Monthly Archives: November 2011

Romantic Photo Session in Tashkent

We flew to Tashkent, Uzbekistan to photograph this wonderful couple’s traditional Uzbek wedding – you will see the actual wedding photographs in the next post, but for now enjoy these romantic pre-wedding photographs taken mostly at the park that surronds the Memorial and the Museum of the Victims of Repression. Some photographs were taken at the Abdul Kasim Madrasah.

romantic engagement photography

The bride’s pre-wedding dress was custom designed for her by a close friend Uzbek designer Elena Milberger, a talented local couturier. We loved the design, the contour, the colors, brave and tender at the same time, light and soft material. So naturally, we made this shoot all about the dress..

destination wedding photographer

We already had a pleasure to photograph this couple at the stately Vizcaya Garden back in Miami, FL during their engagement photo session http://luxphotostudios.com/2011/05/vizcaya-gardens-engagement-in-miami/ The groom is from Belarus and the bride is native Uzbek, together they look like they stepped out from the pages of a designers’ catalogue, so photographing them was a breeze!

uzbek romantic photo

More wedding photography samples and wedding cinematography collection from our famous destination weddings, and our local photo studios in New York, Miami and Montreal at http://LuxPhotos.com

Sephardic Wedding at the Foundry NY

The time-honored customs of Jewish wedding celebration require special skill to create a wedding video that is modern and at the same time reflects traditional values and specific community customs. Our cinematic documentary style is perfectly fit for this sort of work, so we put on our kippahs (also known as Yarmulke in Yiddish, or a Skull Cap in English), geared up with some state of the art video equipment, and went to the cool and stylish Foundry in Queens, New York to film this traditional Sephardic wedding.

With a hundred plus guests who flocked in from Montreal it turned out to be one of the most stylish and voguish events of the year, with a stunning bride, great ambiance, wonderful Jewish marriage ceremony peppered with traditional Jewish Moroccan wedding customs, and deep and heartfelt words of wisdom by the rabbi. Afterwards the party rocked on to the tunes of DJ Yo C whom the bride and groom brought in from Montreal. It was a really unforgettable night in NY.

More wedding photography samples and wedding cinematography collection from our famous destination weddings, and our local photo studios in New York, Miami and Montreal at http://LuxPhotos.com

Multicultural Wedding NYC

Venue: Sheraton LaGuardia East Hotel www.starwoodshotels.com
Ceremony: Our Lady Of Solace Parish www.wikipedia.org
Wedding Music: DJ NYC www.djnyc.com
Wedding Cake: Gail Watson Cake www.gailwatsoncake.com
Wedding Dress: Vera Wang www.verawang.com/wedding
Wedding Shoes: Fendi www.fendi.com

A Vietnamese bride from the Bronx, a Vietnamese-Italian groom from New Jersey, a wedding in Queens – it it New York in all its multicultural, wonderfully-ethnic glory. The day started bright and early at bride’s parents house in the Bronx. Massimo, the groom, arrived with his closest friends and family carrying gifts to ask permission to “receive” the bride. The procession of the groom’s family was led in specific order. The first person would be the representative of the groom’s house followed by the groom’s father, the groom, then the rest of his family and close friends. They were met out on the street in front of the house by bride’s sisters. Once everyone settled in the living room of the house Jasmine, the bride, led by her father walked in, wearing traditional Vietnamese wedding dress.

asian bride usa

asian wedding ny

new york wedding

A Vietnamese Tea Ceremony followed. The bride and groom, in front of all their guests, served tea to their parents and relatives. Each parent gave advice about marriage and family to the couple. A candle ceremony followed, symbolizing the joining of the bride and groom and the joining of the two families. The groom’s gift boxes filled with jewelry were opened by the bride’s mother, who then put each piece on the bride for good fortune.

asian wedding photography

The bride, Jasmine, changed from her red Áo dài into a very elegant white wedding dress, with the help of her two younger sisters. Jasmine turned out to be absolutely stress-free bride, very wise, calm and composed, her lovely good-humored sisters by her side, and always ready with a helping hand.

vietnamese wedding photographer

italian wedding nyc

The layout for this blog post is our traditional crisp and clean album layout, something that most of our clients want when ordering an album. You can view more of our wedding album design and layouts here: http://luxphotostudios.com/category/albums/. To see our current wedding photo book collection see our album pages on the main website: http://luxphotos.com/category/riviera-album/

queens bridal gown

nyc wedding dress

The wedding reception continued at the Sheraton LaGuardia East Hotel in Queens. One of the things we loved about this wedding venue was the large outdoor garden, perfect for family portraits and bridal portraits. Inside the balroom everything turned out to be traditionally-styled, in good taste and sparkling clean.

brons wedding ceremony

Looking back there is one thing that we wanted to do at this wedding but just could not accomplish because of time constraints – a vogue magazine-like photograph of the family sitting at this long and picturesque dinner table, all facing the camera, almost like the Last Supper but definitely more Vogue. That would have been spectacular!

bronx church marriage

queens wedding venue

The DJs from DJNYC deserve a special mention as they put on great show that evening – the wedding party kept on rocking till late night, dancing, jumping, drinking, partying, doing conga lines, breakdancing.. you name it!

ethnic marriage new york

new jersey groom

A quiet moment with bride and groom alone – the newlyweds ran away from the guests for a few brief moments to catch a breath from all the wild dancing and electrified wedding celebration. Anticipating a nice photo opp we followed and this is what came out.

newlyweds couple nj

For those of you who follow our blog you will probably recognize that this is the same couple form the lovely and refreshing engagement photo session we did at the South Street Seaport sometime in the spring.

More wedding photography samples and wedding cinematography collection from our famous destination weddings, and our local photo studios in New York, Miami and Montreal at http://LuxPhotos.com

Tappan Hill Mansion Wedding

Built in that classic New England style the Tappan Hill Mansion is one of Abigail Kirsch’s most exclusive venues in New York, located on the former estate of Mark Twain in the scenic Hudson Valley, just 45 minutes from midtown Manhattan. Abigail Kirsch being the largest operator of exclusive event venues in the greater New York City area whereas each of their locations offers something very unique – from the quintessential country mansion, Tappan Hill, to The Lighthouse, a city loft on the Hudson, to the Botanical Garden in the Bronx, to Stage 6 at Steiner Studios in Brooklyn, to many others.

For many years now we were of the opinion that Hudson’s Valley historic setting is the perfect backdrop for the most special events, combined with the catering professionals that have developed wedding catering into an art form. Whether it be at one of the exclusive venues or at one of many select venues in the tri-state area, Abigail Kirsch planners create a unique celebration, menu, lighting, presentation and many other details.

This was a great Jewish wedding with an unusual story: the couple has already enjoyed 3 separate wedding festivities before this one. This is what happened. The bride is an American of Italian and Jewish heritage and the groom is Israeli of Iranian-Yemenite heritage. The first and biggest wedding took place in Israel with hundreds of guests. Also a traditional Sephardi Henna Ceremony common to most Middle-Eastern cultures was held a few days prior to the wedding, which was just as big as the wedding itself. The third celebration came some weeks after the main wedding, this time in Italy, for all the Italian relatives that could not make it to the main event in Israel. And finally, the last celebration happened on American soil, at the Tappan Hill Mansion, and we were there to capture the final stage in this extravagant chain of nuptial festivities.

More wedding photography samples and wedding cinematography collection from our famous destination weddings, and our local photo studios in New York, Miami and Montreal at http://LuxPhotos.com

Montreal Fall Wedding

Venue: Chevra Kadisha B’Nai Jacob Synagogue www.ckbj.org
Wedding Dress: Galleria Della Sposa www.galleriadellasposa.ca
Flowers: Le Casablanca www.fleuristecasablanca.com
Wedding Music: DJ YO-C www.djyoc.com

montreal moroccan community

Our dear friends Ness & Elodie planned this extravagant Montreal wedding for three hundred and some guests, which turned out to be an epic event. Jewish Moroccan weddings are always a mix of class, spirituality, and frantic party energy, and this wedding was no exception.

jewish groom montreal

The groom got ready at his house surrounded by his friends and family, with best man helping him to get dressed. Afterwards, while photographing the groom smoking a cigar on the rooftop he joked that he looks like the Moroccan version of James Bond – “I want my hummus shaken, not stirred!”

sephardi wedding ceremony

Now at Elodie’s house, where the bridal preparations are underway, make-up being creatively brushed on by talented and sweet Jessica Cohen, a truly remarkable makeup artist whose own wedding we have filmed two years previously at The Foundry in NY.

jewish moroccan wedding

It’s not the first time we have photographed this couple, having done an engagement photo session in the summer around Monkland Village.

jewish wedding canada

This part was shot entirely at Elodie’s parents’ home in Hampstead. Brilliantly designed and very well lit, this unique house is perfect for photo shoots.

quebec jew wedding

Elodie’s stunning dress is accentuated by a really remarkable belt that she designed herself. Below photographs on the couch were shot from the second floor balcony, and backlit from the window behind the couple as well as with a Canon Speedlite 580EX II Flash using PocketWizards this perfect light was easily achieved.

spanish jewish synagogue

We drove to Westmount Park for a quick romantic photo session. We love shooting there as it is quite central and there are many indoor and outdoor spaces that are very versatile and well maintained.

ashkenazi sephardi wedding

Inside the hall of the Westmount Public Library where the glass ceiling provided great diffused light and protection form the elements we did this lovely photo shoot.

traditional jewish chouppah

The bride and the groom were playful and willing to go an extra mile for us – how perfect is that!

jewish hora music

The traditional Jewish wedding ceremony was very soulful, touching and emotional. As the Rabbi conducted the ceremony the tears of joy were flowing from all, but as soon as the bride and groom were pronounced the husband and wife, spontaneous dancing broke out, three hundred plus guests chanting “mazel tov”, while the newlyweds escaped to their room for a moment alone.

jewish wedding dj

The hora was absolutely wild, in line with Jewish-Moroccan traditions and fueled by contagious music by Yossi ‘Dj Yo-C‘ Ohana. The dance started as soon as the bride and groom walked in the main reception hall of the
Chevra Kadisha B’Nai Jacob Synagogue, and dancing continued for a good hour if not longer.

traditional orthodox wedding

As always with traditional Jewish weddings wether Sephardi or Ashkenazi, there is a very important part when the family elders cut the challah bread, say the kiddush and bless the newlyweds and their newly formed union.

wild montreal afterparty

After a small break for dinner the dancing continued till late in the night. After the most delicious cake and outstanding middle eastern and Arabic sweets the bride and groom were put on thrones and a great Sephardic Henna Ceremony also known as Beberiska ensued.

Sephard henna ceremony

This was one of the funnest most intense weddings we have ever shot, and most of it was because of the way the bride, groom and their guests treated this event – a wedding is not just a dinner, it’s not really a fashion show, it’s not simply a religious or civil ceremony. A wedding is a celebration!

More wedding photography samples and wedding cinematography collection from our famous destination weddings, and our local photo studios in New York, Miami and Montreal at http://LuxPhotos.com

SoHo Rooftop Wedding at 60 Thompson

Sometime ago we received an email request from a Canadian couple from Toronto who were planning a getaway wedding in New York, at 60 Thompson – an elegant boutique hotel in SoHo.

The weather was not in our favor that day, but Aubrey & Krysta braved through the brief Jewish wedding ceremony on the rooftop A60, and delicious dinner at Kittichai and a wild party at Thom Bar ensued. Guests who mostly came all the way from Canada put on their dancing shoes and rocked the house in style.

As a nice extra touch the bride and groom hired a pizza truck to feed the late night partiers right on the street just outside of the hotel.

More wedding photography samples and wedding cinematography collection from our famous destination weddings, and our local photo studios in New York, Miami and Montreal at http://LuxPhotos.com

Russian Wedding in Denver

Another epic wedding, this time from Denver, Colorado, the home of the Broncos, Rockies, and much more.

Did we mention that we love travelling and photographing destination weddings? Well, we do! It was our very first trip to Denver and we were stunned by the sheer natural beauty of Colorado. As we were landing in DEN, Denver’s International Airport (which is an art piece by itself), we enjoyed some really terrific views: one one side of the plane beautiful snowcapped Rocky Mountains and on the other side of the plane complete gloomy desert. We could not believe our own eyes. The contrast was stunning. So much so, that when time came to shoot this wedding we made sure to keep the “contrast” theme in mind.

russian wedding photography

The getting ready was shot entirely at The Inn At Cherry Creek, a cute boutique hotel in one of Denver’s finest neighborhoods. The bride, Pavlina, who is originally from Ukraine, turned out to be lovely, inventive, and energetic with great sense of humor, and Sergei (aka Sergio), originally from Russia, who happens to be a photographer himself, was happy to oblige his fiance. And so these wonderful wedding photographs were created..

ukrainian wedding photo

The first part of the “together” photo session was shot at Denver’s City Park, just around Duck Lake, and for the contrast we filmed the rest of the photo session downtown with the more urban brick-and-mortar look.

colorado wedding photography

We absolutely love the kids in these pictures, their unique energy, almost sadness and quite possible boredom contrasting starkly with explosive behavior of the bride and groom.

denver engagement photo

The bride was a true gift to any wedding photographer, pretty, playful, full of energy and ideas, willing to go an extra mile for a great shot.

russian bride usa

The ceremony took place at a really cute church in Aurora, however the groom brought his own pastor, a Russian Orthodox priest, who gave a very passionate, lengthy, fire-and-brimstone sermon before he performed the actual wedding ceremony. All services were conducted in Russian language, and according to rather dated Russian wedding traditions.

russian church wedding

Back to The Inn At Cherry Creek, the party started with a bang as soon as the bride and groom made their very energetic entrance. Dances, great food, traditional Russian wedding games, and some American wedding traditions followed. One of the funny quirks of this wedding happened when the bride tossed her bridal bouquet, only she did it so hard that it flew way over the heads of the single ladies, right into the hands of one of the guys sitting by the wall, enjoying his piece of the wedding cake.

hot russian wedding

We shot this wedding in out signature style which could be simply described as candid, natural, beautiful and photojournalistic. For comprehensive wedding photo coverage around Denver, Colorado Springs, Boulder, Vail, Aspen, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, or for Destination Weddings please contact Lux Photo Studios and we will be happy to create a custom package for you. Please keep in mind that besides wedding photography we also do children photos, maternity and prenatal photography, family and boudoir portraits.

More wedding photography samples and wedding cinematography collection from our famous destination weddings, and our local photo studios in New York, Miami and Montreal at http://LuxPhotos.com