Miami Wedding Photographer – Carlos Baez

There is one little fact that will be noticeable in the pictures, Chantalle is a poser, not that there is anything wrong with that. Chantalle loves it, Danny her husband loves it, and me the photographer loved it. Chantalle knows at all times where the camera is, thanks for making my life easy. I love when my bride knows how to work it, and Chantalle definitely can! Her dress, Vera Wang “Rita”, is from my friend Camille Russler of Ever After Miami, and the Christian Louboutin shoes too. Thanks to Ivette Perez of the Epic Hotel for the use of the penthouse to get such fabulous photos. Wedding planner was Jackie Ohh of Jackie Ohh Events.

I’ve been asked by many a client and photographer to show more of my “personal work”. So this is one of many new posts coming that will share with you, my readers, images and insight of my work other then weddings. This shoot in particular was of Oleksandra while I was up in Chicago. It’s funny what you can accomplish in less than an hour. Oleksandra is the epitome of confidence and sensuality that most of strive for, or at least want to once in a while. The trust she had in me allowed us to bring out in her what she’s always wanted, freedom. Enjoy her freedom.

I thought I would let our bride Lisel & James have the honors to write in their own words.
Our wedding weekend was much more of a big good-bye party than anything else. And that’s just what we wanted. Neither of us are much good at staying in the same place for very long. Inevitably, we’re off again. This time we’ve applied to the Peace Corps and hope to be stationed in West Africa for 2-plus years. Our ‘honeymoon’ will be traveling for as long and as far as we can before the Peace Corps. We’ll start in Spain with the Camino de Santiago, a centuries-old pilgrimage that takes us walking across Spain, this will be for 5 weeks, and then head over to India, Nepal, Bhutan, Japan and New Zealand. With that said, these past few months were our last stable moments States-side. We have a beautiful array of family and friends all over the world and it was important for us to get everyone together for a formal au revoir. It may be years before we see most of them again.
Photography was key and shooting with Carlos was one of the highlights of the weekend. His creativity and energy brought out the best in the group and we’re looking forward to many moments captured of everyone we love in their element. Catalina also did an amazing job capturing James and the event as well. After the party’s over, all we’ve got are the memories and the photos.
Bon Voyage,
Lisel & James

Fradyn and Andres live in Chicago, but all their family lives in Miami, so a Miami wedding it is. Fradyn planned it all herself from Chicago, great job! The wedding was held at the Church of the Little Flower and the reception was at the historic Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables. When you get two Miami families together, you know you will be moving your feet to a Latin beat. Fradyn was also a bridesmaid in her best friends wedding, Racquelyn and Jeff, back in April.

I wanted to share some fun pictures from a fundraiser called PawPurrazzi we were involed with 2 years ago. Several photographers, including myself, were assigned to local celebrities for us to photograph their pets and in turn the photographs would be auctioned off to raise funds for the Humane Society. It was a great event and raised more then $30,000. The images below are the pets of Miami Dolphin Jason Taylor, shoe designer Donald Pliner, and Barry Gibb of  the BeeGees. It was a blast as you can see.

I was happy to lend a hand to my friends Justin and Mary Marantz (you can see their images on their blog) when they had a wedding to shoot here in Miami. The bride Irena is a photo enthusiast as well, so when she asked, I felt obliged to bring the 600mm F4. As you can see, Irena can hold her own, or at least the 13 pound lens. My cameras never looked as good.

I had a blast having no pressure but to sit back and enjoy the  scenery and pick the moments that would add to the great coverage that Justin and Mary were shooting. Being a fly on the wall sometimes leads to images that you could not get as the main shooter.

This last image was a “wait  for it” moment. With the 600mm  you don’t have much choice but to sit back and wait for it since it is so difficult to move quickly. I just knew she would turn.

Arielle and Russell are a fashionable young couple from Manhattan. Russell’s family is of the Kwiat Diamonds, a business with over 100 years of strong family traditions and values. Their ceremony and reception was held at the new Gansevoort South on Miami Beach, thank you to Christian Sarquis of the Gansevoort for his help and beautiful venue. With a bridal party with 17 groomsmen, luckily we had the help of planner Sara Renee of Sara Renee Events to help in keeping those boys inline and the event running smoothly. Also filming the event was Andrew King of King Me Productions. The party was  amazing with great decor from Xquisite Events. We had an absolute blast into the late night hours, luckily we had our dancing shoes on for this one. A big thank you as always to my team Catalina, Jason, Caroline and Eudon. Scroll down below the photographs to see the slideshow.

I know their wedding is already up on a previous post, but I liked these images so much I wanted to share them.

Racquelyn is definitely a diva in hiding. As you can see, when the camera is near, she turns it on. Jeff, although shy at times, can ham it up, and bring out his own flair. Their day started  and ended at the Epic Hotel in downtown Miami. The ceremony was at St. Patrick’s Church on Miami Beach. Thank you to Ivette Perez of the Epic Hotel  for  all her help, she’s the best. It was also great to work again with filmmaker Julien of Merge Studios, check out the short film at the bottom of this post. For the families, enjoy the photographs.

Racquelyn & Jeff’s Wedding (Photography Version) from JULIEN for MERGE STUDIOS on Vimeo.

On this post, you won’t believe some of the details, pay attention to how much the shoes were. Thank you to my team of Catalina, Jason, Tracy and Paulina. Thank you to everyone at Ever After, Camille, Renato, Leah, and Denver, it sure helped in the alluring photographs. I will let Camille Russler of Ever After in Miami describe it best it her own words.

Shoes- Custom one of a kind celebrity status Shoe By Christian Louboutin made in Paris. Personal shopping by Stylist Camille Russler. Krishna wanted nothing but the best, my vision for her was a double platform fully custom Prive shoe with the bridal blue sole. Priceless at $5,000. When her Fabulous shoes arrived in the states they had celebrity stylists heads turning. I am so thrilled to have made Krishna’s Cinderella moment Now I am privileged to offer custom Louboutins exclusively at my boutique Ever After.

Dress – Custom Gown designed by Oscar de la Renta carried exclusively at my boutique Ever After. This gown is said to be the most sought after gown in Bridal Couture for 2009, the piece is pin pleated silk taffeta and dramatically pleated organza skirt. Krishna first saw her gown in electric blue at was showcased on trunk show at Ever After and it was love at first sight! She envisioned a gown for royalty and Oscar created an extended 50 inch custom train and skirt, now totaling 12 feet, to bring her dream alive. I designed a complimentary veil for her over the top gown, layers of tulle and organza delicately placed crystals to create an illusion of a soft glow as she entered her ceremony, styled with 5 elaborately designed hairpieces together they were the essential accessories for her Spectacular look!

Amy and Steven had so much fun at their wedding, which in turn makes it fun for us. Starting the day getting ready at the new Epic Hotel in downtown Miami, then off to St. Patrick’s Church on Miami Beach for a beautiful ceremony. The reception was held at the Alfred I Dupont Building on Flagler, I love shooting at the Dupont.

This recent engagement shoot of Melissa Muniz and Cesar Nieto was photographed at the Vizcaya Museum in Miami. I love when the groom gets into it as much as the bride.  They are SO into each other, “That’s hot.” I look forward to their wedding on January  9th, 2010.

We don’t enter too many competitions, so when we do get chosen, it’s nice to be recognized like in this months Photo District News April 2009 Top Knots Contest. The bridal portrait is of our 2007 bride Jennifer Jimenez Perez, an attorney in Miami, but still a diva in front of the camera. Thank you Jennifer for being such a great bride and model. The fabulous dress was from Ever After Miami.

Miami Wedding Photographer

The Taylors have been clients of ours for close to 10 years now. This is their family portrait this year for Christmas. It’s always tough with a football players schedule. Jason Taylor plays for the Miami Dolphins, ok, no remarks on their year this year.

I wore a shirt from Iceland that says “66″ on it, that is 66 degrees north latitude. But when Jason Taylor’s football number is 99, that wasn’t a good idea. This is what happened.