One of the best Groom's replies I've heard in a long time was given at the wedding of Natalie & James last Saturday. The wedding reception was held at the fabulous Strawberry Hills property, nestled in the picturesque Blue mountains some 3,100 feet above sea level. Tanisha Henry-wedding coordinator extraordinaire-ensured that everything ran perfectly.

Thanks for all the calls and good wishes while I was recovering from God-knows-what. My doctor hasn't said what it was(I don't think he knows for sure) but it knocked me into bed for the better part of two weeks. I'm glad to be back and I had a fabulous wedding on Saturday that I will post some images from in my next post.

My 4 year old son Jonathan made the principal's list this term with a 91 percent average as a follow up to getting the top boy trophy in kindergarden for last year. (he so takes after his mom) He often asks to say prayers for the family at the breakfast table and my 1 year old daughter Stephanie always chimes in with "men"(short for Amen) at the end. They are two of my greatest blessings from God.

My first seminar for wedding photographers & videographers will be some time late February or early March next year. I feel its time that I help others in my industry the same way others helped me to become successful. I think this will be the first seminar of its kind in Jamaica. Stay tuned for details.

Its amazing how much work backs up in two weeks. I'm putting in some serious overtime to catch up with my editing etc. I have a goal for all outstanding 2007 videos to be ready by the latest January 15, 2008, December weddings included. (that would be something) I'll keep you posted.

Neil & Nicole

A simple & elegant wedding, touching toasts and a peek into the honeymoon suite. Someone made our bride late and she was sure the groom was going to leave the church. He didn't though & all was well. I was invited to the honeymoon suite, or did i invite myself...hmmm, any way I was there for the first time in recent history and I have the pics to prove it.

Lorie-Ann & Damian

It rained cats & dogs at this wedding.(its just an expression folks:) But our hot couple made the most of it. The picture says it all, i'll say no more about that. But the bride informed me that the honeymoon went exceptionally well(I didn't ask her to elaborate). And please don't get me started talking about the bride's maids... whew! What a wedding, what a couple, what a bridal party!!! Before I get into trouble let me just say I thank Lorie-Ann & Damian for inviting me to their wedding and I enjoyed it tremendously. All the best guys, and all the best to the bride's maids as well.

Weddings 07 Slideshow

My new Slideshow. Let me know what you think.

Norell_Lee & Dwayne

Norell-Lee & Dwayne had a fantastic wedding on October 20. The bride's Mom who does wedding cakes professionally, created a fabulous cake for the occasion.This is an affable couple. Real comfortable with each other and everybody else. Norell-Lee was just totally happy and real easy to work with. Working with this couple reminded me that I have the best job on earth. All the best guys. I've uploaded some pics from the event. My ultra-talented wife Zahra did the shot of the two glasses totally without my knowledge. She is such a pleasure to work with.

Jamaica wedding video demo

Click below to view my video demo. Now I know how to do it I will try to upload previews of current weddings from time to time.

Greetings! We've had so many interesting weddings recently and met so many interesting people. I covered a wedding last month where the minister who was giving the couple councelling claimed he was in love with the bride and wanted her to call off the wedding! I am not kidding. This was a first for me. (names will not be posted to proptect both the innocent & the guilty:).

Anyone thinking about getting married at Jamaica Grande Hotel in Ocho Rios I can recommend it as a great location with an excellent wedding team. We covered Lorraine & Damion's wedding there about two weeks ago and I worked along with Brian Nejedly a really cool photographer from Ocho Rios. We had a great time.

I am not really in touch with the who's who in Jamaica right now so often my indicator of how important my clients are comes at the ceremony when I see how many photographers from the press are present. This is what happened with Rachel & Greg's wedding(I'll try for the first time to upload a video clip) This wedding is beyond explaining. Awesome does not even begin to describe the job done by Maureen Capleton of MC Decor (MC Decor - Maureen Capleton Tel:876-926-0129). Mr. Binns, the master of ceremonies was the ultimate upscale MC, tasteful, witty and really a pleasure to listen to. (This has all come back to me as I edited the wedding video this week). The guest list of about 400 included political heavyweights, leaders of commerce, top entertainers and a generous portion from the upper echelons of society.

Last week we covered a wedding with a chineese theme for a bride and groom Annis & Dayne ne, who were not even remotely chinese! It was beautiful though, with decor by Allison Watson. This is one those couples I really enjoyed working with. They are both really easy-going cool individuals that i wish all the best & every success in life & marriage. The Gold room at the Mona Visitor's Lodge was beautifully decorated for the event. The bride's maids were something else... I'll leave it at that! (and post a pic)

I type very slowly. It's now 7:14AM and I started at 6:30. It feels like i've been at this forever.

I'll get to Theresa's wedding next time. Just to say it was a fabulous affair with the reception at the Golf View Hotel in Mandeville.

Click the play button below to view a clip from Rachel & Greg's wedding.

We Survived Hurricane Dean!

We survived Dean! Some zinc lifted from my roof & we had some water coming in but my family & I are all ok. None of the equipment got wet and electricity was restored tonight. Tomorrow i'll start putting the office back together and reconnecting all the equipment so work can resume by Thursday or Friday this week.

Thanks for all your prayers & good wishes. My inlaws were not as fortunate. I'll post some pics. (The first two are of my inlaw's house. The last one is my backyard into which my neighbour's trees fell.)

Hurricane Dean is almost here. Just some rain & a little breeze where I am. See Pics. (Taken from my carport)

Waiting for Hurricane Dean

We're all waiting for the arrival of hurricane Dean. The shopping areas & business district are under cerfew(police Lockdown) untill after the huuricane has passed. If I have internet & electricity and internet I will post some pics.

Gary

All my weddings this summer were fabulous affairs. Of special note was the catering by Lorraine fong (catering_by_lorraine@yahoo.com) who seems to be at all the a-list weddings, decor by Ann-Marie Weise, one of Jamaica's most gifted decorators and planners, Maureen Capleton, another A-list wedding planner & decorator, and Marguerite Anderson of Petals & Promises fame ( wedding planning, tuxedo & gown rental, decoration etc. etc.)

We had way too many weddings this summer and plan to accept less weddings for the winter season & next summer. You know what they say about all work & no play! (no, actually it makes Jack a rich boy:) I have a great wife, two fabulous kids and a new house to enjoy. God has been really good to us as a family and we thank him for his blessings and all our clients for their support.

I'm back!!!! Cable & Wireless has done it again. My internet service has been down for a whole week!!! My apologies to all our clients and prospective clients for the inconvenience. We will be switching to Flow in hopes of averting such a disaster in the future.



For all clients awaiting uploads of their wedding images, we will be working around the clock to deal with the backlog. (service is still schetchy so it may take a while)



Our new e-mail address is mastersweddings@gmail.com



Overdue posts will be up between now and Monday next week.

Its about 5:30 A.M. I've been woking since a little after 4 this morning (talk about work load!) I have so much work to do I decided to.... you guessed it; Stop working for a while and post to my blog(does that sound logical?) Anyway, i'll make this quick as i'm in the middle of editing a wedding.

I just came across some images from a Jamaica Tourist Board reception I covered earlier this year at Mr. Gordon Tewani's residence ( he owns Tropical Jewellers and a host of other stuff including some prime real estate. Follow the link to read his fascinating story.) Also present was Aubyn Hill ( at NCB he was reportedly earning over one million US$ per year. I hear he tends to get straight to the point no beating around the bush. I like that. Many people become hypocrites because they are afraid that giving an honest opinion will cause offense.) I've included Photos of both of them along with a shot of Mr. Tewani's daughter (just couldn't resist) and his pool area. (I'm reliably informed it is lit like this year round. In December it is even more spectacular.)

Have you read the book Rich Dad Poor Dad? I'm just getting around to reading it. Great so far. two differing points of view: Poor Dad-Money is the root of all evil. Rich Dad-The lack of money is the root of all evil. You decide. I will keep you posted as I read on.

I must get back to work fully now, i've been rolling across the room back and forth between the duplication station and this computer as i'm also completing a dvd duplication job. Thanks for reading.

What a fantastic life this is. With all the hateful, negative and bad-minded people out there (some of whom I deal with regularly) I give God thanks for my life, my absolutely fantastic wife, my two adorable children, my talent and the most fabulous wedding clients anyone could have. Really! I have no bad experiences, no difficult clients, no clients I hide from, none of that stuff. I really do love every aspect of my work and enjoy each day thoroughly. Anyway, enough about me.

I had two really great weddings recently Dr. Gail Webster and Dr.Wayne Henry wed amidst friends, dignitaries and family in a beautifully decorated UWI Chapel and an exquisitely decorated ballroom at the Hilton Hotel. (Photos attached) Decorations were done by the talented Dawn Leyow. Rochelle & Damion were wed in a simple but elegant ceremony in the newly built Hellshire Kingdom Hall with the reception at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel.

I am currently streamlining my workflow to reduce the turnaround time while increasing the quality of output. Please feel free to let me know of any changes you would like to see on the website. Just today i visited the website of Andrew Clarke, a super talented wedding photographer I met in L.A. at a seminar. Check out his website for some really cool wedding photography; it takes a while to load but its worth the wait.

A.J. & Justin's Wedding Pt. Charlotte Florida

Florida was cold this past weekend. I wore gloves, a jacket and a woolen hat when out in the night on Saturday. A.J. & Justin's wedding on Saturday was a blast! they are a really cool couple who seem to get along with everybody. They joined the guests in dancing up a storm at the reception and the bride's mom cried (yes I saw) during the first dance. I'm posting some pics of the couple.

My friend Tim was in Jamaica shooting a destination wedding this weekend. Sorry I wasn't in Jamaica Tim. Anyway I'm sure you had a great time as always. See you soon.

I'm glad to be back with my family. I really missed them. I must be getting old, I was only away for three days. I flew Spirit airlines and the service was excellent both ways. I have always had good experiences with spirit, unlike Air Jamaica who cancelled my return flight from LA the last time. The Spirit planes were clean the service was friendly & the Orange Juice & Cranberry juice was good. Everywhere except WalMart was closed on Sunday. So much for my new siuts & sunglasses, but otherwise it was a great trip. Special thanks to Jim, Ruth, Alexis, Peter & Xavine for making the trip what it was.

Bridal Show season

Bridal show season is about over for now with the Pegasus show this past weekend. It was a blast! My whole family came to help me pack up. (I'm posting pics of the kids at the show) My wife is just the best. I just want to thank all the prospective brides & grooms who visited my booth. I appreciate all the positive feedback and got some good laughs.

As the first wedding photographer to offer Coffee Table Books in Jamaica, guests would leave my booth & ask other photographers at the show about their Coffee Table Books. One by one those photographers came to my booth to ask me as they had no idea what a Coffee Table Book was!

I have been practising principles learned from the great Mike Colon involving customer service & branding and my customers really appreciate the difference between my company and the competition. Thanks Mike.

Someone left a beautiful comment on one of my posts that was most encouraging. Thanks a million. When you're on top you make an easy target, but thanks to God I keep dodging :)

I'm posting a photo of an ardent follower of my blog & websiteNorell-Lee & her Fiance Dwayne. Thanks for your interest and commendation.

I'll try to post some pics from my Florida wedding this weekend as soon as I get back.

Shaggy, Tony Gold, Jenny Jenny, Lady Saw, Ity & Fancy Cat, Iceman, Voicemail, Red Rat, One Third, Nikeisha Barnes just to name a few of the Jamaican celebrities that were at Rising Star Chris Martin's party Tuesday night. The party was planned by the lovely Diannie Gordon and there was food galore. Shabba would have been pleased with the quantity & quality of the girls in the place. I'm posting some pics.