BOGNA AND SAGUI - DESTINATION WEDDING ISRAEL

DESTINATION WEDDING ISRAEL

We landed in Israel in the late evening and the moment we stepped out of Ben Gurion Airport we knew we had a couple of scorching hot days ahead of us. Bogna and Sagui are a wonderful couple with fantastic energy. We photographed their wedding in Poland and were invited to their traditional Jewish wedding in Israel.

ENGAGEMENT SESSION IN TEL AVIV

We met our couple for a mini engagement session the day before the wedding. After lunch at Caramel Market we visited Old Jaffa that turned out to be a marvellous place with its distinctive Clock Tower, the Mahmoudiya Mosque completed in 1812, and a fountain nearby. We finished our session at Hill Park overlooking Tel Aviv and its vast sand beaches that stretch for kilometers. Later, we had a fabulous afternoon relaxing before the wedding day.

GETTING READY AT ISROTEL HOTEL

The next day we started with Bogna’s and Sagui’s preps at Isrotel Hotel. It was a fantastic make-up artist, Moran, who has rubbed shoulders with stars like the Rolling Stones, that did Bogna’s make-up. The bride looked stunning, just like a proper star. It turned out that Bogna and Sagui had actually received professional photography service in their hotel package. The moment we saw a photographer and a camera man backed up by two other photographers, we understood we’d have to fight for every single frame at the reception. Luckily, we managed to cooperate with the local team in a smooth manner.

We believe that all destination weddings need to be given their right space and time. There is no need to interfere with the natural emotions and beauty of the day. We focus our energy on finding right frames and building a story out of dozens of tiny, yet vital moments. During the session we will give hints to our couple on what they could do. However, it is more about creating an atmosphere rather than creating events themselves. So, in Tel Aviv we decided to go with the flow and follow our gut feeling. We saw the local photographers, who were a complete novelty to us, as an integral part of a traditional Jewish wedding which we chose to photograph in our own, unobtrusive, way.

Chuppah Wedding Ceremony

After a session on the beach we went to Faberge Palace where we witnessed a traditional ceremony conducted by Rabbi Amir Wind, followed by the wedding reception. The wedding ceremony began with the ketubah signing, followed by the veiling ritual, encircling the groom, arriving at the chuppah,  the welcome address, the engagement and the consecration, reading of the ketubah, reading of the seven blessings, and last but not least, breaking of the glass. It was a wonderful ceremony, so different from the ones we have got used to photographing.

Afterwards, our eyes were on the dance floor craze and all the wonderful emotions that ensued during the first dance.

The day after the destination wedding in Israel we decided to chill out, enjoy the wonderful Israeli cuisine and train the eye on the beach. Wherever we go, we always bring back some street shots. And we want to tell you more on our blog about the way street photography affects the way we photograph.

Bogna and Sagui, congratulations again! Mazel Tov!

A few words from our lovely couple:

“We had the privilege to get married twice; once in Poland and once in Israel. From the very beginning we had two completely different ideas about almost everything when it came to our wedding! However, once we saw WhiteSmoke Studio’s portfolio we both knew we wanted to work with them. Eventually, we decided to throw two weddings; an intimate, elegant garden reception at Belvedere at the Royal Lazienki Park in Warsaw, Poland, and a big, splendorous event for 350 people at Faberge Palace in Israel.

We met Michal for a quick coffee the day before the Warsaw wedding. Still, we felt very comfortable and natural around him on the wedding day. He made us feel relaxed and focused, while perfectly capturing our emotions, and he was strict and direct when needed. After we got our Warsaw wedding photos we were astonished by the artwork, the light, his creativity and amazing sense of timing.
We could not imagine not having WhiteSmoke Studio with us at our other wedding in Tel Aviv. Although we had already contracted 4 other photographers, we decided to invite Michal and Dorota as well so that they could continue capturing our story.

In Israel, we started from the engagement session in Tel Aviv-Yafo the day before the wedding, the place we had met and fallen in love, and we absolutely loved the results of Dorota and Michal’s special gift for us. It was an excellent opportunity to prepare ourselves for being photographed the following day, the only difference being that this time it was a stress-free environment which allowed us to only focus on ourselves – the real calm before the storm. Michal turned out to perfectly handle the madness of the wedding preparations, our photo session on the Tel Aviv beach with us in our wedding outfits in full sun, and the wedding itself. He has a rare gift of helping the couple to tune out the environment. It’s like taking you out of all the “balagan” and making you focused on the moment the picture is taken. Sagui’s fear was that a foreign photographer would find it hard to grasp the moments of a vibrant and intense Israeli wedding and the crowd. Well, not Michal, even when he had to fight like a lion for the perfect shot with the Israeli photographers.

When we look back at our pictures, we remember every single moment, every single emotion. We relive the two weddings and are amazed by the beauty Michal captured. The beauty of people, places, smiles and tears. Life is a series of pictures, indeed. Thank you, White Smoke Studio, for joining us in our journey and giving us great tangible memories of our perfectly wonderful & crazy weddings!”