Love+Bash

Sunday was a proud day for me, I had a smile plastered on my face all day long.   I still cant believe Jen and I did it.  We came up with the idea for Love+Bash 6 months ago and Sunday we made it happen.  We couldn't have done it without the help of some of the most kick ass wedding vendors, hair stylists, make-up artists, stylists, and models in the city.   Our goal was for all of these creative people to showcase their work in a setting where the sky was the limit.  They took it to the moon!  I  am so thankful for all of the amazing people who helped us create such a spectacular event.  Everyone brought it and everyone should feel as proud as I do.  I also want to thank everyone who came.  It was great to meet so many new people and to also see so many of my clients and friends there.  I wasn't able to get very many pictures, I was so busy and my hands were shaking from nerves.  Luckily Andrew Ducker Photography was there to document the day for us.  Thanks Andrew!  Head over to the Love+Bash website to see his pictures.

The floral designers made these fabulous bouquets for the fashion show. Row One by: Inspired Floral Design and Marti's Floral Designs Row Two by: Yellow Canary Row Three by: Inspired Floral Design

The 70's Inspired table designed by Your Wedding by Jen, Inspired Floral Design, and Sweet Cakes, Ltd. Events.Katie of Inspired Floral Design made this dream catcher out of embroidery hoops and hemp string.Jen found these squirrel place card holders at a thrift store.  How perfect! These little guys were the stars of the show.  From the Kitschy table designed by Your Wedding by Jen, Marti's Floral Designs, and Five Dot Design.This was my display.  I brought in my record player and used records for my signage.Sweet Cakes Ltd. EventsLewis&Cruse Jewelry made from your wedding flowers.

Gowns by BeartieMy sister grabbed this picture of all of the vendors.

Cincinnati Senior Portraits

I had the pleasure of photographing this gorgeous young lady last week.  Sydni is approaching the end of her senior year, but wanted to make sure to sneak in a photo session before she is off to college on a basketball scholarship next year.  A self proclaimed tomboy, Sydni wanted to her session to be girly and fun.  She is a total natural in front of the camera.  

Cincinnati Wedding at The Bell Event Centre

I feel very fortunate for the opportunity I had to travel to Mexico earlier this year to photograph Shanean and Ryan's destination wedding.  I got another opportunity to spend time with this gorgeous couple at the Bell Event Centre for their reception recently.  The Bell, which is a renovated church/bell and clock museum/event space is loaded with charm; vaulted ceilings, antique clocks and bells, colorful stained glass, marble and terrazzo floors.    The Bell Event Centre offers the option to have your ceremony and reception in the same location.  There is a beautiful courtyard that overlooks the city that is perfect for cocktail hour and photos.  The food is so, so good.   I feel safe saying it is the best I have had at a wedding to date. :)  They can accommodate up to 350 guests and have a full service staff of chefs, servers, bartenders, ect. that are very professional and courteous.   It was wonderful working with such an outstanding group of people. :)

See images from Shanean and Ryan's destination wedding here, their sexy day after beach shoot here, and underwater fun we had in Mexico here.

Shanean is so beautiful.Inside The Bell Event Centre.  There is a huge collection of bells and clocks to admire throughout the venue. Shanean's mother made their cake.  So good!! Time to break it down! Shanean and Ryan have a super fun group of friends! :)I made a slideshow of the images from Mexico so that all of the guests could see the wedding.  I love this image of Shanean enjoying it at the end of the night.  Thanks to my assistant, Justin for capturing it. 

Rainbow

As I was sitting in my office yesterday, I was amazed to look out the window and see this.  WOW!  It was the brightest, most vibrant rainbow I have ever seen.  I was lucky to have an up close and personal view from my deck.

Free Wedding Photography

If you are  planning a  kick ass hippy/punk rock/romantic/home grown wedding I want to photograph it!

In honor of  Love+Bash, Cincinnati's first alternative wedding expo,  I am giving away free wedding photography to one special couple!!!

Here are the Details

Included is 8 hours of wedding photography by me and my assistant. I will be shooting digital and film photography (Holga, 35mm, Polaroid)  Digital Negatives, albums, additional time, and prints can be purchased.

Contest ends MAY 8, 2011 11:00 p.m.  I will announce the winner at Love+Bash on May 15, 2011 at the Leapin'Lizard.  You must be present at Love+Bash to win.

I am looking for a wedding that is unique, alternative, and loaded with character and charm.

To Enter send the following info to nikita@nikitagross.com with Love+Bash Giveaway in the subject line.

1. Your Name and date of your wedding
2. Wedding location
3. 2-3 pictures of you and your mate :)
4. A little about your love story
5. Unique ideas you have planned for your wedding. (DIY projects, clothing, colors, flowers, decor, etc.)

The type of weddings I love to photograph are

• full of antiques and vintage finds
• eclectic
• take place on a farm,  in your backyard,  in your home, at a gorgeous park, on a boat, at an alternative space such as a bar,  loft, or art gallery
• overflowing DIY projects
• green/eco friendly
• full of crazy tattooed people ;)
• full of people who love to dance and have a good time
• romantic and covered in flowers

**Update**  This wedding giveaway just got even better!!  Inspired Floral Design,  Your Wedding by Jen, Five Dot Design, and Cinci Makeup just sweetened the deal  bringing the total value of the giveaway to $8500!

Cinci Makeup will be providing free makeup services for the bride.

Five Dot Design will be giving away a $500 credit toward the purchase of your  paper goods!

Inspired Floral Design is offering complimentary florals for this kick-ass wedding, up to a $2000 value.  Here's the deal:

• You cannot currently be under contract with any other floral designer... we certainly don't want to offend another designer.  If you've already booked another floral designer, we'd be happy to help style an amazing engagement, bridal sitting, day-after or trash the dress session with complimentary florals.
• You agree to contract Inspired Floral Design for your wedding flowers.  The first $2000 of the order will be complimentary, anything in excess of that will be your responsibility. Depending on your "concept" we can absolutely work with you to keep you under budget if need be.
• Of course we want to know what you like and your vision for your wedding, but a whole lot of creative liberty from there is what we're expecting.  Trust us... we'll make it awesome, promise!
• All we ask in return is permission to use the images from your wedding after the fact for blog/website galleries and possible submission to other wedding publications.

Your Wedding by Jen is offering a Full Planning Package valued at $4000 which includes:

• Unlimited consultations via phone, email or in person during business hours
• Budget development and management
• Planning itinerary
• Assist in selecting and booking of ceremony and reception venues. (Must have final approval from client)
• Event design, theme, and décor concept development
• Etiquette advise
• Invitation, stationary and favor selection
• Recommend suitable budget appropriate vendors. (Music, florist, officiant, caterer, cake, photographer, videographer, ect.)
• Unlimited vendor referrals
• Arrange vendor appointments and accompany them with you if needed
• Contract review and negotiation
• Manage vendor relations
• Assist with menu selections
• Final site walk through
• Provide information on how to obtain marriage license and name change assistance.
• Assist with guest accommodations such as hotel and shuttle.
• Ceremony planning
• Rehearsal coordination and instruction
• Assist with rehearsal dinner location and arrangements
• Creating and distributing wedding day timeline to bridal party and all vendors
• Final vendor confirmation and distribution of driving directions
• Day of Coordination

**Date must be available and agreeable on other vendors participating. **

IPhone Diary

iPhone Thursday was starting to get a little too structured.  Yes I still love to take pictures with my phone, and yes I love to post them on my blog, but putting the posts together was starting to stress me out.  I first started using my iPhone as a way to record a visual diary and I will continue to do so.  I think I am just going to limit my iPhone posts to once a month unless I have a really great adventure to share.  That being said, the following images were taken over the last few weeks.  A walk in the park on a gorgeous Spring day, a killer photo shoot with a zebra mask, a new office with an amazing view, these are just a few of the things I have been up too lately.  All of these were processed using the Instagr.am App.

Love+Bash Promo Shoot

Love+Bash tickets are on sale!  They are $6 pre-sale and $10 at the door.  Head over to Cincy Ticket and get yours now.

Last week I had the pleasure of  photographing one of my favorite models, Ashley, for the Love+Bash promo shoot.  I love, love, love photographing her.  She is not only smoking hot, she also has the best wardrobe ever!  See more images of Ashley here and here.  Thanks for being so awesome Ashley!  I also want to thank Marti's Floral Designs for allowing me to borrow the colorful brooch bouquet for the shoot.  You will be able to see much more of Marti's work at Love+Bash, she just signed on as one of our featured vendors! :)

Love+Bash

If you follow my blog or my facebook page you have heard me talk a lot about Love+Bash lately.  I just realized I haven't properly explained what exactly Love+Bash is.  While I wait on my gorgeous model for the Love+Bash promo shoot today I want to give you a better understanding of how Love+Bash was created and let you know what to expect there.

I am new to the Cincinnati wedding industry so I decided it would be in my best interest to network with other vendors.  As I was searching the net  I stumbled upon Your Wedding by Jen an event planning/design company ran by Jen Pritchard.   I stalked Jen's blog for a while  and totally fell in love with the her style and attitude.  I emailed Jen and asked her to meet me for lunch.  Lunch never worked out, but eventually dinner and drinks did.  During our 5 hour dinner,  we were discussing the wedding industry and the direction it was heading in Cincinnati.  Weddings have changed a lot over the past few years.  People are no longer having the same wedding their parents had.  If you follow any of the most popular wedding blogs you know they are overflowing with amazing ideas to make your wedding a reflection of your style.  We wanted to find a way to bring these ideas and the vendors who are pushing the limit creatively to our clients in Cincinnati.   As wedding vendors we feel it is our responsibility to do so, most brides don't start researching wedding ideas until they get engaged, we do it every day.

Our major complaint over dinner was that the resources for  creative wedding ideas in Cincinnati were practically non existent.  Bridal shows have become very predictable and boring.  After seeing indie bridal shows pop up in all of the major cities we felt it was time to bring one to Cincinnati.   I am a firm believer in the saying, if you want change, you make change.  During our very first time meeting we made the decision to create an alternative wedding expo to showcase Cincinnati's coolest wedding vendors.  After a very long brainstorming session we came up with the name Love+Bash,  and started to develop the concept and research vendors.  Unlike most bridal shows there will be no booths or pushiness.  We have hand picked Cincinnati's finest to showcase at Love+Bash.  The vendors will be presenting their work as you would see it at a wedding.  There will be a fashion show featuring independent designers and vintage finds as well as DIY classes.  The response has been overwhelming from both vendors and brides.

I could not be more happy to be working with such an amazing person on this event.  Jen and I compliment each other well.  We feed off of each other and encourage each other.  Our style is so much alike that we have to call each other when we go out together to make sure we are not wearing the same thing. :) She is very organized and has great taste.  From my experience working on weddings last year I would have to say hiring a wedding planner for your day is one of the best investments you will make.  They take care of all of the details that far too ofter fall in the hands of the couple and their families.  Having someone there to take care of all of the details ensures you and your family will be able to enjoy the day without worry.  Visit Jen's website to find out more about her services.  She offers every thing from day of coordination to full on event design.

Here we are at the Live Click Photo Booth at recent vendor event.  It was too much fun!  See more images from that event here. Two of our featured vendors, Inspired Floral Design and Sweet Cakes Ltd. helped on the event design.  Thanks to Ciulla Photography for the beautiful images.

Featured on Hi-Fi Weddings and a beautiful French Wedding Blog!

Natasha and Hank's engagement session I shot at The Southgate House is featured on Hi-Fi Weddings today!   This blog is super cool!  They not only showcase some of the best wedding photography I have seen, but also offer great tools for creating a killer play list for your wedding.

While I was stumbling across the internet I found  a beautiful French blog that featured  some of these pictures of beautiful Ashley, how exciting!