KATHI & GIL’S WEDDING STORY
| I had the pleasure of meeting Kathi Littwin back in April and she showed me a few images from her gorgeous wedding….as many of you know, Kathi is an AMAZING photographer and it was fun talking to her about how she selected her vendors for her and Gil’s wedding….she went from being a wedding vendor to a client….Kathi shares her wedding story with us…let’s check out what she has to say…Enjoy!!!
‘I have been photographing weddings for over 12 years now. On April 11th 2009 I finally had a wedding of my own. I have seen the other side and it has changed the way I look at what I do now.First let me start with the planning. Being an insider certainly has its’ plusses. I joke and say it took 12 years to plan my wedding – and that’s not too far from the truth, because from the very first wedding I shot, I started making mental notes – what would I do at my wedding? When the time came I already had very specific ideas about how many people I wanted to invite and what kind of party it would be. My dream fantasy wedding has an unlimited budget and involves flying everybody to a private island for a long weekend of hanging out, sunshine, a ceremony on the beach and a fabulous cool party late into the evening. Reality inspires other things. We had a good number of people who would be flying in. I wanted to make it easy for them after they got here. I picked a venue that I loved, City Hall Restaurant in Tribeca. Found the nearby hotels. Set a date and got down to the details. I would say the main difference between myself and someone not in the business is that I already had my mind made up about who I wanted to do what. |
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| We start with paper. Sloane Madureira has been my graphic designer from way back. She designed my logo, website and stationery items and I was excited to do this project with her and her company Press New York. We picked out some design elements, I told her my color palette and then let her do what she does. I LOVE my paper goods and actually got choked up when I opened the box of invites. The dress was next. I have seen thousands of beautiful dresses over the years but what did I want to wear. As I kid I remember thinking that I might want to wear a short dress – I liked being different even back then but also thought it would be nice to show off my legs. Why hide a good feature? Isn’t that the point? When I saw the picture of the Ramona Keveza dress on Martha Stewart’s web site, I didn’t need to look anymore. I booked my appt at Bridal Reflections, took one good friend with me and sealed the deal on the spot. I not only bought the first dress I tried on, it was the only dress I tried on. |
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| Raychel Wade of Cheek to Chic made me gorgeous. It was truly “Me on my Best Day”. Gil, oh did I forget to mention the groom, said I looked amazing. I told Ray that I have to put her on a retainer for all my best days to come. Speaking of Gil, he had a suit made by Astor & Black. He too looked wonderful and was very pleased that he chose the custom route. It fit him perfectly and unlike me he’ll have many opportunities to wear it again. |
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| Flowers were a little harder to choose because I know and love tons of people that I’ve worked with. I picked Melanie Arden of Melarosa because I felt her vision was closest to mine, she’s a lovely person and great to work with. We had fun putting it all together and the results were juicy and perfect. |
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| My cake, desserts and favors were all by my good friend and colleague Dawn Casale and her company One Girl Cookies. Her shop is around the corner from me and I’ve had the opportunity to eat most of what they have in the shop. We worked on her web site together so I had a very clear idea of what we could do. The dessert buffet was a big hit and the favor boxes were adorable. |
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| The last and biggest question. Who shoots the photographer’s wedding? I had a few ideas of how to handle pictures. The first was to have all my photographer friends shoot but split up when, so that I didn’t have a paparazzi style event. Second was to hire someone whose work I loved but someone that I didn’t know – just keep it business. The idea that finally made the most sense was to have my dear friend Marie Labbancz (who was the friend I took to help me with the wedding dress decision) shoot our portraits before the ceremony. I LOVE LOVE LOVE what she does with her couples and I wanted us to be one of them. I also wanted her to enjoy being a guest so after the ceremony she got to have her Mojito and Joanna Wilson, my former associate, took over. I must confess that I shot some of the details myself…couldn’t help it…once a shooter always a shooter. So what words of wisdom do I have now that I’ve seen the other side? It’s actually not so different than what I used to say before. Choose great people who’s work you love and trust them to do their thing. On the day let go and just live it. Will everything go as planned? Probably not, but ride the bumps and have a good time. It’s a little like life in a nutshell, and you just got someone to ride through it with you.’ |
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| Thanks SO much Kathi for stopping by the cafe today and sharing the beautiful wedding story of you and Gil. I totally LOVED it…all the gorgeous details and you are ‘rocking’ that dress!!!…..We wish all the happiness and joy for you guys…..xoxoxo |