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Ella and Nick met in class during their sophomore year of college at the University of Michigan. He grew up in California and she grew up in New Jersey, so they met in the middle. Their first dance song was actually called “New York to California” and that’s kind of been their song since college.

BELOW:  I had this idea for a fun getting ready photo when I came into the bridal room and saw all the girls and the long mirror.   I wanted to get a cool photo of all the bridesmaids and the bride.  So I moved some furniture and had all the girls stack their heads together.  The difficulty with this shot was the fact that each girl had to stand behind the other.  Each bridesmaid had to lean forward more and more as the number of girls increased.  Finally the bridesmaid on the top had to stand on a small ladder.  Once I got the shot of the girls, I photoshopped them into the mirror which the bride (Ella) was posing with.

Now, they live in the suburbs of Philadelphia, but since their families and friends are all over the country anyway, they decided to have a destination wedding. Ella grew up visiting her grandpa in Boca, and she’s always loved it and thought it was beautiful, especially in the spring. Her grandpa was the one who told them about the Polo Club. They considered a few venues that they were already familiar with, but Ella’s grandpa urged them to fly down and see the Polo Club before making a decision. When she visited last spring, Ella immediately fell in love with the Polo Club and knew that she wanted to get married there.

BELOW: I shot this bridesmaids photo during the family and bridal party photo session.  Normally, I  start with a standard formal posed photo of the girls.  Then I move into a fun shot. For this photo, I had one of the girls stand back to back with another girl.  The idea is then when I ask them to hug, one girl pushes the backward girl into the bridesmaid next to her which causes her to loose her balance. She doesn’t fall because the girl next to her is holding her up with her back.  I love the fun loss of balance effect.  The fun aspect of doing a silly wedding shot keeps the photo session light hearted and everyone smiling.

ABOVE AND BELOW:

The first look with both the brides father and then the groom are often the highlight of the wedding day  When taking with wedding couples, often the issue of the first look comes up.  I will always recommend the bride and groom do a First Look. However, that does not mean that I can’t shoot a Boca Raton Wedding where the couple decide not to do the first look.  If the wedding takes place in a South Florida Church where the bride and groom are getting ready in separate locations and there is a large gap of time between the end of the ceremony and start of the reception than a first look may not be necessary.   Often when bridal couples think about the first look the assume the bride and groom first look.  However I have found that the first look between the bride and her father is much more emotional.

Whenever doing the bride and groom’s first look I always take some time to look around for the best spot to stage the special moment.   I love how the Polo Club has these  beautiful all white walls in the main clubhouse.  In my search for a fun way to make some awesome first look photos I decided I could get some cool emotional photos by putting the bride (Ella) and the groom (Nick) on each side of a dividing wall,  This gave me the opportunity to have the bride and groom hold hands while not seeing each other and for Ella to point to her groom as well.

BELOW:

The piano in the club house at The Polo Club worked really well for getting this cool double reflection during the first look.

BELOW:

The small pond behind the clubhouse at The Polo Club was a great place for this bride and groom photo.  Whenever photographing a South Florida Wedding I alway take into account the location of the sun.  By having the sun behind the behind the bride and groom I was able to get this beautiful soft lighting on her face.  The back lighting also created some extra drama which worked well in this photo.

Ella found Joni Scalzo of Your Special Day by Joni online when she was looking for wedding planners in Boca who were experienced doing destination weddings. Nick and Ella were both not familiar with the area or weddings in general, as they were the first of their friends to get married. Joni had amazing reviews and a ton of experience. Ella could tell from the first phone call that she was great at her job and that she could trust her. Ella also remembered she mentioned how much she loved animals, and that’s when I knew she was the one 🙂  It was also through Joni that Ella and Nick found us and after viewing our website, decided that they wanted to work with us.

ABOVE:  Ella sitting in the front walkway at The Polo Club of Boca Raton.

If you are recently engaged and planning a South Florida Wedding I would urge you to check out The Polo Club of Boca Raton.  There are no shortage of beautiful shooting locations at this South Florida Wedding Venue.  The entrance to the clubhouse is furnished with beautiful out door sofas and fire spewing water features.   Here I photographed our Bride Ella, sitting on one of the Polo Clubs Sofas.

BELOW:

Ella’s flowers were created by Exquisite Events in Boca Raton. Here is the link: Xquisite Events    

If you are looking for an amazing South Florida decor company you should check out Xquisite events.

BELOW:

This photo of the Bride and Groom at The Polo Club of Boca Raton was shot in the front walkway.  The walkway is lined with beautiful bamboo trees.  I shot this South Florida Wedding Photo using an infrared camera.  Infrared is really cool and I’m one of the few Boca Raton Photographers who offers Infrared Wedding Photography.

Ella’s hair and make-up was created by Kei Pucci of Lips to Lashes, the ceremony and cocktail hour music was provided by Master Musicians, Tropics Entertainment provided the main entertainment for the evening and the magnificent décor was created by Xquisite Events.

The ceremony was very short.  As a matter of face in all the weddings I have shot here in South Florida this was one of the shortest wedding ceremonies ever.  Even though it was short it was still beautiful.  Here Ella and Nick kiss half way down the aisle after their ceremony.

ABOVE

It’s always a treat when I have great wedding decor to photograph.   In the above photo I has Ella and Nick hold a long kiss with I shot this using a tripod.  I also used a cross filter on the lens when I shot this images.  I always love to experiment and trying out a cross filter was a really creative addition.

BELOW:

Ella and her wedding planner Joni from Your Special Day by Joni check out the finished ballroom at the Polo Club of Boca Raton.

Many large South Florida Weddings use a wedding planner to help with all the decisions that need to me made when planning a South Florida Wedding. Can you tell looking at this photo that Ella is really pleased with the final outcome of her wedding reception ballroom?   If you are looking for a South Florida Wedding Planner, here is the link to Joni’s website:

BELOW:  Often when I’m shooting parent dances I take a few seconds to get the attention of the bride and her father or groom and his mother for a quick, Looking at the camera photo.  However, sometimes the dance is too emotional,   I really don’t want to mess up a special moment being a photographer.  In this photo I just hung back and shot the bride and her father from a distance without any interference.

With such an outstanding team, Ella and Nick’s wedding was nothing short of a success! It was beautiful and festive with the guests receiving custom boxes of pizza at the end of the evening. I was thrilled to have the opportunity to work with this fabulous couple and of course, Joni Scalzo, who did a stellar job in planning this brilliant Palm Beach destination wedding.

ABOVE AND BELOW:

The kitchen staff at The Polo Club of Boca Raton made these mini pizzas as a going away gifts to all the wedding guests.

I hope you enjoyed looking at these photos from Ella and Nick’s wedding.  As a South Florida Wedding Photographer I have photographed weddings all over Southern Florida.  This Polo Club wedding was one of my favorites.  Not only were the Bride and Groom awesome to work with, their wedding planner, Joni did a great job planning this wedding.  Being based in Boynton Beach I find myself working in the Boca raton area often.   However, if you are planning your wedding in Palm Beach, Miami, The Keys or even Broward County I’m familiar with almost every wedding venue.  If you need help or suggestions in choosing the perfect South Florida Wedding Venue please don’t hesitate to call me at (561) 737-5561

The address of the Polo Club is: 5400 Champion Blvd, Boca Raton, FL 33496