Wedding Wire | Bride's Choice Award

We're very honored to get Bride's Choice Award from Wedding Wire!
We have been reviewed by our fabulous brides and if you're curios what are they saying you can check out OUR REVIEWS.

WPPI -Award of Excellence - Las Vegas 2009

Sadly Marcin and I had to miss the WPPI [Wedding and Portrait Photographers International] which is one of the bigger happenings in the photography world. But our dear friend Anahi was there, having all the fun in the world and snapped the photo below for us! I entered only one- that one. Thanks! You're the sweetest!

[in few weeks we are traveling to the beautiful San Miguel in Mexico and Anahi will be showing us around! Can't wait to experience this beautiful part of such an amazing country!-stay tuned for some wicked photos]

Birdcage veils | The HOT BRIDE

Ohh my! Do I wish every bride would consider a unique, custom piece like a birdcage veil or cocktail feathers! They truly show off personality and make you look, well...just hot! I love the pieces.

I teamed up with three lovely models [Denise, Johanna and Amy- thank you so much girls] , a bridal hat/veil designer Holly [do go and check out her work please!], make-up artist Michelle [along with her friend hairstylist Diana [whos work you can also see on Michelle's website] and used jewelry pieces from Yumi Chen Design [thanks, Yumi!]. My friend Erica [yes, I've shot her own portraits few days ago] came by the studio to have some fun with us! Can't wait to see her take on the work!

Here's some beautiful ladies with awesome make-up and hair wearing some hot birdcages/veils

love my clients! I really do!

"Hey Aga,
Thank you for the gift. If you guessed that I was the one opening the box you are wrong.
I guess Magda was a bit to excited and couldn't wait to open the box at home. :O) That poor, poor box.
Thank you for these little gifts. LOVE the chocolate too. Magda was really excited and she said that it's a very nice gift, and that your attention to detail is awesome. She even noticed that little "+" on the address label in pink color.
P.S.
I was told not to touch gifts - and that includes chocolates as well.
Sebastian"
all my past, present and future clients rock!

wedding contest

2009 for peace, love and happiness!!! and giving....
ALL THREE COUPLES ARE WINNERS.
details coming soon to the blog- couples should contact me a.s.p.

the nyc winter wedding slide-show

We heart you guys!
Thank you for everything; the love, the gift, welcoming us in such a warm way to your family and for trusting us with your special day.
[allow the slide-show to load which might take some time and enjoy]

where: The Shrine Church of Saint Anthony Padua and party atTribeca Rooftop
who: the infamous hairstylist Stacy Pitt, band called NYC Swing, vintage taxi from Film Cars
what: The Dress-Vera Wang Luxe Audrey + Yves Saint Laurent champagne leather ankle strap stilettos, vintage hand made veil and a beautiful girl - Adrienne!

New York winter wedding | Adrienne + Vince

Before Adrienne and Vince go on their Honeymoon to Hawaii tomorrow, I just wanted to share a little teaser with them to remember cold winter-y evenings in NYC - especially the most important one- their wedding, yesterday!

you're wonderful and we heart you so much!

3 finalists for the free wedding contest 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

WPJA contest winner

Image from Mandy + Michael's wedding that took place back in October in The Bourne Mansion, Long Island, placed in the last contest in Wedding Photojournalism Association. Cool.

It's here...a new website and look!

Website is up and running! Blog should be updated within couple of days...

We're loving it! Don't you? go, check it out! www.agaimages.com

international society of wedding photographrs award winner (s).

Wedding Contest

In lieu of Thanksgiving and more upcoming Holidays I am offering free wedding coverage to one lucky couple that would not otherwise be able to afford this services.

Rules are simple;
1. You must get married in 2009 [based on my availability] and apply by [deadline extended due to the fact I'm swamped with work during December - official deadline tbd].
2. You must otherwise not be able to afford my services or services of other similarly priced photographer [+/-4K].
3. You must love photography and be fun, loving + open people.

Simple, right? Cool. Send me your story along with a picture, date of your wedding info about your wedding, place of your wedding and anything else you'd like me to know [the more original wedding as far as things you'll be doing yourself{or with help of family/friends} the better].

***PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU INCLUDE THE ACTUAL DATE OF YOUR WEDDING, PLACE + PICTURE OF THE TWO OF YOU- all entries without the above will be disqualified***

Please, please understand that this is for couples that are on a tighter budget that truly would not be able to afford this type of services; not for people who are looking for a deal. Please no high end venues, expensive dresses/shoes [unless it's vintage or re-used].

Send your inquires to info@agaimages.com with "WEDDING CONTEST" in the subject.

Ardythe + Ali | Wedding

Brooklyn, NY

Connie + Michael | slide-show

Click on the photo below to view the slide show {be patient as it downloads}

Julie + Brian | Show

Click on the photo below to view the slide show {be patient as it downloads}

Connie + Michael | Sneak

Connie + Michael got married at the Pratt House on Park Ave. NYC.
High energy, beautiful ceremony, fun and dancing. Cool couple + lovely evening.

Julie + Brian | Sneak

Julie + Brian got married in the amazing Wave Hill Gardens in New York.
Beautiful, genuine, loving couple who's spirits were high and happy even through a crazy rain storm. Party was wickedly fun due both to the awesome music provided by Groove Society and a crowd eager to enjoy this happy ocassion.
Julie and Brian, thank you for having us and treating us like family!

A quick sneak peak....

Mandy + Michael | Slide-Show

Here it is, a beautiful event! Enjoy.

Click on the photo below to view the slide show {be patient as it downloads}

Liza + Stepan | Wedding in Moscow, Russia

I haven't have the time to go over the images from Russia, but I decided to post few of the day after session with Liza and Stepan {the son of great Russian film director (and actor)Nikita Mikhalkov and a beautiful actress mother Anastasia Vertinskaya.}. Everything about the wedding was perfect- starting with the couple who welcomed me with sweetness and open hearts.

Here's my take on the portraits:

You can view more pictures of the wedding on Gulnara's blog where some of my fab pictures are present.