Helena and Ali, Don CeSar Wedding

Helena and Ali were married this past weekend at the Don CeSar Resort in St. Pete Beach. It was a lovely ceremony and a great party with lots of guests ready to celebrate with the happy couple. And mother nature pitched in too with wonderful weather, a gorgeous sunset, and maybe even a rainbow or two!

I love mixing available light shots in with those lit by flash. The warm foreground is created by a typical incandescent table lamp. The cooler daylight comes in from the window to illuminate Helena and is accentuated by the blue ceiling. A wide angle helps to make the interesting geometry of the architecture even more dramatic.

Helena stands still as her bridesmaids lace up her gown.

With her back to the window while her veil was being adjusted, there wasn't enough natural light for a good exposure. A flash allows for a controlled yet natural image.

All the girls (and a guy) gather around for a quick portrait after getting ready.

The lobby at the Don always presents lots of great phot opportunities. A palm tree and a plantation shutter add just enough for a cool portrait without taking the attention away from Ali.

What a crew! It was no problem getting these guys to act like they were having a good time.

A lovely outdoor ceremony under the pink hotel and blue sky.

The live string trio provided the music for the ceremony. It's always fun to try and capture these details in a unique way. It can be tough to find that perfect shutter speed that freezes enough of the frame while still provided that great painterly effect.

A nice big family portrait.

It was a mad rush to try and get all the photos done in time for the sunset, but we did it. We even found a few minutes to make some more creative photos.

The bridal party poses with the Don in the background while the sun is still providing nice warm light.

Rainbows can be tricky to capture on film, but a flash allowed me to have two separate exposures; one for Helena and Ali, and one for the sky/rainbow. They got this great rainbow and didn't even have to deal with any rain!

Helena gave me a heads-up that there would be a dip at the end of the first dance. Great job guys!

A shot of the cake does double duty as a room shot by allowing the ambient light in the background to burn in.

A separate traditional Persian ceremony was held before the reception and made for some great photo opportunities.

Tampa Photo provided both photo and video coverage for this event. For this image, I exposed for Kevin's video light. The video light provides me with another lighting method to add variation to the coverage of the wedding.

Congratulations Helena and Ali! I wish you the best of luck in the many years to come!