Be Creative Photography - Wedding and Portrait Photography by Brooke and Eric Lagstein

Last post on this blog!

2010-02-03T10:35:00.008-05:00

Dear Friends,

It's time to update your bookmarks because we are moving to a new blog. This blog has served us well over the last 3+ years, it's filled with so many amazing memories, great stories and fun happenings.

With that said, we are so excited to officially announce a brand spanking new blog. We have worked really hard to put together a top of the line, bigger, faster, and overall just darn sweeter new blog. So without further ado....

Go to our NEW BLOG now by clicking here!!!

www.becreativephotography.com/journal

Introducing Marlie Bea!

2010-01-08T00:06:00.012-05:00

So where have we been? Oh, just having a baby is all!! Our daughter Marlie Bea Lagstein arrived on November 20, 2009.

It was very surreal bringing a new family member home and realizing that our lives have changed forever. She has filled our home with more love than we could ever have imagined.

We want to thank everyone for your support and outpouring of well wishes. For all the love we have received from friends and family - our hearts are overflowing - and Marlie is soaking it all up.

So what happened? Well, I went into labor at 3:30 am and I was in complete denial. I spent a really long time having contractions all by myself before waking up Eric. By the time I woke him up my contractions were only one minute apart and we had to race to the hospital. Eric was so shocked and in such a slumber he couldn't remember how to get to the hospital which is only a 5 mile drive. It was a scene for the movies. I was giving him directions in between my contractions and telling him to pass cars and go through red lights. At least we showed up at the hospital laughing. Although he started out a little shaky he quickly got himself together and proved to be the most amazing and supportive husband and labor coach in the world.

I will spare you all of the wonderful details of my labor - I wound up having a c-section. Thank goodness we had such an amazing team of nurses and doctors - I feel I owe my life to them all because they brought our baby into this world safely.

We were in no rush to name her. We spent a few days getting to know her. With 10 names in our pocket, no other name ever came to mind. After about 2 days we knew she was Marlie Bea. Marlie is for my Grandmother Mariel and Bea is for Eric's Grandmother Beatrice.

After the c-section I had to spend a long time in recovery while Eric was with the baby. The picture above shows the one moment I got to see her before they took her away to check her vitals. Recovery was really tough because all I wanted was to be with her. Eric insisted that they bring her to me. He actually stood up to a line of 5 nurses who were saying that the baby needed to stay under the warmers for another 2 hours before she could come to me. Eric did tons of research before our birth and knew that mom was the best warmer over any stupid machine, he insisted and off he went with her - GO DAD! The photo below is when I really got to meet her. I was in heaven and when I looked up all of our parents had snuck into the room to see this moment. I was so happy to see them all there, all 8 of them and not a dry eye in the house.

The first picture of the new Lagstein family!!!!!!!!!!

Eric took this shot the next morning and it's one of our favorites. The first of many mornings waking up to these eyes.

Unfortunately when we got home Eric came down with the flu. It was sooooo awful, he had a very high fever and he was banished to "exile island" (a.k.a the guest bedroom upstairs) for 4 full days. It was heartbreaking that he could not be with us in the beginning but he was more sick than he has ever been before. He did not want to pass it on to Marlie. The morning he came back to us she gave him the biggest smile in the world - it was crazy and brought us to tears. She has an amazing connection with Eric. She lights up when he comes in the room, looks at her, talks to her, holds her...

Before we could blink our eyes Marlie was showing us her personality. She is such an expressive little one. She makes little noises all day long (and night too). She stares at you intensely as if she is computing everything that you are. And best of all she has been a smiling fool since day 5.

I'm not going to lie that Maggie is a little sad that she doesn't get all the attention any more, but she has completely accepted her new rung on the ladder without a fuss. She is so gentle and sweet as can be with Marlie and I'm sure cannot wait until Marlie is big enough to play with her.

And here are two shots from a little creative session we did with Marlie around 2 weeks.

We've had a wonderful beginning to parenthood. As we are finding some normalcy in our new lives as a family of three, we realize how blessed we are. Off we go on this new journey. More to come...

Photos of the Day!

2009-10-30T16:53:00.007-05:00

Just wanted to post a schmorgasbored of images from this summer and falls weddings. We haven't been posting that much. The blog has taken a back seat to working on 2009 albums, delivering photos, our slammin holiday season - oh and of course I'm 9 months pregnant and READY TO POP! Enjoy this medley of photos showcasing some tender moments, awesome sillhouettes in doorways and windows, and some reception fun.

First up, two photos from Ali and Eric's wedding at St. Pauls R.C.C in Ramsey, NJ.

Ali's father-daughter dance at the Rockleigh Country Club.

A different Ali absolutely delighted that her wedding day at Ramsey Country Club has finally arrived!

Shenanigans on the dance floor at Ramsey Country Club.

A beautiful detail photo of Julie from her nuptials to Christian at the Ridgewood Country Club.

Julie and Christian stopped for a fantastic silhouette in the doorway of the Old Paramus Reformed Church in Ridgewood, NJ - shot by Eric.

Julie and Christian being awfully romantic at the Ridgewood Country Club.

Christian and his mom during the mother-son dance.

This shot is from Julie and Victor's wedding at the Westbury Manor. I wasn't even at this wedding but when I was editing the photos I cried when I saw these. I was just so touched by how the siblings stood up to support their brother during an emotional speech.

Here is Victor getting dolled up by the ladies. You may remember Victor and Julie from their engagement session in Central Park.

Here are Kristy and her father - waiting for their turn to go down the aisle at the Castle on the Hudson in Tarrytown, NY

Eric took this photo of Michelle getting ready to leave for her ceremony and reception at Bridgewaters in NYC. I think the light is just beautiful, the pattern, the composition. Great job Eric!

A lovely silhouette from a wedding at the Pleasantdale Chateau.

Another image from the Pleasantdale Chateau - a beautiful scene setter shot by Eric.

And finally a fun reception shot from the Mallard Island Yacht Club.

Thanks for taking a peak. We hope you enjoy todays medley of images.

Sincerely,
Brooke and Eric Lagstein
Be Creative Photography

Adorable Kids Photo Shoot

2009-10-29T14:34:00.000-05:00

Here are some recent images of adorable children photographed by Be Creative Photography. We've been creating canvases, holiday cards, albums galore for everyone's holiday gifts. Just wait until your friends and family open their gifts this year!

First up is Aiden photographed by Eric.

Next, beautiful sisters Sadie and Ella photographed by Brooke.

And finally 2 week old twins Vincent and Annie. How cute are these snugglers?

It's been a wonderful fall and holiday season so far. Thank you for choosing Be Creative Photography.

Sincerely,
Brooke and Eric Lagstein
Be Creative Photography

Wyckoff Kids Photo Shoot in a Natural Setting

2009-10-09T09:33:00.004-05:00

Eric photographed these cutie-pies at the Wyckoff Wildlife Center. I have to say that I am so proud of Eric for his ability to work with kids and draw out their personalities and laughter. I have been loving every single one of his shoots and he's been doing a lot of them! We've been so busy photographing families and working on holiday orders we have no time to blog! But finally I am giving you some new eye candy for your viewing pleasure.

So enjoy and please call us asap to schedule your family photo shoot for the holiday season. We only have about 5 slots left to make the deadline for holiday orders!

This is to cute, walking with a little help from your siblings

Audrey and Dan's Wedding at the Roundhill House

2009-09-23T17:31:00.009-05:00

Audrey and Dan were married this summer at the beautiful F.E.A.S.T at Roundhill House in Washingtonville, NY. It was a very special celebration and unique experience for Eric and I too. Audrey is a fellow photographer out of NYC. We had so much fun shooting their wedding.

This is a precious shot of the flower girl! Love her bow, shoes and dress so much!

Eric took all the photos during the Ketubah signing.

They had a great crowd and wonderful party!

The band was awesome and many of the guests performed too.

I love this shot Eric took through the doorway of the reception room.

Thank you to Audrey and Dan for choosing Be Creative Photography. It's been a pleasure to work with you. And your album is almost complete already, can't wait to see it in person.

Sincerely,
Brooke and Eric Lagstein
Be Creative Photography

Wyckoff Kids Shoot - Andrew and Maya

2009-09-23T13:29:00.001-05:00

We certainly did not have to travel far for this photo shoot. This family lives right around the block from us. Aren't we so lucky to have such awesome neighbors! Eric had a great time with these kiddos. The shoot took place in two locations, at their house and at the Wyckoff Enviornmental Center. What a great place to go for a walk and take the kids. Delivery to this family goes out next week! Woohoo! Can't wait for next week.

Elyse and Brad's Wedding at The Roosevelt Hotel in New York

2009-09-10T14:59:00.001-05:00

You may remember Elyse and Brad from their engagement session in Central Park. These lovebirds tied the knot on 4th of July at The Roosevelt Hotel in New York City. We had so much fun with them, their wedding party, and family. It was a blast.

We stopped at Grand Central for a few quick portraits.

This room at the Roosevelt Hotel was beautiful.

Both the ceremony room and the reception room were glowing in shades of gold and pink. Isn't this cake amazing. I love all the shadows surrounding it.

Brad is such a great guy and you can tell what a wonderful life they will have together.

Elyse is a riot. She is sweet, funny, full of energy and such a great girl. I'm not surprised there was so much excitement around the celebration of this couple.

Like mother like daughter!

This is one of our favorite photos of the night. Elyse trying to get Brad to let loose. What a great moment Eric captured.

A sweet end to a lovely wedding in New York City.

Congratulations you guys. We are so happy for you and looking forward to working on your album. Thank you for being such a pleasure to work with.

Sincerely,

Brooke and Eric Lagstein

Be Creative Photography

Kristine and Larry's Wedding at Heldrich Hotel in New Brunswick, NJ

2009-09-10T13:07:00.007-05:00

Congratulations to Kristine and Larry! They had such a wonderfully unique wedding in the New Brunswick area. We started out at the uber cool Heldrich Hotel. I was so impressed that Kristine's mom made her dress. Wow!

And Larry's dad provided this vintage ride for the bride and groom. Here are Kristine and Larry getting a glimpse of each other for the first time on their wedding day.

In only one block and 15 minutes we found a lot of cool backdrops for photos.

The walk down the aisle was emotional as always. We don't always have a primo view of the moment the parents give the bride away but this day we were lucky to have plenty of room.

The beautiful Zarephath Christian Church.

I love when the veil is backlit. It's always so beautiful.

Eric took the bridal party on a stroll through the streets of New Brunswick before entering the reception which was at the Hotoke Restaurant.

Gotta love poppers!

Kristine and her dad had a lovely first dance.

The brothers were so sweet, they made a great slideshow that was presented during dinner. Aren't these guys so cute! Loved them.

Karaoke is becoming very popular at weddings. Good times.

Many thanks to Kristine and Larry for such a wonderful day. We are so glad that you chose Be Creative Photography!

Sincerely,
Brooke and Eric Lagstein
Be Creative Photography.com

Lauren and Andrew's wedding at the Water's Edge Resort in Westbrook, CT

2009-09-08T17:37:00.003-05:00

Congratulations to Lauren and Andrew. Their marriage celebration took place at the Water's Edge Resort and Spa in Westbrook, CT. It was a perfect celebration with personal touches throughout.

I love the written notes of vows. God Bless those who have the courage to write their own vows.

The girls helping Lauren get ready.

The entire day was teetering on the edge of viscous storm. But we were very lucky to not have a drop of rain so the outdoor ceremony and all the photos were not affected. And the sky was awesome all day.

No time was waisted in the transition from the first dance to the party songs. The dance floor was packed.

Eric loved this kid but he kept sticking his tongue out at Eric.

Lauren and Andrew's album looks great! Can't wait to see it in person. Thanks for choosing Be Creative Photography!

Sincerely,

Brooke and Eric Lagstein

Be Creative Photography

Karissa and Ken's Wedding at the Venetian Yacht Club

2009-08-25T17:32:00.000-05:00

Congratulations to Karissa and Ken. They were married at the Venetian Yacht Club in Babylon, NY. There wedding day was beautiful, although rain storms came in and out all day and night. These flower girls were too adorable and this whoopie cushion was not prompted by me.

I love all of the notes that are required for preparation. When nerves are running high we've seen notes like this, ribbons tied to the fingers, signs on doors, on car winshields, all very creative solutions for the forgetful.

A beautiful moment during the ceremony.

They are so happy and I bet thinking "can we kiss yet? can we kiss yet?"

This party was a lot of fun! Here is the groom and his friends.

Congratulations you guys. We are so happy for you and so happy you chose Be Creative Photography. Your album is going to be so wonderful!

Sincerely,
Brooke and Eric Lagstein
Be Creative Photography

Andrea and Daniel's Wedding at Locust Tree Restaurant In New Paltz

2009-08-24T15:40:00.010-05:00

Congratulations to Andrea and Daniel! This is from way back in June! Agh - can you believe our horrible blogging?! It's been a rough year for the blog but I will do my best to get back on track and up to date.

They were married in New Paltz which is near and dear to our hearts since we were married in that area as well. The Locust Tree Restaurant was the setting for both the ceremony and reception. They had clotheslines strung from tree to tree showcasing photos of them and this lovely design with their wedding date. I love the purple and green.

Andrea, the stunning bride.

At the same time I was taking the above picture Eric was a few blocks away snagging this shot of the groom Daniel. It's scary how much we think a like.

A sweet kiss during their first meeting.

I love this photo. I may be partial to it because of my love of the forest and nature. But the natural path of the trees, the beautiful filtered light through the green leaves, and Andrea and Dan on the way to their ceremony - so cool.

Some of the beautiful details.

Eric spotted Andrea and Daniel having some quiet time right after the Ketubah signing.

All happiness for their first dance.

Daniel and his mom.

A great moment during the Hora.

I just love this portrait Eric captured, what a great group.

I spotted Dad having a moment during the speeches. This was when Daniel was giving a speech and talking about how wonderful his wife Andrea is (I must agree). Dad was so proud!

Congratulations guys. We love your album and can't wait to see it in person. Speak with you soon.

Sincerely,
Brooke and Eric
Be Creative Photography

Julie & Victor Engagement in Central Park

2009-08-12T13:23:00.000-05:00

Julie and Victor's e-session in Central Park was awesome. Our clients continually choose the Central Park Route - we always find a way to make everyone's shoot different. We found nooks and crannies of our usual route that we had never noticed before. Like this little gem near Bethesda Terrace.

Eric took this shot while standing on a fallen down tree.

We love this location and always stop here. But we never get so lucky to have such a pedestrian free path.

This was taken under the arches of the Bethesda Terrace. There was a guy playing a guitar and it was so lovely and romantic.

On our way to Literary Walk we were able to hear the music from a concert being held in Central Park. We stopped to enjoy it and took the opportunity to use the beautiful sunset filtering through the trees. These two shots are my favorites!

I am currently working on a guest sign-in book for Julie and Victor's wedding. I love the design! Again, I can't wait to see this one in person.

Looking forward to your wedding in September!

Sincerely,
Brooke and Eric Lagstein
Be Creative Photography

Amanda & Mike Engagement in Hoboken

2009-08-04T14:07:00.004-05:00

We had a wonderful e-session with Amanda and Mike in Hoboken. They were so easy going and wonderful to work with. We cannot wait for their wedding! I'm currently working on an Engagement Session Album for them that is turning out to be beautiful and full of such variety. I can't wait to see it in person.

Eric had us stop at this very unexpected little alley for a few shots. I loved the new location.

Such a happy couple!

The patina on the side of this garage was a perfect backdrop for them. They both have such beautiful, blue eyes.

I love this romantic moment. Mike is such a sweet heart.

This was after sunset on a little beach we found in Hoboken.

And of course we have a few with the New York skyline.

Amanda and Mike we are really looking forward to your wedding. We are so glad we had the opportunity to do this e-session before Mike left for school. We'll speak with you soon.

Sincerely,
Brooke and Eric
Be Creative Photography

Allison & Keith Engagement in Central Park

2009-07-17T12:35:00.000-05:00

Allison and Keith's wedding is coming up this falland we are so excited! We had a crazy few weeks of e-sessions having to be canceled over and over again because of rain. Luckily they held out for the nice weather. Central Park in the spring/early summer is amazing. Now they will have a 3 season set of images from Be Creative.

Such cuties.

We loved Allison's blue dress and her awesome High Heel Cole Haan Nike Air's. I gotta get me a pair of those.

Marion & Bruno's Wedding at The Waldorf Astoria

2009-07-10T14:58:00.013-05:00

Marion and Bruno are two of the happiest people I have ever met. The entire day they were smiling ear to ear and laughing. They are two people that are such a joy to be around! It was no wonder that the Waldorf Astoria staff treated them like gold. Here is Marion getting all dolled up by the amazingly talented beauty team. I have to get their names for you because they were awesome.

Marion's sister designed these gorgeous rings. I was so impressed and loved the engravings inside.

The bella bride! (had to throw that in there because Bruno's family is Italian and the couple honeymooned in Italy)

Bruno getting his handsome on.

Eric having fun :) No, not with the beer on a work day - the photo taking people.

Eric looooves shooting into window light and the glorious windows at the Waldorf were the perfect setting.

How cute are these siblings!

Marion on the way to the Ceremony, she cannot help but to smile. Everyone else is all serious trying to stick to the schedule and Marion just can't stop smiling. It's contagious, I was smiling all day too.

Love birds united!

Entering the reception they were just taken back by the moment. So much love and such a beautiful atmosphere.

Imagine walking through this reception and suddenly stopping dead in your tracks at the sound of the most beautiful Italian voice singing. Bruno's dad took the mic quite a few times and his singing gave everyone goose bumps. What a voice! I love this shot, this duo is just awesome. The guitarist has no idea what words this man is singing but he will jam with him anyway.

Mother and daughter, same reaction to the same moment and same expression.

Congratulations to these love birds. We are so excited to work on your album and want to thank you for working so hard to get your images to us in the midst of all of your travels. We'll be speaking with you soon.

Sincerely,
Brooke and Eric
Be Creative Photography

Birth Announcements!

2009-07-09T14:22:00.009-05:00

We've got babies on the brain. We just can't get enough of all of this adorable baby stuff. Check out baby Grace's birth announcement. Isn't it the sweetest design for the sweetest little girl? It was so much fun to create.

Think of us for your next Baby Shower. A Be Creative Photography gift certificate is a really fun gift to give and to receive. Contact us to set up your gift certificate. You can email us by clicking on the link in the right column.

Happy Bride and Groom = Happy Brooke and Eric

2009-07-07T13:12:00.005-05:00

We received the most wonderful email from Cassie and Tomer this weekend. Their wedding was during HURRICANE HANA. It was soooooo much fun and definitely unforgettable. I always tell all of our couples that no matter what the weather or circumstances are - with the right attitude, everything works out.

We are so grateful for this email. It really made our day.

Brooke & Eric,

Finally got home, and lucky enough to have the most beautiful album I have ever seen waiting for us. It is truly awesome... and everyone in our family agrees. Looking back, with the horrible lighting and weather of our wedding day, it is really a blessing that we had you to document it... your expertise and fine attention helped the photos to come out beautifully despite the many challenges of the day and environment. Thank you. We wish you both continued success in the business, and especially with you new family.

With Gratitude,

Cassie Childers & Tomer Woelz

Here are some images of their album. They wanted something completely unique. No white in the album at all. And a totally different cover. Album design is always a collaboration and I am more than happy to work with anyone's creative ideas and to try something different. This cover is the Magic Mystery Glass cover.

One of my favorite spreads that really shows how horrendously wonderful the wind was.

Marnie and Juan - Woodbury Country Club Wedding

2009-07-01T16:41:00.006-05:00

It's official, wedding season is in full tilt. We are so busy everyday and on every weekend. The blog is really suffering from our hectic schedule. We apologize for the lack of posts. We are going to try to keep up with every wedding and shoot we do. That being said please join me in congratulating Marnie and Juan. Their wedding was all the way back in May.

Eric had a great time with the guys getting ready.

Marnie is so beautiful and sweet. We really had a great time with both of them.

One of the many shots taken right after they had their first meeting.

Eric is loving this vintage effect on photos. I think it works well with this image.

Precious flower girl doing a wonderful job despite the pressure of all that attention.

The happy couple exchanging their rings.

Marnie and Juan's first dance.

The party gets started. Marnie and Juan's friends and family were so much fun. I loved that they met in college at SUNY New Paltz. I almost went there myself.

And lastly, a fun little animation we put together. Love it!

Creative Guest Books/Table Numbers

2009-07-01T06:53:00.008-05:00

Elizabeth and Dean created the most beautiful table numbers that served double duty as guest books. I was so excited to see them come to life at the wedding. Elizabeth added embellishments using stamps and it was just gorgeous. Below is a list of materials needed.

Materials:

Kolo Vineyard Albums
Wedding Related Stamps - The Ink Pad on 12th st in NYC
Number Stamps - Martha Stewart Brand from Paper Presentation on 18th st in NYC

I tell everyone about how amazing Kolo products are for your personal, artistic projects. I am delighted that our images from Liz and Dean's wedding are featured onThe Koloist blog. Be sure to check out The Koloist blog to see more images.

Backyard Kids Shoot in Wyckoff, NJ

2009-06-11T20:37:00.006-05:00

Eric only had to travel a few blocks away for this fun, backyard photoshoot. Chelsea and Connor's parents won a Be Creative Photography session at a local fundraiser for the elementary school. Yay to benefits for good causes! Now that we live in the suburbs we love to be a part of our community and help to make a difference whenever we can. How sweet is Chelsea in her darling purple dress.

Cute stuff on Mom and Dad's bed. This one will be a large canvas hanging in the parents bedroom.

Eric really knows how to pull out the giggles! I love this one of Connor.

More giggles!

And some end-of-the-session, who cares if we get sweaty, craziness.

Elyse & Brad's Engagement Session in Central Park

2009-06-05T15:38:00.009-05:00

Congratulations to Elyse & Brad. Another couple from California, for some reason we photograph a lot of couples from California who have their wedding in the tri-state area. We had an incredibly sweet and fun e-session with them in Central Park recently. And they thought they were not photogenic?

We loved the music of this cellist, it added even more romance to Bethesda Terrace.

Eric shot this photo in the middle of the shoot. Love it

I love this photo. Eric and I were scoping out a new spot, I turned around they were snuggling just perfectly, so I snapped a shot with my long, telephoto lens.

Thank you Elyse and Brad. Can't wait for your July 4th wedding!

All About Babies - Welcome Grace!

2009-05-25T16:16:00.006-05:00

Welcome, welcome little one. Say hello to baby Grace.

I photographed her on her 14th day of life. She was a sleepy, little peanut and still craving the warmth of mommies tummy. My solution, lay her ontop of mom and cover mom with a blanket. Worked like a charm! Although in this photo she was moved to comfy pillow.

Her proud parents John and Jen are in heaven. Thank you for having me photograph her guys! Grace is such a beautiful, little sweet heart. I can't wait to watch her grow up.

Bubbles = Happiness

2009-05-10T22:09:00.005-05:00

Happy Birthday to our niece Lauren who apparently looooves bubbles. If only bubbles made us all this happy! We had our family over yesterday for a combined Mother's Day and Lauren's Birthday celebration. Here are some pics that made us really happy.

This little one, she is such a character! She talks 100 miles per minute and every little word out of her mouth will bring a smile to your face.

Our present for Lauren was her Princess themed birthday party and this little bubble maker that cost me $12. Only the best $12 ever spent!

Of course we can't leave out our beloved puppy Maggie. This was her first time seeing bubbles, so first she investigated...

then started to sniff them, but they were exploding on her nose.
Finially she learned the fun of trying to eat them instead.

Liz & Dean's Wedding - L'Escale Restaurant in the Delamar Hotel

2009-04-16T11:56:00.015-05:00

We are so excited to kick off this years wedding season with a HUGE congratulations to Elizabeth and Dean. I have a good story here. They were referred to us by Samantha and Matt and hired us without meeting us in person, which sometimes happen. So my friend Julie and I went to the NY International Gift Fair. There are 1000's of booths and 1000's of people. While we were at a booth this lovely girl was telling us how she was getting married soon. Perfect opportunity for self promotion right? No way - I am way too shy and rarely speak up in these moments. But my friend Julie was all over it. She quickly shouted, sooo do you have a photographer? And the lovely girl says YES, Be Creative Photography. SAY WHAT? At first I was embarrassed because I thought, why don't I recognize her? What a coincidence and fun little meet up right? I was so excited for their wedding!

Needless to say Elizabeth is beautiful. Below, her friend and amazingly talented makeup artist is doing her thing.

Love the strong lighting from behind.

She was so excited to have her dress on.

I guess I've been into the "serious" looking bridal portraits lately. I realize this is the 3rd one I've posted. We have tons of Liz laughing too but I just loved this profile that showcased her hair, earrings, and dress detail too.

It was a windy, windy day in Connecticut. Eric had fun with the guys before the ceremony started.

This is our signature wide angel shot, we love it and almost all of our couples request it.

I love this shot. It was taken through the rear view window of their getaway car.

The girls were FREEZING! They were troopers though and stepped outside where there was enough room to capture images of them all together.

After the chilly outdoor photo session we brought Liz and Dean inside the church to warm up. With our awesome 5D Mark II's we were able to capture some really beautiful shots in the church - no lights or anything. Just the wee little bit of light coming in from the stained glass windows.

Dean was/is so sweet to Elizabeth. He really appreciates photography and was a wonderful subject to photograph and work with. We fed off of both of their enthusiasm.

Elizabeth's dress was whimsical, nature inspired, and went perfectly with her vintage and wildflower wedding decor. I really wanted to capture some etheral, white-washed portraits of her. The church doors presented the perfect opportunity.

I love their flowers so much. The cluster of vintage vases, the color, and the Kolo signing books that doubled as table numbers. The Delmar Hotel was a perfect setting.

A few planned and some impromptu speeches by friends and family had the bride and groom cracking up! You should have heard Dean's friends boasting about what a stand-up guy he is and then quickly cracking a joke about him. They were all so great.

Some of the girls captured by Eric.

I love this shot so much, they were in the middle of the dance floor surrounded by craziness in all directions. But they were so into each other, as if nobody else was around.

I love this woman - her happiness makes me melt!

Thank you so much Liz and Dean for choosing us to photograph your wedding. We had such a wonderful time and love your images! Your pictures are ready and waiting for you when you return from your honeymoon! Can't wait to work on your album.

Sincerely,
Brooke and Eric Lagstein
Be Creative Photography

Dress: Carolina Herrera
Florist: Gary Z of Stamford
Makeup: Piret Aava, Warren Tricomi Greenwich
Hair: Edita Evon, Warren Tricomi Greenwich

Sumita & Peter's Wedding - The Estate at Florentine Gardens

2009-03-13T10:21:00.009-05:00

Congratulations to Sumita and Peter! They were married at The Estate of Florentine Gardens in Rivervale, NJ. Their event blended their American and Indian cultures. Rich colors, beautiful jewels, flowers, candelight, music, dancing, love and joy.

It was freezing cold this night. We were able to do about 5 minutes of portraits outside. This is one of our favorites.

I love this one too.

The decor was beautiful. Deep reads and beatiful shades of white and gold.

Here is the families reaction to Sumita and Peter entering their reception. What a great crowd.

The parent dances were really sweet.

This was awesome! Totally unexpected for us - and for future couples if you know of anything crazy like this that will be happening on the dance floor let us know ahead of time. The more we know during pre-planning the better. Luckily we are always ready for anything. What a fantastic, colorful, fun idea.

An overhead shot of the infamous dance circle. I love colorful lighting too.

Thank you for everything! We had a blast and can't wait to put your album together.

Sincerely,
Brooke and Eric Lagstein
Be Creative Photography

Christine & Greg's Wedding -Vanderbilt Mansion at Dowling College -

2009-02-24T21:27:00.014-05:00

Vanderbilt Mansion is a beautiful location for photography. Beautiful location + awesome couple = fantastic day on the job! It was cold cold cold but with the sun shining and blue skies above, we were thrilled.

Christine is beautiful, happy, and loved every second of her engagement through her wedding. We would chat on facebook about wedding plans, or in the car, at our house - giddy with excitement.

Getting ready in the library.

I love this detail. I believe this broach is a family heirloom. I'm so glad that gold is back on the rise in fashion. I love beautiful, vintage pieces like this. I don't have pierced ears so I love wearing all of my grandmother's clip ons.

One of the precious flower girls.

Christine and Greg planned on having fall leaves as the backdrop of their ceremony through these windows. BUT - things don't always work out the way you have planned. Shortly before their wedding they found out that the windows were going to be covered by an art installation; Light, More Light: by Bryan Whitney. I absolutely loved their response to this surprise, "Embracing the unexpected (and beautiful) seems like a good way to start our marriage!" I am so glad they didn't change things around. These windows proved to be mystical, colorful, and beautiful in many ways.

They had a priest and rabbi duo for their ceremony. The ceremony was personal with a touch of humor, it was very special. Monsignor James Lisante and Rabbi Allen Block. For information contact Monsignor Jim at 516.505.7221

Here is one of our favorite portraits, we covered a lot of different backdrops but something about these black and whites really fits the bill.

Although there were many guests in a large mansion, the ambiance was intimate, relaxed, and personal.

Even though we were well passed the peak color of the fall season, they were blessed with a wonderful surprise of a lawn sprinkled with beautiful fall colors.

Bagpipers were the big surprise of the evening. Oh how I loved them so! I really just wanted to hug them. And then this little girl came onto the dance floor and did an irish jig which was clearly not planned. THEN - to top it all off the bagpipers started playing the Hora! And everyone burst out into their circle dance with the chairs and all. Not planned and quite possibly the first Hora executed by bagpipes. Awesome!

My favorite time of day, when everything glistens gold as the sun is sinking below the horizon. I thought it was a nice time to capture an outside-in-view.

Vanderbilt at night.

Christine and Greg, thank you so much for choosing Be Creative Photography. If you haven't noticed already, we had a lot of fun creating your wedding images. Your excitement was infectious. Your album is going to be beautiful, colorful, fall inspired, and packed with love. Because that's just who you are!

Brooke and Eric Lagstein
Be Creative Photography

Award Winning Images from WPJA

2009-02-12T14:24:00.002-05:00

Hi Everyone,

Check out these recent award winning images from the Wedding Photojournalists Assosciation.

To see more of this wedding click here for Crystal and Chang's Wedding at the Oheka Castle.

To see more from this wedding click here on Shianling and Josh's wedding at 91 Horatio in NYC

To see more from this wedding click here on Shianling and Josh's wedding at 91 Horatio in NYC

To see more from this wedding click here on Miriam and Randy's wedding at The Water's Edge.

Here are links to more WPJA and Brides Magazine winning photographs of ours.

Eric Lagstein is among the Top 3 Photographers in the world - honored by the WPJA 2007

Winter of 2007 Winners

Brides Magazine of Conde Nast Publications and Wedding Photojournalist Assosciation

Summer of 2007 Winners

Fall of 2006 Winners

Winter of 2006 Winners

Eric contributed to an article about kids at weddings.
Kids at the Wedding

New Hampshire Trip

2009-02-10T09:53:00.001-05:00

Last weekend was our annual trip to New Hampshire to visit Justin, Lisa, and Coco. Coco and Maggie are the best of friends. These pictures don't do them justice. They play for endless hours, wrestling, running, tug-o-war, sharing toys, and kissing each other. Their tails must be exhausted from all the happiness with each other.

Whenever we get ready to go somewhere they wait patiently in the back of the car to make sure we don't leave one of them behind.

Justin and Lisa are expecting a baby girl in June. We are so excited for them.

We wanted to get a great shot of Coco before the baby came. Just to cherish the moment, Coco's days of glory.

We have a couple of attention words for the pups. If you say "cookie" or "snowball" they stop in their tracks and stand at attention.

Poor Maggie was so sad for the entire 5 hour trip home. She could hardly raise her head she was so heavy with the blues. Every once in a while we would hear a long, drawn out sigh from the back of the car. They will be reunited in April again and we can't wait!

Tina & Nick - Valley Regency Wedding

2009-02-09T17:56:00.004-05:00

Congratulations to Tina and Nick! First, I have to let you know that Tina and I were great friends growing up. We lived close to each other and played Softball and Volleyball together during all of our childhood. After high school we lost touch, but I am so happy to have reconnected with her. Nick is awesome and they both have been so wonderful! Check out their pictures below.

They started their portraits at the Lambert Castle.

It was a beautiful sun-kissed day that worked perfectly with her fall color scheme.

This is one of our favorites that was also used in her Thank You cards.

This image just kills me because I know what a great relationship she and her dad have (and her mom too). I am so happy that this moment was captured for them. Her mom and dad came to many, if not all of our games. They were the faces in the stands you could always count on.

Isn't this beautiful! What a lucky, October day at the Valley Regency.

I went to high school with these three girls too! I love that they all remained so close.

This one we've posted on the blog before, back in December I think.

Nick and his mom, another beautiful moment.

WHAT? WOW! That's gotta hurt.

Everyone had an absolute blast - crazy dancing and fun all day and night. What a party.

Thank you guys! It's been so wonderful to reconnect with you and have the opportunity to be a part of your wedding day and creating your album. When I couldn't be there to photograph my friends wedding, it's great to know that the ever so dependable and talented- second shooter Allan Zepeda was there for us. Thank you Allan.

Sincerely,
Brooke and Eric Lagstein
Be Creative Photography

Colleen & Kevin's Wedding - Woodbury Country Club

2009-02-04T15:49:00.002-05:00

Congratulations to Colleen and Kevin! Their wedding was at the Woodbury Country Club, in Woodbury, NY. We had such a wonderful time with them. This first shot was taken at the hotel before the ceremony.

This one too.

This little guy was such a cutie. I love this shot that Eric grabbed before the ceremony. He is so tiny compared to the big bench and the window, I love how his little feet are dangling, and he is focusing on the ring pillow.

An outside-in shot during the ceremony. This priest did the most wonderful thing. When it was time to receive communion he told all the guests that if they could not receive communion that they could still come up, hold their hands across their chest and he would give them a blessing. I really loved this and thought how wonderful it would be if all churches would do this. It really stinks to have to sit in the pews while everyone climbs over you to go receive communion. You feel so left out.

The bride and groom are announced as husband and wife for the first time.

This is probably my favorite shot of the day.

I love the primary colors in this photo.

Although it was very dark we were able to grab a quick photo, with no flash, with the great car.

The party was a lot of fun. I remember suddenly when Colleen's family stood up on their chairs and started twirling their napkins around and then they all ran to the dance floor.

These guys were toast.

Melted right into the sofas.

And the final dance, their moondance song.

Thank you for being so wonderful! Colleen visited us last week and brought us a special treat, cupcakes, YUM! I drove Colleen back to the train and when I got home, Maggie was in the kitchen with cupcake covering her face. She didn't know that the evidence that she stole a cupcake was completely smeared all over her face. She just looked at me, tilted her head, and pretended like "nothing to see here. I am completely innocent". Where was the camera???

Brooke and Eric Lagstein
Be Creative Photography

Yvette and Rockwell's Wedding - Tribeca Rooftop

2009-01-22T11:30:00.004-05:00

Yvette and Rockwell are awesome, happy, fun loving, bright eyed and full of smiles and joy. We had such an amazing time photographing them and working with them every step of the way. They have both been so incredibly kind to us and so easy going. They gave us carte blanche for their portraits and we totally appreciated their trust in us. The outcome is wonderful. The Tribeca Rooftop has some fantastic photo ops. The getting ready began at Yvette's Aunt's house in Queens. Here is my favorite image of her dress.

These two little guys were so funny. The ride from Queens to Tribecca was such a blast. They would be crazy, then asleep, crazy, then asleep.

Yvette and Rockwell met on the rooftop at Tribeca and then we headed downstairs for some street portraits.

This shot was Rockwell's idea! He saw the scooter sitting there and hopped on like it was his own. Without a word, Yvette assumed her role of chasing him, we all laughed so hard.

What are the chances of finding your name written in grafitti, while taking portraits on your wedding day? PERFECT!

Yvette's poor feet must have been killing her. What a trooper. The adrenaline on your wedding day takes all pain away.

I love this shot of the different generations of men. They look GOOD!

Oh my Gosh, this was Yvette's entrance into the ceremony. Stunning.

It's official.

They had a surprise for all their guests, an unbeatable salsa routine, it was so exciting.

The DJ's lights were fantastic. We loved the vibe.

I was taking a shot of the cake and so happy that this little girl was twirling in the background.

Rockwell and his mom.

Yvette and her mom.

And last but not least, our absolute favorite, Eric's distinct eye for color, light, and mood. Hope you guys love it too.

Congratulations to the happiest couple and thank you for submitting your images so quickly. We can't wait to design your album.

Sincerely,
Brooke and Eric Lagstein
Be Creative Photography

Playing with our new cameras!

2009-01-16T10:24:00.009-05:00

Season 2009 HERE WE COME! WOO HOO! Can you tell we are refreshed or what?

Friends of ours once said that Eric and I were like Ying and Yang. Which is true because while Eric and I are so different from each other we are also so much the same. We balance each other out and I feel lucky to have the type of relationship that we do. Yesterday is a perfect example. First of all, Eric loooooves when the mail arrives. I just completely cannot understand this. What does he think we are going to get? Presents? Money? Sometimes we get an invitation, a thank you card, or a note from a friend which is always exciting. Usually it's just bills, junk mail, coupons, things that pile up and clutter our space. Personally, I'd rather leave them out in the mailbox or move them right to the trash. But not Eric, he opens our front door every day around the time the mailwoman comes. As soon as he hears the footsteps in the front he goes running to greet her at the door with the anticipation of a boy on Christmas morning. It's something that makes me smile. And I also count my blessings that I do not ever have to get the mail another day in my life. He's just too good at it, why bother.

I also know that Eric has a bit of a shopping problem. Sometimes his anticipation is for something that he's ordered. Last week he was waiting for a shipment from Staples. You would think it was a flat screen TV but it was just paper clips, stapler, and new paper shredder (which we needed because Maggie ate the wire of the old one when she was a puppy).

Yesterday, we desperately needed to get out of the house but Eric would not leave. "I'm waiting for a surprise" he said with a mischievous look. Oh boy! I was hoping for plane tickets to Thailand. But to my surprise Eric ordered TWO NEW CAMERAS! Well of course he did, he is such a tech junkie. That's right, we have the new 5DMKII's. And if that wasn't worth getting excited over I don't know what is?

These cameras are amazing! We haven't had much of a chance to play with them yet. I was cooking breakfast for dinner last night because we had no food in the house. I was too excited, leaving to go food shopping was too risky. So I was making pancakes for dinner. Eric took a few pictures of me and my sous chef Maggie. I mean the monster who hangs out at my feet waiting for food to fall that she can gobble up.

These cameras are like butter. They feel so much more sturdy than the old 5D's. The shutter is so responsive. And the best thing is the incredible abilities of this camera to take amazing pictures in low light.

I think these two were taken during daylight.

We love anything that can help us push ourselves creatively and we are so excited to explore all the capabilities of these new cameras. We are so looking forward to the two events we have in February.

Oheka Castle Wedding - Crystal & Chang's Wedding

2009-01-14T19:48:00.000-05:00

Thank you everyone for being patient with our blog these last few months. We took on the holiday season at full tilt and then took some time to unwind. We are officially back in the saddle. We really want to catch up and start this year fresh. So here it goes! Crystal and Chang are an amazing couple. They gave me, Eric, the amazing opportunity to photograph their wedding at the Oheka Castle. The Oheka is one my favorite venues I have ever shot at. I was hired as a single photographer for this wedding.

Crystal was a little bit anxious when I first showed up but as soon as she put on her Vera Wang dress she was the happiest and most carefree bride in the world. I thought she was going to bust from happiness! She made photography a top priority so we had a lot of time scheduled to explore the grounds.

This is one of my favorite images because of her sillhouette, the light, the detail in her dress.

We took a lot of pictures with her dog :) She loves photography and dogs just as much as me. When I heard her puppy was going to be in the castle I was so excited. The puppy wasn't too excited about the photoshoot at first - I was shocked! But soon enough we made a connection.

These flowers are stunning.

The ceremony was super romantic. Chang was such a relaxed guy. He loves Crystal so much, all he cared about was that she was happy. I really adored the ceremony and observing their relationship.

This is probably my favorite photo. I love the sparkling light, I love their energy together and the way the trees are encompassing them.

Crystal was such a wonderful subject, so easy to give direction to, and such a natural in front of the camera.

This photo is a WPJA award winner.

When the party began they were more than prepared for their first dance. It was beautiful! Notice how Chang always has his eyes on Crystal.

We popped out for a few minutes at sunset. Here they are going back inside. I love the grandness of the Castle.

By the end of the night we were buddies. So cute!

The tea ceremony was filled with emotion, they cried and laughed over and over again.

First of all, this is the most beautiful dress! We took a lot of photos of Crystal once she changed but how many can I post?

Congratulations Crystal and Chang! Thank you so much, it was a pleasure to photograph your wedding.

Sincerely,
Eric Lagstein
Be Creative Photography

Happy New Year

2009-01-05T11:07:00.008-05:00

Hello Everyone!

We are back to work today after a very necessary little holiday. We spent some time with our families and then headed up to the Adirondacks for a beautiful, winter oasis. We feel so refreshed!

So far we are loving 2009 and we hope you are too. We wanted to share our very favorite Hanukah/Christmas gift of the year. The FLIP! Thanks to Wendy and Eric's Dad for giving it to us. It is the most fabulous little digital video camera, smaller than an iphone, and so incredibly easy to view the videos. We took this clip of Maggie in the snow before we left for our vacation in the Adirondacks. It took less than two minutes to upload it to YouTube and post it here.

Wouldn't you believe that we left the FLIP on our kitchen table accidentally when we left for our trip !gasp! We were so upset.

Enjoy this little clip of the Magster loving the snow. My dad pointed out that she is such a happy dog, she'd enjoy being in a box if we put her in one.

Happy New Year to you all.

Sincerely,
Brooke and Eric

Danielle and Todd's Wedding - FEAST at Round Hill House

2008-12-17T17:42:00.014-05:00

We photographed the incredible wedding of Danielle and Todd recently. Both of them were Eric's high school classmates but it was a complete coincidence that they found us. I love how weddings reunite friends and family - and we are thrilled to have reconnected with them. And therefore totally bummed that they moved to Portland recently. What a tease, we had so much fun with you guys. Below is a photo of The Round Hill House, on a completely sopping wet, rainy day it was still beautiful. And the photographic opportunities were plenty.

Danielle did a fabulous job coordinating a color palette to work with the classic decor of the Round Hill House.

This is a shot of Danielle and her sister heading down the stairs for Danielle and Todd's first meeting and photo session.

We staged the bride and groom's meeting on the front porch because we had shelter from the rain. I love how happy they both are here.

Even though it was raining we were able to use the covering of the porch and still have the beautiful gardens in the backdrop.

This is Todd's Dad, Todd, and his brother Chris. They had perfect attitudes for casual family shots. So fun. Eric has known Todd and his family for many, many years. Todd is the cousin of one of Eric's best friends Mike - these guys group up together so it was special for us to be a part of their big day.

I love this picture that Eric shot during a prayer.

Chris is such a jokester and this move took it to the next level. When it was time to hand over the rings, Chris acted like he couldn't find them. He had the look of sheer panic on his face. He turned to Mike (Eric's friend and Todd's cousin) and asked if he had them. It was such a tense moment, the crowd may have even gasped. Alas, Chris retrieved the rings safe and sound from his pocket and everyone got a good laugh.

After the ceremony the rain stopped for a little while and we were able to get some shots of Danielle and Todd in the beautiful gardens.

Danielle and her sister preparing for her big entrance.

The entrance! And time to party.

Eric and I just love this shot. Can you believe how much Todd and Chris look a like?

Everyone from Ramapo High School was called out for a group photo. Eric is third in on the right.

Everyone got really funky on the dance floor.

Father and Daughter dance.

Walk Like an Egyptian brought out the best in everyone, especially our buddy Mike.

Congratulations to Danielle and Todd on their marriage and the new house. We had so much fun with you and can't wait to design your album!

Best Wishes from Brooke and Eric Lagstein

Be Creative Photography

Sneak Peek from Oheka Castle, Roundhill House, NJ Kids, and more...

2008-12-03T16:38:00.011-05:00

Hello Everyone,

We are in the midst of our busiest, craziest, most productive, and fun holiday season ever. Our blog has unfortunately taken a back seat to the upcoming holiday deadlines we are facing. The life of a photographer in December is pretty much insanity, I'm sitting at this computer working on images all day and night - taking small breaks here and there to eat, stretch, get coffee, and to talk to my hubby who is doing much of the same as me. It's kinda like tax time for an accountant :)

I managed to grab a whole bunch of photos from various weddings and photo shoots of late. I picked these images totally at random because they happened to be easily accessible and already enhanced. There is more to come of each of these events. But for now, at least you can see a dose of what we've been up to the last few months.

The beautiful bride Crystal photographed at the Oheka Castle.

A portrait of Crystal and Chang taken by Eric.

Another beautiful shot taken by Eric.

Brooke's photo of Colleen and Kevin post ceremony.

My dear friend Tina and her hubby Nick.

A portrait of Danielle taken at the Round Hill House.

Sam and his dad taken by Brooke - right next door haha.

Jocelyn the cutest little cutie pie taken by Eric at Fairleigh Dickenson.

Parker and his sister Natasha!

One of our new favorite locations to shoot at is the Celery Farm in Allendale, NJ. Kirsten is just too much! We went on a nature walk and she was so excited to find as much nature as she possibly could, as if nature was a thing or a lot of things. She'd find a leaf and see ooooh look at this, it's purple nature. Isn't that just the cutest thing?

And little Ava playing ball with Eric.

Enjoy and we'll do our best to keep the blog updated during this crazy, busy holiday season.

Kathryn & Daryl's Toronto Wedding

2008-11-24T16:12:00.008-05:00

Kathryn has been a dear friend of mine since we were 11 years old. After high school she moved to Toronto but we've always managed to keep in touch. Not as much as either of us would like but enough to keep reminding each other of our friendship. I am so happy for her and Daryl and Eric and I were honored to photograph their wedding. I know Kathryn's entire family so it was great to get to be with them all day. If I was just a regular sorta guest I wouldn't have had the "back stage pass" so it was really special for me! I also have to mention that I chose this song for Kat and Daryl because it was their first dance song.

Here are the girls seeing the beautiful bride in her dress for the first time.

Kathryn and her mom, oooh I love this moment.

Kathryn is so beautiful!

THOSE EYES! These are not enhanced, I swear it.

I love this moment, Daryl wants to verify that his best man has the rings.

OH MY GOSH! The amount of cuteness in this photo is just too much. And the two boys here look so much like their dads it's scary.

This is a great little sequence, Kathryn and her dad ready to go down the aisle and all the guests ready to see the bride. Love it. The ceremony was held at the Trinity College Chapel at the University of Toronto.

Seriously, how cute is she?

I think this photo is really special. Daryl's parents are in the background. Kathryn and Daryl are so happy and staring at each other. And Kathryn's parents are looking at each other. I just really can't get enough of this one.

The University of Toronto has the most amazing nooks and crannies for taking wedding photos. Many, many, many movies are filmed on this campus. Tommy Boy, Mean Girls, and Good Will Hunting to name a few.

Haha, this is so Kathryn.

This too! Ok, done with that, where do we go next?

Kathryn's bridesmaids were all INCREDIBLE. The girl below was so much fun and loooves the camera so I took full advantage of her willingness to strike a pose for me. The reception was held at the Design Exchange in Toronto. There was a fun art installation in the room where the cocktail hour was and this was one of the photos I grabbed.

Daryl and his mom - what a nice family.

This cake is very, very special. It was made by their friend in the picture below. Daryl is a fantastic chef so they have a lot of friends talented in the culinary arts.

Here is the cake diva and her soon to be hubby (also an amazing chef).

Kathryn is a dancer and it's clear that her friends are too - the dance floor was awesome, totally entertaining.

See what I mean!!

The men enjoying a ciggy at the end of the night.

Kathryn, I love you and I am so happy for you and Daryl. Daryl is amazing! He is so nice and fun and you guys are just a perfect match. So congratulations to you both and thank you again for including us in your special day. We hope you enjoy all the photos and can't wait to see you in December. I'll miss you at our 10 Year High School reunion this weekend.

Love,
Brooke and Eric
Be Creative Photography

Miriam & Neal's Wedding - Ramsey Country Club

2008-11-18T23:03:00.015-05:00

Congratulations to Miriam and Neal. Their wedding was at the Ramsey Country Club in Ramsey, NJ. Here are a few of our favorite images from their wedding day! This little guy had the most ginormous eyes we have ever seen.

The trees behind the ceremony created the most beautiful sunlit sparkle. We loved it.

Miriam and Neal are just so incredibly happy. I love this photo.

Beautiful day for the cocktail hour on the terrace.

A portrait in front of a crazy tree.

And this little guy was adorable too.

Their first dance.

The hora was a total hit at this wedding. This is Miriam's dad right in the middle. And her brother and flower girl/niece to the left. She got such a kick out of this.

Neal's parents loved it.

Miriam's best friend is in the middle of the action here.

Thank you so much for asking us to photograph your wedding. We had a such a great time with both you and your families! Everyone was so kind to us and they all clearly love you guys! Neal - your friend Maggie misses you. Neal loves puppies and had Maggie in a trance with some good petting when they were here visiting. Looking forward to creating your album.

Sincerely,
Brooke and Eric Lagstein
Be Creative Photography

Emmy & Elliott's Wedding- 632 on the Hudson

2008-11-18T21:53:00.005-05:00

Emmy and Elliott are our international couple of the year. They are living in Dubai and planned their entire wedding over the internet. They had a destination wedding in NYC. I am seriously impressed with Emmy and Elliott's internet research skills - they found the most amazing venue (632 on the Hudson) and the coolest photographers! They had a fabulous day in September and they were surrounded by such wonderful friends and family from all around the world. For this post I decided to change things up a bit and try some new color post processing, hope you like it.

One excited bride ready to get hitched!

So many choices, what to do, what to eat on my wedding day?

It seemed like ages for Emmy while she waited for the ceremony to begin. I have so many shots of her looking up at this clock and tapping her gorgeous shoes on the floor.

Handsome groom Elliott! He was just so excited and such a sincere guy. Also, these two are so laid back - I loved it!

The ceremony was really sweet and I just loved the room it was in. The ceiling was endless and the staircase wrapped three floors around and up this space. Elliott's brother officiated.

YAY! Congratualations newlywed.

This was taken on our way out the door to do some street photos.

They wanted a NYC feel to their images and while this is not a typical landmark location I love the cab and the whole idea that nobody is phased by anything in the city. The cab just drove around us and people just walked by and many shouted congratulations.

I love this smooch. Thank you, thank you, thank you Mr. Baker Man for being in the most perfect spot at the most perfect time and for being so nosy.

Of course Emmy pulled off the cutest cake.

An emotional moment during speeches. I love this moment, love how Elliott is comforting Emmy. Such a sweetheart.

Their first dance.

Here is a little note we recently received from Emmy and Elliott. Subject line...

MASSIVE, HUGE, GINORMOUS THANK YOU

Dear Brooke and Eric,

I just wanted to write to you both and offer you the biggest thank you in the world. Our photographs are just beautiful. You are both such talented people and I really can't thank you enough for just the most amazing job. You've captured our day so unbelievably well, all the laughter, tears and love - you can see it there, in every photo. I can honestly say, hand on my heart, I've never seen photos like it and I feel so privileged that you guys shot our wedding.

We will always remember our day with you so fondly - you guys - quite simply - rock.

Thank you so much for helping us to remember and relive the happiest day of our lives as it truly was.

Love Emmy

And I just want to say that meeting Emmy & Elliott was so wonderful. I love everything about you guys and we are so glad we had the chance to meet you. Thank you for finding us and choosing us and trusting us to capture your wedding day. We loved every minute.

Sincerely,
Brooke and Eric Lagstein
Be Creative Photography

Nikki & Ryan's Wedding - Boscobel House & Gardens

2008-11-12T17:27:00.010-05:00

Congratulations to Nikki and Ryan! They had one heck of a romantic wedding. We started at the Pig Hill Inn.

This dress says "romance" if I've ever heard a dress speak before.

The reception was the Boscobel House and Gardens. This location has beautiful views of the Hudson Highlands and the Hudson River. The gardens are amazing and there are perfectly laid paths for you to wander and find stunning vistas.

The bridesmaids were trying to help with her dress so that the train didn't get dirty. Nikki, wouldn't let them.

I loved the flowers!

The ceremony took place in a rose garden. Here are Nikki and her dad walking into the ceremony...

After the ceremony Nikki and Ryan walked side by side together around the property.

A few portraits before heading off to the reception.

Cocktail hour on the veranda.

What a view and another romantic moment.

Thank you Nikki and Ryan for choosing us to photograph your wedding. We look forward to creating your album!

Sincerely,
Brooke and Eric Lagstein
Be Creative Photography

Rock the Vote People!

2008-11-04T10:11:00.005-05:00

We are beyond ecstatic to vote today! Get out there everyone!!!!!!!!!!!! Wooo hoooo!

By the way, this is a picture of our adorable little sister Fara! Taken about 2 years ago and never gets old. Go Fara!

Josie & Eric's Fun Photo Shoot

2008-11-03T15:20:00.004-05:00

Eric and Josie were just too much! They were so much fun. We've never seen two kids more excited for a photo shoot! Their friends gave them a heads up that the photographers Brooke and Eric were going to be a lot of fun. We did not disappoint. Here are just four of my favorite images from their shoot.

Eric is such a boy, I don't know how else to put it. He loves silly jokes that only he and my big Eric could understand. Josie and I were just off doing girly things because these two had a chemistry we could not understand.

I hate to say it but this reminds me of a Norman Rockwell painting. I just looooove it so much. And the whole sequence is so great together. Here they are going for a kiss.

And a moment later Eric realizes, "what the heck am I doing?"

Josie was dying to change into her pink outfit. And once she did she was just totally content. We did not prompt this pose one bit.

We are looking forward to delivering the photos to their mom and dad on Wednesday. Thank you for choosing Be Creative Photography!

Happy Birthday to Eric!

2008-10-31T10:40:00.005-05:00

Happy Birthday to Eric! My absolute favorite person, the love of my life, my best friend! And Happy Halloween to you all! This picture was from 2006!

This next photo needs a little explaining. This is where Eric proposed to me! It's the movies under the stars on Pier A in Hoboken. I don't know if any engagement story could possibly top his! He took me to a movie one night and invited friends and family. While waiting for the movie to start, right on that big screen, all of a sudden Eric was on the screen. He actually made a movie and convinced the movie people to put it on the screen. So his virtual self on the screen said "Hello Everybody" with a little explanation. I really don't remember what he said. He pointed to us in the audience, told everyone how much he loved me, and told himself to get down on one knee! It was incredible! And the best was that everyone was there to celebrate right after I said YES of course. It was a beautiful night under the stars, looking over NYC. Isn't he amazing!

For his birthday I decided to find some pictures of some important people in Eric's life and post them today. This is Eric's little sister Fara (on left) and our niece Joey (on the right). They are BFF.

And here is our nephew Jake, Joey's brother. And a carbon copy of Eric. See Eric's baby pics at bottom!

Eric, his sister, and good old Aiko. Can you believe how much Eric and his sister look alike? Crazy.

And this is Eric and his brother David! David lives in Michigan so Eric loves to soak up every second he has with him. He is so happy in this picture, I love it.

And of course I had to post some more of Maggie. We are totally obsessed and love her to death. The is from a few months ago. She is much, much bigger now.

Eric and I both had Halloween Bday parties when we were kids since mine is so close to Halloween. Putting our bday pics together from growing up is pretty funny.

No words can do this justice! hahaha

Happy Birthday Love. I'm so lucky to have you!

Happy Birthday to me (Brooke)!

2008-10-29T10:30:00.002-05:00

WOW! It's only 10am and I have lots and lots of birthday messages pouring in. Thank you everyone. I really needed it because I am just recovering from the flu and your thoughts are really cheering me up. So far many wishes are coming true. First, to wake up and feel better - phew. Second, french toast breakfast. Third, we're going for a hike with Maggie. What can I say, I'm a simple girl. It doesn't take much to make me happy.

I have the most amazing husband in the world! My birthday surprise on Sunday was the most amazing and thoughtful thing. Eric planned everything himself! He got my favorite chocolate covered strawberries and he remembered veggie burgers for me. It was incredible. One of the best parts was the sound of my niece and nephews laughter when they scared me out of my shoes. They were cracking up and it was just wonderful! Aren't they cute!

Thank you Eric - Love ya! This pic was taken last month when we drove all the way to Toronto for Kathryn and Daryl's wedding. We stopped at Niagra Falls on the way.

And here are some shots of Maggie when she was less than 1/4 of the size that she is now. These are some of my favs that I've always wanted to share.

She LOOOOOOVES frisbee.

This is just so funny! Our laundry room is in the basement. We put a cat door in the basement door so that the cats could come in and out without having to leave the door open. We don't let Maggie in the basement. But every time we go down to do laundry here's what we have the pleasure of witnessing. She peeks in to see where we are going.

Then she always shoves her head through the little door. It is hysterical!

Here are some of our friends just because I love them so! Sorry that some of you are left out - I love you too.

Brooke's Surprise Birthday Party

2008-10-27T12:59:00.003-05:00

Happy Birthday Brooke! Tomorrow, the 29th, is her actual birthday. On Sunday I threw a small surprise birthday party for her. The family was hiding in our bedroom when she got home. I told her she had to go get something out of the bedroom and when she opened the door 10 people surprised her and scared the living day lights out of her. She actually jumped backwards, it was so funny. I'm hoping Brooke wakes up feeling better on her birthday. Following the party on Sunday she came down with the flu and hasn't been out of bed much. She seemed better today though.

Here she is with her nieces and nephews, her favorite little people in the world. This is her silly face at the end of singing Happy Birthday.

I just LOVE the photo below! This is Brooke's happy place, really, what can be better then getting squeezed by all of this cuteness. Look how happy she is, I can't stand it!

And of course, everyone helped her blow out the candles.

Brooke, you are the best, I love you!! xoxoxoxo

Cassie & Tomer's Wedding - Who invited Hana???

2008-10-26T13:50:00.001-05:00

Hurricane Hana was the unwelcomed guest at Cassie & Tomer's wedding. How dare she crash this wedding! Cassie and Tomer and all the guests had such a wonderful time. There was no way that torrential downpours and gusting winds were going to rain on this parade!

They were supposed to have a beach ceremony and then following the ceremony the guests would walk together along with drummers to the tent reception. Instead, everything took place in the tent and it worked out beautifully!

Here is Cassie getting ready at her parent's beautiful house.

Their wedding had a Tibetan, colorful theme. Cassie and Tomer are world travelers, they met in India believe it or not and have been all over the world together.

This was the view from inside the tent, looking out onto the bay.

The guests began to arrive in full spirit.

The cutie-pie ring bearer.

Here is a shot of everyone waiting for the ceremony to begin. Notice the puddles at their feet. Nobody cared at all. Everyone just kicked off their shoes and had a good time.

The colors inside the tent turned out beautifully for the ceremony. Look how happy they are!

Once the rain subsided I was able to get the view from outside. Can you believe this red sky!

Dad giving his speech.

Cassie's mom was so wonderful!

I love this shot because one of those houses on the pier is Cassie's family home. You could see it right from the reception site.

When the chairs came out for the Hora I thought OH NO - because the floor was so slippery. But like I said earlier, this wedding was a blast and nothing could stop the party.

Wind, wind, and more wind! I love this shot!

And lastly, my favorite shot of the night!

Congratulations Cassie and Tomer. We are so happy that you chose us to photograph your wedding! We had such a great time - and seriously I can't believe your first dance song was This Must Be the Place. You know that's my favorite. You guys are so awesome! We hope you enjoyed your trip back to India and best of luck at the Weather Station! Thanks Again.

Brooke and Eric Lagstein
Be Creative Photography

Awesome Couple!

2008-10-20T09:01:00.003-05:00

We are so humbled by this wonderful thank you note. Thank you to Mary and Jeff and all of our wonderful clients who have taken the time to let us know that you appreciate our hard work. We are grateful for the opportunity to work with each and every one of you!

Dear Eric and Brooke,
Yesterday I received our wedding album, and I actually started crying! It is so much more beautiful than the page lay outs you sent Brooke! The pictures are flawless, perfectly enlarged and the quality in unbelievable. I love the layout and album type we decided on. I can't wait for Jeff to come back from Afghanistan so he can see it too!

Thank you Thank you Thank you!

One of my friends was recently married and is very disappointed by her wedding pictures. Although I consoled her the best I could, that is something we never once experienced, and we are so grateful for that. We LOVE our pictures!

Have a wonderful weekend, and thank you for a beautiful keepsake of our wedding day! I can't wait to show all our new friends out here in Boise!

Mary

Photo of the Day - Eric

2008-10-16T18:00:00.001-05:00

This is Eric trying to make some kids laugh during a recent shoot.
Gotta love him!

Technical Difficulties

2008-10-09T11:00:00.000-05:00

RATS! Unfortunately we have just discovered that the "contact us" section of our website is not working properly.

If you have sent us an inquiry within the past two weeks we HAVE NOT RECEIVED your message.

Please resend your message by writing directly to:
eric(at)becreativephotography.com

Please tell us a little bit about yourself and most importantly your wedding date!

Thank you for your patience,
Brooke and Eric Lagstein

Angie & Sep's fanciful, backyard wedding!

2008-10-08T15:00:00.003-05:00

Congratulations to Angie & Sep. Eric and I were so incredibly thrilled to be a part of your celebration. One of my favorite things about being a wedding photographer is the opportunity to peak into the lives of a couple who is so in love and the amazing energy that they create with their friends and family. It's so wonderful! And to have a unique cultural experience is such a treat for us and something we would probably never witness otherwise. So thank you so much for allowing us to document your wedding!

You may remember Angie and Sep's Central Park engagement photos. It seems like they were taken not very long ago, it's just amazing how time flies.

The beautiful bride, Angie! She was fighting tears all morning. Lucky girl to still look so beautiful even after and during crying.

I loved how the colors of the bridal party all came together so nicely. Here is Sep with the boys backing him up.

I'm putting a lot of details up for this post because the incredible event planner, Joan of 6 Degrees of Celebration did an UNBELIEVABLE job transforming Sep's parents' backyard into a gorgeous wedding. No stone was left unturned, literally! The backyard was completely transformed. There were two tents that housed the ceremony and the reception. They were decorated to the nines and every little detail was special for Angie and Sep. Joan, Angie, and Sep thought of amazing ways to incorporate little things about Angie and Sep into all the details of this wedding.

There were beautiful monogrammed place cards, menus, and programs. There were details highlighting both Persian and Italian traditions and specialties. The bouquets were not only beautiful but they were so deliciously fragrant. I couldn't believe how wonderful they smelled. I loved how the centerpieces combined tumbling fruits and flowers with a rustic box and a beautiful glowing lantern. The tables were all named after cheeses.

There was a very special display during the ceremony that is a Persian wedding tradition. All of these delicious, treats were presented so beautifully and symbolize a sweet life for Angie and Sep.

I love the joy in this photo!

And the happiness just keeps on coming. This is Angie's parents and her cousin.

Angie and Sep wrote their own vows! I can't even hide the tears anymore during ceremonies. On this day I was taking pictures from behind a huge flower urn. It was the only place I had an angle and thank God for that urn because tears were streaming down my face! Their vows were beautiful. There was a lot of crying but through their tears was laughter and joy. It was too much for me to handle haha.

This is Sep's dad.

A fleeting moment of Angie and Sep post ceremony.

And time for the party!

They had a wonderful choreographed traditional dance with a twist of the swing! It was really cool.

The dance floor was packed all night. So crowded that Eric and I pretty much took turns on the dance floor because there was hardly room for the two of us amongst all of the people having fun. And it was a very, very large dance floor.

There was not only a lot of hoisting up of the bride and groom, but Sep actually crowd surfed! It was awesome! Don't you just love the lighting inside the tent!

Angie wasn't going to let Sep have all the fun. She was flying over the crowds heads quite a few time as well!

Another really fun tradition that was incorporated by Sep's family was the cake knife dance. Some of the ladies on Sep's side danced around with the cake knife and would not hand it over. It was a crowd pleaser! Here is Sep's mom enjoying the festivities. Sep also had to try to give money to the girls dancing with the knife and we have a lot of great shots of that too! Eventually his sister turned over the knife.

I learned through the speeches that Sep is not only an Entrepreneur but an artist as well. Of course I googled his information and have to share a little of his artwork with you! It's amazing, and it's all about love and emotion!

I Want You to Want Me
We Feel Fine
Love Lines

Thank you again to Angie, Sep, and Joan from 6 Degrees of Celebration!

Lara and Harry's Wedding - Onteora Mountain House

2008-09-26T18:00:00.005-05:00

Congratulations to the incredible couple Lara and Harry. They tied the knot at the Onteora Mountain House which is such a fabulous venue for those who love the outdoors. Eric and I considered getting married there too. It's beautiful, peaceful, serene, delicious food, and a fabulous staff.

The girls got ready in the guest house. I love this first photo because it highlights the incredible detail in Lara's dress.

The mountain top ceremony.

The ceremony was lightning fast and very sweet. The weather was perfect!

For their first dance they did the twist like Uma Therman and John Travolta in Pulp Fiction. It was so much fun.

Getting down to a little Grease Lightning. Another era but Travolta nonetheless.

The Onteora House has a beautiful wrap around deck right outside the reception area. The deck was packed for most of the night. Everything you could possibly want from mother nature at the Onteora House was present here. There was a beautiful blue sky during the day, an unbelievable pink and purple sunset, and then the endless star kissed night sky. It was great.

We caught this great moment of Lara and her Father-in-Law dancing.

Right when the sun went down we were able to grab a few shots of the newlyweds in this warm, dusk light. Isn't her dress gorgeous!

I took this from one of the trails in the back. I loved this outside-in moment.

And Eric took this from the deck.

We have so many pictures of you all doing shots! They are so fun, here is just one of them. Lara and Harry had a really fun wedding - the reception was 7 hours long and everyone loved every minute.

At the end of the night Harry and his band performed a couple songs. Harry's sister also sang at the wedding and that was incredible - really I was so wowed by her awesome voice! They are clearly a musical, fun loving family.

Thank you so much for choosing us to photograph your wedding day. It was a special treat for us to go up to the Catskills. We knew we were a good fit for you guys when you mentioned bass fishing - we love to go fishing too. And when I heard This Must Be the Place at your wedding- one of my all time favorites from Talking Heads, I decided I loved you guys even more. So thanks for having us and we can't wait to see you soon.

Brooke and Eric Lagstein
Be Creative Photography

Kids, Kids, and More Kids Photo Shoots

2008-09-18T14:50:00.007-05:00

It's craziness over here a Be Creative Photography. It's like rapid fire and go go go. We are loving this hustle and bustle. We had an incredible wedding last weekend with Emmy and Elliot - a fabulous couple who lives in Dubai and got married in NYC. We are currently in Toronto for Kathryn and Darryl's wedding - Woohooo! The blog has featured a lot of kids lately but when we return you'll be seeing lots of weddings from August and September.

We had an absolute blast with these children. We just played, played, and played which is our trick for capturing fun, candid, giggly photos. Eric had this sweet girl going. I think the colors in this shot are beautiful and I love how she is holding her little toes. Such a sweet heart.

He loves building things and taking them apart and wonders why and how we take our photos. I think he just might be an engineer in the making.

Dad was outside working on the garden and of course the kids had to know what was going on.

I took this photo during a conversation about her stuffed bunnies. This was one moment after she asked me, "Want to smell them?" I thought that was the most adorable thing in the world.

He was surprised to find us at the door again, guess who?

I love how his little sister is giving him the 3rd degree. She means business! I think the antiquing suits this photo very well.

Christina, we are really looking forward to your photo debut! Hope you enjoy this preview and we will see you soon.

Happy Birthday Aunt Aimee

2008-09-18T12:00:00.007-05:00

Happy Birthday Aimee! Aimee is our absolutely fantastic neighbor that you always here us raving about. I knew she would love the timing of this post. These children are her niece and nephew. When her sister Danielle was in town we were able to arrange a photo shoot.

Devin and Griffin are the sweetest little children, you can't help falling in love with them. It sure was a long commute to work, just across the yard. And what a way to start the day, with this beautiful face smiling at me.

She was just strong enough to hold herself up but combined with laughing hysterically it was difficult for her to keep her balance. I just love this one.

And here is big brother Griffin. He is so engaging and adorable. And boy does he love his cousins. Even though he was dying to run off with his cousins to play, he was very polite to put up with us and our silly jokes.

Griffin loves the sounds that animals make. We were more than happy to entertain him. I was moo-ing like a cow for this shot.

Can I play now? He is so little that helmet was just too cute.

We had little Devon's attention for a fleeting minute and then she had to take a snooze. That's fine with us because we love to capture tender moments like this with babies.

Danielle, we cant wait to present all the photos to you. Thank you so much for asking us to photograph your children. We had the quickest shoot with you ever! Next time we see you there will be more time to chat and possibly less animal noises and craziness. You have such a wonderful family!

Photo shoot of a curious little girl - Ellie!

2008-09-16T12:00:00.001-05:00

We were lucky enough to photograph our friends and close neighbor's little girl recently. I'm just a little bit crazy about her. I have to give Lindsay and Dan credit for being such awesome parents. So laid back, you would never guess they were new parents. Ellie is sweet, engaging, and has such a bright personality. She absolutely loves attention and was so thrilled when Eric and I came over to have a play date with her. We started with a bath and had to capture this hairdo which is her dad's favorite bath trick.

Here is Mom, Lindsay and Ellie. I just love all the colors here. They both look so beautiful. From the hair color to the eyes and the wall, love it all.

Our goal was to capture a few things about Ellie's personality. Number one was curiosity and I think this image does it. We had a hard time keeping Ellie away from the sliding door because all she wanted to do was watch Dad and Grandpa building the deck. That's right, building the deck from scratch. Dan is quite a do-it-yourselfer. He's awesome and Eric is able to help him with some jobs (pouring concrete and stuff). Seriously, I can't Eric to fix our broken cabinets but he goes over there to pour concrete. Well, I guess that's a lot more fun.

Another thing we were going for was documenting Ellie's first steps. We had scheduled the shoot while Ellie was still a crawler, and by the time the shoot came around she was cruising around with no fear what-so-ever. She goes so fast I can't believe it. And she loves the ability to catch up to whatever has caught her eye without having to drag herself there. She just goes, goes, goes. Most of our shots are of her back because she is a mover and a shaker.

This was an adorable sequence that I had to put up together. Lindsay sings a song with Ellie that is just adorable. It totally got in my head and I was singing it for 2 days. I'm such a tune catcher. Of course I can't remember it at this moment but something like "Hey Ellie, druming something something".

Ok, so not only is Ellie a new walker but she has absolutely no fear. All she cares about is the freedom that walking gives her. Here she is climbing the stairs of the play set. When her little head popped up there I almost died at her expression. Have you ever seen such a proud little girl?

Eric was playing with Ellie and her Uncle in the next few shots. Still, she is happy as a clam.

Love the drama! OH, what's going on? Wholly Cow, Oh My Gosh!

And lastly, one of my favs taken by Eric.

Lindsay and Dan, we are so happy that we bumped into you on the walk that one day. Becoming friends with you has been awesome. There is nothing like fires in your back yard and just hanging around. Thanks for everything. We hope you enjoy the photos! Can't wait to see Ellie's room when it is all finished!

Donna & Gary's Wedding - Glen Cove Mansion

2008-09-08T17:25:00.008-05:00

Congrats to Donna and Gary! They had a fabulous wedding at the Glen Cove Mansion! When we arrived Donna was literally JUMPING into her dress. And the bridesmaids got right to it - I love how they all had to help tie the accent ribbon around her. It was a tricky one.

Here is one of Eric's shot of the boys doing their thing too.

Donna was a natural during a few bridal portraits. She was so happy.

Ok - I am in love with this photo for many reasons. First, because of the little girl on the left entirely giggly at their kiss. Second because this was immediately following the ceremony and it reminds me of a funny story. Although the ceremony was beautiful, one major part was skipped over. THE KISS! Donna and Gary had very good spirits about it and were just as thrilled to smooch once they got outside.

On the way back to the Glen Cove Mansion!

The bridal party just chillin - haha. I mean ridiculously running through the field. Fun crowd they were.

A few relaxed portraits before cocktail hour. Love the light coming through the trees.

Yes it's true, Donna is in a tree.

I love the crowd applause and the newlywed's perfect dip!

If I'm not mistaken, this is Gary's Grandfather. They are both so happy.

Look at the girls! Everyone is really focused on catching the boquet.

Booty shankin it! Donna and Gary were dancing all night - as were all the guests. It was a great party and a super fun crowd to be with!

We'd like to give a special acknowledgment to Donna and Gary for their very generous and thoughtful wedding donation to the Luekemia & Lymphoma Society. Here is the background story from Donna. It's an incredible story!

"My niece Annabelle - the smaller of the flowergirls - was diagnosed with brain cancer three years ago. She was not expected to survive, but is now 6 years old and it was one of my best wedding presents to have her with us. My grandfather passed away this past April from Lymphoma and was not able to make the wedding. One of the guests present - Andrew Wieseneck - participated in the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Man of the Year competition this past Spring. In support of Andy's campaign - and in honor of the people in our lives who have so bravely battled cancer, Gary and I made a donation. This donation helped Andy to raise a total of $54,000 and win the fundraising blitz."

Thank you so much Donna and Gary! We hope you enjoy this little sneak peak and we can't wait for our meeting and photo debut!

Sincerely,
Brooke and Eric Lagstein
Be Creative Photography

Dress: David's Bridal with custom tailoring by Guillermo Couture
Brides Jewelry: Great-Grandmother's Diamonds
Veil: Her "something borrowed" from Maid of Honor
Shoes: Jimmy Choo
Bridesmaid Dresses: Aria Dress
Tuxes: English Morning Suits
Hair and Makeup: Salon Blue
Ceremony Site: St. Patrick's Catholic Church - Glen cove, NY
Reception Site: Glen Cove Mansion, Glen Cove, NY
Florist: Vito from Pedestal's
Wedding Planner: They did it all themselves! The carried out a beautiful harvest/wine themed decor. They also carefully considered every aspect of the wedding with their guests in mind. It turned out to be a very special and thoughtful event.

Backyard Fun Photos with Anna and Patrick

2008-09-08T16:14:00.005-05:00

Anna and Patrick are the very best friends of our neighbors Sam, Charlie, and Teddy. We've seen them over the fence (almost every day) playing in the backyard and we thought how great it would be to do a photo session for them. It just so happens that their mom Mary won a photo session from us through a local fundraising auction - lucky for them and us! We are so lucky to have landed in this little spot, in this little town, with such great people like this Family and the many others who have been so good to us since we got here.

Here is beautiful Anna. She is such a spunky little girl. Loves to dress up, get her nails done, do her hair. And without a second thought she is plowing over her big brother and wrestling on the ground. That's how I was as a kid too so we clicked right away!

Patrick loves baseball. Well, that's an understatement. He is a baseball FANATIC! He just loves to have his glove on, to swing away with his dad in the backyard, talk about the new or old Yankee Stadium, all the players. We heard it all. He is also an incredible big brother. Anna and Patrick have a very special connection. He is very kind and courteous to her. He'd hug her in a second and when she tackles him to the ground he even let's her win a little. What a good guy.

Patrick turned 7 just a few days after our photo shoot. This was the Patrick birthday, tickle and hug combo. I think he is enjoying it just a little bit. Look at that face!

Too sweet.

More sweetness.

Mom and Dad tickling these two on the hammock. They couldn't get enough. They would scream STOP STOP! Then MORE MORE. So funny.

I can project into the future and see this face on a pro baseball card.

Oh my Gosh! I just know that Mary and Sandy are going to love Anna's eyes in this shot. And they may even be a little surprised at how grown up their little girl is.

This was one of our favorite moments during the photo session. We were getting our settings on our camera and these two sat up on the radiator. They were talking to us and we told them to play a game together while we adjusted our lenses. The next thing we know we hear them singing the patty cack song but substituting the boys Sam, Charlie, and Teddy in there. Something like, "Sam cooks in the kitchen, charlie bakes the bread, Teddy something something". My example is a really bad rendition of the song but theirs is adorable.

Thanks to Mary and Sandy for choosing Be Creative Photography (and for all of the referrals you have sent our way). We are looking forward to many, many more years of hanging around and taking pictures of your cutie pies growing up.

Sincerely,
Brooke and Eric Lagstein
Be Creative Photography

Colorful and Fun Kids Photo Session - Alexanda and Catie

2008-09-03T21:45:00.010-05:00

Hello wonderful blog readers! As you can imagine summer and fall is an extremely busy time for us. This past week was a particular doosie with 6 kid photo shoots and 2 weddings in 7 days! Oh my gosh! I have never seen so much cuteness in such a short period of time. And both weddings were so much fun! We try our very best to keep up with blog posting but sometimes the blog has to take the back seat to us answering phone calls, scheduling meetings, and delivering your photos. We will do our best to keep the blog fresh, new, and exciting and to get your shoots up here.

Thanks to the referral from Julie we were able to photograph the adorable life of sisters, Alex and Catie. Alex is turning one! She loves her big sister and can even imitate Catie's laughs. While Eric was photographing Catie - little Alex was fake hahaha-ing and giggling along with her sister. She is also a very curious little girl. We were all laughing so much during the group of photos below. Alex knew that something was bumping her in the head and she didn't like it! So she was grabbing at the flowers, ripping out her bow, and determined to get her hands on whatever was poking her.

Catie is the ultimate big sister! She loves her dresses, Hannah Montana of course, and anything pretty! She told me she likes gymnastics much better than dancing. And she loved watching the olympics. She was so sweet. She took my hand and brought me around the yard to play. Catie's is Jocelyn's best friend and we can totally see how these girls would hit it off!

Stephanie, we are looking forward to your photo session debut as soon as possible. Thank you for choosing Be Creative Photography.

Sincerely,
Brooke and Eric Lagstein

Fairleigh Dickinson University Wedding Published in Brides New Jersey

2008-09-02T23:37:00.004-05:00

I've never posted a year old wedding before but I thought this would be appropriate for two reasons. One - because it's Andrea and Travis' year anniversary! And Two because their wedding was published in the current copy of Brides NJ! Andrea and Travis you guys are so amazing, unique, creative, happy, fun, in love - everything we could hope for in a couple to photograph. We had a fabulous time with you and wish the absolute best for your future together. Thanks for choosing Be Creative Photography!

Andrea put all the details together herself. There were pops of red all around. A cupcake tiered cake, a candy table, chinese takeout boxes to take the candy with, beautiful table numbers. Everything had a handmade look and set the tone for a very creative and colorful wedding. If you are interested in having your wedding at this location you can contact the staff at Fairleigh Dickinson via this website.

Travis's son was the best man and ring bearer. He was so cute all day and night and during the ceremony he was full of smiles and a lot of wiggling around. I don't blame him! He had 100 people staring at him and he wasn't sure what was going on, until it was time to hand over the rings. He loved to watch that part very closely!

Notice Andrea's jeweled, bare feet. Very sweet.

I absolutely love this location to photograph at! Fairleigh Dickinson Campus is very pretty. We often take our engagement sessions here.

Travis's dad giving a speech that the couple loved!

During their first dance.

A couple portraits. Aren't these two gorgeous! Andrea's dress was a fabulous vintage find off of Ebay! I love that!

Can you believe this one! Woooohooo!

Happy Anniversary you guys! Hugs from me and Eric to you and your families.

Sincerely,
Brooke and Eric Lagstein
Be Creative Photography

Fight Ovarian Cancer with Kelly Ripa and Electrolux

2008-09-02T09:08:00.004-05:00

I just received my Daily Candy Newsletter and learned that it is Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month. This is something near and dear to my heart. I post this in celebration of my Aunt Cheryl who has been winning the battle against Ovarian Cancer for many years now! I love you very much Aunt Cheryl!

So please join Kelly Ripa and Electrolux in the fight against Ovarian Cancer.
Every day you log on and send a T-mail to someone new you'll be automatically entered for a chance to win a new Turquoise Sky washer and dryer inspired by the brightly-hued ribbon that is the symbol for Ovarian Cancer.

Send your T-mail and a $1 will be donated to the OCRF (for a minimum of $25,000 and a maximum of $30,000). With every T-mail sent, you will join Electrolux and Kelly Ripa in supporting the OCRF and help raise much-needed funds to increase awareness and support research to find a cure.

Jessica & Matt's Wedding - Fiddlers Elbow Country Club

2008-08-28T18:17:00.017-05:00

Jessica and Matt were blessed with a beautiful day, wonderful friends and family, and a rocking party on their wedding day. Here is a shot by Eric of the guys heading out for the ceremony.

I love this one of the bridesmaid admiring the dress.

Jessica's sister was so happy for her! She was an awesome maid of honor, helping her with her dress, getting her whatever she needed, smiling, laughing, dancing, and she gave an incredible speech. She set the tone for a good time.

Mom couldn't fight the tears.

I love this portrait Eric took of Grandma.

Here is the best man and groom waiting for the ceremony to begin. Matt looks a little nervous, bracing himself and the cross looming over head. No pressure!

Here is a sweet moment Eric captured during the ceremony. During the full mass Jess and Matt sat next to each other and they were laughing and glancing at each other endlessly. It was really sweet.

Here is the same photo processed with a vintage affect. If you like it comment in the box below.

They had these great streamer poppers for the exiting of the church. I remember trying to climb up on a lamp post, stand thingy and a guest came over and helped me up and made sure I didn't fall. So much for being a fly on the wall for this scene.

Ahhh, the post ceremony bliss. I think every couple must really enjoy this ride to the reception, especially if you are in such an great, vintage Rolls Royce. It's nice to have a little bit of time alone on your wedding day. We just popped our camera in really quick and then let the couple take off together sans photographer.

We were following the car and trying to get a shot like this for the longest time. But we couldn't quite position ourselves behind the Rolls Royce to get the best shot. Until Eric busted a move, cut off another car, and bam - got me right where I needed to be. Haha, if you only knew what went on behind the scenes like in this moment.

The happy moms!

Eric loves a window box photo.

UH! I just love the green and the light glowing through her veil.

This was another beautiful spot but we had to watch for flying golf balls.

The beautiful decor at Fiddler's Elbow.

Matt and Jessica during the first dance.

Haha, this is great. The band handed over the mic to the bride and groom. Aren't they so cute!

There was no shortage of dancers at this wedding. The dance floor was packed the entire time.

Thank you Jessica and Matt! We had such a wonderful time with you and we can't wait to design your album! Sincerely, Brooke and Eric Lagstein
Be Creative Photography

Ceremony: St. Bernard's of Clairvaux Church in Bridgewater, NJ
Reception: Fiddler's Elbow Country Club in Bedminster, NJ
Dress: Cristina Arzuaga, NYC
Band: Starlyte
Florist: Bernadette Mitchell - Fiddler's Elbow
Tuxes: Men's Warehouse
Hair: Luke from Michael's Salon
Makeup: Cristina Rescinitti from Mac

Miriam & Randy's Wedding - Waters Edge

2008-08-25T22:09:00.005-05:00

This was a fabulous NYC wedding! You may recognize Miriam and Randy from their Lower East Side engagement session. We had so much fun with them! I started with the girls and Eric started with the guys - all conveniently located at the same hotel, Tudor Hotel. Here are the girls admiring Miriam and Randy's bling.

One of my absolute most favorite portraits. Isn't she so glamorous!

I haven't mentioned yet that it was raining AGAIN for this NYC wedding. I mean POURING! But right when we showed up it stopped. I like to think we are the lucky charms.

A very different and fantastic portrait of Randy by Eric! Isn't he so great!?! Both Eric and Randy, haha.

Love this one of the girls helping Miriam maneuver around a ginormous puddle.

We were so fortunate that the rain stopped and we were able to do the first meeting and more photographs at this Tudor City garden.

I love how lush and beautiful it is after a rain storm. And I love the look in this photo - excitement, love, adoring each other.

This was taken during the Ketubah signing.

Cutest of cutie pies hamming it up for me!

Randy wins the award for the hardest smash during the glass breaking ceremony of any Jewish wedding we have ever photographed. If you look closely, you can actually see glass flying in the air. Isn't Miriam's expression priceless.

What a beautiful, smiling bride.

Yay, it's official!

Both the ceremony and the reception were held at the Water's Edge in Long Island City. What an awesome reception site. This water taxi shuttled all of the guests from NYC to the venue. Isn't that wonderful! Here are the first batch of guests arriving.

Party time!

Woo hoo!

I've mentioned in the past that Miriam is a dancer, well turns out Randy can also get his groove on. What an unbelievable and sexy first dance they had! It was amazing!

Here they go! Bustin out the routine.

AAAAHHHHHHH, I love this dress twirl and how Randy is so into her! Great performance you guys! I'm sure everyone is still talking about it. I'd love to see the video!

Miriam's father's speech was a really big deal. Everyone was hanging off of his every word! Screaming and shouting and loving every little thing he said. I remember a lot of the speech but one of my favorite lines was, "May all your pains, be Champagne". It's true, I love the speeches. I am such a sap and I try not to cry at every one.

Miriam's sister was such a sweet heart! She loves these guys so much and gave them an incredible speech and acknowledged how she found herself in the very fortunate situation of living on their couch for a while. Lucky girl! Nothing like being a little sister - something I can completely relate to.

Gotta love the ladies huddle. Especially when they spin her around and fluff and feather her dress all about. What a fun crowd! Can we do it again guys!!!!!????

And the boys did not disappoint.

Here are our two most favorite guests! Julie and Tim, our friends and the very wonderful referral source for this wedding. Thank you so much guys!

Love the flower girl in this photo (and everyone else too). She is so psyched to be at this party and she reminds me of a little Miriam.

And one of the many wonderful night time shots we were able to grab on the fly.

Congratulations to the fabulous, sassy, talented, loving and kind Miriam and Randy! We are very excited to show you all of the pictures. It was so hard to choose just these. See you soon.

Sincerely,
Brooke and Eric Lagstein
Be Creative Photography

Dress: Pnina Tornai Kleinfelds
Shoes: Filippa Scott
Tuxes: Randy's was Hugo Boss
Hair and Makeup: Ryan Nickulas for hair, Heidi of Damalinyc for makeup
Ceremony and Reception Site: Water's Edge, Long Island City
Florist: Spitz and Peck
Wedding Planner: Bianca Blag
Band: Soul Solution featuring Charmaine

One more photo...

2008-08-18T23:00:00.001-05:00

Eric here: I just was going through Shianling and Josh's photos and noticed this photo wasn't included in our original blog post. I couldn't resist posting it up here for two reasons... 1. Becuase I love the photo 2. Because I am an apple Junky.

Enjoy :)

Maggie and BE (Brooke & Eric)

2008-08-18T21:24:00.002-05:00

Many people are coming over for a meeting and seeing this really big dog and asking, "You have two dogs? Where's the little puppy we saw on the blog?". THIS IS HER! She got so big so fast! And if you come to the house today you wouldn't even believe your eyes. She's been shaved down since this picture and she looks so funny. Like a skinny, humungous, Chihuahua - unrecognizable accept for her cute personality. We've also changed her nickname from Shaggy Maggie to Maggie the Menace.

And here are some even more ridiculous pictures of the two of us. Whenever Eric gets a new lens, a new camera, or cleans all the equipment he takes about 1,000 pictures of me to make sure the equipment is working correctly. After about 100 pictures taken of me, I couldn't take it any more, so I turned the tables on him, unfotently he thought it was hysterical to imitate me.

Christina and Marc's Wedding - Westmount Country Club

2008-08-14T14:52:00.016-05:00

Congratulations to Christina and Marc. You may recognize them from their Hoboken engagement photos and their adorable pup Stewie! Their wedding ceremony also took place in Hoboken and the reception was at the Westmount Country Club. I started with the girls who were all having a blast getting ready together. They all loved this shoe shot so I thought I'd post it.

This was taken during their first meeting. Marc was so happy!

Awww, I just love this one too. Such pure happiness and love here.

This was just funny. I'm lying on my back trying to get the perfect angle and this darn pigeon just walked back and forth. He/she was rentless to all of my shoeing away. I don't have many fears but for some reason birds just totally freak me out. Thankfully the bird never came towards me or started flapping and flailing around. I would have been running away.

I love this tunnel at the Shipyard. We've taken lots of photos here and they always look completely different. I love the windows and sillhouettes here.

A gorgeous bride and a beautiful veil.

You saw how high Christina's shoes were didn't you? She is a pro and walked out on these rocks for the NY skyline and water.

The bridal party was lined up in a straight line and I loved how their varying heights mimiced the skyline behind them. Still it looked much better and was much more fun to have them all running toward the camera.

We all had a lot of laughs at the wedding! The priest was full of jokes. The favorite was when he announced them for the first time as "Mrs. and Mr. Christina Valdes!"

Yay! They tied the knot and it was time to party. What a great bridal party. These guys cheered them on all day long.

During their first dance everyone gathered around and cheered again. I love the lighting at the Westmount. It's so warm and golden.

A lot of crazy dancing at the wedding. These two guys were having a good time. Check out the floating tie. There was also a brotherly dance off between Marc and his brother.

This was taken during a slideshow that Christina and Marc put together of their baby and family photos from growing up. Everyone really enjoyed it.

Christina and Marc, it's been a pleasure getting to know you and your family! We can't wait to do your album! Wishing you a lifetime of love and happiness.

And a special thank you to Nancy and Jon for referring Christina and Marc to us! We will be posting your wedding and engagement images soon.

Sincerely,
Brooke and Eric Lagstein
Be Creative Photography

Mary and Jeff - Stowehof Inn

2008-08-14T10:35:00.007-05:00

Mary and Jeff's wedding was last winter. I thought it would be a nice change to show a couple of their album spreads. And in the heat of the summer to show a chilly, winter wedding, why not? I love the whole album but here are a few of my favorite spreads.

All the girls were getting ready in the bridal suite and Mom and Grandma were there too. Mary was beyond excited and everyone was full of smiles! Her bridal portraits, some intentional and some not, came out so incredibly sweet!

Mary asked me to do these portraits on the veranda looking over the mountain. I focused on capturing the train of her dress and the scenery. I love how these came out too. And I love that Mary knew what she wanted and asked me to go to some locations with her. Photographing your wedding is always a collaboration of our ideas and yours.

The Stowehof Inn, in Stowe, Vermont is a beautiful location for a winter wonderland wedding. We really enjoyed going there! Our room was beautiful and cozy. The weather was crisp, the snow was perfect on their wedding day. No slush and a little sunshine. We all had so much fun! After the ceremony they went for a horse drawn carriage ride. I was in snow up to my knees to get these shots. There was no way I was missing it! I would have dug a snow tunnel if I had to, haha! They didn't even know I was around and were surprised that I caught them. There are 4 pages in their album of the carriage ride. Here are just two of them. The others are from a distance with the mountains in the background.

Inside was a beautiful lodge. Their decor was candle light and white tree lights. The flowers were deep, red beautiful roses cascading along the tables in antique silver urns. And I loved her table numbers too. Mary is a vet and the table numbers were photos of all of her friends animals.

The reception was so much fun! Mary's step-brother caught the bouquet. I love how the moms are behind the bridesmaid who caught the bouquet making sure that he behaves.

Congratulations Mary and Jeff! We are so happy for you and can't wait to see you again one day soon! Please keep in touch and enjoy your album! Wishing you love and happiness always.

Sincerely, Brooke and Eric

Be Creative Photography

To our friends Lisa & Alex

2008-08-09T00:01:00.001-05:00

We recently received a touching email from Lisa & Alex . We are very sorry to hear of the loss of Alex's Grandmother. We decided to post this in memory of her and to thank you for your very kind note. Thinking of you, Brooke and Eric

(from Lisa and Alex)

Dear Brooke and Eric,

We absolutely LOVED the album. We loved the layout, we loved the cover, we were amazed by the photo quality, and it was absolutely wonderful to see the story of our day. You both did a spectacular job with the photos, as we've told you many times, and Brooke, we very much appreciate your patience and creativity in working through the album with us.

The album actually arrived the night before Alex's grandmother passed away, which is why it took us so long to follow up. That also meant, however, that we had the album for the week of sitting shiva (mourning) during which we saw everyone from both of our families. The album sat out on Alex's father's table for the week, where dozens of visitors -- many of whom were at the wedding -- had the opportunity to enjoy it. Everyone was extremely impressed and several people said it was the most beautiful photo album they had ever seen (we agree!!!). It was especially nice to have the album because of the gorgeous photos you took of Alex's grandmother. While Alex's grandmother's passing prevented us from expressing our appreciation for the album earlier, having the album when we did was a wonderful gift to us and our families at a difficult time.

Thank you again for your outstanding work. We could not have picked better photographers, and we wish you and Be Creative Photography all the best!

Alex and Lisa

Jen & Brad's Wedding at Eagle Ridge Golf Club

2008-08-08T14:34:00.009-05:00

Congratulations to Jen and Brad! They had a fabulous wedding at the Eagle Ridge Golf Club in Lakewood, NJ. Allan Zapeda photographed this one with us because it was during Brooke's broken foot period. He did awesome, thanks buddy! We started at the girls and caught some very touching moments. Grandma's reaction to seeing Jen for the first time. Priceless!

As I was editing Jen and Brad's photos I discovered what Jen does when she is just so happy she doesn't know what else to do - I'll call it her happy place!! When Jen is in her happy place she connects foreheads with whoever she is with. I guess it's when you are not sure if you should cry, laugh, or scream. I love it and have to admit that Brooke and I do this sometimes too! It just really feels comforting, loving, and grounding. I love these unspoken, emotional moments during their wedding. Here is the first of many...

Brad waiting to see Jen for the first time.

I love this photo. This is right before the ceremony. One bridesmaid is fixing her nail and another is helping her drink. It's the bridemaids doing the bridesmaid thing.

Here is Jen in her happy place again!!! This is right after the ceremony, Jen and Brad went into the library all alone. I was outside the door using a super zoom to catch this great moment.

Yippeeeeee.

Here Jen and Brad are are in the Rolls Royce waiting to leave the church to go the reception. The Rolls was stalling and not working, so what does Jen do..... go to your happy place :)

Maybe this is Brad's happy place also?!?!?!

We went outside for a few minutes as the sun was going down. Us photographers call the last hour of light the "golden hour" and we just love it!! The light during the golden hour is so soft, warm and very flattering.

Here Jen's niece is dancing, holding her dress, swinging back and forth. Jen saw here doing this and decided to copy her, so fun.

Brad is such a funny guy. I have no idea what he said to get this, but I'm sure he had it coming!

Jen and Brad, thank you for choosing Be Creative Photography. We wish you a lifetime of happiness and many more years of going to your happy place :)

Shiangling & Josh's Wedding - 91 Horatio at the Upper Crust

2008-07-30T19:40:00.008-05:00

Shiangling and Josh are creative souls. I'm honored that they love our work and chose us for their wedding. Check out their engagement story which was published in the post. Josh - 2 points for creativity and romance. They were married on a very rainy day in NYC! Some people may have gotten upset about that, but not them or any of their guests for that matter. When it started raining during their garden ceremony it was as if all the guest threw their hands up in the air and said "awww, what the heck, let's roll with it". I'm going to steal a lyric from David Sylvian, "there is always sunshine above the gray sky and I will try to find it". I heard this song in a video created by this couple and I fell in love with it. It just happens to be the most perfect lyric for this post.

We started at the W Hotel in Union Square. Eric with the guys and I with the girls. Here's a cool shot of the boys heading off for the ceremony.

I love these ring shots so I put them both up. I rarely put details on the blog so I'll indulge you with these.

How amazing is this boutonnière? I absolutely love it. I love anything green, purple, and nature inspired. The flowers were done by Gerald E. Palumbo from Seasons, a floral design studio.

The beautiful bride Shiangling! She is so happy and sweet.

Eric and Josh were talking about their iphones, so they decided to play around :)

The ceremony was at the Jefferson Market Garden in Greenwich Village. That's right, same spot as Miranda and Steve in Sex and the City. Eric climbed a tree to get this shot. It was raining really hard and nobody cared. I think this is actually right before the down pour. When we arrived at the ceremony I couldn't believe it but the same officiant that married Eric and I also married these two, Rabbi Renee Feller! It was so good to see her.

Eric here, I just want to take a minute to talk about this photo, it's one of my favorites in a long time. It gives me the chills every time I look at it. First the obvious, Shiangling and Josh are madly in love and nothing can ruin this. They are soaking wet as if someone dumped a couple of buckets on them. And what is so amazing to me, is that the rain isn't bumming them out one bit. They are so present in this moment, celebrating each other and their love, their energy is so strong, everyone around them couldn't help but be excited for them. The next thing that I love about this photo is the people around them. Do you notice the little girl on the bottom, soaking wet, unhappy, but not budging an inch from her assigned position. Also look at the two women on the outside (Josh's mom and sister), they are clearly struggling with the down pour, but also can't help laughing and being so happy. This photo is truly a perfect moment capturing what amazing people both Shiangling and Josh are! A moment like this is a good life lesson. As my 5 year old nephew Jake would say, "You get what you get and you don't get upset!"

I love this photo as well. Big passionate kiss! Notice below the little girl :)

Ahhh, the post ceremony bliss!

The little girl is still wet :)

Unfortunately the rain was so loud during the ceremony that they could not hear each other's vows. While trying to read the vows during the ceremony, Shianling stopped reading, looked up at Josh and screamed, "I LOVE YOU"! It was so funny and wonderful. Here you can see the vows and the effect of the rain.

When the rain stopped we were able to do a few quick portraits. They all came out beautiful but here are just two to tease you.

Their reception was held at 91 Horatio at the Upper Crust. They served incredible food. I tried this little chocolate truffle that was the best damn piece of chocolate I have ever had! This shot is during their first dance.

These are the men in Josh's family during the Hora.

Shirley's maid of honor giving a speech.

The newlweds and their guests.

The bride and groom made beautiful speeches for each other too!

Shirley's mom.

Josh and his sister. Josh's family came in from Australia for the wedding.

Thank you very much for having us photograph your wedding. It was such a wonderful experience to be a part of the very unique day and to be in the company of the wonderful people in your life. Congratulations and stay tuned for the rest of your images! Sincerely, Brooke and Eric of Be Creative Photography

Jen and Bryan

2008-07-30T14:29:00.011-05:00

Eric writing here: Jen and Bryan's engagement session was never blogged so we are doubling up! Their engagement session was in Montclair in the fall. Brooke and I had so much fun with Jen and Bryan, we all got along so well and instantly got into a groove. We started the shoot right at one of their favorite restaurants which is next store to where they live.

We then headed to a field to play around, we were stopped and asked if we were shooting a JCrew ad. Isn't that funny!?!?

Jump off a stump, why not? They wanted the perfect shot so they tried quite a few times to sync their air time.

It was really cold and they were tired from all of their jumping. They cuddled next to the stump and we were able to capture this lovely moment.

We stopped in the middle of the street here, almost got run over by a hooligan, but it was too beautiful to pass up. And it happened to be in front of their dream house in Montclair. Oh the lovely homes in Montclair.

Now onto their wedding, unfortunately Brooke could not attend because of her broken foot. She was so devastated to miss it. But luckily our friend Monika stepped in for the day. Thank you Monika! This was taken during their first meeting.

We found a beautiful grass hill to shoot in, a lot of brides and grooms would get nervous going into this stuff, but Jen and Bryan charged right in, what troopers!

Jen is so comfortable in front of the camera, she could be a model :)

One of my favorite things to do is to line up the bridal party and have them run!

I love this photo!! The girls are on the way to the ceremony, everyone is nervous, excited and just a little bit chaotic. Jen is holding the doors open like her marriage depended on it.

The father daughter dance was emotional.

The speechs brought down the house.

Thank you Alissa for referring Jen and Bryan to us. And great job on the graphics for the wedding. You are so talented! We shot Alissa and Mikes wedding last year, unfortunately our blogging fell behind last year. But you can see their engagement session here.

Jen and Bryan, congratulations! Thank you for choosing Be Creative Photography.

Kids Site Coming Soon

2008-07-23T06:51:00.000-05:00

Hello,

Thanks for your interest in Be Creative Photography for Kids. Our blog is serving as our temporary children's online portfolio. Enjoy the photos here and keep checking back for updates on what's happening with Kids and the debut of the kid's website. Scroll down for more posts.

Brooke and Eric Lagstein
Be Creative Photography

Jack, Gabrielle and Noah

2008-07-22T16:27:00.008-05:00

We had a wonderful shoot last week with Noah, Gabrielle, and Jack. They were absolutely adorable and really got a kick out of our silly jokes.

Would you believe that this is only a few minutes after Jack woke from his nap. What a cutie pie.

Eric was singing the ABC's super fast and she loved it. That's right! Speed racer ABC guy. We do what we gotta do.

OH! I just love this one!! The puppy, Fenway, is wagging his tail and just dying to know what Jack is looking at.

Thanks for having us over last week to photograph your kids! You have a beautiful family. We hope you enjoy this sneak peak and we look forward to debuting the rest of the photos on Tuesday.

Miriam & Randy Engagement

2008-07-07T14:22:00.007-05:00

We had a great time in the Big NYC a few nights ago with Miriam and Randy. I want to thank Julie, Tim, and Jocelyn for referring these two to us. We can't wait for the wedding which is soooo close!

The original plan was to ride bikes around lower Manhattan, but shortly after we arrived it started raining. Miriam was really disappointed because she thought the shoot would be a bust. Well, a bust it was not. We were able to get so much variety right outside their apartment and it was so much fun.

This little sequence was taken right across from their front door. Miriam is a dancer so she was not afraid to add a little sass to every pose. We loved it!! Coincidentally, she actually used to dance with some of my friends in high school.

Here we are at the bar on their corner. We sort of got kicked out. I think it was a miscommunication, but pretty frustrating. Normally when you shoot in a bar or restaurant it's customary to have a few drinks in exchange for them allowing you to shoot in the bar. But because of the rain and the quickly dwindling daylight we didn't have time. They said no drinks, no shooting. We even promised to come back later for a drink and it was still NO. So this is outside the bar. How cute are these two! You guys were so much fun.

Although we did not get to actually ride the bikes we staged some shots with the bikes. Here's one of our favorites.

It was really important for them to have some garden photos. When the rain started coming down we realized we were not making it to Washington Square. So I ran and knocked on the door of a Temple which was right next door and asked if we could use their garden. Even though it was raining Eric and I were able to cover the cameras and get some very, very nice shots. Here's one of my favs.

Having some fun with the stairs.

These were taken under an awning during the rain.

Later we went back and made friends with the bartenders, haha. It was too good of a location to give up so easily.

The rain seemed to stop so in the last 30 minutes of day light we took a walk to the park on 7th and avenue B. They love Mama's and I loved the big graphic sign so I asked to stop for a quick few shots and I just love how they turned out. Randy spun her around too. But this shot I thought was really great because of their laughing and connection with each other.

A little twirl on the street.

This park stole the prize in the end. Who would know that there was a group of homeless street kids right behind them. This garden was beautiful.

We pretty much called it a wrap but couldn't resist a few interesting locations on the way back to their apartment. The red door.

The duck ride?!? Why not!

And a street scene.

You guys are wonderful and such fun subjects to photograph. We cannot wait for your wedding. Speak to you soon! And thanks for choosing Be Creative Photography.

Brooke and Eric

Samantha & Matt's Wedding - Wee Burn Beach Club

2008-06-29T15:52:00.011-05:00

Eric here, I loved this wedding for so many reasons, but I especially loved it because the energy between the family and friends reminded me of my own family. It was so obvious how close all of the immediate family was. By the end of the day I wanted to hug everyone :)

Which gives me the perfect segway into mentioning the amazingly talented Monika Broz who accompanied me on this shoot. I have to give her a big hug too! As many of you know Brooke fractured her foot in the Spring and could not attend a few weddings (fyi, she is fully healed now and back in action). Monika stepped in and kicked butt!

I loved this, Samantha and her brother were so excited they just gave each other a big high five.

Chillin before the ceremony

Samantha's sister taking her duties very seriously.

This is a sweet moment I caught of Samantha and her mother. What a proud mama!

A really cool portrait of the guys during pre-ceremony.

Before the wedding Samantha told me how much she liked a previous shot I took of the NY Times so she made sure to have one ready for her ring shot.

Gorgeous bridesmaid getting ready to walk the aisle.

What a beautiful location right? This was in Connecticut at the Wee Burn Beach Club

Their first hubby and wife smooch, it was a great embrace.

We did some portraits on the beach after the ceremony.

Grandma was so cute and sweet, everyone visited her throughout the night.

Smiling faces, the sign of an excellent speech.

I love how this silhouette highlights the details in her dress.

Matt's sister watching so happily as he spoke of their family.

The start of a really, really good party.

The moment they found each other on the dance floor.

A lot of crazy and fun dancing at this wedding. I loved it!

A gorgeous night time shot.

Congratulations to Samantha and Matt. We wish you a lifetime of love and hapiness! Thank you for choosing Be Creative Photography, we were so honored to be a part of your big day.

Love, the Be Creative team and special guest Monika Broz!

Emma and Jake

2008-05-27T19:39:00.011-05:00

Hello,

We've been wanting to share this adorable kid photo shoot for a long time now. Emma and Jake were so much fun!

We warmed up for the photo shoot by playing with Emma in her room. Here she is snuggling with her teddy.

In no time at all Eric had her cracking up.

Jake was very curious about the camera. He kept trying to figure us out. I think he really enjoyed going to little nooks and crannies of the house that he does not usually visit.

Here's Mom, Alanna, and Jake giggling together.

I love this upside down shot and I love that the converse sneakers show in the bottom.

Don't you want to pinch those cheeks!

We have about 20 photos of different Emma expressions. In her pre-speaking stage of life she's really got down how to express herself with her cute little eyes!

At the end she was sad we were leaving (she also wanted a snack). I don't blame her for any of the above because we had a lot fun laughing and running around with them.

Thank you for choosing Be Creative Photography! We look forward to the next shoot in a few months and creating your fantastic album! The next shoot is going to include dad and we are going to document family time.

Meghan & Nate's Wedding - Seasons in Washington Township

2008-05-22T12:52:00.016-05:00

Congratulations Meghan and Nate! This was our second wedding at the Seasons in Washington Township, NJ we shot here last year for Rebecca & Sol's wedding, check it out here.

The day began at Meghan's mom's house. There were a lot of great details like this little DREAM sign hanging by the dress. I love Meghan's body language here. She looks ready to "TAKE ON" the dress.

After she was dressed I was able to take advantage of some streaming sun rays for this bridal portrait. You never know when or where great light is going to find us.

I love this photo, it's so simple and perfectly summarizes how Meghan was all day.

Here Meghan and her sister are just waiting to leave for the wedding. Again, the body language of the waiting is just so great.

The guys aren't waiting at all, they are ready to party!

Meghan and Nate's first meeting was so great. They love to laugh and have fun so they just turned for each other and got all excited for the big day ahead of them.

This is one of my favorite portraits of the day.

These are Nate's parents as they arrived at the Seasons. They caught some of the Bride and Groom portrait session.

Shooting into window light during a ceremony can be challenging but I really love the effect of a glowing background. This is Meghan's father giving her away.

Meghan even laughed through her tears.

The officiant is Nate's friend. And believe it or not he is marrying (not officiating but actually becoming the husband of) my friend Brie who I used to play Volleyball with. It was so great to be reunited with her at this wedding, it's been 10 years since we've seen each other (YIKES).

I love this photo! This is their reaction to being announced as husband and wife for the first time.

Meghan's dad was glowing all day!

The speech by the best man was pretty emotional. It was incredible, sweet, funny, and delivered perfectly.

Here is my friend Brie and the officiant.

And here is Eric and Ali whose wedding we will be photographing next summer. I love this shot because John and Jen are in the background too. Jen & John, you guys totally rock! Thanks for referring your cousin to us! Meghan and I hit it off at John and Jen's wedding. They loved the pictures so they hired us! Yay! I love how this works. It's so great to meet new people and build relationships that lead to more weddings with more people that we know. And now Jen's sister Ali (shown below) has just hired us for her wedding next summer.

What a great move by Nate's brother.

And of course the last dance had to have a little humorous twist for these two! I'm so glad I caught this because it was only a second.

And here is Eric taking a picture of himself. He loves a good prank. So I mentioned earlier about Ali and Eric's wedding next summer. My Eric stole the other Eric's camera a the wedding and took some ridiculous photos of himself. When the other Eric got around to loading his photos about a month after the wedding he finallly got the prank. We had completely forgotten about it. He sent us this photo over email.

Congratulations guys! Thank you for having us for your big day. We had so much fun and can't wait to see you again soon. Hopefully it's sooner than Ali and Eric's wedding. Love, Brooke and Eric. Be Creative Photography

Angie & Sep Engagement

2008-05-21T13:25:00.013-05:00

Another engagement session in Central Park. I had a fantastic time with Angie and Sep! I (Eric) photographed this one on my own because Angie and Sep had come in from out of town last minute and Brooke was unavailable. This was the first time I met them but we hit it off right away. Most of the time we meet our couples before we are hired. In this case, the fabulous, amazing, and one of a kind wedding planner Joan Glenn set us up. Thank you Joan! She is helping the two of them plan their wedding while they are out of state. Joan owns 6 degrees of celebration and has a wonderful reputation in this area. Definitely visit her website if you are interested in hiring a wedding planner.

Angie and Sep were instantly comfortable and giggling in front of the camera which set the tone for the session. We laughed through the entire photo shoot. Here they are on a little bench in Central Park.

I was able to capture these sweet moments while the evening sun was peeking through some trees. I really like the glowing light.

I thought this was cool too, how the background tile matches Angie's dress. This was taken at the Bethesda Terrace.

A little silhouette action.

I was hoping one of the gondola boats would pass by while they were sitting here but it wasn't meant to be.

Here they are at Poet's Walk. Brooke would have loved Angie's shoes. She is a big fan of the wedge heel because she says they are so much easier to walk in. Can you believe I know what a wedge heel is?!?!?

They were just so happy, it was a great session. We covered a lot in a short amount of time.

This was quite hysterical. I had to balance over them to take these. I was so afraid I would drop the camera on them to I had to continually double check the strap around my neck. I'm not sure if they are laughing at me or each other here. Either way, it's a great moment.

Brooke took a really cool photo of me right here once, so she was the inspiration for this photo. Usually there are bikers, roller bladers, dog walkers, runners, and all sorts of crazy characters flying through this path. This night was relatively quiet in Central Park. So I thought, hey why not, we all sat down in the middle of the biker path. Moments later bikers came out of nowhere, screaming at us. Move it you idiots! Bad idea! Get out of the road! And the night came to a close with a great laugh.

Angie and Sep - We are really looking forward to your wedding. Brooke can't wait to meet you. Sincerely, Eric Be Creative Photography.

Gwen & Clint's Wedding - St Pauls Chapel at Columbia University & Terrace in the Sky

2008-04-15T16:17:00.010-05:00

Congratulations to Gwen & Clint. They were married at St. Paul's Chapel at Columbia University in NYC and the reception was at The Terrace in the Sky. We have been excited for this wedding since their engagement session, see the photos here.

Here is Clint's father helping with his tie.

Here is the cute flower girl admiring Gwen's dress.
v

And the ring bearer day dreaming.

I love the reaction of all of the ladies.

Off to the ceremony! Do you think she is excited? :)

I love how classic this photo looks.

Gwen's father leading a prayer before the ceremony. Very touching.

Clint passing off the rings to the best man.

I hang out with the bride and the father before entering the church. This is one of the moments I captured.

And this is Eric's point of view of the Bride entering the church.

Beautiful cathedral ceilings and ambiance in this church. We were able to capture it all with a fisheye.

This is Eric's award winning photo and still my favorite photo of the day.

This was taken moments after the ceremony.

I love these kids, who would guess they were at a wedding.

This little guy rocked the house.
Gwen and Clint performed during the reception. Clint plays the bass and Gwen sings.

That is Clint in the background.

Notice that tall guy trying to catch the bouquet.

I always love to get an outside-in shot at the end of the night.

Congratulations to the newlyweds. We had such a blast from your engagement session to the wedding and now doing your album. Thank you for being so wonderful and we wish you the very best in Spain. Sincerely, Brooke and Eric of Be Creative Photography.

Katie & Lukasz's Wedding - Westmount Country Club

2008-03-24T22:54:00.011-05:00

We have so many amazing moments that we want to share with you all but we have been working our butts off on albums and our new website. So a very belated congratulations to Katie and Lukasz! They had an amazing wedding, day, and such an awesome family and crowd. The reception was at The Westmount Country Club in West Patterson, NJ.

Katie and Lukasz have a really cool story. Their parents were friends in Poland and when they moved to the United States their friendship continued. So when Katie and Lukasz fell in love you can imagine what a dream come true it was for their parents. This made for an incredible event because both sides of the family knew each other well.

Eric was setting up a fun formal shot and this little guy took off with the flag. As usual with Eric, he snapped at the right time and got this great shot of everyone laughing.

Later, this little guy was not so thrilled when the church doors swung open and he realized his task at hand.

The Westmount has a webcam so that people can watch the wedding online. This was super special to Katie and Lukasz because Lukasz's mother could not leave Poland and many other friends from out of state were able to login and watch as well. They took a few trips outside to wave to the family.

I love this one, just the two of them having a moment as if nobody is around.

Katie and Lukasz, congratulations and thank you so much for choosing us to photograph your wedding. We look forward to seeing you all again! Sincerely, Brooke and Eric from Be Creative Photography

Eric is 2nd Place Photographer of the Year!

2008-03-10T18:00:00.018-05:00

The WPJA Photographer of the Year contest results are in. I am proud to announce that
Eric has been awarded 2nd place Photographer of the Year!

The WPJA is an elite organization of 1000's of photojournalists and wedding photographers from all around the world. First of all, it is an honor for us to be a part of this organization and among the ranks of such inspiring photographers. For Eric to be ranked in the 2nd spot this year is just beyond our wildest dreams! Every year we enter photos into contests through the WPJA that are judged by renowned photojournalists and photography professionals. The yearly rankings are based on the culmination of your points from each contest. I'm so proud of Eric for being in 2nd place! Last years Photographer of the Year was Carlo Carletti of Italy. And this years is Ben Chrisman of California. Congratulations Ben!

Thank you to all of our friends, family, clients, and associates who have congratulated him on this achievement. And a very big thank you to the WPJA for organizing such wonderful photographers from all around the world. Thank you also to the judges who have voted on the 1000's of photos entered each quarter and voted on my hubby's pics! One of the judges of the most recent contest was Photojournalist Joe McNally - check out his incredible work. I loved seeing his larger then life exhibit "Faces of Ground Zero" in NYC a few years ago.

Eric's Quarter 4 winning images are below. At the end of this post you can click through the rest of this years winning images and more. I simply took screen shots of the images from the WPJA website. I love the judges comments!

His 1st place image in the "getting ready" category.

His first place image in the "action" category. This image is one of my favorites of all time by Eric. I think it is so beautiful and perfectly executed! I love the rushing motion of the bride that he was able to capture. I love the way she is holding up her skirt and that you can identify the sweetheart neckline of her dress. This is Gwen and we'll give you the chance to see more of her wedding photos soon!

His 2nd place image in the "action" category. Jessica's wedding. Stay tuned for more of her wedding photos also.

19th in the "engagement" category. This is Stewie! We love him and were so happy to meet him for Christina and Marc's engagement session.

The next two images are not Erics. Two of my images also placed from the 4th quarter. This is 14th in "engagement" category.

13th in the "toasting" category. This was from Katie and Lukasz's wedding of which you will be seeing more pictures of very shortly as well.

Here is a list of the other photographers who have been recognized by the WPJA this year. You should google them and check out their work! I'm running out of time tonight to find all of their links - but really, please google them! They all rock!

Photographer of the Year: Ben Chrisman, California, USA

Second Place: Eric Lagstein, New Jersey, USA
Third Place: Carlo Carletti, Italy
Fourth Place: Christian Keenan, England
Fifth Place: David Murray, Maine, USA
Sixth Place: Jeremy Lawson, Missouri, USA
Seventh Place: Mark Earthy, Sweden
Eighth Place: Christobal Perez, North Carolina, USA
Ninth Place: Noah Wolf, Minnesota, USA
Tenth Place: Robert Mirani, Massachusetts, USA

Here are links to more WPJA and Brides Magazine winning photographs of ours.

Winter of 2007 Winners

Brides Magazine of Conde Nast Publications and Wedding Photojournalist Assosciation

Summer of 2007 Winners

Fall of 2006 Winners

Winter of 2006 Winners

Eric contributed to an article about kids at weddings.
Kids at the Wedding

Love you Eric! You continue to amaze me on a daily basis and you just seem to be getting more and more creative in your documentation style each and every day. How do you do it? I'm so proud of you.

Jocelyn

2008-01-23T22:52:00.000-05:00

We had the pleasure of photographing Jocelyn a few weeks ago. Isn't she adorable! She reminds us of Shirley Temple. Jocelyn was so much fun and so darn sweet! Eric took this shot and it is one of my favorites of the day. She could be in a JCrew ad!

I took this photo but as you can see she wasn't very interested in me. All eyes were on Eric!

Uh! Such a cutie!

Here is Jocelyn and mom Julie. After our photo shoot we realized that Julie and Eric went to highschool together! We had fun talking about all the people we know in common. Julie and her husband Tim even referred their friend Danielle who is getting married next summer. After talking with Danielle we discovered she is marrying one of Eric's friends, Todd. So it's a big crazy set of happenstance. We're so excited to photograph their wedding!

So cute!

Tim, Jocelyn's father, was working the day of the shoot so he couldn't be there. But since this post is coinciding with the Giants win I thought I'd mention how smart and funny Jocelyn is with this little story. So Tim is a huge Eagles fan. And Jocelyn, at such a young age knew that she could ruffle her Daddy's feathers by one day shouting, "GO GIANTS". haha. So Jocelyn may just be a forever Giants fan and poor Tim just has to deal with it. I say it's a good deal either way because at least his daughter will watch the games with him.

Thank you Julie, Tim, and Jocelyn for hiring Be Creative Photography. It's great to have new friends in town. And thank you so very much for referring your many, many friends to Be Creative Photography! Go Giants! haha

Ashley & Joe's Wedding - Spring Mill Manor

2008-01-21T20:44:00.001-05:00

Congratulations to Ashley and Joe! These two are super golf fanatics so naturally they chose to get married at their country club. It was beautiful and we got to shoot some fun pictures out on the golf course. Here's Ashley getting fired up to get dressed.

A cool angle of Joe by Eric.

The girls helping her into her dress.

Joe was only in the next room and it was up to me and Eric to make sure they did not bump into each other. As Eric was taking this mirror photo I was taking the next shot. Sometimes we think so much alike.

Love the bowtie, so cute. Looking good from every angle.

hehe.

Their first meeting was super sweet.

This is Ashley patented hug.

What a gorgeous bride and what great chemistry between these two.

This is probably my favorite scene of the day. I just love the sun so much and when everything is sprinkled with glowing sunlight it's so romantic.

We got to speed around in the golf carts. Eric was flying and I was trying to hang on for dear life and take photos at the same time. When did I become such a wuss?

They both actually took some swings out there. We recorded every stage of Joe's swing. It's a pretty nice sequence. Eric says that Joe has a good follow through.

I think going to the driving range is a lot of fun but I loose my patience for the real thing. I have to give Ashley credit because I hear she is a really good golfer and she was so excited to take some swings on her wedding day - in her wedding dress and shoes!

Joe really got it in the hole from about 20 feet away and Eric was ready just in time for Ashley's reaction. We looove this photo.

Joe's parents right before entering the ceremony.

Ashley and her father with a little bit of nervous excitement.

Don't they have such a great chemistry!

Their first dance.

The patented head squeeze, I'm never going to let go, hug.

Joe made a really nice speech and afterward went to Ashley and gave her a long kiss and head squeeze.

These little girls were following me around all night taking pictures. They were so cute and they got some good ones.

Fun on the dance floor.

Ashley and Joe, thank you so much for choosing Be Creative Photography. We had such a wonderful time with you and we thank you for being so fantastic to work with. Looking forward to completing your album! Sincerely, Brooke and Eric - Be Creative Photography.

Shaggy Maggie

2008-01-16T23:57:00.000-05:00

Meet our Be Creative Photography Mascot, Maggie. Eric's dream come true - a puppy! I had no idea how much I would love her but ohhhh boy are we in puppy love.

This is Maggie at 6 weeks old, the day we picked her (we weren't allowed to bring her home yet). It was nearly impossible to choose between her and her 8 siblings. Something about her reminded us of Aiko.

She looooves Eric!

We brought Maggie home on January 15th. Believe it or not we didn't even take a picture of her on day one. This is day two. She had no problem jumping right in to the swing of things. A lot of napping and playing in her little playpen by our computers.

I love her big black nose and eyes.

She is a lot like our cat Caymus who likes to climb up as close to your head as possible. She wiggles right up and hangs her head on our shoulder.

We decided to crate train her and we are so impressed with her progress. At first she was scared in the crate but she quickly flipped to really liking her alone time. We can put her in her crate for a few hours while we work without worrying about taking her out to pee. She is such a good sleeper. It's good that we have a bunch of contractors working here all day because she is used to loud noises of hammering and drilling. And here she is obviously not in her crate.

If you have a dog or if you are thinking of getting a dog you should watch some episodes of The Dog Whisperer on the National Geographic Channel. We love him! Cesar Milan is the man! We've been reading his books on becoming a pack leader and we've been practicing calm and assertive energy. The Dog Whisperer is our newest TV obsession!

Lisa & Alex

2008-01-09T19:57:00.000-05:00

Lisa and Alex, congratulations! Every time I see these first few pictures I am brought to tears. This moment is one of my all time favorites. Lisa and Alex had a Jewish ceremony and they included many of the traditions that you don't see too often these days. This moment was during the Bedeken. Please excuse my very, very loose translation. The groomsmen, friends and family escort the groom in to see the bride for the first time. They come in singing and dancing with immense joy and anticipation. This is when Alex and Lisa first saw each other.

Then the groom confirms that she is the one for him and puts the veil over head.

The singing and dancing around the bride continues. This is just a perfect moment. Alex is so ecstatic with his soon to be bride he couldn't do anything but just hold out his arm.

This was during the signing of the Ketubah. I forget what this passing of the hankerchief with the groom is, maybe Alex and Lisa will chime in. Alex's father is the Rabbi here.

Just Gorgeous!

I'm glad that I was able to get this angle including the Ketubah and their expression.

Alex's father was really amazing and witty during the ceremony.

The breaking of the glass.

After the ceremony the bride and groom take 15 minutes to be with each other and leave all the chaos of the wedding aside for a short time. Alex is very happy about this :)

Then we did portraits with them. Relaxed and fun as usual.

Love the light and colors here.

The beginning of the Hora.

This Hora was like a carnival! It was crazy. I think I was knocked down, stepped on, pushed aside about 5 times. It was great fun, haha! So much fun!

As many people as were willing went up the bride and groom and put on as crazy of a show as they could come up with. Fun!

Eric especially loved this guy, he was crazy! Eric claims he saw him stretching before he busted out these moves for Alex.

And finally the last dance.

Alex and Lisa - thank you thank you thank you for inviting us to experience your very special wedding. We enjoyed capturing every moment of your day! Your album is going to be beautiful! Wishes of love and happiness for you always.

Congratulations to Eric Again!

2008-01-05T22:33:00.000-05:00

I'm so proud of Eric! Check out his photos that placed in the WPJA Q3 contest!

This one is from Beth and Steve's wedding! It placed second in the Creative Portrait category. You can see more of Beth and Steve's wedding at this link. Eric was awarded a trophy for placing in the top 3.

This is one of my favorite pictures! I've always loved it, it makes me laugh every time I see it. This is from Jodi and John's wedding. I think Eric did an excellent job capturing this moment of the groom and best man. It placed 11th in the Groom Getting Ready category.

And this is from Aggie and Dom's wedding. What a beautiful use of light Eric! This placed 16th in the First Dance category.

Here are links to more WPJA and Brides Magazine winning photographs of ours.

Brides Magazine of Conde Nast Publications and Wedding Photojournalist Assosciation

Summer of 2007 Winners

Fall of 2006 Winners

Winter of 2006 Winners

WPJA stands for Wedding Photojournalist Assosciation. You can read more about it here.

Eric contributed to an article about kids at weddings.
Kids at the Wedding

Cheers to you in 2008!

2008-01-05T00:02:00.000-05:00

Happy Happy New Year!

We photographed our last wedding of 2007 on New Years Eve and it was BEAUTIFUL! Since August we've been running on full speed with many, many weddings of course. We've photographed in some really cool places with some extremely wonderful and special people. Our weddings have taken us to Mexico, Vermont, Saratoga, The Poconos, NYC, and of course New Jersey. We've photographed brides and grooms in the ocean, in the mountains, in the snow, in the sweltering heat, on carousels, merry-go-rounds, in horse drawn carriages, and we've been to some of the most beautiful temples, churches, and other ceremony sites that we have ever seen. The beginning of 2008 will be a good time for Eric and I to catch up on our blog. We have so many weddings, engagement sessions, and portrait sessions to show you. Stay tuned. (oh and house pictures, studio pictures, new albums, frames, and canvases. woohoo!)

Concerning our logo that we have now been working on for about a year. We've gone through so many designs, redesigns, have abandoned it, and come back to it tons of times. It's really been torture. Well just this evening, I was looking at this box that I have and I noticed a shape that I really liked. I ran straight to the computer to try to come up with a shape for behind our "be". So I took our little flourishes and turned them into a box, filled them in, and added an inner accent line and came up with this.

I'm going to turn it over to a professional designer. I know just the girl - Maggie! Hopefully she can jazz it up for me, clean it up, play with colors, fonts, and configuration.

Just wanted to touch base and give you all a sneak peak. With this new logo, our new home and studio, and the new year we are moving FULL SPEED AHEAD!

Cheers to all of you for 2008!

Brooke

Happy Holidays!

2007-12-17T23:46:00.001-05:00

In the spirit of the holidays, Brooke and I have worked really hard to put together an amazing dance video. We have been rehearsing for months, so we hope you enjoy it, click below...

***click here***

ps. Please play along! Post a comment below including a a link to your dance!

Cutiepies Emily and Oscar!

2007-12-13T14:40:00.000-05:00

Today is really stinky weather in the NJ/NY area. We had to cancel two meetings for this evening to deliver photos. We decided to jump ahead in blog posts because we are just too excited about these pictures! There are so many excellent pictures of these kids but I could only pick a few for the blog. I'd say it's 50% Be Creative and 50% cuteness from the kids that makes these so delicious! To the W family from JC enjoy this little teaser and we will see you next week!

A Baby Beastie Boy, in his Casper the Friendly Ghost hoody! Love this one.

Here is Emily trying really hard to see the Monkey dancing in my camera lens :)

Sonja & Brandon's Wedding - Hoboken Pier

2007-12-05T00:47:00.001-05:00

Geeze! I can't believe it's been so long since we've posted! And this post is way overdue! Sonja and Brandon were married in Hoboken! Imagine that! When we move out of Hoboken we photograph our first wedding in the town! It was amazing! Their ceremony and reception were on this little pier overlooking New York City. Can you believe the Empire State Building was the view for everyone! Wow - it was gorgeous.

Sonja is stunning! And she was so nice and calm all day. An effortless beauty.

We thought this was a lovely, tender moment for the two of them.

hehehehehe

This was a funny candid moment we caught during the formal photos. Sonja's brother was being attacked by her veil so he took charge.

Have you seen Happy Gilmore?????? We thought we were photographing Shooter McGavin's wedding when we first met Brandon. Brandon's brother's were hysterical! They pretty much couldn't stop joking around, which of course is fine with us! Below they are all doing the shooter pose...

The lovely Sonja.

Here is a view of the ceremony. I love it! I want to photograph another wedding here.

We love a checkered floor! In this photo I love the sillhoutte and how the checkered floor leads into Sonja and Brandon.

UH! I love this one too.

Sonja and Brandon - you guys were so wonderful to work with. I wish we still lived in Hoboken so that we could hang out with you guys more. Hope to see you soon. Congratulations and wishing you a wonderful first year of marriage and a lifetime of happiness.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2007-11-30T11:51:00.001-05:00

I am thankful for my amazing, intelligent and gorgeous wife!

Below are a handful of photos taken over the last year (on my point and shoot camera)...

Brooke's first Giant game, Go Giants!

Amazing light and shadow leaving the game.

Christmas last year, she was so cute!!!

House shopping. I loved the texture in the backround so I made her pose quickly :)

On our way to dinner.

Brooke took me as a surprise to my favorite place in the world, Magnolias cupcakes!! Here we are eating them in the car because I can't wait to get home.

Our first thanksgiving held at our new house. We had 20+ family over. Here she is not so happy & laughing hysterically as she buttered the turkey...

Even less happy as she inserted the stuffing...

Finally getting comfortable and having some fun :)

xoxoxoxoxo

Christina and Marc's Engagement

2007-11-12T18:03:00.001-05:00

Congratulations to Christina and Marc on their engagement! We had such a fun shoot with them in Hoboken! It's such a treat for us to go to good old Hoboken - we miss it. It's not often that we get to photograph pets - we love animals! All pets are welcome! Isn't he so cute?

"What are you lookin' at?"

Being in the right place at the right time of day, ugh we love the last 30 minutes of light.

This is one of our favorite secret spots in Hoboken, under the bridge that takes you from Weehawken to Hoboken.

One of my favorite things is to take pictures of Eric taking pictures. Isn't he cute :)

We had such a great time with you guys! We can't wait for the REAL THING!

And a great big thank you to Nancy and John for referring Tina and Marc to us! Their engagement session photos are coming soon!

Agnes & Dominick's Wedding - The Lighthouse at Chelsea Piers

2007-10-23T16:03:00.002-05:00

Congratulations to Aggie and Dom! They were married at a church in Staten Island and the reception was held at the Lighthouse of Chelsea Piers. We love the Lighthouse, we had shot there before for Laura and Dave's wedding. Everything was amazing and we had a blast with their family and friends!

Dom and his brother getting ready in their childhood home in Staten Island.

This is Aggie getting ready. She was so happy and giggly!

I love this one of the flower girl peeking in the door as Aggie is getting into her wedding gown.

This was the moment Aggie's father saw her in her wedding dress for the first time. This photo reminds me of a WPJA winner that Eric photographed last year.

Before the ceremony.

Eric got to tag along for the fun in the limo.

Lot's of giggling!

Dom is hugging Aggie's father here.

This is a view of the reception at the Lighthouse! Isn't it gorgeous! Aggie's wedding planner helped her pick the color scheme and decor. She was fantastic! There were hundreds of tea lights hanging from the ceiling and beautiful lighting all around. The whole night reminded me of sunset, it was beautiful! Aggie's planner was Francesca Leonardini from dazzlingaffairs.com

The newlyweds first dance.

Partying with the band!

Now this is awesome! This is the two fathers singing a Frank Sinatra song. They took down the house. How sweet that the two of them sang together!

Aggie doing a little crowd surfing.

The friends tackle!

And the last dance!

Aggie and Dom, thank you so much for choosing us to photograph your wedding. We really had such a great time with you and can't wait to continue with your album! Everyone should check out The Cheese Store of Beverly Hills where Dom has his very own product of homemade sun dried tomatoes, pestos, tapenades, and stuffed peppers - his recipes have been passed down for generations in his family. We know it's good because we got to try everything at the wedding, YUM! Also, a great big thank you to Allan Zepeda who was our third photographer at this event. He is a talented photographer and friend of ours!

Yay Brooke!

2007-10-22T00:04:00.000-05:00

We had an opportunity to enter a unique contest held by both Brides Magazine of Conde Nast Publications and the Wedding Photojournalist Assosciation.

Brooke's photo placed 6th place in the Ceremony Category!

You can see more of Jolee and Amiel's wedding here.

Here are links to more WPJA winning photographs of ours.

Summer of 2007

Fall of 2006 Winners

Winter of 2006 Winners

WPJA stands for Wedding Photojournalist Assosciation. You can read more about it here.

Eric contributed to an article about kids at weddings.
Kids at the Wedding

Rebecca & Aaron Engagement

2007-10-09T23:22:00.000-05:00

This was a unique photo shoot for us because Rebecca and Aaron are getting married out of state and hired another photographer to photograph their wedding. They chose us as their hometown locals to photograph their engagement session! It was a lot of fun and we wish you guys an absolutely fantastic wedding and can't wait to see the pictures and to hear all about it.

These were taken in Hoboken and this particular photo is at the Shipyard.

When we shot this photo, Aaron said "this pictures for mom", it was so funny!

I like the yellow in Rebecca's dress and the direction of the yellow lines on the path.

Nothing like the New York City skyline from Hoboken. We miss Hoboken and would love to go back for engagement sessions and weddings any time!

Eric with is beloved fish eye lens capturing the Upper East Side to Downtown. A fish eye lens is particularly good for giving a cool distortion to a photo or allowing you to capture a wider range of view in one frame like in this case.

And a favorite Hoboken spot of ours!

Congratulations Rebecca and Aaron and best wishes for your wedding and future together. Sincerely, Brooke and Eric Be Creative Photography

Matthew and Alexandra

2007-10-02T15:46:00.000-05:00

This is part of a double post, see Sam, Charlie, and Teddy's post below. We would first like to thank Aimee for introducing us to this adorable brother and sister duo! During any family shoot our goal is to first and foremost capture natural smiles. Ali loved the camera but Matthew would have much rather gone running outside. This means that Eric and I had to do something terrible. Revert to our childhood antics of running, laughing, being goofy, crazy, and down right embarrassingly silly. All for a good smile, not a bad price to pay. We love the warm, glowing light in this shot, Ali's missing tooth, and Matthews precious expression.

We love to document what it is that excites kids at this age and stage of their life. This photo belongs to a series of Matthew playing with his train tracks and jumping on his bed.

Ali loving her magical, garden room and to have a moment in the spotlight. She loves her collection of money from around the world, her fabulous closet and collection of bows, her friends drawings and notes to each other, and her collection of beads for jewelry making.

Some brother and sister goofing around.

And finally the outdoor running around and playing that Matthew could not wait for. I love how proud he is of his bike in this photo!

And finally at the end when it didn't matter if they got sweaty, rosy cheeked, and dirty. The kids in action!

Thank you Janice for choosing us to photograph your kids. Meeting you all was a wonderful introduction to the neighborhood.

Sam, Charlie, and Teddy

2007-10-02T15:45:00.000-05:00

Meet our neighbors! It was in record breaking time that we were showered with baked goods and a fabulous dinner from Aimee and Bubba, the parents of these cuties. It wasn't long after we moved in that I would look out the window and see Eric shooting a yellow, foam space rocket in the backyard with the boys. And it was in no time at all that I started to hear "Broooookiiieeee" being called from outside - just to say hello. We got really lucky moving into this neighborhood! From left to right there is Charlie the champ, Sam the super hero, and Teddy the terrific.

Teddy is the youngest of the brothers. He loves art. He has an amazing ability to keep up with his brothers who are twice his size. He has been known to wear his brothers shoes and to wear them on the wrong feet!

Charlie is the second to oldest. He is up for anything and loves a good laugh! He states things very matter of factly and it's always hysterical how true and funny the things he comes up with are.

And Sam is the oldest. The one that both boys look up to, want to sit next to, and try to keep up with. He is a soccer loving, science loving, karate kicking, smart little guy. You can have a conversation with him for hours.

Here is a sweet shot of the boys pile up on mom and dad's bed.

We love this one because each of them has a totally different expression on their face and they are just too cute.

Hug Sammy time! There was no hesitation for this one.

This is one of our favorites. We love that Charlie's shoe is untied, Sam is in the middle leading his younger brothers in his preppy oxford and flip flops, and Teddy is just so tiny and has no problem keeping up.

Here's Teddy playing peek-a-boo with Eric.

Does anything need to be said here? No, but I will anyway, Teddy has Charlie's shoes on and they are on the wrong feet.

This is Charlie loving a good a laugh like we said earlier.

Thanks to Aimiee, Bubba, Sam, Charlie, and Teddy for making the adjustment to our new town so wonderful! Looking forward to many, many years of fun! And to all the neighbors we haven't had a chance to meet - we are looking forward to getting to know you!