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A Day at the Beach…

…an engagement photo session with a super fun couple + great new beach for us to explore + beautiful sunset = very happy photographers.  Check it!

Gladys & Kevin

There was so much perfection, excitement and beauty (with a little bit of serendipity mixed in for good measure) in the 2 days we spent with Gladys & Kevin up at The Amelia Island Ritz Carlton that I barely know where to begin.  I can say, though, that these two definitely knew what they wanted and had their own very fun way of doing things.  They split their wedding up into two parts:  a Formal Reception/Birthday Party for Glady’s mom on Saturday night, followed by a morning Wedding Ceremony & Brunch.  Both events were, on all accounts, stunning.

Here are a few shots from Saturday’s reception:

It was particularly fun to see these smiling faces all night, belonging to Eric (the hotel’s wedding coordinator), and one of his (always friendly and helpful) caterers.

After a long fun night, I wasn’t sure how they were going to be awake and fresh in time for their 6a.m. SUNRISE photo session!!!!  Six seems crazy early to me, but they’re accustomed to waking up at 4a.m., so when we met them on the beach you wouldn’t even know to look at them that they had (at best) 5 hours of sleep.  When we got to the beach, it was still dark and the moon was in the sky.  Not 10 minutes later, it was bright enough to take pictures.  That’s how dawn goes!  Here’s how the day went…

I mean…wow – they were just SO gorgeous together.  (Oh, and did I mention that the bride’s dress (both of them!) was a Monique Lhuillier?  eeEEee!)  After their photo session on the beach, I went back up to their room for some detail shots…

…and then it was time to head back down to the beach for their ceremony!  The thing that struck me most was how casual and relaxed everything was, while still maintaining such an amazing elegance.  Kevin escorted Gladys during the processional to the ceremony location, and the setting was breathtaking:

The brunch was held in the upscale, modern setting of Salt, the restaurant at the Ritz:

An amazing couple of days, and I can’t imagine a better place or people with whom to spend them.  Thank you to Gladys & Kevin for allowing us to be a part of this incredible event, and for inspiring me to actually start that photo project I told you about!  (more info on that to follow!!)

Hida & Eric

I wish…WISH…I had the technology to have been able to record the phone conversation I had with Hida the morning of her wedding.  I don’t think I’ve *ever* heard ANYone as excited as she was.  It was awesome and hilarious and wonderful… just like Hida & Eric themselves.  The entire day was spent with the two of them beaming at each other, and it was infectious.  We had a blast!

Here are the specs…

Locations:
Pre-Ceremony:  Renaissance Vinoy
Ceremony & Reception: The Museum of Fine Arts

Coordinator:
Elena C Jones:  www.elenasweddings.com

Makeup Artist:
Colors by Linny:  www.cblmakeup.com

Caterer:
Olympia:  www.olympiabakery.com

Florist:
Just Flowers by The Bride’s Bouquet 727.785.2562:  www.thebridesb.com

And now, some photos!

They decided to see each other before the ceremony for some photos!

The ceremony location was set up *beautifully*…HUGE hats off to everyone that worked on it!

The reception was done up beautifully, too…!

And, finally, since Hida insisted on getting a photo with every vendor she hired that she could find the day of the wedding, I present to you:  The CREW!  (some of them, at least!)

Thanks so much for the beautiful day, guys!  It was an honor to be a part of it.

The “Hyatt-Theater-Museum-River-Heights” Wedding

Also known as the “How Many Awesome Locations Can We Fit Into One Day Wedding”, and, finally, “Josh & Anndrea’s Wedding.”  What an amazingly crazy-beautiful day.  Here are the specs:

Locations:
Pre-Ceremony: Downtown Tampa Hyatt
Ceremony: The Tampa Theater
Formal Photos: the new Tampa Museum of Art
Reception: The Tampa Heights Armature Works building

Coordinators:
Maryann Ferenc & Ann Frechette of Mise En Place

And now…without further ado…some wedding photos!

First, the pre-ceremony:

Next up, the Ceremony, which was just hauntingly beautiful at the Tampa Theater:

After an afternoon break, we reconvened at the new Tampa Museum of Art for some photos and to meet the ferry that was to take us for a sunset cruise to the reception location:

The Tampa Heights building is a really great location because it’s so close to everything in Tampa, including the river, and it looks AWESOME inside.  Anndrea made it look even better with the paintings she hung as decoration that she actually painted *herself*.  (!!!)

The music was incredible as well.  I’ll update you when I get the info for these guys…

Our fearless coordinators who we adore so very much, Maryann & Ann from Mise en Place:

Not sure who these crazy people are, but the seem to show up on this blog pretty frequently…  (http://stehlikphotography.wordpress.com/2010/02/06/tessa & http://stehlikphotography.wordpress.com/2009/06/27/our-1st-green-wedding-adam-taryn)

Ahhhhhh, SUCH a blast.  Thank you guys for letting us be a part of it all!!

ECO.lution Recap!

ECO.lution this year (www.ecolutiontampa.com) completely blew away the previous years in scale and turnout.  We had such a wonderful time meeting everyone, and are so proud of all the hard work that Adam, Taryn and everyone from the Urban Charrette put into the festival.  Here are some highlights of the day!

It started off with the 2nd Annual Tampa Twilight Criterium  (www.tampacrit.com) races:

….after, the crowds were directed to the tents & food where the local vendors had set up:

We were given two tents to use, which were the first two in the photo below:

Two local artists (names & links to follow) set up a large canvas and allowed the visitors to paint on it.  These paintings will be exhibited around the county…

The artists I referenced above.  (the 2 in the center.)

Kids and pets were well represented!

…along with TBT*…

…Jessica from the NoHo Bistro (www.thenohobistro.com)…

…our most recent wedding couple, Josh & Anndrea, who were there fresh from their Honeymoon to support TIBA (www.tibatampa.org)…

…and many more of our favorite local businesses!  Even *our* pooch got in on the fun, as you can see in this photo that Paul’s begging me not to post…  :)

Like I said, a fabulous event.  Thanks so much to the Urban Charrette Team for all the hard work!!  Hope to see everyone out this Friday at Tre Amici @ The Bunker in Ybor City (www.yborbunker.com) for the Paint The Town Green kick-off party!  (www.ecolutiontampa.com/_pttg.php)

ECO.lution Fest Tomorrow!!

It’s that time of year again.  And if you think by “that time of year” I mean “the Stehlik’s running around frantically attempting to put together a visually impressive yet visitor friendly display at the very last minute to be ready for the ECO.lution Fest tomorrow” – you’d be right!

Our wonderful friends at the Urban Charrette have once again graciously allowed us to participate in the event this year (http://ecolutiontampa.com) and we’re so excited that we get to have TWO tents!!  One for Stehlik Photography, and one to highlight the project that we’re working on along with the Urban Charrette that I’ve mentioned here before, “Faces of the Community.”  (see photo below)

It is going to be such a wonderful day tomorrow with beautiful weather, live music including some our favorite local musicians (Shane Meade & the Sound myspace.com/shanemeade & Audrey Lee Johnson www.audreyleejohnson.com), wine tasting, green products and more. 

We hope to see you all there tomorrow at Lykes Gaslight Park from 11a.m. – 9p.m.!!!

The Beauvilles

When Shawn Kyle of the band The Beauvilles asked for us to shoot his band photos, I was honored and very, very excited.   The Beauville’s music video for their song “Snow” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ruLI2eK14pA) won the 2009 Sunscreen Film Festival’s “Best Music Video” and they have been invited *back* to South by Southwest again this year – which is just awesome and I’m so happy for them.  I’m especially hopeful that they become wildly successful so that I can sell tickets to our back yard, where we shot some of the photos below.  $10 bucks to walk on the same dead grass that they did – any takers?  Buy a ticket *before* they become wildly famous and we’ll give you half off.   It’s a steal!  ;p

Thanks to Shawn, Max, Jason & Pryscila for a great time.  You guys, quite literally, rock.

Tessa

2010 is shaping up to be the year of baby photos!  We’re absolutely loving it, especially since we’re already so fond of the parents of these babies!  Check out the latest!!

Nikolas

So, here’s a fun story for you.  Once upon a time, two awesome people named April & Dmitriy decided to hire us for their wedding photography.  We had immediately hit it off during their photography consult (which, to this day holds the record for the longest lasting consult we’ve had.  In fact, they stayed so long, we ended up ordering a pizza.)  and knew these guys were something special.  We were right, and since their wedding in 2005 (which held the distinct privilege of being a “hurricane wedding”…but that is an entirely different yet equally awesome story) we have become, like, total BFF’s.  Which is why I feel completely entitled to state that, while there is no blood relationship, their new baby, Nikolas, is TOTALLY our nephew-type-person and we were *thrilled* to get to take his very first baby photos.  He is, as you can see in the photos below, completely and utterly adorable.

He gets that from my side of the family.

CONGRATULATIONS, April & Dmitriy!!!

Cassandra & Tim

I *love* it when people find new and awesome places to get married!!  This very fun, Ybor-centric couple decided to use the beautiful Teatro Restaurant in Ybor City as the location for their ceremony & reception.  The day started off with an outdoor photo session before the ceremony, which included the group photos, as well as a fun walk through Ybor on our way to the restaurant.

The tiled ceilings and huge windows at Teatro provided such a beautiful and dramatic backdrop for the ceremony…

How do you fit all the wedding guests AND the sign over Centro Ybor into one photo?  Easy!  Stand at the top of a very tall stairwell…  :)

Since the ceremony and reception were to be in the same room, the ceremony set up was quickly broken down while we were shooting outside, and, voilà!  We have a reception!

What’s a wedding in Ybor with out a cigar roller?  :)

This couple’s story resounded so much with us.  The majority of Tim’s family are in Australia, where he is from, and were unable to attend the wedding.  We had the same situation at our wedding, since Paul’s family was in the Czech Republic when we got married.  But much has changed since we got married back in ’98, and because of the awesomeness that is the internet, the ENTIRE WEDDING was streamed live over the internet, and the family & friends that had gathered in Australia were able to to type their messages of congratulations on the chat screen that was set up at this awesome little video/chat/streaming station that they had set up.  Watching this, of course, made me totally misty – what a wonderful thing that they did!  It was two continents joined for one very awesome celebration.  :)

Congrats, Tim & Cassandra!  You guys have been SO much fun to get to know.  :)

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