Kelly said the follow:) Dennis and I actually went to Middle School and two years of High School together, although I don’t really remember him in high school, and he loves to tease me about that. We went off into the big world and did our own things only to find each other on Facebook fourteen years later. We would make comments on each others statuses and such until finally he sent me a message. He asked if I wanted to get together with him and some other people as, a friend of ours from middle school was coming into town. Well, that fell through but, Dennis still asked me to meet with him. And that night, there was an instant connection.
I remember walking up to the restaurant, I was really nervous for some reason, and when I walked through the doors and he gave me a hug… I got butterflies. Weirdest feeling ever. I remember he was wearing a blue polo shirt and he smelled so good! Dennis and I had such a good time catching up on the lost years. It was so relaxing being around him, conversation was so easy and I loved talking to him. I remember I did not want the night to end so, I asked Dennis if he’d like to go to a little pub I knew about and he said yes. We hung out there for a while longer and it was great.

Dennis still doesn’t believe me but, I knew immediately there was more to him and I than just a friendship. I told my Mom the very next day that I just knew I was going to marry Dennis one day, I knew he was the one.
Dennis and I have done quite a bit of traveling together. We love to go to concerts together. We have traveled to Tallahassee, Saint Augustine, Orlando, Fort Lauderdale and stayed right in Palm Beach for some of the most memorable concerts. We’ve been to a few football games together, my favorite was the FSU vs UF game in Tallahassee in 11/2010… amazing! We’ve been to Jacksonville for a nice little weekend get away. We took a trip to Ichetucknee and Ginnie Springs for a nice relaxing week. We love to spend time together.

Dennis always has surprises up his sleeve, which I will tell you I love. One of the things that I love about Dennis is how he makes me feel special… He truly listens to me when I tell him about my favorite band, song, ice cream or candy and then surprises me. When we were first dating Dennis surprised me and took me to see one of my favorite bands, Creed.

 A month later he surprised me again and took me to see the lead singer of Creed, Scott Stapp, in a solo performance. He surprised me at our wedding… twice! The first Halloween Dennis and I were together we went to a Halloween Party all dressed up. Towards the end of the evening we had cupcakes and on his cupcake was a Pumpkin ring. He “proposed” to me that night and I’ve kept the pumpkin ring as my first engagement ring. At our wedding when we exchanged rings he had his Best Man give him the pumpkin ring as my wedding band. It totally surprised me and everyone said I laughed really loud. Then during the reception, towards the end, I was taken outside to take some “sister” photos with my sister, Lynsey. Meanwhile, Dennis was setting up another surprise for me. Dennis and I say that if we had been at the same high school, we would have gone to the senior prom together. Well, we finally went to the senior prom together. Dennis made a banner and put it on a prop he’d made that said “Lake Worth Trojans Prom ’99.” It was awesome! And we were the Prom King and Queen… with crowns and all! I love how thoughtful he is!

Kelly Continues about the engagement…Our engagement was amazing. Dennis took me to Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure in Orlando to celebrate my 30th birthday. Dennis and I got all dressed up and went out to dinner at “Copper Canyon Grill.” After dinner Dennis gave me a card… I thought it was a birthday card but, it was actually an engagement card. Inside it said, “There is nothing more perfect in this world than us. How would you feel about updating your relationship status??? Kelly Kirk is engaged to Dennis Lockhart ” After I stopped screaming “Yes, Yes, Yes” he asked me to marry him and of course I said “Yes.” 

Vendors:

Photographer (us) www.MarkDickinsonPhotography.com

Wedding Planner: Lindsay Rachael Events

Venue: Tavern and Chapel in the Garden

Cake & Dessert Table: The Pastry Studio

Florals: Zahn’s Flowers & More Inc.

DJ: DJ Man Joe

Caterer: River City Catering

Hair & Makeup: Studio Sloan

Rings: Zales

Mary wore a beautifully custom made dress and had these unique red Nine West gem studded stilettos

Mary’s bulldog, Savannah, joined in the getting ready process, wearing her “Best Pet” bow. Mary also wore her grandmother’s ring in remembrance of her

The Nine West shoes were a little too high for the dress, so for the wedding ceremony Mary donned these gorgeous red  heels

Forget a regular limo, with a wedding party of 21, they hired a limo BUS!

The ceremony took place at the Catholic Church of the Epiphany

Reception took place at Sunset Harbor Yacht Club in Daytona. Floral arrangements were provided by Rachael

The photo-booth is always a fun place to take pictures of people taking pictures!

http://www.mdpstore.com/Other/blogss/i-RNQx2r3/0/XL/IMG9660-Edit-XL.jpg

They had a present for the guest who traveled the furthest to be at their wedding. A moose for the guest from Alaska!

Mary and her father spent lots of time together eating ice cream sundaes, so they had a sundae bar!

Guess the song

Just a little friendly competition for the bouquet

Derick and Mary are huge football fans, so when DJ Man Joe told Derick that he had a special song for the garter removal, he played the ESPN Monday Night Football Theme, and the crowd went wild!

I wish I could post all the photos from this part of the night, the guy who caught the garter did a whole dance for the bridesmaid who caught the bouquet. It was priceless

Vendors:

Photographers: Mark Dickinson Photography (us!)

Hair & Makeup Artist: Studio Sloan

Ceremony Venue: Catholic Church of the Epiphany

Reception Venue: Sunset Harbor Yacht Club

Cake: Publix Bakery

DJ: The DJ Man

Florist: Rachael Kasie Designs

Gorgeous Red Shoes: Nine West

Macy get's her hair done at Beautiful Hair Color Studio next to Tavern and Chapel in the Garden

Looking through the window into the bridal suite in Agatha's Cottage

I'm not sure if anyone has ever asked the bride to sit on the Chapel's alter.... but I did!

Wedding party is Vouging it up

Groomsmen standing on miniature train tracks at Tavern and Chapel in the Garden

Making good use of the swing hanging from a tree in the middle of the garden

I love the glamorous black and white reception decorations

Another stunning cake by the wonderful Pastry Studio!

Hair: Beautiful Hair Color Studio

Tuxedo Rental: Men’s Warehouse

Catering: Puff N’ Stuff

Ceremony Location: Chapel in the Garden

Reception Venue: Tavern in the Garden

DJ: Pyramid Disc Jockeys

Cake: The Pastry Studio

This is my family: Two girls, age “almost 5″ and “2 and a half”. This is what we normally look like. (Well, normally my husband is making faces at the camera too, but I threatened him before the shoot and he behaved himself.)

First thing is first…. clothes! Before any family shoot you have to plan on what to wear. The best choices are sleeved shirts in a matching color range. Horizontal stripes tend to make a person look wider (and yet I still wear them). Also shirts with logos and huge graphics tend to be distracting. Whites can wash a person out and make them look paler than they really are. Finding the right color to suit every member of your family, and then finding the perfect middle ground between dressy and casual can be quite a challenge! Trust me, I understand your pain when you ask me what to wear for your family photos!

To try to make the experience less painful for my husband, I let him pick the color and the style of his shirt. It seemed easy enough, as he picked black. I wanted a button down long sleeve dress shit, and he wanted a “classic ribbed T-shirt”. I spent 2 days looking for a “nice” T-shirt. They do not exist! So as I would go along I would take snapshots with my cell phone and SMS them to my husband while he was at work so that he would be happy with the choice I made. All the polos were out. Finally I sent him a photo of a Hollister dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up. Classy! He liked that, but then I was on the hunt for a nice black one that wasn’t too plain or too crazy… and NO horizontal stripes!

Then onto the kids. There were no dressy black shirts anywhere to be found, especially in the spring. And when I did find some, they were all too big. So I ended up going with a classic black T-shirt from none other than Target. But, to tie it all together I bought my family matching Converse All Stars. It’s a family tradition that my husband and I started when we wore Chucks to our wedding reception. So I bought the girls their first matching pair! If all else fails, I knew we would get a cute picture of all of our feet together.

Actually, before clothing you might want to figure out your location, since it can set the theme of your clothes. Since I am a local photographer I have shot everywhere around here. Every location I could think of was, “I photographed so and so there”. So I pretty much had my heart set on Gaylord Palms in Orlando. I have only photographed one family there, and I loved every moment of it. I think I could have spent all day there. The atriums at Gaylord Palms are set up to represent the natural themes of Florida. There are over 4 acres of gardens, waterways, and themed settings perfect for family photos. Keep an eye out on the blog for another post featuring Gaylord Palms as a great place for families, seniors, and wedding photos!

So I guess I should talk about my experience ON the photo-shoot right? Being a photographer you’d probably assume that I would direct, worry about lighting, poses, and angles. I thought I would too. But I trust Mark implicitly to get the shot, and make everyone look their best. The hardest part was the kids. I always tell moms, “Don’t stress out, just keep smiling and looking at the camera and we’ll get the shot.” As a mom, it was so hard NOT to stress out over the kids! They weren’t listening to Mark, they were being completely oblivious, and when they would look at the camera they would either pout or make faces at it. So then because they weren’t paying attention, I wasn’t paying attention, and I was afraid it was just going to be one big mess. But as you can see from the pictures, Mark and Lindsay were both patient and kept the kids interested, laughing, and having fun. We got the shot!

So was it worth all the planning, stress, and traveling? YES! Here are some tips and tricks on how I made the whole “ordeal” into a family experience.

1. Keep everyone in the loop: Take suggestions on clothes, locations, poses etc, and make everything a family decision… not just a “mom wants us to take pictures again”

2. Give a little: Make your husband or your kids comfortable and excited by letting them pick out what they would like to do. My kids were super excited to finally get a pair of shoes to “match Mommy and Daddy.” And at the end of the session we had promised them we’d take them to their favorite restaurant if they were good. (If you are wondering it is the T-Rex Cafe in Downtown Disney)

3. Pick a photographer that you and your family are comfortable with. I’ve done the whole Sears and JCPenny portraits. And although they are great for those monthly kid shots to get in and out and over with, half the time my kids were scared to death of the photographer and ended up crying most of the session. I picked Mark because my kids love him and Lindsay and I knew they could round  them up and keep them interested in having their picture taken. Also Josh and I trust them as artists, so that we didn’t have to worry about how we looked. A comfortable and relaxed family, means a comfortable and relaxed portrait. The experience is half of the portrait. You could have a great photo hanging on your wall, but if the experience was bad to get that shot…. that is all you are going to remember when you look at it!

4. Buy the larger package: You might think an hour or an hour and a half is “good enough”. But the more time you take, the more time you HAVE. You have more time to relax, get in the groove, and experiment with different angles, locations, and ideas.

5. Be part of the shoot: Make suggestions! I don’t mean telling the photographer how to do his job, but “Hey we should sit on that”. If you don’t speak up, you might not get the shot that you envision. I don’t mean take over the photo session, but don’t be timid either. If you see something you like, and are excited about it, you are more likely to get the shot that you want!

6. Plan ahead on prints: For my family session I know what I want to buy at the end. I am getting huge gallery wraps: One for my living room wall, one for my mom’s anniversary present, and one for my mother-in law’s anniversary present. If you go into a session knowing what walls in your house you want to buy prints for, it makes the whole experience more fun (at least for me) because then it is like a treasure hunt, to get the shots to fill up those walls!

7. Thank everyone involved. Reward your kids, and most of all reward your significant other for smiling for 2 hours straight and help deal with the kids when they were acting up.

-Written by: Daniella Koontz

Nathali was a perfect model who knew how to position her body, look into the camera, and smile. She had creative ideas and locations in mind, which made her a cinch to photograph! Victor was wearing his Dress Blues and looked stunning. The entire wedding ceremony was in Portuguese. Although we don’t know what exactly was being said you could see and feel the love during those moments. The bride and groom were both beaming with joy as they exchanged their vows.

After the ceremony we took Nathali and Victor to the European Village for their romantic portraits. All the people clapped and cheered and congratulated the two on their marriage. We walked around, sat at a little restaurant outside, and took photos by a fountain.

When we returned to the reception hall, the bridal party was introduced and Nathali and Victor were introduced into a unity candle ceremony and then their first dance. Nathali and Victor preformed a beautiful waltz, and she looked like a princess! It was magical and romantic.

The evening ended with the cake cutting, and lots of dancing. Then when the bride and groom exited the building they were greeted by all the guests blowing bubbles! It was a beautiful wedding with a beautiful ending to the night.

-Written by: Daniella K.

We started off on the bikes. We had them hold hands as they were riding with each other.

Then we walked down to the dunes and took some silhouettes with the beautiful setting sun.

After a few more shots, they changed into their swim gear for a surfing session with the underwater housing! The water was could and the waves were rough, but we got a few cute shots out in the water.

Last but not least, we took a few more romantic shots sitting on the beach with their surfboards and then walking back to the car.

The details of the wedding was so cute, so intimate and fun. Heather was getting ready when I arrived with hair and makeup just getting started. The tavern and chapel in the garden offers such a beautiful shoot for photography. Deep colors to match the fall time wedding. Heather was up in the master bedroom and I started shooting the details of the wedding, their cake was being delivered by Pasty Studio and things were beginning to take shape. The chairs and ceremony at the gazebo were set. The tables for their open air reception were being placed. I met with mark as he arrived and shook his hand..his brothers hand actually. Not knowing he had a twin brother, it gave me a laugh. We started a few shots of him putting his jacket on and in the snow white cottage with the groomsman/bestman CUTE! The brides portraits before were so fun, doing the details of her dress, jewelry, flowers and shoes is always a beautiful capture!

The ceremony was about to begin and you could see the anticipation in Mark’s face as it started. His expression was so full of a smile. As the ceremony began the bridesmaid walked down the path from the cottage. As Heather emerged you could see the smile tighten up and get bigger. Mark got his first glimpse and it was beautiful. It was a beautiful exchange of vows and they definitely showed their love for each other.Their kiss sealed the deal and it was official! Wiley, the minister made the send off complete and had made this couple married. On to the photos after…

It was a bit late for photos but that made the lighting in the port orange sky just that much more beautiful. The sun had already set and we shot the photos on the back side of the Agatha’s Cottage (front side to riverside drive).The reception was being finalized with the meals being prepped during cocktail hour and finishing up with photos a little earlier let the night begin! Dancing fun, family! It’s what it’s all about! DJ Man Joe rocked the house that night!

Congrats to Mark and Heather and the family! It was a wonderful time to be with you on your day!

]]> http://markdickinsonphotography.com/blog/2010/12/a-beautiful-intimate-ceremony-and-reception-at-the-tavern-and-chapel-in-the-garden-central-florida-wedding-photographer-in-port-orange/feed/ 1 http://markdickinsonphotography.com/blog/2010/10/shelley-and-troy-are-engaged-mdp-to-capture-the-photos-at-sugar-mill-gardens-in-port-orange-daytona-beach-engagement-photographer-mark-dickinson/ http://markdickinsonphotography.com/blog/2010/10/shelley-and-troy-are-engaged-mdp-to-capture-the-photos-at-sugar-mill-gardens-in-port-orange-daytona-beach-engagement-photographer-mark-dickinson/#comments Thu, 21 Oct 2010 13:54:25 +0000 Mark http://markdickinsonphotography.com/blog/?p=1112 Congrats to Shelley and Troy, Their Engagement pictures at the gardens went very well! We spent a nice time walking around the park finding some locations for their portraits. Shelley and Troy had what seemed to be a fun time in the Garden. I always enjoy photos, family, weddings, engagements here in the Sugar Mill.

Shelley and Troy Engagement Photos in Daytona Beach

LOVE! No matter what. I love my job, and I hope the photos show that. There’s soo many ways to show love and these two know how. The gentle touch, holding hands, and just being around each other shows it. I can not wait for their wedding tonight. Currently we are on our way back from tampa with Brooke and Eunice’s wedding, and I am working on “social side” of the photography business. I get to blog for 3hours! But there is endless to write about. Photography in Daytona Beach can be difficult at times, but there are so many places to do engagement shoots that It doesn’t really bother me. WEddings are the same, each place has it’s own beauty. Tavern and the Chapel in the garden is their wedding location. I am excited to see Katie and Kellie again since they are so sweet! I wish there were more time in a day to read, But let’s look at pics! here’s a few.

Shelley and Troy | Modern Engagement Photos

Sugarmill Gardens Engagement Photos

Shelley and Troy | Love and Intimacy

The girl in the red dress | Contemplating life | Enjoying the moment (C) Mark Dickinson Photography

However, the shot really made me smile. I didn’t use photoshop on this, a little post processing with other software, but nothing destructive. We will be offering trash the dress shoots here at this location. The trash the dress shoot will include underwater photography, CLS, and full frame shooting. The price? Priceless. These memories will be locked in time. Beautiful for submission to any magazine, or even just for a nice canvas on the wall! Want to book a time or date, email me, mark@markdickinsonphotography.com and visit our site and leave a contact form. Sign up for our facebook fan page!