Linens of the new year!

Are you going to need linens for your wedding this next year? There are only a few top providers of them in the Orlando area, one of them is BBJ Linen. The Association of Bridal Consultants Central Florida East Local Networking Group had their August luncheon there and they asked me to make a few images. They had a bunch of the linens that they are expecting to be popular this next year out to show off to everyone.

The linens were gorgeous and the food by Arthur's Catering, Party Flavors and Muse Gelato was delicious!


























082709 BBJ ABC EVENT - Images by Chad Pilster

Party with the 2u Collection and Abby Liga Photography!

And here's the slideshow!

Staring Beth and Kyle at the Shores Resort! Part 2

With so many awesome photos, here is part 2! And here is Part 1 if you missed it








Beth is amazingly hands on. Check out these table numbers and menus that she did!




This is a photo from their e-session. I've seen this done before for the guest book and it I think it's a great idea!


Let the party get started!






















So I'm taking a moment to talk to Vern with Pyramid DJs and next thing I know the groom is on the floor showing his moves. He's a gymnast and he definitely has some moves!












Vendor love!
The Shores Resort and Spa in Daytona Beach Shores.
Flowers were by Beach Street Blooms who also supplied linens from BBJ Linens,
DJ and lighting was Vern with Pyramid Disc Jockeys,
The cake was by Mon Delice French Bakery out of New Smyrna Beach.
dress by Maggie Sottero
hair and makeup was Kara Sánchez with Kyle Lynn Cosmetics, and
Beth designed the table numbers and menus.
The photography was by yours truly Pilster Photography
and my awesome assistant for the day was Lia! (Thanks for the recommendation Elizabeth!)


082109 BETH AND KYLE WEDDING - Images by Chad Pilster

Shores Resort and Spa wedding staring Beth and Kyle! Part 1

I want to know who Beth and Kyle's weather agent is, so I can call them and ask for the weather I need. A few months ago we did their engagement session and there had been a week of rain. We scheduled a shoot and the rain held off long enough for us to make some great photos, and then it came along so we made some more great photos with a red umbrella. They had the same luck, or should we call it skill at this point, on their wedding day!

As 6:30 p.m. started to roll around some ominous clouds could be seen in the distance. I was told at my house 30 minutes away it was pouring, but their wedding went off without barely more than a sprinkle. The weather held for us to make all of the formal portraits and then head out onto the beach to make a few more. Beth felt a drop of rain, so we decided to move the shoot inside.

Look at those clouds! Although the overcast sky always helps with the images.


I have not been to The Shores Resort and Spa since it was another hotel. They have done wonderful things with this place. It has some great character to it and is probably one of the best hotels in Volusia County and according to AAA it is the only 4 star rated hotel here!



Beth started out her day relaxing at the spa with a manicure and pedicure. That place was so relaxing that I was almost ready to go back to sleep.






Kara with KyleLynn Cosmetics did an awesome job with the hair and makeup. Apparently she's been doing makeup at weddings since she was 14!


















I love mirrors and this elevator had 4 of them. Keeping myself out of the picture was definitely a challenge though.


So someone jumped in with us and let's just say she was a little goofy.





What a spectacular dress! The design was by Maggie Sottero and Beth found it at a shop in Atlanta. This dress looked gorgeous when it was hung up and Beth was like a princess when it was on! I just wish we had a little bit more time, because after she was ready it was time for the wedding to begin and I probably could of spent an hour shooting the intricate details of this dress. The corset back and all of the intricate bead work just made this dress amazing.



































To be continued......

Vendor love!
The Shores Resort and Spa in Daytona Beach Shores.
Flowers were by Beach Street Blooms who also supplied linens from BBJ Linens,
DJ and lighting was Vern with Pyramid Disc Jockeys,
The cake was by Mon Delice French Bakery out of New Smyrna Beach.
dress by Maggie Sottero
hair and makeup was Kara Sánchez with Kyle Lynn Cosmetics, and
Beth designed the table numbers and menus.
The photography was by yours truly Pilster Photography
and my awesome assistant for the day was Lia! (Thanks for the recommendation Elizabeth!)

What are you doing this Sunday? Come to a bridal show!

Pilster Photography will be doing it's first bridal show ever. If you are free on Sunday, please come out to the Orlando Wedding Professionals bridal show at the Sheraton in downtown Orlando and see us!

If you drop us an email, we can even give you a discount on your ticket price!

Don't forget to sign-up for the door prizes either! We will be giving away a 1 hour portrait session with DVD, a $500 value!

There will also an opportunity to win an incredible honeymoon for 4 days/3 nights All Inclusive at the Coconut Bay Beach Resort in St. Lucia, compliments of All About Travel.

For more information on the show, you can visit here

Griffin and Seana's album!

The album is an opportunity to share your wedding day with elegance.

Pilster Photography's designer James, our associate storyteller, and our lab help to take the photos beyond digital. They make sure that no matter how big or small an album is it looks spectacular.

James has a great talent of carrying Pilster Photography's style onto the pages while piecing everything together to tell the wedding day story.

The lab gives options so the album has a great look and feel when you hold it in your hands.

So congratulations Griffin and Seana, I hope you enjoy this beautiful album!



The pages are so thick it feels like the book will last forever!



The feel and the smell of these leather covers is just awesome. You really need to handle one of these books to experience it best.









If you were wondering just how big a 5x5 album is, this will give you a really good idea.



(Yes I still have film around. I am actually planning to shoot more soon. You know me, I just like to be different! Be sure to look for the upcoming blogs on it!)


051609 Griffin and Sena Wedding Album - Images by Chad Pilster

Kind words from my awesome clients!

I have so much fun making photos and spending time with my clients. It's always a bonus when they share their enjoyment for what I've done for them with others and give me great feedback. It's an even bigger bonus when all of their online friends share their love of the photos. Check out what all of them had to say onWeddingBee, it's been fun to read their comments here
and here

And in case you missed it the first time you can see Katie and Justin's e-session here and here

Happy Birthday, let's go to Savannah!

My wife Liz and I have many favorite things, but two of our favorites are food and traveling. So we try to combine them both when we can!

We haven't been out of Florida except to visit relatives and go to weddings for some time. I wanted to surprise her with a trip, so I told her we were going somewhere, but I wasn't going to tell her where until we got there.

Liz loves to figure out surprises and every chance she had she would ask me something to see if I would slip up. I apparently did answer enough questions for her to figure out where we were going. She has wanted to visit Savannah for a long time now and by telling her that it wasn't on the beach and within less than a days drive pretty much gave it away. I still tried to act like it was a secret until we were on the road to going there.

Since she uses Facebook and not Twitter I put a couple pleas out for help. Thanks to all of my friends on Twitter and a bunch of research, especially Trip Advisor we did some of the must do things in our whirlwind trip. Three days and two nights made it a quick trip, and limited some of what we might of been able to do.

We stayed at the McMilllan Inn, which was rated as the #8 bed and breakfast on Trip Advisor and was it great! It is a historical home built in 1888. For the two mornings we were there, breakfast was served at 9a. This was not your typical breakfast either, the food was straight from the south. Some of the highlights were bananas baked with some orange juice poured over them. Amazing butter and cream filled pastries, of course grits (which I am not usually a big fan of) which were mixed with something to actually tast good, and many more treats that tasted great but I am not entirely sure what was in them.



















Our room was awesome.


The first night we didn't arrive until a couple hour before dinner reservations at the Pink House. Parking is horrible in this town, so either walk where you are going, give yourself enough time to park or open up the wallet.

The southern cuisine was awesome here! Both of our meals came with grits, and I'm not a big grits fan, but these were actually pretty good with dinner. I did hear that if you order a non-southern dish at the Pink House, it's not as spectacular. But then you need to ask yourself, why are you going there if you aren't going to order a southern meal?!





Our bed and breakfast was a little ways from the waterfront, so we did have to do some walking.


The second night after we hiked back into town, Liz was exhausted. Neither of us have ever ridden in a pedicab before, so we grabbed one back to the Inn. It was fun!




Even the bathrooms in this town were cool!




On our journey that first night we had heard about a new hotel that just reopened called the Bohemian. This hotel was completely opposite of everything Savannah. The building was historic, but inside it was contemporary. It was gorgeous and cool!





One of the greatest things on this trip was the Catholic church. I have never seen a church as amazing as this one. I was in awe when I walked through the doors. If anyone needs a wedding photographer to get married at the The Cathedral of St. John The Baptist, let me know, because I would love to take more photographs in this place!




The people in Savannah are just as cool as the town!


The architecture and historical buildings were phenomenal! Most of the days we just walked around and ooooohhed and ahhhhhed at the amazing buildings.








Sooooo many red doors in this city, how can you go wrong?


And the gardens were awesome too!


Did I mention we did a lot of walking?


After dinner one night we decided to try and find ourselves some jazz. We ran across this club with a great blues band in it.

And amazingly this couple dancing is from Orlando! What a small world.



Happy Birthday Liz!



072409 Savannah Trip - Images by Chad Pilster

Wedding in the Polasek Gardens

Heather, a good photographer and friend, called me up and said that she needed some help this past weekend. She needed someone to second shoot and assist, because the person who regularly assists her was not available. If I'm available I always try to help friends out and am I glad I did. She had booked a wedding at the Albin Polasek Museum and Sculpture Gardens, and if you haven't been there, you have to go!









Here is Heather breaking out the old school medium format! Can't wait to see the images from this!



I don't think she told me it was at 7am until after I had said yes, and then I had to double check with her to make sure she didn't mean 7pm. Sleep is nice, but so is morning light, and it's not like I have to get up every day at this time.

The wedding didn't really start until 9a, but we wanted to get there early to grab some details of the garden and the setup. I was there by myself for a good while. It was so peaceful I probably could of sat down and just mediated. The water was like glass and when I rounded a corner looking for detail images this white egret (I think?) took off flying! I reacted and made a shot as it was reflected in the glass like water.



This veil was awesome!


Someone didn't want their photo taken




Kimberly LaRoche of Special Event Solutions at work!














Definitely one of my favorites!
























This Folk band was awesome! They added a great flavor of untypical wedding music and they sounded great!










Vendor awesomeness!
Main Photographer - Heather Ahrens of HA! Photography!
Wedding Planner - Kimberly LaRoche of Special Event Solutions
Catering and Centerpieces - John Michaels
Folk Artist - Musicians - Sarah Purser and Robert Johnson
Cake - Publix
Hair - Mosaic Studio
Makeup - Studio Cara
Location - Albin Polasek Museum and Sculpture Gardens
One Way Valet (Valet)
Boat Rides - The Winter Park Boat Tour on Morse & Lake Osceola.



And the slideshow

080109 WED MALISA AND BRIAN - Images by Chad Pilster