this experience which would have been totally different and less-epic otherwise!

And did I mention have Engage  twice a year?

Yep. Every time in a different city at some resort that is trying to show off its amenities and foods to lure the top wedding planners of the world to convince their billionaire brides to get married at their venue. Amazing.

Cannot wait for Engage14!!!!

Almost Xmas!

I visited Conlix and Lilli the other day in Jersey before heading up to RI.

Then I drove up to RI and spent a morning hanging out with Dan and Henry, who I accidentally ended up being twinsies with...

Dan, Emily and the kiddies are headed down to North Carolina for the holidays, so Emily had the brilliant idea that we should take Henry to the Brown track and stadium and make him run laps to tire him out. We took it a step further and had him climb the bleachers as well. So cute!

Loves being a fun uncle to these amazing kiddies! Not sure I'm ready for my own kid yet though. Too addicted to my life.

Engage Sneak Peek!

Soon I will tell you all about Engage13. The week that changed the trajectory of my life and career.

But first I have a million things to do and edit. So I'm just gonna post this video to hold you over.

It's the video recap of the whole week by incredible videographers Elysium Productions.

Engage 13 at Montelucia // High Energy Recap from Elysium Productions on Vimeo.

If one picture were to sum up the fun and awesomeness and happiness and love and friendship, it would be this still frame from the video above.

Cannot wait to tell you all about it!

Back from Arizona!

It was a life-changing week at Engage13 in Scottsdale, Arizona this week.

I spent the week at this "Luxury Wedding Summit" among the top wedding industry professionals in the US.

Made some awesome new friends. Had an amazing time. Am SO excited about what 2014 is going to bring.

Anyway, I got back to NYC and I had to run upstate to shoot a wedding tomorrow.

After the wedding I'll post a bunch of pics from this week. Promise!

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!

Florida!!!

Left NYC at 8am this morning after co-hosting a Brown Fundraiser last night at probably the largest apartment I have ever seen in New York City... So exhausted. But we've arrived in beautiful sunny 80-degree Naples and it is gorrrrrgeous.

Hugs to South Africa

Nelson Mandela passed away last night.



So thankful to have had the incredible opportunity to visit South Africa earlier this year and to now have a greater understanding of what this man meant to the country and to the world.

Rest In Peace, Mr. Mandela.

VOGUE!!!!! (india)

Never ever had my photos published in a major national publication before...

...but today my photos of Zameer are in VOGUE! (India)

We did the photos of him and his stunningly gorgeous client/friend Susheila several months ago and then I completely forgot about it. So to have it pop up again suddenly. Well... it is soyyyy exciting!!!

I feel unstoppable.

Goodbye SF!

Loved seeing all my San Francisco frands last night at The Cavalier bar.

SO yummy.



Hopping on a 7am flight back to NYC to co-host a Brown 10-Year Fundraising event tonight (Thursday).

Then ass-early tomorrow (Friday) morning Kristen and I are hopping on a flight down to Ft. Myers Florida for our friend Croci's wedding rehearsal and the wedding on Saturday (I'm shooting). It's going to be REALLY fun!!!

Sunday morning I hop on a flight to Arizona to play with Lady Di and to attend a "Luxury Wedding Summit" to mix with some of the top people in the american wedding industry. Whatever. I'm just excited to hang with the three people I'll know there. 

Woo woooooo!!!!

SF!

It's 1pm and I just finished my corporate headshot gig in Palo Alto.

I've done shots for this NY based company a few times now and I'm in love with the marketing girl who brings me on for all these mass corporate headshot gigs. Each "session" takes literally 2 mins per person. The rest of the time we just sit around and giggle.

I was flown out here to take pictures of people against a white wall for less than 2 hours. 

I wanted to do natural light. They insisted on a white wall with an on-camera flash.

A monkey could literally be trained to do my job.

Would not enjoy it as much though!

Best job ever!!!

2 Years Ago

I talk about my 30th Birthday Party so much it probably annoys even the people who were there.

Oh well. You brides probably think about your wedding all the time. And it was the best weekend of my life thus far, so SORRY ABOUT IT.

Anyway, today was the two year anniversary of our epic marathon night of birthday fun.

And two years ago on that crazy night we bumped into Lindsay Lohan during our adventure and I have forever lamented the fact that we didn't ask her to take a picture with us or join us on our partybus.

So for the anniversary of that night I did something I should have done two years ago.

Photoshopped her into our group picture.

Yayyyy!!!

Vegas!!!

I arrived in Vegas on Friday afternoon/evening to a beauuuutiful sunset from the balcony of my suite at the Cosmopolitan. 

Since it was my bday again I decided to treat myself and ended up getting pretty much the same epic suite from my 30th birthday party two years ago.

Danny, Steven, Josh, and Payton all rolled in from LA and after a 6+ hour drive in absurd traffic, were exhausted/delirious...

I just love these Cosmo wraparound suites!!! (You can get good deals on them on Jetsetter. I got a 4 night deal for the price of 3.)

We're on the 63rd floor and our bedroom balcony looks right out onto Planet Hollywood...

And the balcony wraps allll the way around...

Quite breathtaking the view is.

The LA boys of course know a bunch of local gays so we had a mini party and hit up a bunch of fun clubs together until 4am both Friday and Saturday nights.

I didn't bring my partycam...which is probably for the best, because wastedface pics of 30-year-olds are NOT cute.

It was our typical epic fun though. Dancing and drinking and giggling and late night hilarity.

This morning, Danny was NOT excited to deal with the long drive back to LA. (And this was BEFORE he realized it was going to take 8 hours.) 

After the LA boys all left, Erik arrived back from Thanksgiving weekend in Seattle.

And rocking a scary rape mustache that makes him almost unrecognizable!

We went for a delicious dinner in Chinatown at Ichiza (we went there a couple times back as well).

And now I'm ready for a day of rest and relaxation (and computer work) before taking off for SF on Tuesday.

I love Vegas.