We are very excited to announce that we bought our first ad spot with an up & coming website that you must check out. Groom Sold Separately, also know as GSS, is a Texas based company that connects fabulous brides with fabulous vendors. We are so excited to have joined them and are looking forward to the new opportunities it will bring our way.

A common question photographer’s ask their brides is “When will you first meet your groom?” The answers vary but typically the questions is returned, “What are your thoughts, when should we meet?” and most every photographer will respond with “Before the ceremony”. We, being practically newlyweds of only 4 years ourselves, really wish we would have met before the wedding, this is one thing we would change about our wedding.  Samantha’s sister on the other hand, took our advice and met her groom before the walk down the aisle and her story is very different. She wouldn’t change a thing! After much thought & research we decided to dedicate a post to this very topic: To Meet or Not to Meet Before the Ceremony?

Reason’s Why Jonathan & Samantha Think a “First Glance” is the Way to Go:

1) the groom is able to fully take in the beauty of the bride without time or emotions hindering

- when the bride is walking down the aisle there is a rush of emotions making it hard to recall the events, not to mention all your guests are standing & the groom does not even seen his bride until the very end.

2) the bride has her groom before the nerves kick in of “getting married”

3) makes things run so much smoother as everyone is not spending their day trying to keep the Bride & Groom seperated

4) it allows for more together time for yall & the wedding party

5) it allows the photographer to capture photos that otherwise could not be captured which makes for a very happy couple & a happy photographer

6) it allows everyone at the ceremony to proceed directly to the reception without an hour of photo interruptions

Here are what a few other professional photographer’s have to say about the topic:

Lauren Clark Photography: http://laurenclarkphoto.squarespace.com/why-the-first-sight/

Jasmine Star Photography: http://jasminestarblog.com/index.cfm?postID=727&the-first-look-grooms-perspective

Here is just one of our couple’s “First Looks”:

 We are excited to announce that Jonathan Ivy Photography has been chosen to receive the Bride’s Choice Award^™ 2010!

Lewisville, TX – January 12, 2010 – WeddingWire, the nation’s leading wedding technology company, just announced Jonathan Ivy Photography has been selected to receive the 2010 Bride’s Choice Awards™ for Photography!

The annual Bride’s Choice Awards™ recognizes and celebrates excellence in quality and service within the wedding industry, as determined by recent reviews and extensive surveys from over 500,000 newlyweds.

Jonathan Ivy Photography is among the top five percent of all vendors in the WeddingWire community, which includes over 100,000 wedding professionals across the US and Canada. Awards were given to winners across 19 different service categories, from wedding venues to wedding photographers.

“We are excited to recognize and honor the success of the top wedding professionals within the WeddingWire Community” said Timothy Chi, WeddingWire’s Chief Executive Officer. “The annual Bride’s Choice Awards™ program has given us the unique opportunity to highlight the best wedding professionals in each region as reviewed by brides and grooms who have utilized their services in the past year.”

We are happy to announce that Jonathan Ivy Photography is among the very best Photography within the WeddingWire Network, which includes WeddingWire and Martha Stewart Weddings. We would like to thank our past newlyweds for nominating us for the 2010 Bride’s Choice Awards™.

For more information, please visit our WeddingWire Storefront today at Jonathan Ivy Photography on Wedding wire. 

Take a look at this madly in love couple!

Location: Dallas Arboretum & White Rock Lake

Please click here to view their slideshow.

Hi All, Sorry these are late but never the less, they are are finally up…Our Christmas and trip to NYC.  Jonathan has been there a couple times before this trip but this was Samantha’s first time and we had a blast!  We have to give a HUGE thank you to our parents Don & Jacqueline Foster for helping make this trip possible.  Here are a few of the photos of our freezing cold yet amazing trip.  Forewarning, this camera was passed all around so the photographer to many of these shots was not Jon.  Enjoy!

 Samantha after being in NYC for an hour…Very Excited!

Samantha’s first stop: Serendipity!  Although we did not get to eat there, we will be going back in May & will fit it in then.

Samantha got to see her toy store and Jonathan got to go to his dream land: Apple!

The window displays in NYC are unbelievable! 

Rockefeller Center and Central Park

This is for all our clients we torture with these poses, we love you guys!

This is Jonathan’s beautiful sister Susie, she is an easy model to work with.

Here are Jonathan’s parents making fun of our foot pop.  They are so cute!

On the left is Jonathan’s older brother Donald rockin’ it and then Jonathan’s parents on the right walking through Central Park.

I think this photo is so symbolic on what NYC is.  Your standing in all the trees in Central Park watching people ice skate with the city in the background.

We visited Jon’s mom’s favorite spot: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.  It was beautiful!  Check out this room.

We also visited Grand Central Station.  We caught a cab here to hop on the bus to get the the airport.  We felt like real New Yorkers

Brooklyn Bridge…Jon & Donald ran up it, I stayed on the ground and watched.  Exhaustion was starting to kick in.

Mother and Daughter in Times Square…they love each other!  

Time Square was phenomenal!  Love the taxis in this photo because it so accurately describes NY!

We had a wonderful time and we are looking forward to going back in May to see NYC in the summer while wearing shorts and not long johns!  

Merry Christmas 2009!

-Jonathan & Samantha

Check out this cute couple!  We had an awesome time with them photographing their Ft Worth Stockyard engagement.  We love going out to Stockyard station for engagement photos.  We love the rustic feel and the western look we are able to achieve giving the photo shoot a true Texas touch.  Here are just a few of this adorable couple’s engagement photos.

Please click here to view their Engagement slideshow.

We would like to introduce to you Mr & Mrs Curt Engel!!!

Here is our last wedding of the 2009 season and it was awesome. It was our first Australian/Vietnamese wedding… don’t know if you can top that one.  This crew was fabulous!  We left with several new found friends and our belly full of amazing food.  The Engels had an 8 course Vietnamese meal and each course was Wonderful! We had to make ourselves stay focused on the duties at hand  We also were able to learn a little about Kymbo’s heritage as she and her new hubby went to each table along with a bridesmaid carrying a basket to greet their guests.  The Vietnamese tradition is not to bring gifts, but an envelope containing a donation toward the couple’s future.  Such a cool tradition.  As the couple greeted each table, the bridesmaid collected the envelopes and they toasted the new couple.  It was alot of fun seeing all the smiles and well wishes.  We had many photos of all the fun from that night but here are just a few of our favorites.

Please click here to view their Wedding Slideshow!

Ceremony & Reception: St Peter’s Catholic Church in Rockport, TX

Dallas Wedding Photographer Jonathan Ivy Photography is a International photographer based out of Dallas, TX who enjoys working locally and world-wide. Thank you for visiting us and for viewing this DFW Wedding.

Check out this cute couple!  We had alot of fun getting to know them.  They are moving from Philadelphia to Corpus Christi…this will be an adjustment so we were glad that we had the opportunity to take come of their very first photos together here in CC.  Yall are a fabulous couple!  Congrats Guys!

Please click here to view their Engagement Slideshow!

Location: Corpus Christi, TX- Bayfront & Downtown & the Corpus Christi Art Center

Angie & Richard’s wedding planner is Amy C. with Butler Signature Events based out of Rockport, TX.  Check them out!

Dallas Wedding Photographer Jonathan Ivy Photography is a International photographer based out of Dallas, TX who enjoys working locally and world-wide. Thank you for visiting us and for viewing this DFW Wedding.

This beautiful Texas family who is current stationed in Hawaii (we are jealous) joined us in downtown Ft Worth for a family shoot.  Cody, Tabitha and Kate were so much fun as they powered through the cold weather.  Kate was full of smiles the entire time, we immediately fell in love with her.  Take a look at this adorable family!

Locations: Sundance Square & Stockyard Station

To view their slideshow, please click here!

We would like to introduce to you Mr & Mrs Michel Kahale!

Can I just start with saying we have such fabulous couples! The wedding we are about to share with you was our first Cuban/Lebanese wedding.  The bride’s side of the family is from Cuba and the grooms from Lebanon.  Needless to say we had several translators to lend us a hand.  Their entire family has a wonderful dynamic.  This crew knows how to have fun and knows how to dance.  We listened to fabulous music and celebrations till morning.  They had belly dancer as entertainment mid way through the reception.  So much fun!  Check out the photos below to get a small glimpse into this beautiful couple.

Please click here to see this couple’s slideshow!

Church: Our Lady Of Perpetual Help in Dallas, TX

Ceremony: Hotel Palomar

Band: Vero Voz y Compania