And you can’t see it in these photos, but LaVey has a tattoo of Elvis on her arm. Yup, it was meant to be since I’m a huge Elvis fan too!

We are so looking forward to their wedding this September out in Boulder City! Check out these absolutely gorgeous photos of LaVey and Tyson by Alt F. Makeup done by the bride herself who is one half of Your Beauty Call and hair was done by her partner Janine Cali.

And if I have to choose a favorite…this breathtaking one would be the winner!

Head over to Alt F’s blog for more photos from their engagement session.

Photos: Alt F

Makeup: LaVey Ortiz of Your Beauty Call

Hair: Janine Cali of Your Beauty Call

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website * Email: juliet@greenorchidevents.com

Adam is running a great special for the new year for all of the newly engaged couples. For the entire month of January, take advantage of this great offer! A free 16×24 canvas as well as a “day after” or Trash the Dress session is included in any level of wedding investment.  Please let him know you heard about this great offer through us!

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website * Email: juliet@greenorchidevents.com

Prize Package:
6 hours of photography coverage
a disc of your images from the day with a release
a $500 print credit
a custom bound album
an engagement session!
Total value: $3,000

Rules:
If you’re getting married in Las Vegas, Los Angeles, St. George, Provo or Salt Lake City send an email to giveaway at megruth dot com with your names, a photo of you together and 300 words about your story or why you should win. Meg Ruth will be selecting the top five entries and then you and your friends and family can vote for the winners.

Deadline:
The 5 finalists will be posted on February 1st. There will be a week for voting from February 1st to February 7th. The winners will be announced on Valentine’s Day!

Meg Ruth Photography
Meg Ruth website Meg Ruth blog

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Name: Alicia Lynch and Chris Purdum
Location: Las Vegas
Company Name: Orange Soda Photo
Number of Years in Business: We had our own photo businesses prior to meeting, falling in love and becoming Orange Soda Photo. Together we have 20 years combined wedding photography vision and experience.
Website: orangesodaphoto.com
Blog: orangesodablog.com
Twitter: @orangesodaphoto
Facebook: facebook.com/orangesodaphoto

How did you get started in wedding photography:
Alicia: Most of my family are photographers, so I grew up with a camera in hand and a darkroom in the basement.  I began photographing landscapes and my family growing up during our travels across the US.  In high school I started photographing weddings of friends, and needless to say, I loved it!

Chris: I always wanted a life behind the lens. I’ve had a camera in my hand since I was 12 and that first magical look through the viewfinder started it all. I did quite a bit of photography in the Army during deployments and later natural history and landscape photography shooting large format film through out Washington State and in the deserts of Utah, Nevada and Arizona. In the 1998, a friend asked me to photograph their wedding, and I’ve been doing it ever since.

What did you do prior to this?
Alicia: I had a prior life in the medical field, with two bachelor degrees from the U of WA, first in Cell and Molecular Biology, and then later in Prosthetics and Orthotics.  My residency in Prosthetics brought me to Las Vegas in 2002.  When I wasn’t on call, building artifical limbs, or putting on HALOs in the Trauma ICU, I was off photographing weddings.  The lure of the camera lead me to choose a career as a professional photographer, and in 2004, I left the medical field, and started career in the photography business.  I haven’t looked back since.

Chris: I was an Art Director and production artist. I’ve been doing color correction and large format digital printing since the 90s. At one of my jobs we had a darkroom with a copy camera which I loved using – I think I spent more hours in the darkroom than I did sleeping.

If you didn’t do photography for a living what would you be doing instead?
Alicia: I love what we do, I honestly wouldn’t choose anything else.  This is my dream job.

Chris: What she said, except with a YEAH! at the end.

What are some of your hobbies? We both love SCUBA diving, and I am an instructor as well.  We love the great outdoors, and go hiking & camping when we can. Urban/desert exploring and disc golf are our short escapes.  Besides the outdoors, we love to watch movies. And of course, playing with our crazy Corgi, Boon!

What is the craziest wedding experience you’ve ever had?
We’ve seen some crazy weddings for certain, but nothing too over the top. A recent groom was a wrestling coach so all of his friends attended the wedding as wrestlers. The expressions from the other guests was priceless.

What is the best wedding experience you’ve ever had?
They’re all the best! We get to photograph people in love and the share the celebration of that love with their friends and families. That is the most rewarding experience we can have.

What is your inspiration?
Cinema, art museums, old masters, pop culture, fashion, books – just about anything that has passion and an interesting story. The connection of people in any manner, and of course the people themselves and the friendships we make with them. We get to see the phrase “love conquers all” in real life, almost every day. That’s so much inspiration to keep us filled! We love nature and we really love being under the surface of the ocean diving with the beauty of the underwater world. It gives you a perspective on life that we carry to every event, no matter how small or large. Diving with a humpback whale to sharing the most important day in a couple’s lives are unique experiences that cannot be reproduced, and is always remembered – we bring that experience every time we pick up a camera.

Name an exotic location you’d like to visit soon.
Alicia: Truk Lagoon, Micronesia, Central Pacific

Chris: The Galapagos Islands.

Why do your clients choose you over some of your competitors?
Because our photography is awesome and fun!
We work as a team, and it’s always the two of us. We work with our couples to determine exactly what they would like to have in their photography.  We have a very fun attitude towards life, and it’s infections to our brides and couples. We always end up being friends with them, even halfway around the world. We always get the true personalities to show in our images, and we always get our couples to smile. We obsess over the smallest details so that what they see is perfection and exactly how they want to remember their experience, but most of all we have fun.

What is the best piece of advice you can offer a bride and groom on their wedding day?
Alicia: Hire a wedding planner, so you can relax and enjoy your day, and when booking a photographer, give them the time they need to photograph the fantastic images you are looking for.

Chris: What she said. Hire a planner. We’re planning our wedding right now and without a planner I’d want to jump off a cliff.

Anything else interesting you’d like to share?

We are so lucky to have so many cool wedding vendors as friends here in Las Vegas. Beyond making the day go that much smoother, we all feel like an extended family and want to thank everyone for supporting us!

We’d also like to extend mega thank yous and smooches to Juliet and Green Orchid for interviewing us!

Cake by Simple Elegance

Wedding Ceremony at Four Seasons Hotel Las Vegas

Newlyweds and owners of Sound Fusion Entertainment

Juliet’s notes: Alicia and Chris will be getting married next April and I hear it will be a fun and crazy party!

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website * Email: juliet@greenorchidevents.com

From the moment I met Brett and her mother, I knew I wanted to work with them! Brett is fun, nice, knows what she wants yet has a really laid back personality.  I love when brides have fun throughout the wedding planning process! Brett and Ryan will be getting married on October 1st of next year at DragonRidge Country Club!

Enjoy their gorgeous photos!

To see the rest of the photos from their engagement session, head over to the Studio ATG blog.

Photos: Studio ATG

Hair: Platinum Entourage

Makeup: Lori Carver at MAC

Location: Historic Boulder Theatre, Boulder City, NV (Green Orchid Events is actually planning a September 2011 wedding here!)

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Don’t miss out on their awesome promo happening right now!

This awesome package expires on February 4, 2011!

Denise Hoogland Photographers
www.denisehoogland.com
www.denisehoogland.com/blog
c:702.343.1849

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website * Email: juliet@greenorchidevents.com

Photo: Orange Soda Photo

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Restricted areas usually include the entire casino floor. In the last 6 years, Digs Studio has only gained access to one casino floor at the off strip Rampart Casino at 8:00 am at a closed poker table.  Other photographers have been “luckier” while playing by the “ask for forgiveness” rule and taking their chances.  With that method, security can sometimes be right there to escort you out within 5 – 10 minutes which can lead to embarrassment to the bride and groom.  Natasha from Write Shot also advises that brides do not ask them to just “sneak a few” shots. “As professionals who live and work in Vegas, ‘sneaking a few’ is not an option.”

I recommend keeping the lines of communication open with your photographer and wedding planner, allowing for extra time, and being flexible with changes.  Your wedding planner will usually want to add in extra time for photography in the wedding timeline that is created. Steve Fogarty of Fogarty Weddings suggests obtaining written permission before even signing the contract with your venue. Your point of contact at the casino (generally the catering manager) would usually be able to assist in obtaining approval for you or be able to point you in the right direction to getting approved. Your photographer should then carry the written approval with them on the wedding day.

The photographer you hire may have their own opinions on taking your photos on a casino floor. Rhiannon from Digs usually discourages casino sessions “due to the amount of people on the casino floor and the lighting in the casino. We use off camera lighting which requires room to set up and can be dangerous in a crowded area.”  Again, speaking to your photographer prior to the wedding day will prevent you from being disappointed.

As with most things, one casino may be more lenient than the next and it may all depend on who you ask.  Open and honest communication is extremely important. At a recent wedding, one of our couples wanted a photo taken by the roulette table. They had hired an outside photographer (with the permission of the casino) in addition to still using the in house photographer.  The casino’s in house photographer was the only person allowed to take that roulette photo on the casino floor. As far as the photos taken within the hotel grounds, we cleared it in advance with our contact at the hotel and planned it out so that the photographer had a copy of the written approval in his hands on the wedding day.

Other reasons for the strictness of photography in a casino include the fact that casinos are private property.  It also “stems from several legalities, including every individual’s right to privacy on the floor; and copyright laws that prohibit the shooting of artwork and third party trademarks that may be incorporated into the location’s fixtures and signage. In other words, photographers may obtain permission to shoot you on the floor, but the casino, itself, cannot grant permission for the shooting of third parties’ logos, like Marlboro or Heineken, which may appear in photos. This also extends to artwork on the walls. That’s why in reality TV shows, you see logos and art blurred.”

“Ultimately, you’re in your gown and everyone loves a bride, so you’ve got that going in your favor. Have your shooter ask permission. Then take your cues from him/her and enjoy the glamour and fun. You will cherish these shots forever, without a doubt.” – Natasha with Write Shot

Thank you Rhiannon Eddy from Digs Studio, Natasha Chornesky from Write Shot, and Steve Fogarty of Fogarty Weddings for their insight.

Photo by Denise Hoogland from our May 2010 wedding of  Michelle and Rob

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What: 37/60 The Wedding Photography Workshop for Brides
When: Tuesday, August 24th from 6-7 pm and Saturday, August 28th, from 10-11 am
Where: To be supplied upon registration
Cost: Free, Registration required
How: Call 702-465-5700 for more information or to register. Or visit booths 614 and 604 at Bridal Spectacular

THE SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT DECISION A BRIDE FACES IS WHO TO MARRY. THE SECOND IS HOW TO HIRE THE RIGHT PHOTOGRAPHER TO DOCUMENT HER WEDDING

37/60 The Wedding Photography Workshop for Brides, offers 37 serious recommendations in 60 minutes, guaranteed to help brides:

• Save money
• Save time
• Maximize their wedding photography experience, regardless of their budget

Las Vegas wedding photography studios Artistic Imaging and WriteShot have partnered to develop this educational workshop to all brides, many of whom feel overwhelmed by the myriad of wedding photography options available.

“There will be no sales pitch, at all. This is purely an opportunity for brides to learn and get answers to their questions, regardless of their budget,” says Adam Frasier, Artistic Imaging.

According to Natasha Chornesky, WriteShot, millennium brides are smart and regardless of their budget,  they’re looking to learn as much as they can about maximizing value before they commit to any particular wedding vendor, especially photographers.

Vegas has many talented wedding photographers. 37/60 is designed to benefit all brides, regardless of whom they eventually hire to shoot their wedding.

“We’re reaching out to empower brides with real information, so each one can make decisions that best suit her distinct needs,” says Chornesky.

Workshops are scheduled for Tuesday, August 24th from 6-7 pm and Saturday, August 28th, from 10-11 am and are limited to 10 participants each. Workshops are free, registration is required. Call 702-465-5700 for more information or to register.  Information will also be available during the Bridal Spectacular Show at booth numbers 614 and 604.

About Artistic Imaging and WriteShot
Artistic Imaging’s  Owner/Photographer Adam Frasier has been a  professional wedding photographer for over 7 years. Frazier is the Founding President of Las Vegas Wish Upon a Wedding.

WriteShot’s Owner/Photographer Chris Cozzone has been a professional photojournalist and wedding photographer for over 20 years. Natasha Chornesky Owner/Photographer has been shooting professionally for four years. Chornesky is the Founding Vice-President of Las Vegas Wish Upon a Wedding.

Contact:
Natasha Chornesky
702-465-5700
Natasha@writeshot.com

Please let them know we sent you!

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website * Email: juliet@greenorchidevents.com

Name: Steven Fogarty
Location: Las Vegas, NV and Park City, Utah
Company Name: FogartyWeddings
Number of Years in Business: 3 as a wedding photographer
Website: www.FogartyWeddings.com
Blog: www.Facebook.com/FogartyFOTO
Twitter: www.Twitter.com/FogartyFOTO

How did you get started in wedding photography?

After a successful career in computers and email, I decided to learn from the masters how they make such gorgeous photos. Since then I’ve studied with some of the most amazing photographers alive, including: Joe McNally and Matthew Jordan Smith and Denis Reggie, the father of wedding photojournalism. They’ve all influenced my style tremendously.

What did you do prior to this?

For the U.S Congress in Washington, DC, I designed and managed the LAN email system that replaced their 20 year-old mainframe email system. I then accepted a position with Novell / WordPerfect, which brought me to Utah. With 3 friends I co-founded an Internet email business, that we sold in 1999. We just moved to Vegas a couple of weeks ago.

If you didn’t do photography for a living what would you be doing instead?

I’m kind of a history geek. One of my great pleasures is listening to educational tapes on very long drives and discussing history with friends. I would love to teach history.

What are some of your hobbies?

I love to snowboard really fast and steep with my peers, and to ski with my children. Scuba diving is the easiest way to leave the planet. And I love to read, mostly geeky history and policy stuff. I love wrestling with my 4 boys.

What is the craziest wedding experience you’ve ever had?

It was snowing really hard the morning of Courtney’s wedding in Aspen. She was distraught, tearfully wondering why her mountain-top wedding was to be ruined. We reminded her that these morning mountain storms are often very short and pass quickly. The clouds broke, her wedding was full of sunshine. Everyone was happy (and very relieved!) Her photos are gorgeous!

What is the best wedding experience you’ve ever had?

I loved photographing Rachael & Evan’s simple Salt Lake City wedding just before he shipped off for a one year tour of duty in Afghanistan. He is the crew chief on an Apache helicopter. Photographing Nicole & Travis at the Paiute Golf Resort was such a blast because Nicole didn’t stop smiling the whole day – it was clearly one of the happiest days of her life. And photographing Jane and Seth at Stein Eriksen Lodge in Park City, Utah was absolutely gorgeous on that stunning fall mountain day. Russians know how to party!

What is your inspiration?
While it sounds corny, I honestly believe that wedding photography is the most important, the most challenging, and the most rewarding photography I do. I am very grateful that in my work I am able to create things of such beauty that are so timelessly valuable to my brides.

Name an exotic location you’d like to visit soon.

I’ve been fortunate enough to travel around the world more than once. Of the 17 countries I have visited, I still remember India for its rich, ancient culture, incredible cuisine, and extraordinary contrasts, like the 3 men walking arm-in-arm down the street, one shirtless and dressed in a traditional dhoti, one dressed in a western business suit, and the third wearing a fusion of the two. Emerging wealth juxtaposed next to striking poverty amid ancient culture, and sensory overload. I would love to return to India with my family.

Why do your clients choose you over some of your competitors?

My clients want strikingly beautiful portraits to hang on their walls, plus lots of discreet photojournalism (PJ) of the day’s real moments, informal photos that will bring back a flood of warm memories with every look. They want a photographer who records the party, without becoming the party. They want the kind of amazing portraits that few photographers can make and are Can’t-Look-Away-GAWJUS. They want traditional portraits of the wedding party. And they want lots of quiet real-moment PJ – the photos I consider the most important of the day.

What is the best piece of advice you can offer a bride and groom on their wedding day?

Don’t worry about the photography! Forget all of your cares for that one day, let the love and attention of everyone who has come so far to wish you well just sink in.

Anything else interesting you’d like to share?

Thank you Juliet for giving me and my family such a warm welcome to Las Vegas!

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website * Email: juliet@greenorchidevents.com