One of the great things about January being so long and unencumbered with the sort of holidays that require planning and energy is having a little bit of time to take a step back and reflect upon the previous year. With that, we lovingly post this message from the founder and owner of mkPhoto, Mr. “mk” himself, Mike Kehr:

“With 2014 behind us and 2015 just starting, it is time to reflect and appreciate the great experiences, the importance of our valuable clients and the special new relationships we made in 2014.

Experiences…
Lets start with experiences. We traveled near and far, exploring new places, capturing beautiful imagery. It has always been our goal to challenge ourselves but in 2014 we pushed our creativity even further.

Every time Jana and I picked up our cameras we made a conscious effort to make sure the shot was different, creative, and most importantly moving, even though it may have been the same venue or location. We were lucky and very grateful to be a part of your lives! We cherish it. It keeps us motivated. We thrive on bringing together the emotion of you and the life of all involved. We together transformed the life events into sheer joy and celebration! That is what it is all about- positive documented experiences that will always be remembered the day of and every day that follows.

The importance of YOU….
We could not, of course, accomplish any of this without you: our valuable clients. You not only invested with us but you put your trust in us 100%, something that we take very seriously. We are passionate about our work and want to make sure we exceed your expectations. Thank you for believing in us. We surely believe in you!

Relationships…
The most important and fulfilling part of the entire experience is the amazing relationships we made with you! Relationships that we hope continue well into the future. The wedding day is just one of many important life changing events that you will want to remember. Your lives will evolve and families will grow (and have grown!) and we want to be there with you capturing these special moments that will be remembered for a lifetime. This relationship is what we strive for- long term. We were able to begin new relationships through engagements and weddings and continue past relationships with baby shoots, Mitzvahs, family sessions.

As you watch our images and associated memories from 2014 we hope you will feel emotion coming upon you, a smile, a laugh upon your face and that tear of joy from your eye. That is all the satisfaction we need- knowing we moved you and made a difference in your lives, that we were able to provide some tangible evidence of all the beauty and love in your hearts and homes.

Best of luck to you and your families in 2015!

Peace + love + Happiness

mike + jana
mkPhoto”

Here is what a year of mkPhoto looks like! 2014:

Sage, insightful words from Richard on their loving, special Day:

“The best advice I can give couples planning their wedding– especially a same sex wedding like ours– is:

1. Pick a place that you feel comfortable and welcome from the very start. It’s your big day; we finally attained in the hard-fought battle the right to legally get married and you deserve all the special treatment without any hints of prejudice from anyone! Rat’s Restaurant, Grounds for Sculpture and mkPhotography were the perfect choices for us!

2. Pick a Venue that speaks to you and showcases what you are about as a couple. We love travel and especially travel to ancient places in the world. Choosing The Nine Muses garden location at the Grounds for Sculpture brought the Ancient World into the Modern World and allowed our guests to have an experience! They felt like they were at a destination wedding without the travel!

3. Craft a ceremony that also reflects exactly who you are! We were lucky to find a celebrant, Dorry Bless, who was such a great listener she created a one-of-a-kind unique ceremony in collaboration with us so genuine that all who attended said it was like nothing they had ever experienced. So loving and intimate!

4. Attend any open house events your venue may offer. We found our photographer, tasted our food and found our celebrant all in one place! And the fact that all of them had previous experience working that venue, all of them guided us and made the stress level lower in all regards!

5. Don’t let the theme overwhelm you! Make it simple and elegant. If the venue is already beautiful or the setting for the ceremony stunning, let that be most of the backdrop. Add a few larger flower arrangements and simpler displays on the tables and you are all set!

6. Consider a Cocktail Reception instead of a more formal sit down! Everyone loves the Cocktail Hour so why not extend that for three hours? We did and everyone loved being able to mingle with each other without assigned seating and we got to roam around too spending more time with family and friends! The pressure of not having to do table charts etc, was perfect! We had a Sunday afternoon wedding and this suited the occasion perfectly!

7. Pick a photographer that coincides with your artistic side! mkPhotography shot every picture from several angles giving us shots from formal to candid that brought the day to life in pictures! They were unobtrusive and were not a hindrance during the day at all. They were well-prepared with photo options and set-up from their years of experience and we are totally overwhelmed in the work of art they captured!”

Some details:
Venue: Rat’s Restaurant at Grounds for Sculpture
Flowers: potted Geraniums
Music: Mason Gross School of the Arts

See the Photographer’s Picks slideshow HERE