Feature on Times Two Hearts wedding blog

Riviera Wedding Photography has been featured on Times Two Hearts wedding blog! Cute!

Happy New Year from Riviera Wedding Photography!

The old year has quickly passed away, giving its place to a new, better one.
I’m so excited to meet all the wedding couples in the upcoming season !

I would like to personally thank all of my past clients. You made me progress, you’ve shared your love and emotions with me and I’ve spent truly amazing moments at your wedding.

I have also observed one thing about my usual clients – they all care about a visual and technical quality of the photographs. It’s very important for me to know that all my efforts with the retouching and light setups are appreciated.

Some of the couples I’ve met are interested in photography as a hobby, some know very well what they’d like to obtain or show me the style that they favor the most. It’s not about the basic need of a photographer to document their wedding, they all want it to be perfect and memorable. This choice is as important for them as the choice of the wedding dress.

One of the biggest compliments I’ve heard from a groom is that I’m not over retouching my pictures. That’s why there’s a chance that in the future they won’t become unfashionable. There are trends in photography, each year brings new effects. Some of them are great for fashion but I think that a wedding is such an occasion which should be shown in a realistic way. I hope the year 2012 will bring me more destination weddings. I’m dreaming about photographing a Hindu wedding since a long time.

I already have some dates booked, so if you’d like to see whether I’m available for your wedding, please check out my calendar.

☆¸.•°*”˜˜”*°•.¸☆ ★ ☆¸.•°*”˜˜”*°•.¸☆
╔╗╔╦══╦═╦═╦╗╔╗ ★ ★ ★
║╚╝║══║═║═║╚╝║ ☆¸.•°*”˜˜”*°•.¸☆
║╔╗║╔╗║╔╣╔╩╗╔╝ ★ NEW YEAR 2012
╚╝╚╩╝╚╩╝╚╝═╚╝ ♥￥☆★☆★☆￥♥ ★☆ ♥♥♥

Aldona and Emmanuel – photos of the couple at Château de Crémat

Aldona and Emmanuel, the couple whose wedding I have photographed in September, have chosen my High Fidelity package.
Besides a full day wedding reportage, it includes a post-wedding photo shoot with the usage of the studio lights. I highly recommend to the couples to choose this option, if their budget allows. This way you can focus on your wedding day without the stress of rushing out from one task to another.  You can spend more time with your family, which in many cases comes from far away just for this special occasion.
After the wedding you can choose a dreamy scenery and concentrate purly on posing. These photos are often more creative, the photographer has more time to think about a perfect idea or composition. It doesn’t necessarily need to be a “trash the dress” photo shoot and you don’t have to do it right after the wedding neither. For instance, we’ve taken the pictures a month after the wedding, because it was hard for us to adjust our plannings and we were aiming for the perfect weather. We wanted to do them in a chic and fashionable style.

Aldona’s asked my favourite maquilleuse – Olga to do her make-up.
I’ve worked with Olga on various occasions and she makes a perfect stylist as well.

Now a little bit of history of the place itself, which I hope you’ll find amusing. Legend has it that the original Château de Cremat logo inspired Coco Chanel to create the famous Chanel logo (the two interlocking Cs). Coco herself reportedly spent a great deal of time at the Château which was owned by a friend of hers in the 1920s and supposedly asked the venue if she could use their logo for her new perfume. The CC logo can indeed be seen in many places around the venue, from the stained glass windows and the stone work to the door frames.
To read more about this beautiful castle, click here.

Aldona and Emmanuel – wedding in Vista Palace in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin

It was my second Polish wedding this season, which has made me very happy. I think if I’d organised a contest for the most beautiful bride, Aldona would be in the top 3:-) But the price would not only be given for her beauty but also for her intelligence. Aldona was a lawyer in one of the best international law firms before she met a young and handsome entrepreneur – Emmanuel. She has decided to put her career aside for some time to help Manu with his family’s business. They run a great traiteur and restaurant called Via Latina, located in the centre of Nice. I highly recommend it to anyone who’s passing by. You’ll find there all the authentic taste of Italy, fresh and delicious products, especially gniocci and ravioli. You can also see some of their products on the pictures I took during their wedding’s apero.

The wedding was organised by Eternal Event wedding planner. The preparations took place in a beautiful house of Emmanuel’s parents in St Roman de Bellet. It gives a view over the mountains and grape fields. With a great help of Basia – a polish makeupist also living in the south of France, and Emmanuel’s mom who’s been a hairdresser before, Aldona’s transformed into a real Princess Bride.
After the church ceremony, the guests came back to Emmanuel’s parents house for a quite somptuous buffet. Our Polish priest – Bronisław Rosiek, was also welcomed to join the dinner. The couple has shared “bread and salt” in accordance with our tradition. After the first toast, the couple breaks the glasses by throwing them behind them. The second toast is often a champagne shot glass toast, which is raised in the name of the couple by the wedding attendants.

Afterwards all the guests have followed the wedding couple with a rented bus to Vista Palace Hotel next to Monaco, where the evening continued. The view was splendid, especially with the fireworks above the sea! Below you will find a great wedding video made by a young videographer hired by the couple, he has really captured the mood of the wedding!

Marta, once again thank you so much for your wonderful photos! I love them all!

A wedding video made by Guillaume De Maeyer:

Magali et Mikael – trash the dress down by the river!

If you were following my blog (which I hope you did ), you must remember Magali and Mikael. I have photographed their wedding in September. A month later they’ve decided to do a Trash the dress photo shoot in a river. Although Cote d’Azur offers splendid landscapes, it’s easier to find a nice spot by the sea than by the river. Since we didn’t want to drive too long, we’ve chosen a little river called Loup in Villeneuve Loubet.

The pictures were taken in October, I had my studio lights with me in case the weather got bad. It wasn’t that bad but the clouds begun to gather and the river was very cold. I even wanted to suggest to Magali to take the photos next to the river but she was so determined to get in! She said it’s only once in your lifetime to take pictures like these and she’s right! So I quickly forgot about my feet turning blue and with a great help of her mom as our light assisant, we continued our great photo shoot!

Qu’est-ce que c’est qu’un “Trash the dress” ? – lisez ici ou ici.

Qu‘est-ce qu’un Trash the Dress?

Jennifer & Kyle – engagement photo shoot at Saint-Paul de Vence

Below you’ll find some pictures from one of my favourite photo shoots of 2011. Jennifer and Kyle have booked me from California, as they just got engaged and wanted to have some nice photos from their holiday in the South of France. I’ve suggested them a little village of Saint Paul de Vence – firslty because it’s one of my coup de cœur, there’s a romantic atmosphere and secondly – to avoid the possible crowds in Nice during the summer.

Built on its rocky outcrop and surrounded by its ramparts built on the orders of François I°, St Paul is certainly one of the most beautiful villages in Provence. The beauty of the surrounding area, quality of life and exceptional light has inspired numerous famous artists, painters, writers and poets, some of whom took up residence in the village. To know more about Saint Paul de Vence click here.

We’ve spent a couple of hours together, chatting a lot, and we’ve really liked each other, we even had a glass of wine in one of the restaurants in Nice, where we continued our engagement photo session. Jennifer has danced before and frankly, this has helped me a lot, I didn’t have to pose them, she looked natural and beautiful at each photograph, along with her husband-to-be of course!

Hi Marta, these are beautiful! You did an amazing job, we love them.