Amber and Maksym (other wise known as Max) were married just a few weeks ago at the Divine Redeemer Catholic Church in Hanahan, SC with the reception held at the Mills House Hotel located in downtown Charleston. They both met at the Fred Astaire Dance Studio where Max is a professional ballroom dance instructor. (Just think “Dancing with the Stars” kind of thing here….) Since Max and his side of the family are Ukrainian, I knew that this was going to be a fun reception for sure! They did not disappoint either! Both Max and Amber looked so graceful and beautiful on the dance floor for their very first dance as husband and wife. They even had a special Ukrainian dance couple entertain all of the guests! I just had to include one of those shots into this blog post. It was too funny to see them dancing like that! Congratulations to the both of you!

Be sure to click on their slideshow below. There is also a direct link to all of the online images below the slideshow!

Of course I just had to add in the special Ukrainian dance couple! ha ha!

For a direct link of all images online, just click here.

Happy 4th of July! Well as of this posting, it would be Happy 5th of July! ha!  So last night I took our “little tornado” out for the fireworks display at the North Charleston Riverfront Park. They always have a really nice setup out there for everyone to enjoy. Plenty of food and jump castles and slides for all of the kiddies! I even took Austin down one of the slides just because he was still a little smaller compared to all of the other big kids that were running around him. As far as the pictures go, do you know how hard it is trying to get a 2 year old to look at the camera while huge firework explosions are going on behind him?? Uggh! That was tough. I have plenty of shots of the back of his head though! ha ha!

So the new ISPWP (International Society of Professional Wedding Photographers) Spring 2010 contest results came out yesterday and I made the Top 20 in the “wedding dress” section! Whoa! That was really cool because there are so many amazing photographers who compete in these photography contests from all over the world! Just in the wedding dress category that I entered were folks from Germany, Poland, Brazil, etc. This is really only the second time I have entered into any type of photo contest type of thing and I placed both times, so that’s kinda cool. I’m just honored to be mentioned with such incredible photographers and  images from all over the globe. I do think that ISPWP is a really great organization and not just a typical “run of the mill” type of site. You can’t just sign up with them, (ok, you can fill out a ton of paperwork to prove that you are a professional) or you just need to have a referral from a current member to get in. (thanks to my buddy Ruth Rackley!

Here’s the image that I submitted. Click here to see the category that I entered.

Michelle and PJ are getting married next May but we went ahead and photographed their engagement session early since they both live out of town and won’t be back until sometime before their wedding ceremony. Since Michelle just graduated from the College of Charleston, (Yay!) we thought it would be a good idea to shoot around the downtown area since it has such fond memories for her. They will be getting married at the Legare-Waring House located inside of Charlestowne Landing. It is such a beautiful location with the Avenue of Oaks were their ceremony will be performed along with all of the ponds, nature trails, and the unique history of the site (Charleston was founded there in 1670)! I’m looking forward to working with my friend, Stacey Fraunfelter of Red Letter Events who is their wedding coordinator. I’m sure that it’s going to be a really fun event!

Be sure to click on their engagement slideshow below! For a link to all of their images online, just click here.

Just the other week I got to photograph a beautiful wedding out at the Woodlands Inn & Resort located in Summerville, SC. This inn is the only 5 star and 5 diamond hotel resort in all of South Carolina! Kelly and Matt couldn’t have picked a better place to get married! All of the details were just perfect and they had such a lovely  sit down dinner for all of their guests. They even had both of their “four legged childern” in the ceremony to deliver the rings to them. Kelly just smiled the whole entire day and Matt had a grin all the way across his face when he saw his future bride for the first time coming down the aisle! Congratulations to the both of you!

Be sure to click on their wedding slideshow below!

Out in front of the Woodlands Inn & Resort Hotel.

Some of the details from their wedding:

How cool was this! Having their “four legged childern” deliver the rings during the ceremony!

Click on the Wedding Slideshow below. For a direct link to all of the images online, click here.

So my video guru of all things video and special effects, Trevor Erickson, created a really cool video logo for my business. What’s a video logo you ask? Well instead of just having a plain text logo appear at the end of my video slideshows, I can now have this super cool one here below! Yes I’m a guy and like these “techie” sort of things! ha ha! I thought I might even try to find some cool, royalty free music to set it to. Not sure about that just yet…..  Do you like / dislike? Let me know in the comments below. If you want something like this for yourself, just contact ol’ Trevor below by rolling your mouse over the “click here” text.

I recently got to do the engagement session of Kelly and her fiance Matt in Mt. Pleasant last week out at Alhambra Hall in Mt. Pleasant, SC. Now since I’ve shot several weddings in this particular location I knew that I had some good places to go to, but man did we get lucky with such a beautiful sunset over the harbor! Most of the time it is kind of cloudy and you don’t always get good sunset shots like this, but the good Lord wanted to show us all something spectacular! Yay! Kelly and Matt will tie the knot next month in May and will be having their ceremony out at the Woodlands Retreat in Summerville. Can’t wait for this one! They are such a great couple who are very fun to work with.  Congratulations again!

Be sure to view the engagement slideshow below!

Last week I had some beautiful weather for Heather and Tommy’s wedding out at the historic Boone Hall Plantation.  It was a small ceremony which allowed us the freedom to move all about the property and photograph at  some great spots. One of the many beautiful things that Boone Hall has to offer is their fabulous live oak trees. They help to create just a stunning backdrop for any shot. Heather’s bridal bouquet  was provided by my friend Victoria at Frampton’s Flowers along with the lovely wedding arch of hydrangea’s. Even though we had to deal with a few gnats here and there, Heather and Tommy were just so happy to be married! Congratulations to the both of you!

Don’t forget to click on their slideshow below. There is also a button link on where to view all of their images online. Or you can just click here.

Some last minute looks before heading over to the plantation……

Outside in front of the main plantation house at Boone Hall Plantation.

Right next to the Avenue of Oaks on the drive into the plantation.

Be sure to click on their slideshow below!

My good friends Trevor Erickson and Nick Smith entered their movie, Cold Soldiers, into the first annual Charleston Film Festival last week and won the”Audience Award” for 2010! Yay! I got to play a part as a get-away / stunt driver in the film which was a lot of fun. I have always enjoyed acting and working on films because there are so many people involved when producing and shooting an movie and it really is a lot of time, energy, and effort involved. I think both the guys worked almost three years trying to get this made with little to no budget. The whole crew had a great time at the Terrace Theater for the opening night premiere. Even though the weather was really nasty, a ton of people showed up which was great! I got to shoot some of the images for the movie poster sometime last year and Trevor put the layout design together which I think turned out  really nice! Trevor also had Force Protection come out to the premiere and bring on of the awesome vehicles to have on display. Force Protection is a local company that builds armored vehicles for all of troops fighting overseas. You probably already saw The Buffalo in the Transformers movie last year and didn’t even know that it was built right here in SC! Also, a big thanks goes out to my friend, Gordon King of ProPac USA, who was nice enough to not only allow us to use is sweet Ford GT40 in the film, but also his BMW. (Gordon was also a credited stunt driver in the film.)

Here’s a link to where all of the images are located: Click Here

Cold Soldiers Movie Poster:

Michael Furlinger of the Terrace Theater introducing some of the movies for the opening night.

Nick and Trevor speaking before the opening of their film.

Sold out showing at the 7:30pm time block.

Two of the actors from the movie who also happen to be photographers here in Charleston, Sasha and Charlie.

My buddies Chris Smith and Charlie Thiel at the premiere.

This is a quick pic of owner Michael Furlinger (in the middle) with Keva and Karen Keys who had the short film, Letters from Home, right before Cold Soldiers opened.

Nick and Trevor beside their movie poster before going into the theater.

My good friend, Gordon King, who was one of the stunt drivers in the film.

Some of the cast of Cold Soldiers: R.W. Smith, Nick Smith, Charlie Thiel, Trevor Erickson, Tom, and Michael Easler.

This was the awesome truck that Force Protection brought out to the premiere. It’s the little baby brother, The Cougar 4×4, to the bigger Buffalo truck that was used in the Transformers movie.

Here’s some of the crew from Force Protection with Nick and Trevor.

The first teaser trailer that was created for the movie: Once I figure out this new blog upgrade to WordPress and how to embed some of the YouTube video trailers, I’ll update this post. Uggh!!!!

Last month I helped to host a cocktail party at the Governor’s House Inn for some of the event planners here in town. This party helped to showcase the beautiful inn and everything that they had to offer not only when it comes to staying there as a guest at the bed and breakfast, but also to host smaller weddings and corporate events. If you are looking for a place for your bridal party and / or family to stay while here in Charleston, this is a great spot right in the heart of downtown Charleston. This year also marks the homes 250th anniversary and is on the National Historic Registry.  We had a great turnout and it was so fun to see everyone and catch up for the upcoming wedding season. Mary Kittrell, property manager of the Inn, was such a pleasure to work with for this event. Some other great vendors here in town that also helped were Frampton’s Flowers, Ice Box bartending, Hamby’s Catering, The RSVP Shoppe,  and Other Brother Entertainment who provided us with a wonderful piano player named Anthony. Here’s a couple of quick pics from the event. You can see more images at this link.

Here’s an image of some of my new gift boxes for clients! The beautiful arrangement of flowers was created by Paul at Frampton’s Flowers.

Another close up pic of my new boxes!

The beautiful dining room area at the Governor’s House Inn where we had some of our wedding albums and engagement sign in books on display.

The center piece for the foyer table by Frampton’s Flowers.

The owners and staff at the Governor’s House Inn. From Left – Mary (property manager), Sandra, Christie, Janice & Paul (seated-owners), Katie, Donna, Leighanne, and Maurice

Our great bartender from Ice Box.

This was Anthony from Hall’s Chop House who provided all of the wonderful music on the piano that was imported from Europe in 1830.

Now Hamby’s Catering provided all of the delicious food and this neat little set up was called their “BLT”. A piece of lettuce with tomatoes chunks and bacon bits on the bottom. How cool is that!

Oh Yummy! White chocolate covered strawberries with an awesome butterfly design on top!

Another nice setup. This is their “shrimp and grits” in a bite sized portion. I could have eaten the whole entire tray of these. I love some shrimp and grits!