Andrés and Kim Valenzuela

It is always fun photographing weddings of people I know, but it really is special to photograph a friend and fellow wedding photographer. Andrés Valenzuela, one of the photographers I work with from time to time, got married on July 12 to Kimberly Webb! They had such a beautiful summer day (which was great for the all-outside ceremony and reception) and their ceremony was so unique that Rob and I plan on using their foot-washing ceremony idea in our wedding.

I wasn't alone in this venture, I was able to shoot with friends also. Kenny Kim and Tomas Flint we with me and to top it off, Rob came and surprised them with wedding video! We were like one big photographic family, haha. It really was great.

This slideshow is a bit longer, so bear with the loading time, but I really just couldn't narrow down anymore pictures!!

EnJOY!!

~Vj

My 100th post!

Wow! When I started this blog just a little over a year ago, I really didn't think I'd be able to write 100 blogs, especially in the first year. I have to say, it's really no thanks to me, at least not as much as its thanks to my friends, family, brides and grooms who keep my life interesting and give me something' to talk about. So on my 100th blog, cheers to all of you in my life that make it worth living and talking about! =) ~Vj

Guest Books

I make books out of engagement sessions for my brides and groom to have at their wedding for their guests to sign. Its a wonderful, unique replacement of the white guest books that you get at A.C. Moore and everyone loves them. They're a photo layout on one side and then a blank, black matte board on the other side for people to sign (like the picture you see here). Most people get gold or silver sharpies and it looks really sharp when it's all said and done.


For Rob and I, we had a dual engagement session with Andres Valenzuela and his fiancee. I knew that I wanted an engagement book, but I didn't have a place for it at my wedding because we're doing something different for our guest book there. No, I'm not keeping it a secret! I promise to tell all later. :-) So, for our wedding, I built a guest book from out Save-the-Date and Engagement sessions.

I have to say, being engaged myself and understanding the need to find things that are different to make my wedding unique is really a fun process not only for myself, but for my business as well. I find an Australian company called Jorgensen, thanks to my photographer friend Autumn Pittelli who has a really fun way of creating more traditional, matted album layouts, (see a close up examples from the company of what I mean to the left and below) so I gave it a shot and made a sample album out of my own engagement session.

So here's my first attempt and designing this type of album. I didn't go for the flourishes, more for solids taken right out of my photos, I liked the way that blended. I also really like the use of negative space here. It helps bring the focus to the individual pictures and serves a dual purpose for room for everyone to sign. The cover is a fun color and an interesting fabric too (I'm always a sucker for new album covers). I do plan on offering this to my clients as well, but let me tell you, it is quite an upgrade believe it or not. Those Australian companies are quite pricey!

Let me know what you think!

~Vj

(cover)

(page 1 right side only, the rest are panoramic across the whole album)

(last page, left side only)

You can find my photos in Wikipedia

A while back Kay Unger's publicist, Mina, asked me for some of the shots I've taken of Kay for her Wikipedia entry. I gave them to her of course, but I completely forgot about it until now! I just went on Wikipedia and searched Kay Unger and there were my pictures! :-) Such fun!

So good to hear - twice!

Here are two great e-mails from two of my recent brides, Jaime & Megan, that actually made me laugh out loud when I read them! Haha, I'm glad that brides think of me on their honeymoons even. :-)

Actually...this gives me an idea. I have heard of some photographers going for a day or two on their couple's honeymoon to take some really sweet honeymoon pictures, not just of the couple themselves, but also of the scenery since it's so breathtaking, but when non-photographers attempt to capture that, it normally just doesn't do the trick. Ooooooo, something to think about. This goes along with another little venture that I'm going to attempt to bring to the tri-state area that's really popular in the south - bridal sessions. But more on that later. :-)

New Offerings!

I was first inspired by some of my photographic influences for some of these ideas, and then recently my own brides confirmed this. I have added some new services to what I offer for wedding photography. After all, why should your wedding photography begin and end just on your wedding day? This is a pivotal moment in your life and it's certainly worth celebrating for more than one day (especially for you picture lovers out there!). Take a look at what's new!

(click to enlarge)

Now, not to sound like the old Rogaine commercials, but I am also a 'client' of these! I am having my own Bridal Session and Trash the Dress session done by Ed from Zorz Studios. I really can't wait for it all! I think one of the biggest things with the bridal sessions is that it will not only give me better pictures of myself in my bridal 'get-up', but it'll free up a lot of time during my wedding day and allow my photographers to be more creative and photojournalistic that day too. And the Trash the Dress Session...well, Rob and I just couldn't resist!!! We still have to come up with a grand scheme for it...whatever it is, I know it'll be a blast!!

For the destinations weddings that I do, the honeymoon shots are a real breeze to do the day after. Some people also call this the "Day After Session", although those don't necessarily have to be literally the day after, or on the honeymoon either. Day After Sessions are basically a photo shoot with the bride and groom in their wedding attire, which really serves the same purposes as a Bridal Session does by freeing up time on the wedding day and getting some really great shots when there's less stress from the wedding day (and more time to play around).

Haha, writing this blog really made me start to get excited about all that's coming up soon! =)

Life is good.

~Vj

New Blog!

Thanks to the amazing David Jay and his great Showit programs, I now have a flash blog header!! Sweeeeeeeeet!

It'll be super easy to change the pictures, the music (which btw just turn off by clicking the bars for those of you surfing at work!) and anything else I can dream up! :-)

If you're reading this in Facebook, you'll just have to view the original post to see what I mean!

~Vj

Lauren and Brian

So I just thought I'd stay up late and upload the slideshow from the wedding tonight. :-)

Lauren and Brian had a great day for a beach wedding. On-lookers might not agree but one of the tricks to outdoor photography (at least with people involved) is a cloudy day, and they had just that! It was a bit foggy towards the end, but it made for some really cool shots!

:-)

EnJOY!

~ Vj

Pictures can be purchased at http://www.vanessajoy.smugmug.com/ and the DVD of the slideshow can be purchased simply by clicking the DVD button at the bottom of the slideshow. :-)

Wedding Bee Gallery Picture of the Day!

YaY! One of my pictures of Sarah and Stephen was chosen for Wedding Bee's Gallery Picture of the Day! Thanks so much to Sarah for uploading it to the site. :-)

I'm off to shoot Lauren and Brian's wedding at Water's Edge with my hubby-to-be. Actually, this is our first wedding that we're working together after being engaged! :-)

It's My Birthday!! Can you guess what I'm doing today?!

Yay for birthdays! Haha, actually, that's a total lie. I have always not been a big fan of my own birthday. In fact, I usually make it a point to be out of the country for my birthday so I can forget about it. I think I'm just the type of person who would rather be making other people happy than have them try and make me happy, if that makes sense.


At any rate, I am in the country on my birthday this year, which was good because that means I was here for the 4th too and was able to see some Independence Day fireworks which I haven't seen in years (I know, I know, I'm so patriotic being in other couturiers on the 4th every year).






Another great thing is I have a free Cold Stone creation coupon for my birthday. And yes, I will be breaking my no yeast/sugar diet for that one folks. I just can't say no to ice cream on my birthday! Mmmmmmmm - cake batter.... Btw - if you guys haven't joined the Cold Stone Birthday Club for your free ice cream; what on earth are you waiting for!?!?! Click on the picture and it'll send you straight to where you wanna be.



So, I'd like to give everyone ONE shot at guessing what I'm doing for my birthday today (besides eating Cold Stone). It should be hard for those of you who know me, or at least know my dorky side. I'll even give you a hint: it's something that I couldn't do until the week of my birthday. =)

And for all of you inquiring minds out there, I am 26 today (holy cannoli). I have to admit, I do thoroughly enjoy my age. I'm pretty proud of myself for what I've done with my life to date and I'm excited about what's to come. Birthday's are always a good time to reflect on the past year of your life and I think this past year has been my most productive yet. Hmmm, so I guess maybe I don't dislike my birthday that much anymore! =)

Happy Birthday to me and all the rest of you July babies out there!!


~Vj

Kay Unger Fall Preview!

As you may know, Rob and I had the chance to shoot Kay Unger New York and Phoebe Couture's fall designs. It was (as always when shooting with the Kay girls) a blast! Not that I don't love wedding photography and all of my brides and grooms, but there is something to shooting a model who needs very little direction at all and just flows with the poses as you shoot. So much fun! My photos will be posted on her website soon, and I'll be sure to update when that happens. Rob even did an amazing video that Kay is sending to China for her stores there! How incredible is that? We've officially gone global!

Here's a preview of the collection! And I should let you know, not too many people have the privledge of seeing this so early, so enjoy it girls. Rob's video is soon to follow. :-)

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Kristin and Mike E-Session

On the 8th Kristin, Mike and I headed out to Allaire Historic Village for their engagement shoot (which was, of course, postponed once thanks to the rain). We had such a fun time. Mike and Kristin are a really fun and playful couple and were a joy to shoot. The park is such a gorgeous place too; there's so much history and texture everywhere.

EnJOY as always!!!

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Go to http://www.vanessajoy.smugmug.com/ for the gallery. =)

My Fox Philly Top 5 Victory!!

Great news!!!

Rob and I both won 2nd place in our categories in the My Fox Philly Best of the Shore HOT LIST contest!! We are both so excited and thank all of you a million times over for voting for us (and for the technologically-impaired, for letting me help you out with your voting). It already has helped business as I just today received a lead from it! Talk about a fast turn-around time.

And equally as exciting, Carrie from Carrie Kozak Photography, Emil from Contemporary Image and Mike from Creative Video Editing, all friends and colleagues of mine and Rob's, took top five also. A big congrats to them too!

Thanks again!!! =)

Caught Shooting and

You may remember Jaime and Bobby from my Friday wedding last weekend. Well Jaime's Dad managed to catch a few shots of me behind the camera (lol - where I should be!) so I couldn't help but to post them along with the wonderful e-mail that Jaime send me afterwards. Ever since I met Jaime, she's been my #1 fan and such an incredible supportive person referring her friends to me and commenting on my facebook, it's no surprise that she's even more so with her own wedding pictures!

Thanks again for the compliments Jaime and have a great time on your honeymoon!!

(click to enlarge/read)

Jenni and Kevin E-Session

I've always said engagement sessions are an important part of wedding photography. Well after THREE cancellations due to the rain, we finally had a perfect day (fyi - perfect day = cloudy) for the e-session for Kevin and Jenni, who are getting married Oct 2nd of this year. We walked through some of the great streets of Monclair and then ended up in a beautiful park in Verona.

EnJOY!

~Vj

Go to http://www.vanessajoy.smugmug.com/ for the gallery.

Megan and Rod

I had my first double wedding weekend this past weekend. It was such a great weekend! Megan and Rod were my couple on Saturday and they are extra special because I went to high school and (both) colleges with Megan. Her party was a blast especially since I got to see so many old friends! I had the priveledge of having Ahmet shoot with me and we really rocked this wedding!! check out the slideshow and as always check for the rest of the images for viewing or purchasing via http://www.vanessajoy.smugmug.com/.

The Carlton Dance

Need a laugh? This always did it for me! Haha, and for some reason, it always makes me want to get up and do the dance too!!