Griffin and Seana "Remember the Day" Signed Print

Choosing one photo of the thousands I shot on a wedding day is tough. I put so much passion into making every image and I wish I could give Griffin and Seana all of them! Our "Remember the Day" signed print turns a photo from just being a photo to being a signed work of art.

I do a lot of thinking before I decide on a print. The look on their faces, the awesome light and the moment that they were sharing guided me to this one. I hope it finds a place on their wall next to many of the others!




Look how gorgeous this 3/4" Standout mounting looks!

Sara and Bryan's Wedding Part 3

Oh, and did I mention I broke out the red umbrella again! Anyone know where I can get these things in bulk. I would definitely love to get more. If I'm not careful I'm going to get branded by my red umbrellas. Maybe that's not so bad!

Really I am just trying to save it for rainy days. The rain toyed with us, so we were stuck inside for a little while, which means I had to work a little harder to be creative.

Some of the greatness was in the colors, purple and red, chosen for this wedding. The bridesmaid dresses were definitely a hot red! I can't ask for a better color, my biggest concern was that the eye would go right to the red and you might lose the bride in all that color. After I thought about it, I remembered learning about the Gestalt theory, in photojournalism school, which deals with negative space in a photo. It basically says that if you have a dominant color in an image your eye will go to the non-dominant color. So if a page is all white, you will go to the red dot on it or if it's all red, you will go to the white dot. So with all of the bridesmaids being in red, your eye will go to the white brides dress.

It went awesome with those bright red bridesmaid dresses. I could not get enough of them. It may be tough to give them up, but when some of those girls are ready, I am sure I could find use for them on a couple photo shoots. Just send them my way!



The scenery, wow the scenery! The Sawgrass Marriott Golf Resort & Spa is gorgeous!


And then there was the rest of the reception




Sara's mom is an interior designer, so the centerpieces were from items she found around her mom's house! What a great idea!





Did you see these little glass slippers to hold everyone's name cards?

Bryan and Sara certainly knew how to have fun!





Of course there was the singing too

and Sara knew how to get down and dance!



The awesome people and vendors that I had a chance to work with...
DJ who rocks all night long - High Fidelity DJ
Amazing venue and awesome catering - Sawgrass Marriott Golf Resort & Spa
Church - Our Lady Star of the Sea
Florist - Celebrations, Flowers, Balloons and Gifts
Dress - Anne Barge
Photography- Pilster Photography
Second Shooter - Rob Cunningham
Special Thanks to my assistant (And awesome wedding album designer) - James Shaffer


060609 Sara and Bryan's Wedding - Images by Chad Pilster

Sara and Bryan's wedding Part 2

The rain toyed with us, so we were stuck inside this amazing lobby for a little bit. You can just hear me complaining. Yeah right, I was loving the way these images were turning out.
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This wedding was an interesting situation. Rob used to be editorial shooter with a stack of accomplishments including a Sports Illustrated cover. It had been a while since he'd done any serious shooting, and I don't believe he had ever shot a wedding. He ran across my work, wanted to hire me, assist me in shooting a friend of his wedding, and give it as a gift to his friends.

I'm glad he found me, because Rob's friends Sara and Bryan were so awesome and their wedding at the Sawgrass Marriott Golf Resort & Spa was spectacular.

It was great working with Rob, he brought along a lot of toys that we made use of. Some of them included a 500 f4 (This was so we could stay relatively stationary during the ceremony) and a 180mm macro lens (You can't get much closer than this!). He also brought along some great ideas like the waterfall portrait. He threw out the idea and we made it happen. He also had a few that we ran out of time for. Just more reason's for Sara and Bryan to come back down to Florida! (We'll get them on the beach during sunrise one of these years Rob!)

He also got some shots of me in action

And my other assistant James Shaffer shot this of me and Rob in action.



Sara and Bryan had to sit next to each other on a plane and that's how they met. These aren't the original tickets, but I think they did the job.



And on to the wedding...

These bags were gifts to Sara's bridesmaids

Did I mention it was an Anne Barge wedding dress. Sara actually met Anne when she was trying this on at Kleinfelds

Even inside we couldn't hide from the Florida humidity. Those big dresses are not too cool. Good things Sara had some awesome bridesmaids to keep her cool.

More to come.....

Griffin and Seana's Jacksonville Wedding! Part 2

I just didn't want to squeeze all the awesome photos from this wedding into one post. Plus I don't think I could ever have enough shots of the amazing beading Seana did on this dress! Here is the second half!

The wedding professionals that helped make it happen
Photography - Pilster Photography with help from my awesome assistant Chris Viola
Venue - Lakewood Presbyterian Church, Jacksonville, FL
Catering - Heirlooms Culinary Cafe
Florist - Hurst Florist - Carl Varnes
Hair Stylist and Makeup - Hadley's Hair Design
Cake - Publix
Rings - Gabriel at King Jewelers



051609 Griffin and Sena Wedding - Images by Chad Pilster

Griffin and Seana's Jacksonville Wedding! Part 1

I get a phone call on a Friday afternoon asking if I was available for a wedding "next weekend"! A good friend of mine in Jacksonville had referred them to me. I am glad I was! Griffin, Seana, their groomsman, matron of honor, and everyone else was great fun to take photos of.

The wedding was simple, but the dress was amazing. Seana had hand sewn all of the beading on the dress! She should be a professional at this!

Griffin and Seana's wedding also gave me an excellent experience in the culture of Cambodia and Khmer. There were lot's of little touches thrown in to mix the two cultures. I hope to have the chance to photograph a full Khmer wedding someday.

The wedding wasn't just simple, but it was quick. Seana only wore her gorgeous dress for the ceremony and pictures and then changed into a more traditional outfit for the reception. They had their first dance, enjoyed a few stories, ate some food and then they were off.

Since the bride and groom were gone and I had some willing bridal party members, we ran off to the playground nearby and had some fun.
Congratulations Griffin and Seana!

Don't miss Part 2...

The wedding professionals that helped make it happen
Photography - Pilster Photography with help from my awesome assistant Chris Viola
Venue - Lakewood Presbyterian Church, Jacksonville, FL
Catering - Heirlooms Culinary Cafe
Florist - Hurst Florist - Carl Varnes
Hair Stylist and Makeup - Hadley's Hair Design
Cake - Publix
Rings - Gabriel at King Jewelers