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Congratulations Lorien & Steven!

Date: July 25, 2009
Ceremony: St. Paul's Episcopal Church (Newnan, GA)
Reception: The Major Long House (Newnan, GA)

Wow! So, I haven't blogged here in a while. My apologies. It has indeed been pretty hectic, from back to back weddings, to vacation, to upgrading the website, to editing, editing, and more editing! :)

I've missed blogging on a few weddings/engagements I've recently shot, but I'd really like to start blogging on Lorien & Steven's Wedding! (I promise I'll write the other ones later as well.)

Vicky, Lorien's mother, was a referral sent to me by a past client (Debbie and Joe). Lorien & Steven tied the knot on July 25, 2009! Boy oh boy was the wedding celebration a blast!!!

The ceremony was held at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, and the service was very lovely. The reception was fun and was held at The Major Long House in Newnan, GA.

Lorien and Steven looked so cute together! The couple was very laid back, which made their big day even more fun! Whatever posing they were asked to do, there were no questions asked. They were always up for smiling, kissing, waving, and even jumping! Shooting them made me enjoy my job even more! :)

The reception was a mixture of dancing, chatting, sitting, eating, and drinking! The couple's first dance was very romantic. The tossing of the garter and bouquet was also pretty hilarious. One of my favorites was the cake cutting - smashing the cake on each other's face is always so freakin' funny and entertaining!

There were A LOT of pictures taken from this wedding, but as usual, I love sharing a few shots to everyone. Feel free to contact me if you'd like access to their entire album as well.

Here's to the happy couple!

E-N-J-O-Y!!!

Cheers,
Joyce
www.mangopixels.com

Jamie & Brian’s Wedding

Date: May 15, 2009
Location: Aqua Blue

Jamie & Brian tied the knot on May 15^th of this year. Jamie's mother, Shirley, was the one who found me and contacted me to be a part of her daughter's big day.

They wanted to have just family and close friends, so it was a very intimate celebration. Jamie was such a gorgeous bride! The whole family was very nice and friendly.

After the ceremony, we had plenty of time before the reception, so we stopped by the park to take a lot of formal and fun pictures. We had a lot of cool and fun shots, and boy am I glad we decided to go to a park for a change! It was such a beautiful day, and although it was hot, it was perfect for a photo shoot!

Here are some of my favorite pictures from this day. Enjoy!

The beautiful bride - Jamie.

The groom - Brian.

The cute couple.

Jamie & Brian's cute and friendly boy!

During the intimate ceremony.

My favorite shot! (Read this blog or check out this link.)

The couple at Starbucks? Yup! We stopped by Starbucks right after ceremony.

The bride and her cool mom and sisters.

This little man is so adorable!

-Joyce
www.mangopixels.com

My Image and Website posted on TweetMyWedding!

So I have been on Twitter a lot lately, and it's been fun. I'm getting to connect not only with other photographers, vendors, and wedding sites, but also making new friends and keeping in touch with current ones.

This morning when I checked my Twitter account, I saw that someone had mentioned me on one of their posts. I realized that it was http://www.twitter.com/tweetmywedding, and they have posted as I quote,

"TweetMyWedding#photofriday Love a creative photographer... http://ow.ly/9RHO @ATLweddingphoto's site http://ow.ly/9RI3 #followfriday"

I'm not sure if you're all familiar with how Twitter works but they basically posted one of my pictures (http://ow.ly/9RHO) and have listed my website (www.mangopixels.com) for their followers to see. TweetMyWedding has 3,328 followers and it's still growing!

If you'd like to check out their tweet about me, click this here.

Twitter is a cool and fun tool to keep in touch with your people and meet more!

Are you on Twitter? Follow me at www.twitter.com/ATLweddingphoto

This is the photo that took a spot on their Twitter page:

That's Jamie and Brian, one of my most recent clients. I haven't yet blogged about their wedding yet, but that will be coming soon - so stay tuned! :-)

-Joyce
www.mangopixels.com

Dayna & Mudi’s Big Day!

Date: April 25, 2009
Ceremony: Rehoboth Presbyterian Church
Reception: Druid Hills Golf Club

Dayna & Mudi's Wedding was definitely one of the most fun weddings I have ever been a part of! It was a very, very long and fun day.

It started out as the bride and her girls having brunch in the "bride's room" inside the church. After an hour or so, the groom and his men arrived to have lunch but they were already dressed, so they basically just ate, chilled, took pictures, and had fun. The bride and her girls got ready at the church.

The ceremony was very beautiful. It was quite a big wedding so the ceremony was expected to be quite long as well. Dayna had 5 bridesmaids (including her maid of honor) and 2 flower girls while Mudi had 5 groomsmen (including his best man) and a ring bearer. A 15 minute ceremony wouldn't do justice for a wedding party of 15. :-)

After the ceremony, the couple took off in a classic Rolls Royce (how freakin' cool?!) to the reception area. I always think it is a great idea to have cocktail for the guests after the ceremony so that they wouldn't get bored while the wedding party and the couple's family are taking formal pictures. And that's exactly what they did!

The reception was _____. I can't find a better word for "fun" so help me out and fill out the blank! Again, there were plenty of food, guests, and dancing. In fact, if you look at their wedding program, there was a big block of time allotted for what they wrote "dancing…dancing…and dancing!" The groom's family is Nigerian and the bride's family is Jamaican, so a wedding with no dancing just wouldn't make sense at all.

I was literally there from 10AM until 10PM. You wouldn't believe how many pictures were taken for their wedding. It was such a fun, and I have to admit tiring day, but believe me, it was so worth it not only to be a part of Dayna and Mudi's big day, but to also be able to document this special day for them.

Dayna and Mudi were very fun to work with, and they were very laid back. They were open to pretty much all of my suggestions, which made the day go by a lot smoother as far as picture taking goes.

It was a wonderful wedding and with confidence, I can say that this was definitely what most brides would call their "dream wedding."

Some pictures from their wedding are displayed below. You can also read the blog about their Traditional Engagement Ceremony and look at some pictures from that night by clicking here.

Please…enjoy and let yourselves be entertained!

The lovely couple.

The new Mrs. Dayna Benard

Mrs. Dayna's groom - Mr. Mudiagan Benard

The coolest and most fun wedding party!

Wait 'til you get home Mudi! Haha.

The bride's shoes on her big day!

One of my favorite pictures of the night -
How cool was the bride for kneeling down just to feed
her new husband some wedding cake?

The lucky bridesmaid who caught the bouquet!

Good job Mudi!

A very nice classic Rolls Royce. I can't say I'm not jealous. :-)

-Joyce
www.mangopixels.com

Dayna & Mudi’s Traditional Nigerian Engagement

Date: April 23, 2009
Location: Christ Our Hope Catholic Church

I'm not even quite sure how to begin writing this blog. :-)

Dayna had originally booked me for her April 25^th wedding, but later on decided for me to document their traditional Nigerian Engagement Celebration as well on April 23^rd. Her then fiancé (now husband), Mudi, is Nigerian so his family wanted to make sure that they celebrated their engagement in their traditional Nigerian way.

It was a blast! I am so happy to have been a part of their engagement celebration, because it was more than what I imagined. There were lots of guests, lots of food, lots of music, and definitely lots and lots of dancing!

It started out with the introduction, prayer, and then came Mudi, the groom to be, entering while being surrounded by his family. After a little bit, the bride to be, Dayna, made her entry, while she was surrounded by her friends. Her face was covered as she was not allowed to be seen by the guests during her entry. She then kneeled before her parents while they prayed for her, kneeled before Mudi's parents while they also prayed for her, then sat by the groom, and finally unveiled herself.

I have never seen so many people dance with passion! It was amazing capturing everyone while they were enjoying themselves. I definitely sweated – a lot!

Everyone was so nice and sweet and I've enjoyed capturing this special day for them.

Stay tuned for the next blog as I write about their wedding day!

Thanks and hope you enjoy some of the images from this celebration:

The decorators sure did a great job with this place!

He did an amazing job!

The groom's formal entrance.

The bride's formal entrance.

The formal proposal in front of everyone.

The guests welcoming the bride's parents.


It was part of the tradition for people to throw money
at the couple while dancing. How awesome?!


Dayna dancing the night away!

-Joyce Balatbat
www.mangopixels.com

Debbie + Joe = Mr. & Mrs. Maddox

Date: March 28, 2009
Location: Harvest Baptist Church

It was such an honor for me to cover Mr. & Mrs. Maddox's wedding on March 28, 2009. Because I took the couple's engagement pictures and got to know them better during that time, I felt so much more comfortable working with them during their big day.

The ceremony was very nice, and the pastor who married them is actually Joe's brother. I thought that was pretty cool. The singers who performed gave me goose bumps! They were very good and their voices blended very well. Debbie and Joe didn't mind seeing each other before the ceremony, so we were very productive with finishing the formal pictures before then. Their guests were very fortunate to not have to wait to eat the food at the reception as soon as the ceremony was over. How lucky were they!

Debbie is actually in the catering business so she and her team took care of the preparation of the food at their reception. It was A LOT of yummy looking and tasting food! If you would have been there, I have no doubt you would have agreed with me.

The entire day was a little short because Joe had planned a surprise for Debbie right after their wedding. As soon as they did their formal exit, they literally ran to their vehicle and drove straight to Savannah. Debbie told me when they came back to town that Joe had planned a surprised dinner and lots and lots of flowers for her. How romantic!?

Here's a glimpse of their special day. Hope you like 'em!

D & J during the ceremony.


Wedding rings on their invitation.

Awesome vegetable tree!

-Joyce
www.mangopixels.com