Monthly Archives: October 2008

St. Jude & Royal Sonesta, New Orleans Wedding – Patty & Michael

Patty is an event planner, and was largely responsible for putting together this truly spectacular wedding. After some bridal prep shots and formals at the Royal Sonesta, we headed over to nearby St. Jude – Our Lady of Guadalupe Chapel at the edge of the French Quarter on N. Rampart for the ceremony. The church was beautifully decorated by floral designer Meade Wenzel.

After the ceremony, as we did a few more formal group shots in the church, the Storyville Stompers entertained the guests outside. We then second lined through the French Quarter, which was thrilling for everyone (especially the guests from out of town!).

Back at the Royal Sonesta, the ballroom was beautifully set up for the reception. New Orleans band Burgundy provided the entertainment. This rather large group has a fantastic sound, thanks in large part to the inclusion of two keyboardists, multiple male and female vocalists, and a talented brass section. They did an excellent job of performing softer, unobtrusive background music during the dinner, then ramping it up to a raucous party at the appropriate time.

And later in the night, the couple and I were able to sneak out for a little while to grab a few shots around the French Quarter!

New Orleans Wedding

St. Jude Our Lady of Guadalupe Chapel New Orleans

St. Jude Our Lady of Guadalupe Chapel New Orleans

Storyville Stompers Brass Band New Orleans

New Orleans Wedding Second Line

Royal Sonesta New Orleans Wedding

Royal Sonesta New Orleans Wedding Reception

Royal Sonesta New Orleans Wedding Reception

Royal Sonesta New Orleans Wedding Reception

Royal Sonesta New Orleans Wedding Reception

New Orleans Wedding Cake

New Orleans Wedding Groom's Cake

New Orleans Wedding

New Orleans Wedding

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House of Broel Wedding, New Orleans – Jennifer & John

Jennifer and John’s wedding ceremony and reception were both at the House of Broel, an elegant New Orleans mansion on St. Charles Avenue. Bonnie Broel officiated the ceremony in the house’s beautiful garden, and the weather was perfect! Afterwards, we moved inside for the reception. Everyone had a great time, and at the end of the night, the happy couple was given a sendoff with bubbles!

House of Broel

Lacing up the wedding dress

Bride gets ready

House of Broel wedding ceremony

House of Broel wedding ceremony

House of Broel wedding reception, first dance

House of Broel wedding reception, first dance

House of Broel wedding reception

House of Broel wedding reception

House of Broel wedding reception

House of Broel wedding cake

House of Broel wedding reception

House of Broel wedding reception

House of Broel wedding reception

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A reminder to couples – safeguard your wedding images!

Last week a bride from 2006 emailed me that her parent’s house had burned down.  Fortunately, no one was hurt in the blaze, but her wedding images were stored there and were destroyed.

The good news was that I still had her images in my archives, and was able to send her a replacement disk.

But there are important lessons to be learned here…

1) Always keep backup copies of your images in at least two different locations.  I supply two copies for all of my weddings, so make sure one of these gets stored elsewhere.  I encourage couples to make additional copies as well, just in case.

2) Recordable DVDs do not last forever.  Though experts estimate a lifespan of 20 – 100 years, this is based on the media being stored in perfect and stable archival conditions, which is likely not going to be the case for most of us.  I suggest copying the images to fresh media once every year or two.  Currently Sony and TDK recordable DVDs are rated among the best in terms of quality.

3) Even if your DVD does last a long time, media does eventually become obsolete.  25 years ago, 5.25″ floppy disks dominated the computer storage market.  Today, it would be a struggle to find a computer equipped with a drive able to read these disks (and as a fascinating side note, it would take THREE of those disks to store just ONE of your wedding images… a stack of about 1,800 disks would be required for a complete wedding).  So, over the years, you will want to migrate your images to new types of media as they become available.

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