Thanks to everyone who came out to the Parlor Club last night. We had a huge turnout for the event, over 150 wedding professionals. The space looked amazing and as a little surprise to all who showed up-open bar all night! There was no shortage of yummy food thanks to Naturally Delicious and Nine Cakes. As usual with those two everything tasted as good as it looked. Sarah’s brightly colored flowers (Blossom&Branch) were stunning. Allison from Tres Belle Spa greeted everyone at the door w/a uniquely designed name tag courtesy of Brandon of Design-o-Matic. (I just loved them, I think I’m going to wallpaper my bathroom with them;) Sounds like everyone had a great time and more importantly, made connections with other vendors. I was so glad to see so much potential business happening. I love bringing good people together, helping them make connections and ultimately making our brides happy with all the services we can offer. I know my brides love it when I refer them to vendors that I know will do an amazing job for them. I’m no wedding planner, but because of my referral list I hand out to all my clients, many weddings I shoot turn out to be Kelly Guenther Studio productions: they hired the caterer, dj, stylist, make up artist and florist all because of my referrals. I hope everyone that attended the event last night will update their own vendor lists with some of the fantastic people they met. The big question I heard over and over last night is of course “When’s the next one?” Let a gal recover a bit then I’ll get on it, I promise. We will for sure be doing this again.

Photos by Ben Norman for Kelly Guenther Studio

If you’re in NYC and in the wedding industry you do not want to miss this networking opportunity. I’ve teamed up w/The Parlor Club (NYC’s new exclusive members only club), Nine Cakes, Naturally Delicious, Blossom&Branch, Generation Events, Kage Konsulting, Tres Belle Spa and Design-o-Matic to make this event possible. It’s amazing what’s possible when we all pool our resources together. It’s going to be a big event, the first of many I predict. The RSVP’s are pouring in! We’d love to see you there. Click here for more information and an invitation.

Ingrid and Philippe live in Singapore. We finally met in person just a couple weeks before their wedding and I could tell that this was going to be a fun party. They had friends and family flying in from all over the world for this wedding. The evening was a mixture of Western, Jewish and Chinese traditions. They were married under a hoopah, danced the hora and performed a traditional Chinese Tea Ceremony for their parents. Can I just say that Philippe is one smooth cat? He actually strutted up the aisle w/Ingrid after the “I do’s” and pulled it off! Very impressive. I love the photos of Philippe popping in on Ingrid while she was changing into her traditional Chinese gown. She didn’t want him to see her in the dress and he eventually covered up his face with a napkin so as not to ruin the surprise. They also played a few embarrassing get to know you games, another Chinese tradition. They were good sports about it, and everyone had a good laugh at their expense. Towards the end of the night I grabbed them for a few night shots in the snow. The sky was this crazy orange color emphasized even more due to my long exposure. I like to think of it as a little Brooklyn wedding gift. I’m sure it’s good luck.

I met Mark and Sarah well over a year ago at the Bam Bridal show. I was giving a talk about how to hire the right photographer. They came right up to me after and said “We don’t have a date or a venue but we know we want you to be our photographer.” Sounded good to me. None of us had any idea at the time that the wedding would end up being in Detroit. But like I say have wedding, I’ll travel;) Nothing like a destination wedding in Detroit in the middle of winter. I’m not knocking Detroit, quite the contrary. I grew up in Toledo so Detroit was the big city to me as a kid. I’ve always had a soft spot for the motor city. We flew in Saturday morning and got right to work. Sarah looked stunning! We headed out to meet Mark for the first look moment. Mind you its freezing cold. I was so worried about her toes-I’ll be damned if I lose a bride to frost bite! She had adrenaline and the love from her grandmother’s wrap to keep her warm. Mark was waiting in the cold by the scenic Detroit river for his bride to be. They’re both private people and wanted that first look moment to be just between them. Then we took a stroll around downtown Detroit, even stopping to “give daps” to the Joe Lewis fist. The ceremony was a blend of Jew”ish”, African American and their own traditions all mixed together. Their rings were wrapped in Sarah’s mother’s scarf (who passed away over three years ago) and were then passed around the church for blessings from all the guests. It was very moving and powerful.  During the reception we had the On Site Portrait studio set up and the guests really had fun with it. The band was incredible! They all tour w/famous Motown artists so you can imagine how loud and funky the horah was. Mark however does not tour w/famous Motown artists but that didn’t stop him from surprising everyone, especially Sarah, by singing Barry White. Oh what a night! Such a fantastic group of people, I’m honored to have spent the weekend with them (and a night at the Detroit airport with some of them, but that’s another story…).

Here’s just a sample of what they had to say about us: “The speed at which the actual wedding day can come and go is shocking to many couples. It also has made Kelly Guenther one of Manhattan’s most sought-after wedding photographers.” Click here to read the rest of the article: “The Business of Love: 5 Wedding Businesses.”

Angela and Jerry had been together for 15 years. They (finally;) decided to make it official. It was Angela’s first trip to the alter and I think everyone was overwhelmed with the happiness they felt for both of them. All of Angela’s nieces and nephews and Jerry’s grandchildren were in the wedding party. I’d never seen so much cuteness in all my life! Angela was definitely going for that 50′s look and she nailed it. It takes guts to chop a wedding gown at the knees and boy did it pay off. All the better to show off her shoes;) After the ceremony and a stroll on the Brooklyn Heights Promenade everyone made their way over to the couples favorite watering hole, Walkers in Tribecca. They were the first wedding to take place in the recently renovated back room, I can tell you that they won’t be the last. Such an incredible day, congratulations!

Photography by Kelly Guenther with assist by Drew Anthony Smith

Heck, I didn’t even know I was nominated. I’d like to thank the Academy, Martha Stewart and all of you out there in the Wedding Wire Community who voted for me. This is a big honor. This award means I’m “officially in the top 5 percent of local wedding professionals and that I demonstrate quality and service excellence in the wedding industry.” What a great way to start out the year.

One of my brides, Kate, wrote this really funny and honest article for MyDaily Blog about her love of cookies vs. being the perfect, skinny bride. Really worth the read. I’m sure a lot of brides out there can relate. My professional advice, eat the cookie. You’ll lose 5lbs. during the week leading up to the wedding b/c of stress anyway. Nothing is worse than photos of a bony bride pulling up her strapless gown all night;)

http://www.mydaily.com/2011/01/10/lose-weight-before-my-wedding/

Arriana and Richard are just delightful human beings. There. I said it. Such a joy to be around. Arianna has a glowing and positive spirit. She can also tear up at just the mention of her cake or her dress. I always knew to keep tissues around whenever we were meeting. She and Richard are very warm and open, I knew their wedding day would be special. The waterworks started that afternoon when she first saw her bouquet “Wait till your foundation dries!”-make up artist.  Aside from a hair mishap that she handled like a lady (“Just get rid of her Kelly I’ll do it myself!” which she did and looked amazing) getting ready was a blast. Then reveal time. Talk about tears! Even I got choked up. There were cameras everywhere documenting the moment in SoHo and I’m not just talking about me. Turns out Leica&Levi’s  opened a pop up store/photo workshop complete with a full on photo studio. We stopped in for a quick shoot. All the students applauded and were snapping away. Only in New York. The ceremony was very personal, they wrote their own vows and had everyone meditate together before they began. Our On Site Portrait Studio was open all though out the reception. Guests posed for their portraits, we printed them out and placed them in beautiful frames provided by Arianna. Guests went GaGa for their favors. Speaking of GaGa, Dj Duane kept the party going all night in the SoHi room. The views of the city were stunning! My favorite image is of Arianna&Richard reflected in the window. It looks as if they’re floating on top of NYC, which in a way I guess they were.

I shot Juan and Rachel’s wedding a few years ago and they were soooo much fun. One of my all time favorite photos is an image I took of Juan during the last dance on their wedding night-it’s a close up of him giving Rachel a big ‘ol squeeze on the butt, cracks everyone up whenever they see it. And now here they are, new parents of TWINS no less! He’s still flashing her that same smile I remember capturing on their wedding day but today there’s so much more meaning behind it. You can see that they are even more in love now with the birth of their new family than they were on their wedding day. Rachel’s mother has already asked me to shoot the twins’ Bar/BatMitzvahs. It’s on my calendar for 13 years from now.