Jessica Piscitelli Got Married - Part 2

on Jan 17 in Deejay, Wedding, Wedding Cake, wedding photographer, wedding video

In my previous post about my fantastic wedding team, I focused on pre-ceremony and ceremony, with a little touch of reception, but this blog is really going to focus a lot on what happened after we said “I do!”

After the wedding ceremony, we had our photo/video session.  It’s generally referred to as the photo session/cocktail hour, but since video plays such an integral roll, especially in my wedding, I’ll call it the photo/video session.

Kristi Odom, of Kristi Odom Photography was a fantastic photographer to work with.  Not only did I love the end result - the photos I have and am sharing on these blogs - but, and maybe more importantly, she was a pleasure to work with on the day of.  Of course I have to remember I wasn’t “working with” her that day, as I have done on many weddings.  I was simply the subject of her work, but she, and her assistant, Christopher Yost, were both fun to be around, professional, and didn’t  get in the way of anything we were doing that day - yet somehow came back with great photos.

Then, of course, there is my video.  I obviously couldn’t shoot this one myself so I used my associate videographer, Mike Alvarez, to capture the day.

I did edit the video myself, I must admit, but he gave me so many great shots to work with and I was so excited when I saw the footage.  I also have to confess that I cried when I watched the video of Bart and I saying our vows.  There is something about reliving that moment, something about the way video brings that day to life, that is moving in the way nothing else can be.

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Jessica Piscitelli Got Married - Part 1

on Jan 11 in Deejay, Wedding, Wedding Cake, Wedding Flowers, wedding photographer, wedding video

I fell in love with a wonderful man.  He gave me a beautiful ring in return for my hand.  That was the easy part.  Planning the wedding was a little more complicated.

As you can imagine, I have a lot of friends who work in the wedding industry, and only one wedding to go around.  If I could, and my now husband would put up with it, I would get married three times at least just to be able to work with all the wonderful vendors I know in this area.  Alas, I am sure he would not put up with it and so I had to choose.  It was very difficult, but I ended up with the best wedding team a girl could ever hope for.

I have listed everyone I worked with with at the end of this post.  They were all fabulous and I highly recommend every one of them, so please follow links to their websites and hire them for all of your weddings (especially if you are lucky enough to have three or more!).

But I need to say a few words about all of them, because it really was a fantastic wedding and I hardly had to do anything but show up.  Turns out I have a lot to say, so this blog is going to come in part 1 and part 2.

First of all, my hair and makeup team.  I am not a girlie girl and you don’t want to let me near a hair dryer or a makeup kit, so I knew I needed some extra help.  I have been going to Jennifer Erk Reed, at Studio 61, for about five years.  I first got her card at a wedding I was videotaping because she did such a fantastic job on the bride’s hair.  She does a great job cutting and coloring my hair on a regular basis, but she really blew it out of the park with the hair style for my wedding!  She also did the mother of the groom’s hair, who looked gorgeous from head to toe, but especially the head.

And, of course, I loved my makeup as well.  It was certainly not something I could’ve done myself, so I hired the lovely and talented Kim Giammaria, with Beauty Mark.  Even though I was running late due to - you guessed it - traffic, she was very calm helping get my makeup done half an hour before my ceremony was going to start, and it looked great the whole day through.

In the following video, I made sure to include live audio from both the procession and the recession because Eric Waters, a guitarist with MSE Productions, did such a fantastic job.  I married a Robinson so the recession song was particularly key and, even though it wasn’t on his playlist, he learned it especially for my wedding.

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Jewish Wedding at Sixth & I

on Dec 14 in Awards/Honors, Baltimore Wedding, Corporate Video, Deejay, Destination Weddings, Wedding Cake, Wedding Flowers, Wedding Planner, wedding photographer, wedding video

I recently finished a wedding video that was jam packed with so many of my favorite things - Sixth & I, Elegance & Simplicity, Tom Van Veen, of Documentary Associates, and the Decatur House. You can see from this short recap some of the highlights of the ketubah signing, the ceremony, and the reception.

The ketubah signing, bedeken and ceremony were at historic Sixth & I. It’s such a great place to have a ceremony and the chuppah was gorgeous. The flowers, provided by Elegance & Simplicity, were, if course, beautiful. Elegance & Simplicity also did the wedding planning, so everything ran on track.

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Second Wedding with Autumn Colors

on May 02 in Wedding Cake, wedding video

A lot of brides are booking me these days for September and October, so I wanted to spend a minute to highlight a wedding I shot last October.  This was a second marriage for both the bride and groom, and their grown children were the bridesmaid and groomsmen.

In the video, you will see beautiful Fall colors in the western Virginia landscape, as well as in the gorgeous cake made by MallowDrama.  It was really hard for me to not take a little taste when I was shooting the close ups!  You can also see a quick shot of one of my favorite deejays, Wayne Boyland, with A Sound Plan.  As always, he did a great job with the music.

Autumn is a great season for weddings in Northern Virginia.  The colors in the landscape, as well as in flower choices, decorations and the cake, can all come together to be a beautiful wedding production, and, of course, wedding video!

The Bliss Collection 2011

on Apr 14 in Awards/Honors, Wedding Cake, wedding photographer, wedding video

I have had many opportunities in the past decade to meet a lot of wonderful wedding vendors. Brides always ask me, specifically, if I get along with their photographer. It seems like such a funny question to me, because I usually love the photographers I work with and get along great with just about everyone. For the most part, this is a pretty friendly industry.

When it comes to referrals, I have a lot of great people to choose from in nearly every category. I try to find out the bride’s tastes, budget, and concerns, and then recommend the most fitting vendors for her needs.  Often, those vendors are fellow members of The Bliss Collection, Northern Virginia’s finest wedding professionals.
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A Simple Wish Wedding

on Nov 13 in Wedding, Wedding Cake, Wedding Flowers, Wedding Planner, wedding photographer, wedding video

“Jessica,

We just got finished viewing our video and loved it!!! It really captured the whole day and brought me to tears a number of times… thanks again!

Julia”

I had the best time working on the video for Rhett and Julia this past month.  Partly it was because the couple were a joy to work with, and partly because of the amazing team of vendors that I got to work with.

A Simple Wish pulled together this team and planned the wedding from start to finish.  Ashley Gordon ran the show the day of and did a great job making sure everything went like clockwork.  I truly do love working with wedding planners.  They take care of all the details and leave the bride and groom stress free.  Not to mention, they know what vendors will work great together and fit the couple’s tastes.

I met and got to work with a fabulous photographer I have never worked with before - Marilynn Spindler, of Sandi Foraci Photography.  She brought a great eye and a great attitude to the wedding.  We worked side by side and had a great time doing it.  Marilynn provided all the photos for this post.

The musicians at the church, provided by Music by Anthem, had a great trio of strings, not to mention all the perfect notes provided for the procession and recession.  It makes for great audio, for my video, when the musicians are professional and on key the whole time!  They also provided a harpist who played through the cocktail hour and sounded like an entire orchestra all by herself.

Westfields Marriott was a great venue for the reception.  I have been there several times and am always impressed.  I especially like the outdoor patio where cocktail hour was held.

Holly Chapple, of Holly Chapple Flowers, did an amazing job with the ceremony and reception flowers.  Fall colors were everywhere, and the bouquets looked beautiful with the bride and bridesmaids dresses.

Connie Schweizer, of Connie’s Cake Creations, made a beautiful cake.  What I love about Connie’s cakes is that, on top of looking great, they taste wonderful.

All in all, Rhett and Julia had a beautiful wedding and a great time, and that is what is most important at the end of the day - that the bride and groom were happy every step of thye way!

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