Today I had the privilege of attending a luncheon hosted by Chicago Social Bride & the fabulous staff at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Chicago. This event hosted celebrity wedding planner Mindy Weiss. She is considered probably one of the top wedding planner in the nation. She has planned for numerous celebrities including Andre Agassi, Gwen Stefani, Christina Aguilera, Heidi Klum to name a few. She also planned the biggest wedding of 2007 in Tony Parker & Eva Longoria. Bob & Dawn Davis were the photographers of that event and they soon became good friends with Mindy. Since I knew Bob & Dawn were going to be there, I decided to go there to meet and befriends some people in the wedding industry.

When I arrived at the hotel, I soon realized that I was like only one of the five guys in a room filled with ladies (I’m assuming most of them were wedding planners). I felt little out of place since I didn’t know anyone there, but fortunately I was able to sit with Bob & Dawn so it made breaking the ice a bit easier.

We enjoyed a delicious three course meal prepared by Ritz Carlton’s Executive Chef Mark Payne.

After the lunch, Mindy gave us a brief talk about what the latest trends are in the wedding industry and gave some helpful tips. Bob was quick to grab his camera to capture Mindy in action.

I didn’t shoot that many but I did manage to take one shot of Mindy speaking.

The flower decorations were amazing. I felt like I was at a wedding reception. It’s a no brainer because they were arranged by Jonathan Ryan from A Perfect Event.

She ended the talk with a Q&A session followed by signing copies of her new book: “The Wedding Book: The Big Book for Your Big Day”. (By the way, I highly recommend this book if you are a bride getting ready to plan your wedding!)

Here’s a photo of Mindy with her co-author Lisbeth Levine.

Bob, Dawn & I took some shots with her.


Even know Mindy is revered as the big celebrity planner, she was such a sweet person, down to earth, and easy to relate/talk to.

Bob & Dawn quickly showed the album design of Tony & Eva that they’ve been working on. She was delighted see the wonderful work that they had done!

I had such a great time there! I just wanted to give a big thanks and shout out to the wonderful PR staff at the Ritz Carlton for organizing this fabulous event. Julie Simon & Susan Maier did an amazing job!

And finally, after this luncheon, I met up with a talented photographer Gina DeConti from Imaginative Studios. She is a photographer based here in Chicago. i was first introduced to her by our mutual friend, Alice Chae. After corresponding few times over facebook, we finally got to meet up for coffee. We talked and got to know each other. She’s been in this industry for few years longer than I have so she had lot of cool tips and ideas. I learned alot from her! She is a super-talented, sharp, smart, and a great contributor in this industry. I’m glad we became friends and look forward to networking with other great photographers in this area.

Yesterday I had the privilege of hanging out Joe Buissink & Yervant – two of the top wedding photographers in the world. Joe was already named one in 2007 and it still baffles me that Yervant has not made that list. (That is another post in coming).

If you want to master your craft and be excellent at what you do, I believe you have to hang out with the best and be inspired and challenged by them. This Two-View Seminar was just that. I love Joe – every time I hear him talk, even though I am a guy, I just wanna get married right there on the spot. Yervant is such a fun and easy going person. Two of them gave us lot of inspirational tips and wisdom that were filled with laughter and tears.

We even got to observe a live shooting demonstration (thanks to Kelly Campbell – a beautiful model who came to model for us – an entry about her will come soon) and learn some amazing “how-to” photoshop tips from Yervant.

It was a great day to network with fellow photographers from this area as well. Some of the workshop attendees from Vegas Love Story came from far away (Kym from Philly, Jen from Michigan & Morgan from Indiana) to hang out with Dawn & Bob, Yasmin, Vergil, James Kim, Ed Weiland and myself. I love these gatherings because we get to meet new friends and catch up with the old. It also reminds me how blessed we are to be in this business – having fun and doing what we love for our profession.

Here are some images from the day. Putting this collage brought back memories of traveling with Bob & Mike back in Jan – Feb. Good times!!!

Yervant & Joe demonstrating their shooting technique at the beautiful Hilton-Chicago hotel

Vegas Love Story Reunion (with featured guest Joe Buissink & Yervant) (missing James Kim)

Yesterday my buddy David Jay came into town to demo his upcoming website software called ShowIT Sites.

I don’t know how to say it, but he’s got something here that will revolutionize the way we showcase our work for all the photographers in this industry. ShowIT Sites will launch in couple of weeks and it will take this industry by storm! As a former web & graphic designer, this application has everything I’ve been wanting for in creating and customizing my own website without having to worry about programming and/or coding. I cannot wait to start using this!

So I picked him up from his hotel and we got to cruise around the city and chill for a bit before our meeting. Here’s some photos from our adventure:

We wanted to get some light snack before dinner so I took him to one of Chicago’s finest spots: Maxwell’s street polish near Halsted & Roosevelt. I can’t recall how many years of my life I’ve probably taken away by eating all the greasy dogs here but it is so dang good. I think DJ agrees!

Who needs Vegas when we have the Vegas Showgirls in town? Good times!

Random shot of chicago…

This dude looks like a character straight out of Star Wars – minus the costume…

Hello Mr. Bean!

Here’s a funny story. So DJ & I are walking and this guy honks at us and pulls over. I thought it was just a friend of mine that I haven’t seen in long time that recognized me to say hi or something. Turns out he (Greg Allen) is a photographer from London in town to shoot a wedding. He is a huge fan of DJ. Greg told us that just the other day, he said to himself that if he ever ran into DJ, he will personally thank him for all the impact he’s made in his life. Lo and behold, he spots DJ walking on the streets of Chicago! Talk about a serendipitous moment! But really it just goes to show you how much of an global impact DJ has in this industry. Love it!

Greg was a really nice guy. We invited him to the ShowIT Sites meeting and had a blast.

Priscilla O’Sullivan had a really cool studio in the city that she kindly opened up to allow us to have our meeting there. I was fascinated by this chandelier so I took this photo. I think I went blind for few seconds afterwards.

My buddy Morgan Matters claim that she took this photo but I don’t know…it’s hard to tell b/c we were sitting next to each other and she kept taking my camera away to take photos. But for what it’s worth, I took it!

Bob & Dawn joined us for the discussion. This is where Greg finally recognized who Bob & Dawn were. I think he was in awe for second Lady on the left, Shandon, is from Gainsville, FL! She just happened to be in town so gladly stopped by. Good times!

DJ talked about the software more…

His hand was getting tired writing down all our suggestions. He’s doing it right – getting feedbacks from photographers who will be using his software!

Bob is intrigued and fascinated by this software. Morgan on the other hand doesn’t think so. I caught her falling asleep here. LOL.

Here’s a group shot from everyone that joined us! From L to R: DJ, Barry, Me, Steve (owner), Morgan, Greg, Dawn, Shandon, Tom, Priscilla, Sally, and Bob. What an awesome night!

It was a reunion for old friends like this…

We did some serious networking – exchanged business cards….

But all in all had a great time. Meet Morgan – Dawn’s newly adopted daughter.

UPDATE: Here are a few more photos from today. We hung out with Priscilla’s cute daughter – Kailee! She was a bit shy at first but she warmed up to us quickly. What a cutie!

Then we hung out w/ Bob & Dawn’s family. Bob is always trying to teach us new things. Today we learned a bit about lighting using strobes.

Good times folks!

I was honored to spend a day with CJ & Hyuna – most down to earth, humble and kind folks I know. I’ve known CJ since college and I always remembered him as the nice guy. Though I haven’t heard from him in awhile, that characteristic about him hasn’t changed when I got to meet him and his fianceé last year. I can see why Hyuna fell in love with CJ. If you observe the way they interact, any one can obviously figure out that they were meant for each other.

Thank you guys for allowing myself, Duncan & David to spend the day with you. We had a blast despite the unusual cold weather in late March! Here are some moments from their day:

UPDATE: What a blast! We had so much fun at Tim & Eunice’s wedding. It was a beautiful wedding to say the least. In fact, I am not kidding when I tell you that everyone had a great time. Even Tomas Flint got down little bit with the bride! I have proof to show it:

Good times. I can’t wait to show more images from this wedding. For now, my bed is calling me. END UPDATE

What a beautiful day! Yesterday Tomas and I had so much fun in Central Park with Tim & Eunice. We are shooting their wedding tomorrow but we had a chance to do a quick eSession with them. They are such fun people and we had a blast getting to know them! Here are some shots we took around Central Park (which I didn’t realize it was so big). Then some of their friends came out and joined us for dinner at Patsy’s. A great Italian joint on 60th Ave! Good times.