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What a lovely couple to work with! I had a great time photographing Samantha and Sheldon’s South Florida wedding at Temple Beth Emet. Gabriela Sousa Events was hired to assist in planning and executing this event and Gabriela was a great help – wonderful to work with!

We started by getting some amazing photos at a private residence and nearby grounds at the Windmill Ranch Estate. This actually turned out to be a great place to shoot – with wonderful greenery, stables and some unique areas we were able to use as backdrops for our photos.

After the initial photo session, we headed over to Temple Beth Emet for the ceremony and main affair. A terrific team of vendors was assembled to put together a most beautiful and festive temple wedding. Renee Bouer of Haute Cuisine Catering handled all the food for the event. As always, she did a perfect job. Private Stock provided the music for the event and had guests on the dance floor all night! J. Morgan Flowers did a superb job to insure that the wedding looked absolutely amazing and Bombshell Makeovers made sure that the bride looked her prettiest.

South Florida is home to many temple weddings – and I have seen the gamut of these. What is very important to remember when planning a temple wedding is that in most cases people like to begin their wedding day at another location close by. It is usually somewhere where the bride (and perhaps groom) can get ready in separate rooms, but then come together for a “first look” before launching into taking the bride and grooms photos, family photos, bridal party pics etc.  While we can shoot some of this at a temple location, most people seem to prefer doing the bulk of the photos elsewhere. Of course, if photos under the chuppah are desired, then we would obviously be shooting those at the temple. Also, we can easily shoot many photos in the ballroom providing the décor is ready when we arrive. This is usually a great backdrop for a host of photos.

In this weddings case, they were able to start at a home that had adequate shooting areas in and around the development. This is not always the case. Many people must book hotel rooms and use the hotel’s lobby and grounds to shoot some of their photos before they arrive at the temple. With this in mind, you should carefully examine the hotel options in the area where you are getting married and try to pick a hotel that will suit all your needs. Price of course is usually a factor, but the look and ambiance of the hotel should also be a consideration if you are planning on doing a good number of your photos there. Also, the weather in South Florida can be unpredictable, so if it rains you want to make sure there is a decent alternative place to shoot in the location you pick. If not, plan on getting to the temple early and have your florist make sure the ballroom is ready so that you can use that for photos. After all, it is flowers that you paid for and arrangements you chose, so it really is an excellent place to use as a background for some of your photos.

We were thrilled to have been a part of this great wedding and would like to thank everyone involved for making it such a successful event!

It is very popular for the wedding huppa to be decorated with with the tallits from past relatives.  Click for more Tallit info