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WELCOME. WE ARE A TEAM OF TWO PHOTOGRAPHERS - AGA + MARCIN.

THIS IS OUR OLD BLOG...

WE MOVED TO PERMANENT NEW DESTINATION AT WWW.AGAIMAGES.COM/BLOG

We are currently accepting only few more commissions for 2009 so if you’re interested in hiring us, we'd love to meet with you, please e-mail or call us [917.584.9890].

3 finalists for the free wedding contest 2009

Friday, January 2, 2009

Thank you everyone who wrote to me with their heart-warming stories. It was very hard for me to choose anybody so below are three of my favorite couples! We need some help in choosing - I can't do it!!! I like all of them very much so already!

If you're a friend, a family member or somebody just passing by who will take the time to read their stories and help me choose ONE couple who is most deserving please send an Email to: contest2009@agaimages.com [do not use my regular E-mail please] with the couple's name in the subject line. One entry per person, please.

The VOTING should take around 2 weeks [so approximately around Jan. 17- I shall post the results and congratulate the winning couple].

GOOD LUCK!



COUPLE #1 - JOLA + RONALD
THEIR STORY:
When a friend of mine sent me an email that a photographer was having a wedding contest for couples who couldn't afford photography services at their wedding, I was more than ecstatic! Ronald and I are currently in a very tight situation where we are currently living in my parent's basement trying to save money for our own apartment soon. Before i found out about this contest, we were just going to settle for a member from our church to take the pictures at our wedding for a couple hundred dollars. We were also going to have cameras set on every table at the reception so that we could have friends and family capture pictures for us and I would make an album with those pictures. Our wedding date is set for July 11, 2009. We are having a church ceremony and a backyard reception.

Let me tell you about us, My name is Jola and I am currently an 8th grade English teacher at a small private Christian Academy, I am currently working on getting my masters in Secondary English Education. My other half's name is Ronald and he works as a Janitor at the same school. We are both currently Youth leaders at our Academy's church. Reaching out to youth is a major part of our lives because they need guidance at this stage in life.

We never in a million years would have thought we would have met the way we did but God works in mysterious ways. We met each other in May of 2005 in Iowa at an NCAA track and Field championship. It wasn't until a year later in 2006 did we meet again and decided to get to know each other. Little did we both know when we met in Iowa that we lived less than 15 minutes away from each other. He lived in the Bronx, and I live in Yonkers. We saw each other on the 2 train coming from Melrose(track event at Madison Square Garden) February of 2006 and instantly connected eyes. I went on Facebook later that evening and saw him on my friends page, he still thinks that I went looking for him on that website till this day but I didn't. I know now that it wasn't a coincidence that we knew the same people which connected me to him that night on facebook. We started talking frequently through facebook and then phone conversations came in, then we started to hang out outside of the internet world. From our first date at Madame Toussaint's and dinner at BBQ's, here we are today, two years later ready to commit to one another.

Our wedding is truly about two families and two very different cultures coming together. I am Nigerian and he is Puerto Rican-American. We are trying to incorporate both cultures into the theme of our wedding. In my culture, it is necessary to have an "engagement" party at my parent's home. This is when Ronald will be formally asking my parents for my hand in marriage. His family comes and pays a form of dowry to my family for my hand in marriage. It is a really cool ceremony which both of us are looking forward to the friday before the wedding.

The reception is a real DIY (Do it Yourself) reception due to our tight budget. My aunt has a huge backyard so I am very grateful that she has agreed to let us use her backyard for our reception. She has a tree in the middle of her backyard that I plan on decorating with hanging crystals I found for a good price wholesale in manhattan. There will be paper lanterns streaming from the house to different angles in the backyard. The food will be Nigerian/Puerto Rican American dishes which will go along with the cultural theme. Instead of having wedding favors that nobody will ever use again, I decided because it is an outdoor reception starting at 6pm, to have chinese paper fans for the women and a candy bar where everyone will be satisfied. This is an economical and trendy idea. Ronald and I are a really laid back unique couple that love retro sneakers. To make our wedding special to us, we plan on making a switch during the evening into some retro kicks. We like being different!

A lot of family and friends have chipped in to help us to make our wedding day beautiful; our venue,honeymoon, DJ, cake and rentals are all being provided by family members, I guess that's the joy of having two big families uniting together. My sister is also providing us with a bartender but since neither Ronald nor I drink, we decided to have "mocktails" at our wedding with our names mixed together as titles for our signature drinks. Guests will have to ask the bartender for something like a "Joro" or a "Hussey" for example.

Ronald and I both love taking pictures and are truly a silly couple. We love laughing and making others laugh and just like having a good time together. We hope that you would really consider choosing us as the winners for your contest because it would be such a blessing to us. We have looked through your gallery and your photographs are amazing! We would love to be apart of your gallery as well as you being a part of our wedding day. Having beautiful pictures to look back to remember our big day would be really appreciative.

Sincerely,
Jola + Ronald



COUPLE#2 - DANIELLE + ZACHARY

HELLO Aga!!!! My name is Danielle, and I am 23 years old. This would be a dream come true for my fiance Zach and I to win your photography package. We are in need of help! Our wedding is being held on Saturday, November 21, 2009. I am located in Hellertown, Pennsylvania, and our reception is being held at Bear Creek in Macungie, PA. My fiance and myself are paying for our wedding ourselves. We have been saving every extra penny we have. We both picked up a part time job. We are both now working two jobs and we are both full time students! We are saving to have enough for our reception, but it is becoming extremely difficult to try to fund our other necessities such as a photographer, DJ, and transportation and such. My fiance's work cut out all of his overtime due to the economy and the business not doing as well as previous years, and I am a bartender... so my income (tips) have greatly decreased as we suffer a bad economy. As I mentioned we both picked up a second job which is helping us keep our savings growing. I have made the comment before.. "To bad I am in the wedding, or I'd take the pictures myself!" I love taking pictures. I am no where near professional, but I like to think I have captured some great pictures. We have a spare computer that is about to crash, because of the amount of photos I have put on it!!! I love photography, I think a picture captures so much more than an image! I want great wedding pictures in the worst way. I have visited your site, and you do amazing work, (and you get to work with your BFF, how lucky are you?!?!) haha! I enjoyed looking at your "FAVES" I love the angles you capture, the different heights you use, and the reflections in the mirrors. I would definitely love for you to capture my wedding, I love your style.
I think you would really enjoy my fiance and myself. We are both very fun, outgoing, loving people. And my bridal party is great, there will be so many photo opps!
Our ceremony is going to be held at our Church, St. Theresa's in Hellertown Pa, with our reception following being held at Bear Creek. I chose the theme of white, with black accents. I am asking all of my guests to wear black with white as their accent colors... (group photo!!!) hahaha, Our reception room will be left unmodified, we will have center pieces, and table cloths, but no chair covers (extra costs!!) I have 8 bridesmaids, and 8 groomsmen, my niece will be my flower girl, and my other niece will be my ring girl!
I had no hesitation writing you this email, my fiance and I are truly struggling this year trying to save for our big day! My parents are recently divorced. My grandfather passed on November 21 of this year (the same date Zach and I have chose to get married next year), and my Dad moved to Florida to help my Grandmother, he is un-employed, and can not contribute financially to our wedding day costs. My Mom is trying to hold down a home supporting my two teenage sisters, ages 16 and 17, almost 18 who is a senior and heading to college at the start of next year. Zach's Dad said he will host our rehearsal dinner. Zach's Mom and Step Dad are supplying a candy bar for our guests favors... other than those items, the expenses are solely Zachary and my responsibility. Zach and I are not exchanging Christmas gifts this year, nor with any of my family... not even my nieces :( We can not afford to purchase anything additional other than wedding supplies. We have been searching online many DYI projects to try to tighten our costs. My reception facility is cute... skibearcreek.com We are in the woodland ballroom. We are inviting the minimum allowed guests to stay within budget. We are saving saving saving and we want this day to be perfect. No matter what happens I know the day will be great, I am marrying the man I love! Please take us into consideration for your contest! It would be greatly appreciated, and a huge help to free up some additional money to put towards other items such as a DJ and flowers, and transportation! I am sure we can come up with some money to contribute to your traveling costs to come to Pennsylvania. I don't think I'm to far!!!! I hope you consider us... whoever wins is extremely lucky, your work is great, and you have a big heart willing to give away such an amazing gift. Thank you for taking your time to read my story! I am attaching a photo of Zachary and myself that his brothers girlfriend took of us with my digital camera at our Church.
I anxiously await your decision! Thank you, Danielle and Zachary!



COUPLE #3 - KIEU-DIEM + GERON


My name is Kieu-Diem and I am very interested (and in need of) the wedding coverage! Here's my story:

My fiance's name is Geron and we have been together for a little over two years. We were really close friends before our eyes were open to each other and we became a couple. There were a lot of opposition from my parents because I was still in college at the time and they were afraid he would distract me from school. My parents also didn't like him because they wanted a Vietnamese son in law and he's Chinese. Over the past two years, Geron and I persisted in loving my parents, even when they made it hard to. In time, they saw his genuine love for me and gave him their approval and blessing to ask for my hand! =D We got engaged on November 15, 2008. We have set our wedding for Friday, February 20, 2009. Our wedding will take place at our church where we first met.

Since I recently graduated from college in May and just started working, we are planning a wedding on a tight budget. We bought our invitations at Target for $30 per 50 invitations and will print them out ourselves. I bought bubbles as wedding favors at a dollar store (12 for $1). I bought my wedding dress at a small boutique for $150. We are looking to buy our flowers from Costco and arrange them ourselves. My friends will be helping me to put it together. We're expecting about 150 guests. Since we're working with such a tight budget, we decided not to have a DJ or videographer. My fiance's aunt owns a restaurant and she will help to host our wedding banquet for a discounted price. My fiance's aunt owns a restaurant and she will help to host our wedding banquet for a discounted price.

I really hope my entry is not too for the wedding contest. Please let me know! I look forward to hearing from you. Your services will really be a wonderful wedding gift since it will help to make my wedding an unforgettable and memorable one! Thank you sooo much for this opportunity!
Sincerely,
K.D

3 comments:

Oliemuller/Maslany Wedding said...

Thank you Aga for choosing Zach and myself for 1 of 3 of your finalists! We are so excited, and so grateful to have this opportunity. We feel truly blessed, and hope that our friends, family, co workers, and fellow bloggers/brides to be vote for us! This will really help us out! Thank you again! We are so excited! <3 -Danielle

Anonymous said...

Jola and Ronald are my pick :)

Anonymous said...

I thank you for your consideration by choosing Kieu-Diem & Geron to be the top 3 finalist of the contest. I hope you'll be able to see the beauty of their personalities and kindness of their hearts. Everyone always feels blessed around these two and I hope the world will will feel the love of these two. Thank you and have a blessed day!