Sunday, February 7, 2016

Emma's Bat Mitzvah

Yesterday I had the pleasure of photographing Emma's Bat Mitzvah in Dallas at Temple Emanu El and the Aloft Hotel. Emma did a fabulous job as she was called to the Torah in the morning and Cory of Cocktails and Caviar turned the Aloft Hotel Dallas into an amazing "Downtown" scene for Emmy's night with food trucks, graffiti and amazing lighting. Here's a peek.

 Meet the beautiful, talents and athletic Emma. We did a photo session in Deep Ellum a few months before her party so we would have some photos of Emma to decorate the venue. She was a fabulous model.
 Saturday afternoon we got the the Temple before the service to take a few photos with family and the Torah.
 Emma's sweet grandfather presented her with her Tallit.
 Emma with mom and her siblings. What a beautiful family.
Finally Emma in front of the stained glass at the temple and then in the neon lights at her party.
While Emma was reading from the Torah at the Temple I went over to the Aloft Hotel to take some photos of the gorgeous setup for her party. This is the main room bathed in blue and purple light with a "food truck" parked alongside the dance floor.
 The first room you saw when you walked down the stairs had lots of color and a few giant prints of Emma on the walls. The adult food trucks were in the next room and then the main room had picnic tables witht eh dance floor and the kids food trucks. So much beautiful colorful light!
 The main entrance had her theme on it in graffiti, there were gorgeous flowers on the tables and the chairs were lit with colorful light as well.
I love how Cory used a few of my photos of Emma huge as decor pieces. They looked amazing! And Emma had me custom design a guest book with her photos in it for people to sign as they entered the party.
 After the service several buses brought the kids over from the Temple and Emma finally got to make her grand entrance.
She stood on the speakers and sang  the Macklemore and Ryan's "Downtown"
 There was lots of dancing including a sweet father daughter dance.
 And a fabulous confetti filled Hora.
 As the guests left they were treated to cake balls on the table below another gorgeous photo of Emma.
 Congratulations on your Bat Mitzvah Emma. I'll have the rest of your photos ready soon.

Saturday, February 6, 2016

Club J

A few weeks ago I got to hang out with Jason and his fabulous family for his Bar Mitzvah and it was so incredible. Jason's weekend was full of family and fun at Shearith Israel for his rehearsal and service, at the Park City Club for his Shabbat Dinner and at the Magnolia Hotel Dallas Park Cities for his amazing Club J party. DJ Haze and Fenton kept the dance floor packed all night and Kristen with Amazing Events did a great job handing all the little details and I absolutely loved the lighting by Jennifer of Beyond Lighting. Here's a peek.
 This is Jason, He's a pretty handsome and amazing kid.
 A few weeks before his party we went out and took a few photos. Jason plays lacrosse and loves it so some if his photos were on the lacrosse field.
The rest of his session was spent at the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge taking a few dressed up "executive" style photos. He's looking pretty pro in these. And was a fabulous model for me.
 On his Bar Mitzvah weekend I got to photograph his rehearsal which I love to do since I can't photograph the actual service. It gives the family a few photos of what happens in the service.
 Then after the rehearsal we had some time in the sanctuary for portraits. First up...Jason with the Torah.
 The whole family.
 and a few more of Jason
 The next night I got to go to his Shabbat dinner where his Hebrew teacher led a short Shabbat service.
The grandmothers lit the candles.
 Jason and Bruce led the service.
 Then Jason's mom explained the tradition where she had gotten a bottle of wine at his Bris and saved it for his Bar Mitzvah and then they will use it at his wedding. I absolutely love this idea. I also love his expression because I think this is pretty much how every kid fells the first time they drink wine...smiling and so happy thinking this is going to be great and then...what was that? His expressions are perfect and priceless.
Then the grandfather blessed the bread.
Saturday night it was time for Club J at the Magnolia Hotel Dallas Park Cities. There was so much cool light outside and inside Jason's party.
 There were several rooms dedicated to Club J. There was a game room, an adult cocktail room, the kids food and favor room and the main party room. The kids even had VIP wristbands to get into Club J.
 Everyone waved light up wands as Jason made his grand entrance on his hoverboard.
 Love that smile.
 Jason went right from the entrance into the Hora.
 He had a fun step and repeat photo booth just like you would see at a club opening.
 Everyone had fun in the games room.
 The kids had a great dance contest.
 and DJ Haze kept everyone dancing and singing all night.
 There was even one slow dance song.
 Jason had fun with his friends all night.
 The evening ended with confetti. So much fabulous confetti. It was amazing to watch the kids play in this cloud of blue and white.
 Jason stayed after his party for a few minutes to let me grab a few extra shots of him. Such a handsome young man.
 Congratulations on your Bar Mitzvah Jason!