Cheral Floral Studio

I got the chance to hang out with Cheryl of Cheral Floral Studio while at the wedding show this past Sunday and got some shots of her beautiful arrangements. She always puts such effort into her show displays which really reflects the care she puts into her clients' weddings. A good florist seems to be one of the more difficult vendors to find for a wedding- and as the person taking pictures of the flowers I often see this firsthand as I encounter brides' bouquets that are wilting before the reception begins, or find myself scrambling to get detail shots because the flowers arrived minutes before the ceremony.

I first met Cheryl at a bridal show (we were booth buddies) and I had the pleasure of working with her during Barbara's November wedding. Not only were the centerpieces gorgeous and affordable, when Cheryl arrived in the bridal suite with the bouquets, Barbara informed her that it had slipped the busy bride's mind to order a junior bridesmaid bouquet for her niece. Cheryl simply ran to her van and returned with a beautiful mini bouquet for the little one that she whipped up and stated "Have flowers, will travel!" It was so sweet and impressive and I have been smitten with her since.

Here are some shots of her work at Wedding Show by the Bay:

Wedding Show by the Bay

Sunday we got to participate in the first "Wedding Show By The Bay" held by the Doubletree Guest Suites Tampa Bay. We are so excited that we were selected to be part of this amazing show as it was invite only for vendors.




For everyone that entered our contest; we have drawn 2 names to each receive $200 off a Caribbean Wedding Package or higher and the winners are:

Joanne Matos and Danielle DelBello

Congratulations ladies! Thanks again to everyone at the show for taking an interest in our work, as we pour our hearts and souls into each wedding we capture. And of course if you would like to sit down with Evan and I in a private meeting we would be happy to consult with you and show you more examples of our art through our clients' galleries.

Trash The Dress: Rebecca

We helped our model Rebecca trash her dress on the North Beach at Ft. DeSoto where there happened to be some lovely new pilings installed- almost as if they were put there just for us. We had so much fun with her and you can see just how fiercely she worked this dress in the pictures.










What an absolutely stunning girl. We knew we would be using this shoot for our new marketing banner and postcards so Evan and I had a little competition throughout the day of whose concept would be the final one to go on the banner.

Composition #1 (Caroline)

Composition #2 (Evan)


As you can see from our blog header, composition #2 was the winner as the images ended up being much more cohesive when I photo-shopped them together. We both ended up agreeing it was the best choice. Rebecca actually attended our bridal show to see herself in a 6 foot banner form- and promptly pointed out that Evan had won, which I think made his day. Well done honey :)

Engaged! Natalie & Roger

We chose Howard Park in Tarpon Springs for Natalie and Roger's engagement session for the vast variety of locations in one area. They are using their engagement photos in a very unique way by printing them as their table numbers...only instead of numbers the tables will be named after emotions like passion, friendship, etc- and we incorporated capturing these emotions during their session. What a fun idea!












This session was an absolute blast despite the crazy low temperatures we endured. And of course being on the beach we had to get some sunset shots which were a challenge due to the crazy cold temperatures which plummeted as the sun set, and the freezing wind on the beach, but they did an amazing job.








They don't even look cold! And trust me poor Natalie was freezing as was I. Evan and I had to start taking turns shooting after just a few captures because it was getting too hard to push the shutter release with our frozen fingers! I still can't believe Roger walked in that water! I like to think that we are good at directing our subjects to make sure they look relaxed and serene but Natalie and Roger were true champs. I am so excited for their wedding February 20th and I can't wait to see how they creatively use these photos in their reception!

Engaged! Rachel & Brian Sneak Peek

We had the pleasure of shooting Rachel and Brian's engagement session at the gorgeous Selby Gardens in Sarasota. It was such a breathtaking location and I am so thankful to Rachel for introducing us to it. Here is a sneak from their session, which I think is also my favorite ring shot to date!



There are many more to come!

Engaged! Cynthia & Brandon

We started Cynthia & Brandon's engagement session yesterday on the sponge docks in Tarpon Springs. It would have been like any normal session except that Tampa Bay has been graced with this extremely crazy-cold weather and therefore we were having to do jumping-jacks periodically to keep from freezing :) Cynthia is originally from Alaska and even she was cold! We still managed to have a blast with them and I fell absolutely in love with their matching penguin tattoos. Too cute! We can't wait to shoot their wedding in May, especially since it will be much warmer then!

New Year's Eve: 1920's Style

We got to shoot a really awesome New Year's Eve party for Elyse and Ian (who are also newly engaged!) and the theme of the night was 1920's. Everyone was dressed up; flappers, gangsters, some 20's baseball players and even Lawrence of Arabia. So of course, this was a great opportunity for a Studio Booth!

I got to run the booth while Evan caught the entertainment during the party and it was so much fun getting to chat with all of the guests and get some creative shots with all the fun props we had at our disposal.

2010: The Year of The Smiths!

Happy New Year everyone! Well, I took a bit of a hiatus with the blogging through December but not because of lack of material as we have been busier than ever! It is insane to think that it was one year ago that I had a crazy idea to start a photography studio part time and in such a short time myself and Evan now dedicate ourselves full time to this business. It's silly really to even think of it as a business because we are doing what we what we love, everyday, together. How much better can it get, really? But nonetheless, 2009 was amazing. We shot our first billboard, were published in The St Pete Times, were published in a local magazine, worked with 5 local charities and donated over $4,000 in photography services, invested in tons of new equipment and made tons of new friends in the wedding community, and we were just awarded a 2010 Brides' Choice Award from Wedding Wire- which means we are in the top 5% of wedding professionals. And that's just a few!

We are so grateful to our amazing clients for making this such a fulfilling experience and we are excited to see what the new year will bring us and CSE Photography! I'm not big on New Year's resolutions (I make my yearly resolutions on my birthday each year) but we do have some goals for the company and for us this year:

1. Blog Regularly About Everything: Not just our newest wedding work but the fashion projects we have been doing as well as a few other fun things in the works.
2. Company re-branding with a new website launch over the summer.
3. Open a new studio and gallery space: it will be great to not live in Starbucks anymore :)
4. Capture at least one destination wedding.
5. Design our own wedding album (we've been married 3 years and still have not done this)
6. Do our own trash the dress session in May on our Anniversary!
7. Take an actual vacation (like with a plane involved and everything): We haven't been on one since our honeymoon!

So, those are just a few fun things I wanted to share and I hope that you all will hold me accountable to them. And of course I know you want to see me in my wedding dress right?