Destination Wedding: Miami, Florida

Well, the contest has been a huge hit so far! And the response to our booth has been great! Everyone seems to love the fact that our booth isn't just pipes and drapes... we have an ACTUAL VINTAGE PHOTOBOOTH!!

Anyways, Photobooths aside, today I left -2 degree Cleveland for an awesome wedding in beautiful Miami. A great friend of mine, Mark Davidson, booked a wedding down there and asked if I could come along and 2nd shoot for him! What an awesome opportunity for any photographer!

Marisa and I have been truly blessed here in Cleveland to find ourselves in a market where there is such unity amongst our competing vendors! Mark and I were good buddies years before either of us were interested in photographing weddings, but since Imagen's start we have really found great friendships in some of our best competition. For example, Linczak Photography, Easywind Studios, and Sam Carrington, just to name a few, are all great photographers that have been so kind and open with Marisa and I. It's great to see young studios banding together to stay afloat, especially when the economy is down. It's such a shame to see studios out there that aren't connecting with the other photographers in the area! We have such an advantage in the industry when we work together, bouncing ideas off one another and critiquing each other's work.

Yesterday I met with Valarie Kirkbride, an amazing wedding planner in Northeast Ohio. We sat at Starbuck's and just chatted for a while about how we got started in our industries. Valarie got started planning weddings in Southern California. Her portfolio contains some amazing weddings at huge mansions and private estates like what you see on MTV Cribs! I walked away from our meeting realizing how much I could really learn from a planner like Val. She has since had amazing success here in Cleveland, recently winning the Best Wedding Planner in Cleveland award, amongst many other accomplishments. These kinds of relationships coupled with top notch products and excellent customer service are what I believe will keep Imagen at the top of its class.

Well, Marky Mark and I need to jump on this flight.. I will be posting some shots from Miami tomorrow, so check back for those and keep up the voting!