Archive for July, 2008
I want a Paris wedding!
Well, my head is finally recovering from jet lag and I’m getting ready for a very busy part 2 of my wedding season. Last Saturday when we were leaving the beautiful Palace of Versailles we passed several couples entering the beautiful gardens for their wedding pictures. How lucky can one photographer be! I started thinking how much fun it would be to photograph a wedding in beautiful Paris. I know from my blog stats that allot of people are reading my blog in France. If any of you Paris brides might be looking for a wedding photographer, call me and we can chat! With the dollar so weak, the photography would be nearly free

Au Revoir Paris!
Zac and I returned to the US yesterday (much to Zac’s disappointment). Zac has totally fallen in love with the city of Paris and wanted to stay forever. If I did not have 8 weddings to photograph in August I might have obliged. There was something about this beautiful city and its people that has totally touched his heart and has inspired him to return. He now plans to become fluent in French and return for his college years. How wonderful. This trip was so wonderful in so many ways. We saw and learned so much and met so many wonderful new people from around the world. I can see how our adventure has given my grandson a lifelong passion for travel and meeting the many members of the “family of man”. We are already planning our 3 week adventure in Europe for next summer. We took thousands of pictures of our journey and will have fun reliving our trip when we edit them in the late fall. Zac is looking forward to learning Photoshop with the many images he took and we plan to have a book printed. I plan to do a slide show of our trip for the blog during my “slow season”. So many beautiful images, so little time. Stay tuned!


Zac set for 45minutes for this chalk portrait. It was a test for ADD. The artist said he had a “good face”! I thought the same.


Zac said he thought he would “die” over the beauty that is Paris. What a passion he has found for a city.


Bonjour from Paris!
Since arriving in Paris we have been going nonstop. I think we have taken nearly 3000 imagesso far and Zac is developing a new found passion for photography. When me wedding season calms down I plan to do a slide show of our wonderful adventure. Here are a few for mom and dad! We are off to the Palace of Versailles. Auvoire!

We visited a wonderful bakery!

The Cathedral of Notre Dame!

Happy Birthday Zac!

It was Zacs birthday and he officially is a teenager. I’m too young to be the grandma of a teenager. What a wonderful birthday. I wish I had time to post, But I just wanted to share a little of his day with family.

Changing of the guard!

Great way to turn 13. Two french girls presenting you with you birthday cake at a french restaurant in London!

Zacs pal Justin from New Mexico

Zac enjoyed watching me turn green on the top of the London Eye!

Sun sets on a perfect 13th birthday!
The Grand Tour - Getting Real!!!!!

OK, so I now realize it’s a little unrealistic for me to try to post much in the middle of our trip. We are going to have some awesome n pictures to share when we return and Zac is becoming quite the photographer and is “hogging” the camera most of the time.

OK, so I’m dating myself. I finally made it to Carnaby Street, though I no longer look like Twiggy!

Will, looking down on us. We went to a Shakespearian theater today also.

Zac running from the guards at the Tower of London. Tomorrow is a special day for Zac. He is turning 13 ( a real live teenager). I know mom and dad are a little sad that he won’t be with them, but just know he is having the time of his life. I’ll try to post a birthday picture tomorrow.
The Grand Tour - Day 1

With SEVER jet lag and 4 hours sleep Zac and I set off for Stonehenge at 5:30 in the morning.


Zac channeled ancient Druids. I can’t say he’s a changede boy!

London Calling

Well, the Jet lag has got the best of my little one. He fell asleep at 8PM, but I promised to wake to to call his mom. Not sure what to do? Any advice? Well my jet lag has got the best of me. Any suggestions? I think sleep!
Marie + Zac’s European Adventure

I want to share a little secret with you all. I’ve never had a passport and never gone anywhere abroad. I’ve always felt like a citizen of the world and enjoy reading about all the cultures and countries. I love meeting people from different cultures and just having a little chat! One of my dreams was to be a world traveler but single moms who are social workers get to go to Florida not France. Well, it’s finally my turn. I guess if you hope long enough dreams do come true! My grandson Zac and I will be departing for our first European adventure. (Hopefully the first of many adventures to come.) We are off on the first leg of our “grand tour” to London and Paris. Zac has such a joy of travel and we have been on a few adventures in America like Washington DC and Niagara Falls. I love seeing the world through his excited eyes. He does wear me out though, because he is such a “tourist” he wants to go go go and see everything he can. He is so excited about our trip. A real history buff, Zac wants to see things that are “old”. I guess we don’t have real old things in the US. Well, the first thing we are going to visit in England is Stonehenge. I hope that’s old enough for him! I’m going to try to post some images of our adventure every couple of days so family and friends can see the marvelous things we are up to. Note to self: post on blog at least every two days.
Au revoir!
Michelle + Mark 10-27-07
Congratulations to Michelle and Mark on the lovely feature article of their wedding in the current issue of Contemporary Bride Magazine. Michelle, who modeled in college was a former “cover girl” of Contemporary Bride Magazine and they loved being able to feature her on her “real wedding day”. The couple was married at Saint John the Baptist Ukrainian Church and their reception was held at The Shadowbrook in Shrewsbury, NJ.



Ann + Howard 06-14-08
No, I did not shoot 2 weddings in one day! (You will note I have already posted a 6/14 wedding.) My associate photographer, Jessica Inverso photographed this beautiful day! Jessica has been one of my second shooters for 6 years now and has been shooting weddings on her own for several years. This year she began shooting weddings for me and I will be doing my “Photoshop geek magic” on them. I think it’s going to be a great amalgamation! I was going to keep my blog to mostly my weddings but I just LOVED these vineyard images. I’ve photographed over 500 weddings at this point and I have yet to photograph a wedding in a vineyard. I will be doing my first vineyard wedding in August. I just can’t wait! Beautiful job Jessica!


Jessica + Adam 06-21-08
When Adam first met Jessica the first thing he said to her was “Do you like candy”? Jessica responded “yes” and Adam pulled out a pocket full of candy for her. The rest was history! Obviously Jessica likes candy. As their wedding favor all their guests received candy scoops with Adams famous first line “Do you like candy?” Their guests got to use their scoops with a tasty candy bar with lots of treats to take home. Jessica and Adams wedding took place at the beautiful Jersey City Hyatt Regency, which probably has one of the best views of the Manhattan skyline. Their day included some really sweet details. Jessica had Adam design their wedding cake as his contribution to wedding planning. He wanted the cake to depict the brick buildings and graffiti of Brooklyn. He also gave all his groomsmen custom Nike sneakers with the wedding date. Jessica also had her share of special details starting with her beautiful gown which was hand made by a relative and had a detachable apron with bow. The couples invitation included a portrait of themselves sketched by a dear friend. Cutest thing of all, Jessica and Adam had adorable pictures of their French bulldog on each table. It was their way of having him share their day!



The handsome groom!





Everyone is a critic!



pick me to go - pick me to go! I’ll pay you!! Having spent my birthday there in April with my amzing husband, I can thoroughly relate to Zac’s new-found love of Paris. I can tell you almost to the exact arondissent where you were in each picture (didn’t you love Monmartre?!) - welcome back, and thank you for sharing this wonderful adventure with us, and inspiring us to conintue our travels in this oh-so-very-small world - warmest regards!