Kristy May Photography | New York City and Long Island Wedding Photographer

Snow Day!

Friday, January 28th, 2011

I love snow, for a few hours. Such a different experience walking around my neighborhood with everything pretty in white.

Java Street, Greenpoint, Brooklyn

Manhattan Avenue in Greenpoint, Brooklyn

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The Ultimate Wedding Party

Monday, January 24th, 2011

I’ll admit, I am not a huge fan of bridal shows. (In fact, I’m not a huge fan of the word “bridal” either….) But when I heard about The Wedding Party by Martha Stewart Weddings magazine and The Wedding Library I couldn’t resist checking it out. As you can imagine, this has got to be one of the most fabulous shows in the country given the location, The New York Palace, the promoters, of course, and the price tag, $75! But it was worth it. There was Q&A with Darcy Miller of Martha Stewart Weddings, cake goddess Sylvia Weinstock, designer Lela Rose and more including a runway show by Kleinfeld. Vendors with samples galore: gelato in a cone, gelato on a stick, cake, cocktails and champagne, risotto and on and on. It was all a bit overwhelming and in some places rather crowded, especially near the cake giveaway! I heard one bewildered Dad tell his daughter, “Just consider this your wedding”. Perhaps that is why men ought to leave the shows to the ladies, they just don’t have the stamina for it! Just kidding, guys.

The vendors that caught my eye were:

In the very heavy gift bag I found several pieces of beautiful Thank You cards by Martha Stewart, of course, and Crane’s. Excellent, because I have lots of people to thank! Also a beer koozie stamped with “Bride to Be”. Not sure what I will do with that. If you want it, email me.

Networking with ISES New York is fun, and tasty

Friday, January 21st, 2011

In November 2009, I attended Pictage’s PartnerCon in New Orleans. It was such a great event in many ways and I met a lot of great people. But just like with every conference or workshop, you leave so excited but a bit overwhelmed at the new information and the work you now must do. Better late than never, I’m finally implementing one of the pieces of advice I gleaned from a workshop by Atlanta photographer Shari Zellers. Shari suggested joining a professional organization like ISES or NACES which are composed of all kinds of special events vendors from florists, caterers to event planners and designers. She described how the connections she made with order vendors has helped her career and even more importantly also found her good friends. I was inspired at the time to join, but it just wasn’t the right time.

ISES

Since moving back to New York over the summer, I’ve been learning about the wedding and special events industry in New York. Quite a daunting, but exciting, task! I finally decided to check out ISES, International Special Events Society, and attended a networking event on Wednesday at the Helen Mills Theater with my new business cards in tow. It was such a great event. Should I have been surprised? The speaker Andrea Nierenberg was excellent! She even emailed everyone a list of tips after the event so we could better focus on what she was saying. A few things I learned:

• One should wear nametags on the right, not left, so when you shake hands it can be easily seen.
• Listen, more than you talk!
• Write Thank You cards. Just one a day, or a few extra emails a day can keep you on someone’s radar.
• Follow-up! Ask people what their preferred form of contact is.

The food by member Paul Neuman’s catering company, was delicious. (A reason to join right there!) I somehow managed to get the last cheesecake lollipop which was awesome. As were the mini lobster rolls, gruyere and mushroom pizzas and addictive flaky cheese sticks at the bar. Not that I had much time to eat, given all of the talking!

A yummy chocolate covered strawberry by Neuman's

Needless to say, I joined. I met lots of really interesting people and look forward to more events (with awesome food!) and meeting others who love what they do as much as I do. Somehow David Fletcher of New York’s Best convinced me to sponsor the next event in February!

Now to see what other gems of past workshop advice I can put to good use!

Oh, and the Moo cards were a hit!

Andi + Ed: St. Charles Avenue Presbyterian, Round Table Club

Monday, January 17th, 2011

After the wedding was over, we headed back to Ed parent’s house to take a few pictures on the porch. I stepped back for a minute or so and watched Ed and Andi swing, relax and intertwine their feet. It was such a quiet moment, totally opposite from the boisterous second line up St. Charles earlier in the day, but a fitting end to a lovely wedding day.

The day started off with heavy rain. I was pretty much expecting the planned second line from the church to the reception to be canceled give the pretty dismal forecast. However, the isolated thunderstorms stayed away from uptown and following the ceremony at the St. Charles Avenue Presbyterian church we were able to dance our way to the reception after all. Did I mention it was also 70 degrees! Luckily there was plenty of champagne with hibiscus flowers on hand at the Round Table Club for all of the parched guests. (I had to wait until I got home to have mine!) The music was great, in fact you should visit Meschiya Lake and the Little Big Horns website and run it while you finish this post! When it came time to cut the cakes, rather, stab the croquembouche, Andi and Ed’s sword wielding abilities were impressive. None of the croquembouche went to waste and it was one of the most entertaining cake cutting I’ve seen.

I know you’ll be jealous to hear Andi and Ed are honeymooning in New Zealand and Australia!

And thanks to Misty McElroy for the awesome job assisting and second shooting. I had her running up and down the avenue all afternoon!

Ceremony: St. Charles Avenue Presbyterian New Orleans
Reception: Round Table Club (Private Club)
Planner: Julie Thomas with Fusion Event Productions
Second Line: Algiers Point Brass Band
Band: Meschiya Lake and the Little Big Horns

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What’s in my blog toolkit

Monday, January 10th, 2011

My New Years Resolution is to blog more. (hahaha, we shall see!) And to that light I’ve redesigned this blog. Here’s my toolkit.