Chastidy Sweet Sixteen Pictures – Images by Gabriela Fuentes

Kimberley is one the sweetest brides I’ve met. She is so kind and beautiful. I’m really thrilled to have been her photographer.

I have no words for this picture. I just love it.

Kimberley and her bridesmaids working it.

I have to thank the groomsman for being so totally awesome and willing to try everything I told them to do.

If a picture says more than a thousand words, these two pictures say, LOVE two thousand times.

Kimberly looks so beautiful and radiant.

Thanks to our second photographer Jarlen who took these two beautiful pictures.

This picture goes to my collection of favorite bouquet toss pictures.

If you treat them like guests and think ahead of time of ways to make them comfortable and keep them entertained, you can concentrate on you and your fiance and enjoy your wedding. Here are the Top Ten Things you can do to keep children entertained and happy on your wedding.

1. Bubbles. Thank God for Bubbles; they are a modern marvel. They are inexpensive, easy to carry and will keep children of all ages happy and entertained for hours. Just make sure you bring extra, specially for the children on the bridal party.

2. Flowers. Ask your florist for extra petals, and tell your flower girls they can have more petals, but after they throw the petals on their baskets down the aisle.

3. Food and water. It is important that children are fed, specially if your event extends for many hours, church, photo shoot, and then reception. So check with their parents for their meal schedule, what is OK for you to give them, and create small favor bags for them, with one small bottle of water, the approved snack, utensils, if needed, and napkins or wipes. Avoid snacks with too much sugar because it will give them extra much energy; thus making it difficult to stay put. Avoid chocolate or foods with fillings to avoid getting their clothes dirty.

4. Offer them a gift. If you know a child is going through a “phase,” or you are afraid he or she will “act” certain way, check with the parents for their favorite character. Buy a small gift with that character, and tell them they will get it if they help you do the thing you want them to do, carry rings, etc. Just make sure the gift is appropriate to their age and don’t forget the batteries.

5. Washable and nontoxic crayons and coloring books. If you are worried that children will get bored at the reception hall  -most likely they will have more fun than anyone else – washable non-toxic crayons are the way to go; they will keep kids busy for a while, and they act as your wedding favor for them. Just make sure their age is appropriate as you don’t want to give crayons to babies or small children.

6. Make sure all children get something. Whatever you are giving out, bubbles, crayons, or a gift, make sure all children get one.

7. Hire a baby sitter. I don’t pretend to tell parents what to do, but if you are the bride or groom and have kids, it may be a good idea to hire a baby sitter you trust. That way, you know your children are safe and can concentrate on your wedding. Your parents and siblings get more time to enjoy the party too.

8. Keep your promises. If you promise a child something, please be sure to do it. Nothing breaks the heart of a child more, than hearing they will get something, and then not receiving it.

9. Get down to their level, and ask nicely.

10. Have fun with them.

Always check with parents and get their approval before you give or offer something to them.

Sometimes, the girls laugh when I ask them to give a pose, or attitude; they laugh even harder when I ask them for a sexy face. Their friends laugh even harder in the background, and I feel like I’m putting them on the spot.

I couldn’t have asked more from Camila. She is so pretty and sweet, and she did fabulous. I also have to give up to her friends who were a big help. They made her comfortable and helped me get fabulous poses from Camila.

Camila getting ready for her big day.

Chilling out with her friends before leaving to the Reception Hall.

This is one of my favorite pictures.

Camila looked beautiful and gave me very nice pictures.

Work it out.

With the girls…

And the family

Ship leaves promptly at 7:15PM

We had a wonderful time with Paolo’s family and Connecticut friends last night. It was sort of a farewell get together. I felt like I was in Europe listening to so many languages. Paolo and his gorgeous wife Alessandra were the perfect hosts. She made the most delicious meat lasagnas I’ve had.

Alessandra and Paolo, I wish much luck with the Open House today, and to those of your looking for a house on that part of town, run to see it; you will not be disappointed.

Here is the complete listing of the House. http://www.forsalebyowner.com/listing/9H92D

The flowers are blossoming and it shows the beauty of the mature landscape.

We had such a nice evening yesterday in this spacious family room. It is a great room for entertainment.

The gourmet kitchen is so pretty and functional.

Recently, our second photographer, Jarlen, and I were having a discussion about retouching and post processing photographs. I believe most wedding and event photographs can benefit greatly if they process their pictures either in Lightroom, Aperture or Photoshop. He is just starting in the photography world and is more of a purist photographer, so he is still not sure he agrees with this whole post processing and retouching business of Lightroom presets and Photoshop actions.

Today is Jarlen’s birthday, and I decided to post this Free Lightroom preset as a birthday gift for him – hint, hint, I hope I finally convince him that is OK to use Lightroom presets.

Happy Birthday Jay and Good Friday to you.

I really like this picture Jarlen took of the bride’s aunt dancing. She was mostly behind cameras, so getting her was really difficult, but important, and there was not much time to change color temperature and other settings.

This is a Free Ligthroom preset for Ligthroom 2. This preset was designed to remove the color red from indoor wedding pictures. It changes the color temperate and gives a cream skin tone and soften features

Free Lightroom preset – Download

Recently, Paolo asked me to take pictures of his beautiful house in Brookfield, Connecticut, which he is putting on the market because he is moving back to New York City. I have to confess that I was a little nervous. Yes, I’m a photographer, but I have never done real estate pictures before, and there are tricks of the trade to real estate photography, or at least I believe so. Besides there was much on the table for me to play with his pictures.

I overcame my nervousness of navigating into a different field of photography because I was really excited to see my friend Paolo and his lovely wife Alessandra after many years, so Danny and I headed out to Brookfield.

As soon as I arrived at their home, I fell in love with their house. It was beautiful, cozy, huge and picture perfect. Everything was so immaculate and in mint condition (as they say in the real estate world), nothing less for a family with the most exquisite taste. Right away, some of my fear went away, and we started taking pictures and spent a wonderful afternoon with them.

Here is the link for the listing with some of the pictures we took.

http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/21-Long-Meadow-Hill-Rd_Brookfield_CT_06804_1117453322

Danny took this picture of the house. Paolo did an amazing job with the landscaping, and I can’t imagine how beautiful it will look in a couple of weeks once all the flowers have blossomed.

During the last couple of weeks, I’ve felt that I wanted more of our wedding videos. I am not suggesting that I don’t like my current ones, let me be clear, but I wanted to move beyond, by including more storytelling. I felt that there are many aspects of the wedding that we don’t get to see, and through my videos, I wanted to discover more about the couple and their wedding preparation.

Fortunately, Ayaiza and Frank volunteered to do this wedding video, documentary style. This particular video has a TV show inspired theme, and we are really, really happy with it.

It was really amazing to work in this project. A few days before the wedding, we spent a whole day at venue and during the hair and make-up trial taking pictures and recording video . As you can see in parts of this video, the wedding ceremony was going to take place at the terrace of the Marriott Biscayne Bay but unfortunately, it was very windy and cold (even though it was Miami).

Finally, Ayaiza changed plans and changed the ceremony site to another terrace at the hotel which was a bit cold that day but much less than the former one.

Moving on!! We had the opportunity to be part of the wedding rehearsal a day before the wedding. It was good as I could test the sound equipment and the place where I was going to film the wedding.

Finally, the wedding day. I turned the camera on and didn’t turn it off until almost the end. I was lucky to capture Dianevis and her staff from Casa Diri’s doing their amazing job and get to film the whole family and friends getting ready.

The ceremony: Ah, what can I say about it. I am not going to describe every detail of what happened but “It was amazing”. Reverend Gregorio was who married them and his experience and his way to conduct the whole wedding ceremony was “Fenomenal” (words of Ayaiza).

The rest of the night was pure FUN!!!! With mostly cuban and american music, the DJ herd the whole salon to the dance floor and the party did not stop until the very end.

What can say about this style of wedding videos. I’m completely in love with it, and I will always recommend this Wedding video documentary style to all our clients. It doesn’t have to include many vendors, but at least, get the emotions of what the bride and the groom feel about each other in a short interview.

Could you imagine in five or six years, you watch your wedding video and literally is like renewing their vows by just watching this type of wedding video.

Here is Ayaiza and Frank’s short version of their wedding video. I hope you like it!

So long, folks!!!

Danny

To watch a bigger screen CLICK HERE visit our facebook

I love you mi amiguita.

The spectacular beautiful view from the bridal suite at the Marriott Hotel Biscayne Bay in Downtown Miami.

Ayaiza’s favorite color is red, so we couldn’t expect anything less than red roses. Casa Diri’s did an amazing job with her bouquet and all the flower decor.

Ayaiza’s wedding dress by Mikaela was so beautiful. It fit her like a glove and accentuated her beautiful body.

If there is a person that loves being a bride that is Ayaiza. She enjoyed being a bride so much, that if this picture were video, you will be hearing Oh, my god. Oh, my god I’m getting married.

Does anyone have of a reason to prevent this marriage? No?… I didn’t think so.

I love this picture of Frank.

First dance.

I absolutely LOVE this picture. If there is a picture that shows her character, I think this is it.

Stunning view of night downtown Miami, champagne and chocolate dipped strawberries. In the mood for love?

Who said you couldn’t be glamourous and fun. I love this picture of Ayaiza and Frank entering their room. Totally goofy and nice.

Click here to view Ayaiza and Frank’s Wedding Pictures