When Linda and David got married, they wanted anything but a traditional wedding celebration.  Linda, a well-traveled business woman, felt particularly drawn to India and its rich culture and when she and David decided to get married, she immediately knew where and how she wanted to celebrate the union with their friends and family.

Linda and David invited their friends and families to join them at the Lambertville House where the women arrived adorned in intricately embroidered saris and the men in various styles of nehru shirts (which as a side note, were first called this by Parisian designer,  Patric Hollinton, as a tribute to Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of modern-day India and arguably one of the best-dressed politicians of his time).

When guests first arrived, they mingled in the Livery Parlor and on the outside patio while delighting in Chick Peas Samosa (vegetable turnovers filled with chick peas), Aloo Tikki (potato patties with peas), Harabhara Kabab (spinach balls with garlic), Mirchi Pakora (jalepenos stuffed with cheese), Achare Chicken Tikka (chunks of chicken marinated with pickled spices and then cooked in a clay oven), Malai Chicken Kabab (chunks of chicken marinated in very special creamy sauce and then cooked in the tandoori oven) and Fish Pakora (salmon fritters).

Once everyone had wet their palates, they danced to Indian music and watched professional Bollywood Dancers perform the first of two pieces in the Livery Room.  During the intermission, guests were served dinner, which included Chicken Tikka Masala, Chicken Curry, Lamb Karahi, Bhindi Achari (roasted okra with pickled spices), Mutter Panir (homemade Indian cheese and peas cooked in a curry sauce), Daal Makhani (lentils cooked on slow fire overnight with a creamy touch) and Vegetable Pulao (Basmati rice cooked with garden fresh vegetables, cashew nuts and golden raisins).  And if you’re mouth isn’t watering yet, Gulab Jamun (traditional Indian donuts simmered in warm sugary syrup) and Rasmalai (cheese patties in very special sweet sauce with rose flavor) were served for desert.

The evening concluded with a 2nd Bollywood performance and everyone had wide smiles on their faces as they bid the their adieus.  Especially the bride and groom.

The Team

the venue | the lambertville house | nicole loudenslager

the food | cross culture cuisine | monty

the entertainment | norma michaels entertainment | norma michaels

the flowers | cut and dry florals | keith

the linens | gala cloths | nancy bauman

the photographer | allure west studios | natalie napoleon wi

Jung and I photographed a wedding in DC in January and our bride and groom chose to offer their guests various food stations at the reception.  Everyone loved it and I was thrilled to see stations when I photographed Aldie’s 2nd Annual Options and Upgrades Event, catered by Jeffrey Miller Catering.

Placed throughout the mansion, were 8 food stations, 3 dessert stations, passed desserts and 3 drink stations.  As guests entered the Great Hall, lit by a romantic summer fire of candlight, they welcomed the refreshing sight of Hibiscus Iced tea, Lemonade and Minted Water and Seafood Martinis.

Guests then proceeding into the library, were they continued feasting at a pasta station, complimented by a vodka lemonade station.  The ballroom held the grandest display of interactive stations including a Mexican Grazing Station, a Vietnamese Summer Roll Station, a Raw Bar, a Blini Bar and Pork Chow Fun Station.

As guests finished their meals, Cheeksecake Lollipops, Mini Frozen Sorbet Pops and Peruvian hot Chocolates were passed.  Guests could also indulge in either a free flowing fountain of Chocolate or Carmel, an Espresso/Cappuccino Bar and leave with a warm mini donuts fried to order.

It was a full house and everyone left happy!

Click to see a mouth-watering slideshow of the different stations offered and for pricing information, please call Kimberly Bates at 215-348-3509.

Thank you, Women’s Business Forum, for inviting me to speak this week about Better Blogging.

I’m a huge proponent of blogging (I must pause here and put in a plug in for my good friend, Stacie Tamaki of The Flirty Guide, who showed me the light and encouraged me to start my blog.   Thank you, Stacie!!)  What a great era to be in business and to have the opportunity to blog.   I have studios in Washington, D.C., San Francisco and Doylestown, PA and with clients all over the world, it’s integral that they feel connected to me.

In conjunction with the product of my photography, I am selling an experience and my blog affords me the opportunity to build relationships with each of my clients.  Oftentimes, I’ll meet someone and I’m flattered at how much they already know about me.

I understand how overwhelming starting a blog and maintaining a blog can seem, in addition to maintaining a Facebook account, a Twitter account and a Linked-in profile.  Fortunately, there are a myriad of tools available now that link all of these accounts together and make posting more streamline.

My #1 piece of advice is that it’s better to do something badly than not to do it at all.  You need to start somewhere and the more you do it, the easier it’ll become.  Think of it as yoga for your brain.

I suggest that before you start, you find a notebook in which you keep all of your notes for your blog.  Write things down as you do them.  Chances are you’ll have to do them again and you may forget how to do them.  If you have the steps written down, you won’t have to spend time researching the issue again.

The two main platforms for a blog are Blogger and WordPress. Take some time to look at each and decide which works best for you.  I use WordPress.

Here are my action items for a blog :

1. Set your blogging goals. What do you want to accomplish with your blog?  Will your blog be your primary website or a supplement to an existing website?

1. Know your audience. Take the time to research your demographic and understand the type of information they need then fill that need.  Post useful information on your blog to drive traffic.

1. Ask for Permission. Use your manners and ask for permission before posting images, music or text that belong to someone else.  Chances are that the author of the content will be happy to share it with you if you ask first.  If you don’t ask first, you open yourself up to the possibility of a legal mess.

1. Permalink to Other Sites. Be sure to include links to other sites in your content. When creating a permalink, choose “open in another window” (or the equivalent) so that the link opens in a new page and leaves your blog open.  Having permalinks in the content of your blog helps increase your chances of being found in a Google search.

1. Reply to Comments. Take the time to thank people who have commented on your blog.  And, take the time to comment on other blogs.  The more you eNetwork, the more you build your readership.

1. Add a Subscription Widget to your Blog. Readers can subscribe to receive new posts via email when you have a subscription widget on your blog.  I use FeedBurner.

1. Add an RSS Feed from your Blog.  (RSS=Really Simple Syndication)  This allows your reader to receive feeds from all their favorite blogs on one page in their browsers.  Read the support documentation for your preferred platform to determine the best way to add an RSS button to your blog, however FeedBurner also has the capability of creating an RSS feed for your blog.

1. Use Keywords. Add keywords in the keyword section of your post to increase  your chances of top placement in Google.

1. Don’t Forget to Brag About Yourself. This is the appropriate forum to brag about yourself.  People want to know what you’re doing!

1. Budget Your Time. Yes, technically you should be posting on a somewhat consistent basis, but if you can’t, don’t beat yourself up over it.  Remember, it’s better to something badly than not to do it all.  Just make sure to schedule an appropriate amount of time to post on your blog.  Blogging does take time.  You could post in 5 minutes if you really wanted to, but it’s important that you take the time to proofread your copy and make your images look pretty.  Your blog is a reflection on you professionally and you always want to put your best eFoot forward.  Also keep in mind that when your readers receive your blog either thru their email subscription or their RSS feed, they’ll begin commenting.  Remember to budget time to reply to them.

So many of us are using the internet today before making our purchasing decisions and having a blog helps put you in the running.  Take the time to research your options and invest time in building your blogging empire.  Blogging can open doors that you never knew existed.

The holidays are in full-swing and Aldie Mansion is particularly beautiful during this time of year.  I love seeing the snow on the roof and the lights twinkling inside.  I love the sound of the floors creaking beneath my feet and the warmth that envelopes me as I walk in thru the stately front entrance.

Aldie Mansion was built in 1927 by William Mercer Jr. (brother of Henry Mercer) and his wife, Martha Dana of Boston and replaced the previous structure handed down to them by William Jr.’s parents.  Martha continued to live in the house after William passed away and was well known for throwing lavish Christmas parties.  Her most famous Christmas party was held in 1941 when the Von Trapp family sang in the great hall.

Martha died in 1960 and bequeathed Aldie Mansion to the Catholic Archdiocese, which used the mansion first as a seminary and later as a drug and alcohol treatment center.  In the 1980′s, Aldie was abandoned, vandalized and burned.  After many changes of hands, Genuardi Markets, Inc and Vesterra Corporation sold the property to the Heritage Conservancy for $1.  In 1991, the Conservancy, with the support of the community, complete a 3-year capital campaign to restore the mansion.  Aldie now houses the business offices of the Heritage Conservancy and is rented for weddings, receptions, meetings and community events.

Since we are now Doylestown community members, my family and I recently attended the annual Christmas at Aldie Community night where we indulged ourselves on sweets, listened to the local high-school choir sing Christmas carols, made a Christmas ornament, learned how to make a bat house, watched a rescue dog presentation and played instruments at a sing along.  I’m so thankful to the Heritage Conservancy and the community for resurrecting Aldie so that we can enjoy it today.

To schedule your holiday event at Aldie and dine on exclusive caterer Jeffrey Miller’s cuisine, contact Kimberly Bates or Shelley Nohowel.

A Wedding, Bucks County Farmhouse Style

When I arrived at Nostalgia on a refreshingly crisp fall Saturday afternoon, the light shone through the trees and grandly illuminated the pristine house and meticulously kept grounds.

From the moment I stepped onto the property, I was greeted with warmth and kindness and felt as if I found a haven from the bumps and grinds of every day life.  I first explored the outside accommodations Nostalgia offers and reveled in the rose-filled gardens surrounding the soothing sounds of the gentle running water of the pond, sheltered by towering established trees.  I explored the gazebo which contains an intricate stained glass pattern housed in the roof and echoing the roses planted in the garden.  I was delighted at the sight of the historical salt house embellished with simple window box overflowing with impatients.  I walked up the path past the salt house and walked up the deck into the Grande Celebration Room, added to the original structure built in 1720 by Welsh immigrant, Simon Mathews, and was amazed by the wealth of space which can hold 100-250 guests without incident.

In the Grande Celebration room, guests dined on a buffet of homemade foods carefully planned by the bride, alongside Nostalgia owner and head chef, Gail Morosky.

As I looked around the room that evening, I saw smiles and heard laughter echoing throughout the old farmhouse all night long and knew it was no wonder that the Intelligencer newspaper had awarded Nostalgia with the prestigious Best of Buck 2009 seal.

Congratulations Nostalgia and Gail and Joe Morosky.  And most importantly, congratulations Nostalgia brides.

Monterey Plaza Hotel Wedding Ceremony

Monterey Cannery Row

Monterey Plaza Wedding Reception

Jung and I photographed Wendy & Michael’s wedding at the Monterey Plaza Hotel.  They are such a lovely couple and their infectious kindness and sincerity warm our hearts invariably.

As you saw in our previous post, Wendy and Michael graciously allowed us to film their engagement session to use as a promotional video for our studio, which our friend and colleague, David Ethridge of A Video Reflection artfully shot for us.

And now most recently, Wendy and Michael joined us on the set of the Nesting Newbies.  Again, their personalities warmed the room and you will no doubt enjoy Newbisode #2.

Lea McIntosh, the host of Nesting Newbies, asked me to create a few layouts from Wendy and Michael’s wedding to be shown in the intro of Nesting Newbies Newbisode #2 and I remembered the complimentary disc I received from graphicauthority.com a few weeks back and decided to use it for these layouts.  There are tons of graphical elements in each of the layouts and I really enjoyed taking the template and making it my own to showcase Michael & Wendy’s wedding uniquely.

See the templates and Wendy and Michael in action in our newly released Newbisode #2.

Sneak Peak into Nesting Newbies Newbisode #2

by Jodi Murphy

Nesting Newbies™, Newbisode 1, has launched and is already getting some buzz! Newbisode 2 isn’t far behind and the team outdid themselves as we all begin to get in the newbie groove. Chef Lea McIntosh is at her best when she’s teaching and in this Newbisode Michael and Wendy Mantilla ask her lots of questions (we like to call them Newbie Q’s). They are a lively couple and the set was full of fun and laughter as they learned how to cook Chef Lea’s Moroccan-style Seafood Stew over a Saffron Risotto. Michael kicked things up a notch when he used “SHAZAM!” – His own newbie twist on a famous exclamation while adding an ingredient to the pot. It was a hilarious and unexpected moment.
On the set in the Rutt of Los Altos kitchen, everything is laid out in preparation, including the plump Christopher Ranch Garlic cloves.
Teachable moments include how to use a professional knife, while James Burkart captured all the antics on film!
Michael and Wendy are creating something together in the kitchen and are confident they can do it on their own the next time and the seafood stew simmers for just a few more minutes before tasting.
Chef Lea uses a Calphalon stock pot and answers Wendy’s question about what kind of pots to use. Calphalon was so excited about the show’s concept and this unscripted Newbie Q, they became a sponsor! Chef Lea also taught Wendy and Michael how to use the leftover risotto in crab cakes. Everyone Allure West Studios › Edit Post — WordPresson the set enjoyed a taste when the segment was over – we were chirping about it for hours.
The Newbisode segues into a Mediterranean seaside table top designed by Jodi Murphy and David Braddy using items from Bloomingdale’s Stanford, fresh flowers, lemons and seashells proving once again that you can entertain in style without breaking the budget.
Vanessa Rockey, the show’s hair stylist brought make-up expert Julie Acosta and together they primped and prepared Chef Lea and Wendy to look their best under the harsh camera lights. Natalie Wi of Allure West Studios was on hand to document the happenings (she photographed all of these images) and take her stunning food shots. For more details, images, recipes…and soon the Newbisode…go to Nesting Newbies. Bon Appetweet ™ – JM

Click on the Image to See the Flash Slideshow

Click the image above to view the flash slideshow.

I am proud to say that I hold the privilege of photographing the 2nd Quarter BAWN Event at the majestic Guild Hall at Piedmont Community Church. The venue itself was breathtaking and once all the pros had done their work, the grounds were transformed into a magical wedding venue.

As a wedding photographer, I just love the different angles, perspectives and rooms that are all within a few steps of each other at Guild Hall. At Guild Hall, you have the luxury of convenience and the opportunity for each part of your wedding to look like it was shot at a different location.

So what is BAWN you ask? BAWN (The Bay Area Wedding Network) is a group of wedding and event professionals who wish to promote growth in the wedding industry through education, networking and building strong relationships among peers. BAWN events are for the benefit of the wedding and event industry and are produced by Marie Rios, Owner Creative Occasions and Gwen Helbush, President of Where to Start, Inc. Wedding & Event Management. BAWN events are intended to provide networking and educational opportunities, as well as, the opportunity to build and strengthen relationships between event professionals.

The Team

the photographer | natalie wi | allure west studios

the planners | marie rios | creative occasions // gwen helbush | where to start, inc. wedding & event management

the invitation | sabrina moyle | hello!lucky

the calligraphy | michele papineau | papineau calligraphy

the rentals | jennifer khan | blue water party rentals

the piano | frederick hodges | frederick hodges music productions

the band | benjamin wanicur | golden gate jazz trio

the videography | jonathan metcalf | metmedia creative digital video & multimedia

the chocolates | deirdre stewart | scharffen berger chocolate maker & dagoba organic chocolates

the service staff | susan sheinkopf | the party staff, inc.

the sound | michael peterson | weddings with michael peterson

the beverage service | madeleine amodeo | best beverage catering

the furnishings & floral design | selyca medford | blueprint studios, the studio collection

the lighting | megan woods | enhanced lighting & sound

the lunch & service | alicia slater | global gourmet catering

the venue | carol leslie special events | guild hall at piedmont community church

the staff | kristjan gavin | in good company meetings & events

the sanctuary florals | orna maymon | ornamento, llc

the centerpieces in guild hall | paige benjamin | passiflora designs

the centerpieces in the courtyard | constance shrecengost | sunshine flowers

the cake | judy chadwick | true confectionse cake | the display cake was a four-tier square cake finished in ivory fondant and decorated with white chocolate draping edged in copper luster dust and white chocolate roses edged in claret luster dust with dark chocolate leaves | cake was chocolate butter cake filled with Espresso Bavarian Cream and Bittersweet Chocolate Ganache

the education | shawn jackson, esq. | california business development center

Here are a few of my favorite pages from a hard-cover coffee table book that I designed for Carolyn Kearney and Mike Stone’s wedding.

I asked Carolyn and Mike to to send me some of their thoughts and feelings from their wedding day and I incorporated those quotes into an elegant coffee table book that supplements their feature wedding album.

On the day of the wedding, I met Carolyn in her hotel room at the Ritz-Carlton, Pentagon City, Arlington, Virginia and was absolutely floored at how beautiful she looked.  She had her hair and nails done at Elizabeth Arden’s Red Door on Pentagon Row and was preparing to slip on an exquisitely feminine strapless Melissa Sweet at Kleinfeld A-Line, French Lace wedding dress.

Bella Figura’s Classic Calligraphy Eco-Friendly Wind-Powered Letterpress Invitations and delicate florals from Brookhill Florist fit perfectly with Carolyn’s historical D.C. style wedding.

Carolyn and Mike were married at St. Peter’s Catholic Church on Capitol Hill and after the ceremony, we closed off C Street at 3rd and took some surreal shots of Carolyn and Mike and their wedding party with the Capitol as their backdrop.

We headed over to Belle Haven Country Club in Alexandria, Virginia for the reception.  Here, Carolyn and Mike were led into the cocktail hour by a bagpiper and were introduced for the first time as husband and wife on the terrace overlooking the green.

After their indulging in their delectable Alexandria Pasty Shop wedding cake, Carolyn and Mike left through a gate of sparklers and paused for a romantic embrace before whisking away in their getaway car.

We photographed Carolyn’s brother’s wedding 5 years ago at the Ritz-Carlton at Tyson’s Corner, Virginia and since their wedding, are proud to say that the Kearneys have been part of our extended family.  We love watching their family grow and are honored to be a part of it as it happens.

Ellen + Dane were introduced to us by Jean Marks of Jean Marks Weddings and when we met them, we could see that they were true soul mates by the way they smiled at each other.

And when we photographed their wedding, they embraced us that warmth and kindness.

Ellen + Dane began their day at the luxurious Mediterranean-style Hotel Los Gatos, which sits at the foot of the Santa Cruz Mountains and when I arrived on the scene, Shawn Cavlan of Shawn Cavlan Beauty Co. was applying the final touches of Ellen’s makeup.  Ellen was simply luminous as she bathed in the warm sunlight streaming in through the large windows of the Vasona Room.

While Ellen’s girls were helping her primp, Dane was greeting his family and best friend, who had just flown in from Canada for his wedding and after a few family portraits at the hotel, friends and family left for the church and we went to Vasona Lake with Ellen + Dane for a creative, private portrait session.

When our session wrapped, we progressed forward to the Prince of Peace Lutheran Church in Saratoga, where Ellen’s uncle married Ellen + Dane.  After the ceremony, guests made their way to the newly remodeled, contemporary Plumed Horse in downtown Saratoga for an intimate dinner celebration.

Ellen + Dane were surrounded by their closest family and friends on their wedding day and we thank them and their guests for their warm reception.  We’re proud to have been asked to be a part of their amazing day and to have made such wonderful new friends.

Happy Valentine’s Day, Ellen + Dane!

The Team

the planner | jean marks | jean marks weddings

the invitation| out of the envelope

the makeup artist | shawn cavlan | shawn cavlan beauty co.

the flowers | susan groves | in full bloom

the hotel | hotel los gatos

the church | prince of peace lutheran church

the restaurant | the plumed horse

the cake | the plumed horse