We’re giving away a wedding photography package valued at $2,500! To vote for your favorite couple, visit the 2012 Wedding Photography Giveaway contest page!

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The Wedding Yentas is so proud to offer its very first FREE KETUBAH GIVEAWAY! As you may know, this is a very important part of the Jewish ceremony and couples usually spend hundreds of dollars on a beautiful piece of artwork to hang in their home that also serves as the Jewish marriage contract that’s signed on the wedding day. It is with great pride that The Wedding Yentas partners with Ketubah Studio by MP Artworks to give away a cash prize toward a ketubah of the winning couple’s choice.

The official rules can be found here (and on Facebook):

http://www.theweddingyentas.com/featured/win-a-ketubah

http://www.facebook.com/theweddingyentas

Photo submissions can be sent to alison@theweddingyentas.com by February 16th. Voting begins on the 17th. The winner is announced on March 1st.

Best of luck!! : )

We just had the most amazing week with Leslie & David, who traveled from Canada down to Montego Bay for their destination wedding at Iberostar Rose Hall Beach! It was a week full of memories, including celebrating with the newlyweds at a beach bonfire with a steel drum band to the entire wedding party jumping in the pool for the Trash The Dress session! It was AWESOME! We can’t wait to share the photos, but we’re actually in Orlando today celebrating our own anniversary (happy 4 years Matt!!). But I always like to post a sneak peek! Here’s one of Leslie & Dave by the gorgeous infinty pool at night! : )

Today is a day that I know many of you have been (anxiously) waiting for! Over the past month, we have received submissions from couples all over the U.S. (and beyond) who have shared their inspiring (and sometimes humorous) love stories.

It would be impossible for us to choose someone to give a free wedding photography package to. Every one of these couples has a story that is both unique and beautiful. So in order to decide who should win a photography package valued at $2,500, we are inviting all of our blog readers to vote for their favorite couple! When the voting period ends, the top 5 couples will have their entire love story read by a panel, who will ultimately decide who has the best love story. Meet the 2012 panel:

I Do Wedding Consulting
I Do Wedding Consulting is a unique full-service planning company in Charlotte NC. Nancy & Salim are the dazzling duo that makes I Do Wedding Consulting the very personal, attentive, and creative firm that it is. We specialize in full planning and we {love} to wow guests with all the little details. Built on integrity, driven by passion, I Do Wedding Consulting is THE choice for Charlotte’s smart and savvy couples.

The Event Divas
From elegant florals down to the details of your cake, we design it all! The Event Divas are the Experts in Floral & Event Design, Lighting, Props, & Coordination of all rentals. Serving Gainesville, North Florida, and South Georgia.

Amanda Hopcraft
Amanda Hopcraft Makeup Artist specializes is on location airbrush makeup artistry for anyone wanting to look beautiful whether it be a special occasion, a photo shoot or a night on the town.

The Wedding Yentas
Alison Friedman owns and operates The Wedding Yentas, an online community of brides, grooms, vendors, and well, yentas, who come to learn and dish all about weddings. The Wedding Yentas is a resource for couples planning a traditional Jewish wedding, an interfaith wedding, or even a Jew-ish wedding with features of Real Jewish Weddings, explanations of traditions, the latest trends in the wedding market, a vendor guide, and regular sponsored giveaways! Casual, conversational, and fun — like a couple of girlfriends dishing over coffee — The Wedding Yentas is your go-to wedding planning blogsite!

Leigh Anne & Patrick
Leigh Anne and Patrick are the winners of our 2011 Wedding Photography Giveaway and are looking forward to help choose this year’s winners!

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Here are a few details about the contest:

Voting begins on February 4th and will end at 11:59pm EST February 11th. The winner will be announced on February 14th.

We have made an effort to make the voting process as fair as possible, so only one vote will be counted per computer per day. So if you vote, you will be able to vote again after 24 hours. Please note that on some networks, multiple computers will be recognized as one computer.

We encourage you to use social networks to spread the word about the contest. However, please do not spam forums or violate any website’s terms of service.

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And the most important part… the CONTESTANTS!

These are the incredible couples who have entered our wedding giveaway! To vote for your favorite couple, scroll down to the bottom of this blog post (below the images). Please remember, only one vote per computer per day.

Don’t forget to check back February 11th to find out who makes it into the Top 5!

I know it seems kinda late to share the highlights of our 2011 wedding season, but this has been such a hard project to put together. Part of the reason is that 2012 totally grabbed us by the hand and took us running full force! We ended 2011 on New Year’s Eve and started 2012 with a wedding the very next weekend! We launched our wedding photography giveaway on January 1st. We went to New Orleans for the ImagingUSA convention. We’re also in the process of opening our studio and launching our new website, in addition to streamlining our workflow so we can be more efficient in our business. We have barely blinked, and we find ourselves in late January! How did that happen?!

Another reason why it has taken so long to share this post is that it’s a challenge to summarize what an amazing year we had in a video with less than 6 minutes. Choosing our favorite images out of the thousands that we captured is almost an impossible task. I can’t even begin to count the moments that have captured our hearts – your beauty, your laughter, your tears – your hilarious moments of rocking it out on the dance floor (because who cares if the world is watching as long as you are having a great time!). We look at everything that has happened, all the precious moments that we have witnessed and shared with such amazing people, and it’s overwhelming. So many people tell us they love our photos, but over and over I say that the beautiful part of the images is not what we captured. It’s what all of you have given – how you’ve let us in to see who you truly are – that makes these images both meaningful and beautiful!

Okay, so admittedly we also got to shoot against some breathtaking scenery! We had the opportunity to shoot 3 weddings in California, thanks to some wonderful people (you know who you are)! We traveled to a quaint town in the mountains of Colorado to shoot a wedding at 10,000 feet! We raced a hurricane to shoot a lovely wedding on the coast of Maine and shot some of the most beautiful wedding photos ever in a place I never imagined – a cemetery! Seriously, beautiful images can happen ANYWHERE with good light and a couple in love! They can also happen with incredible sunsets on the cliffs of Negril, which is where Lisa & Omar hosted their closest friends and family for a destination wedding at Moon Dance Cliffs! Their stunning wedding is featured in the January/February 2012 issue of Destination Weddings & Honeymoons Magazine (on shelves now!). And of course, we bounced around the entire state of Florida to capture weddings from Jax to the Panhandle, to south Florida and the west coast. Though we love to travel, it’s just as exciting to shoot weddings right here in our home state!

So after more than a month of reviewing photos from the past year and 9 revisions of the final video, we are so thrilled to finally present to you our Favorite Moments of 2011. I knew it was ready to present when the tears started to fall. Thank you to all of our wonderful couples for the year of memories!

Wedding Wednesday is a weekly feature discussing all things wedding-related! To suggest a topic or question, contact Gwen at info@gwendolyntundermann.com.

Matt and I just returned from an amazing trip to New Orleans for the annual ImagingUSA Expo! Imaging is the big convention held by Professional Photographers of America (PPA). We’ve been PPA members since the start of our business, but this is our first time attending Imaging. We’re definitely planning on going again next year! I’ve been to the big convention and trade show held by Wedding and Portrait Photographers International (WPPI) and while they are similar in a lot of ways I got a lot more out of attending Imaging.

Part of the reason is that Matt was there with me, so we were able to sit down and review everything we learned and all the products we saw and start doing a lot of business planning on our trip. We were on the expo floor almost the entire time that it was open, meeting with vendors, asking questions about their business, and looking at their products. We are really excited about the changes we will be making to our packages very soon! We also found lots of pretty things for our studio (REALLY can’t wait for you to see that!!). We also attended seminars presented by some incredibly talented photographers, such as Jerry Ghionis, Robert Evans, and Kenny Kim!

We got some snippets of everything on our iPhones so you can see for yourself what Imaging is all about! : )

Rachael and David had a very specific idea in mind for their wedding day: intimate, relaxed, fun – and with great music! By choosing to have their wedding at Out of the Blue restaurant in Jupiter, FL they created the perfect atmosphere for a great celebration! The location overlooks a waterway with provided the perfect backdrop for their sunset ceremony.

Rachael and David’s ceremony included several traditional Jewish elements, including the Seven Prayers, the sharing of wine, and the breaking of the glass. As their closest friends and family looked on, and with a full-moon overhead, Rachael and David shared their vows and promised themselves to each other. Their ceremony was so touching, with lots of smiles.

After whisking them away for a few couple shots in the fading light, it was time to get to the fun part of the wedding! Their reception featured a cocktail hour complete with hand-rolled cigars and live music from a seven-piece band! The tables were lit by candlelight with beautiful orchid centerpieces.

The rest of the evening was filled with hanging out and lots of dancing. Though some guests enjoyed the gorgeous weather and great conversation out by the marina, the dance floor remained packed the entire evening! Except for a small break to cut the elegant wedding cake featuring strawberries covered in chocolate and decorated like little brides and grooms, the reception was a non-stop party right up until it was time to leave.

Rachael & David’s wedding was such an incredible time, and a great way to kick off our 2012 wedding season! It was beautiful and such a fun event to be part of! : )

Wedding Wednesday is a weekly feature discussing all things wedding-related! To suggest a topic or question, contact Gwen at info@gwendolyntundermann.com.

Before the holidays, I was having coffee with our bride Whitney and we were talking about Pinterest. I had been avoiding Pinterest because I knew how addictive it would be. I love inspiration boards, so joining a social network based on pinning things you are interested in was a dangerous place for me. But I caved in and asked Whitney for an invite, and over Christmas break I probably spent at least 30 hours on there. While I do have boards for my multi-million dollar dream home and exotic places where I want to travel, I have found some practical use for my boards. I’ve created an online recipe book (plus helpful tips for the kitchen) and DIY projects for the house that I’ve actually used already.

But the reason why this is a Wedding Wednesday post is that I’m also pinning lots of wedding pretties! Flowers, wedding attire (including fabulous shoes!!), cake designs, and misc. wedding inspiration. I’m so excited about having a place to store all the things that inspire me instead of trying to remember where I saw it! So there are basically two ways to add to your boards: 1) you can re-pin things from other boards on Pinterest or 2) you can download the “Pin It” button and pin just about anything on the web. Love love love it!!

If you’re on Pinterest, we’d love to follow you! You can find my page at http://pinterest.com/gwentundermann. I’d love to see what inspires you!

We opened the 2012 wedding season with the beautiful wedding of Rachael & David at the Out of the Blue Restaurant & Marina in Jupiter, FL! All I can say is that this wedding ROCKED! We loved the venue, the band was beyond awesome, and of course Rachael & David are just two incredibly sweet and amazing people! They have really set the standard high for this year’s weddings! We can’t wait to share more of their details with you (like the beautiful chuppah made by the groom and a very fun cake design). Here’s a little something in the meantime! : )

Written by Matt Tundermann

When Gwen first told me that we were going to ring in the new year with Gigi & Steve’s wedding, I remember thinking that it was going to be a great way to close out 2011 and start 2012 with style. And then I met Gigi and Steve and I just knew that not only would it be a fun, amazing wedding, but it was going to be one heck of a party! And they did not disappoint.

Gigi’s vision for her wedding was to gather her closest friends and family for a classic Catholic ceremony at Our Lady of the Star, followed by a reception at the Sawgrass Beach Club, complete with a balloon drop, New Year’s favors, and champagne.

The reception featured personalized seating cards, each with a photo of the guest, New Years hats and noisemakers, signature drinks, cigars, and boxes of Godiva chocolates. The décor and favors set the tone for flat-out New Years party, with non-stop dancing well past midnight.

The evening finally came to a close with a grand exit, where Gigi and Steve ran through a tunnel of sparklers.

Gigi and Steve, we are so honored that you picked us to capture your amazing wedding! Best wishes to you and Eli as you start your new lives as a family!!

We often feel a strong connection with the brides and grooms who contact us, but every once in a while I read an email that just makes me say “There’s no way this is just a coincidence.” Late one night, I received an email from Stacey that was so incredible, it almost knocked me out of my chair!

I won’t get into the entire story, but let’s just say that somehow Stacey came across our blog, and of all the places in the world where she could live it happens to be 2 minutes from where Matt’s parents live. And at the time she emailed me, she had no idea that we lived in Florida and that we had a Middletown, CT connection!

Stacey also didn’t know that in a couple weeks we would be going to Middletown for the holidays! After an exchange of… well, more emails than I can count… we decided to meet up with them during our trip for an engagement session. Stacey & Adam are two of the sweetest people we’ve met, and we were fortunate that fate brought them in contact with us! We braved the elements to take photos at Wesleyan University, using some of the old buildings on campus. But really, it was all about Stacey and Adam, who have no qualms about snuggling up and sharing some kisses!

We took a break to warm up at the Tavern Inn with some drinks and a few casual photos before heading out again to The Barns at Wesleyan Hills to take advantage of the fading light. The Barns overlooks a pond with some little islands with great big trees and beautiful bridges. The setting sun created warm tones on the bare trees while Stacey & Adam kept each other warm.

Stacey & Adam are such a warm, friendly couple who instantly put you at ease. It felt like we had known them for years! Thank you both for an amazing time! It was one of the highlights of our trip to Connecticut!