This new package is ideal for brief stand-up ceremonies along with some portrait time. Includes up to two hours of coverage and online access to full set of previews for print and image ordering. Contact us for more information.

Jessica and Jerremy wanted to integrate their hispanic heritage into their day as much as they could. The Mariachi band at the church was an easy find. Digging deeper, Jessica thought to use maracas instead of rice or bubbles for their exit from the church. She found some plain wood maracas online at orientaltrading.com and thought she would make personalizing them a fun DIY project. With a little creativity and some paint, ribbon and mini jingle bells, she did just that. The maracas were a big hit and the chorus of maracas outside the church along with the Mariachi band was the perfect send-off.

The legal stuff: None of the above comments should be construed as a direct endorsement of any kind by Bliss Productions, LLC. The comments contained herein are meant to simply inform readers of the existence of a vendor. Bliss Productions, LLC receives no payment of any kind from the vendor(s) mentioned. Vendors are made aware of our comments only through their own discovery of this web page and have had no input into the comments made herein. We encourage you to do your own research and make your own determination if the vendor(s) mentioned herein are appropriate for you.

Check out the rest in their slide show below.

PS: If you have a doxie and live in NYC, you might want to check out the annual Dachshund Octoberfest in Washington Square Park.

After a nice rest at the Westin in downtown Philly, a last-minute booking thanks to hotels.com, it was a short two block walk in light rain to meet Jennifer at the appropriately named Thunder Salon.

Jennifer munched on some sushi while the hair and makeup folks did their thing.

After that, it was another short walk (albeit in a full downpour by now) over to our home for the rest of the festivities, the Hotel Palomar. Here’s where it gets interesting…

So because of the evacuation orders for the Delaware and Maryland coasts, people found their way to downtown Philly hotels to seek refuge from the storm. The Palomar, it turns out, is a pet friendly hotel. Now you all know we love pets here at Bliss, but this was a bit insane. The hotel lobby is not huge and it was quickly filling up with doggies and their families in their escape to safe haven.

Our original plan for pictures, pre-Irene, was to exploit all that the downtown Philly area had to offer. We were only two blocks from beautiful Rittenhouse Square. But with Irene approaching full steam (late afternoon by now), any thoughts of shooting outside had left us all. Here’s where your skills as a photographer have to come into play. It quickly became time to scout a dog-free area for Jennifer and Avery to have their First Meet along with several unique locations within the hotel for a diverse set of portraits. You need be able to quickly adjust for daylight vs lamp lit conditions, flash or no flash depending on the available light, oh and never mind the craziness going on around you or just outside the front door.

Thankfully Jennifer was very calm and in fact quite a bit giddy, and her planner Karen from Karen Pecora Events was a regular at the hotel and a big help. We arranged for Jennfer and Avery meet in the stairway adjacent to the bar and lobby, after clearing a path around the dog pee puddles and scrappy puppy fighting going on in the lobby.

Here’s a look at some of the portraits we managed to nail.



Jennifer’s dress was hand-made by Janice Martin from material gathered from her grandmother’s wedding gown. Love this shot.

A few more from a high floor parlor, leveraging the soft daylight.



The rest of the afternoon, from ceremony through reception, went off without incident and paid no mind to the growing storm outside. We were able to head back home on Sunday afternoon after plotting a course out of Philly that avoided flooding. All in all, we fared much better than most that day and have nothing to complain about. The day was a success for us and we’re sure it was a disaster for many. The lesson learned is that as a wedding photographer, you need to be prepared for any circumstances that might arise and “weather” them with patience and confidence.
 
Enjoy the rest of Jennifer and Avery’s photos in the slide show below.

Check out the rest of Lauren & Seth’s day, both before and after the portraits, in the slide show below.

Please note that we do reserve the right to DONATE our services, at our discretion, at any time to any couple.

In recognition of New York as the latest state to accept same-sex marriage as law, we would like to offer our photography and video services free-of-charge to the first same-sex couple to book us for a marriage in 2011-12. In addition, we are also offering a 20% discount off our regular photography and video rates to any same-sex couple that books us for a marriage in 2011. For more information, contact us at 347-380-3613.

Directly from Our Philosophy:
Bliss Productions follows an equal opportunity policy and contracts personnel and clients without regard to race, creed, color, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender expression, age, physical or mental ability, veteran status, military obligations, and marital status.