Post-Wedding Photo Shoot with Dawn Binz Photography

We did our post-wedding photo shoot with Dawn Binz this weekend.  She did my makeup and hair for me.  We went for a wilder look than on my actual wedding day, which was a nice change of pace and provided some different looks.  For the first round of photos, my husband and I wore our wedding attire.  I wore my hair down, let my natural curls air dry, and then Dawn teased it up big, put my tiara headband in it, and clipped some up in the back.  She did my makeup more dramatically, which is what I wanted.  I had dark green eye shadow and fake lashes.  Here are some of the photos...

For the second part of the shoot, I changed into a more casual white dress of Dawn's.  She did my hair in a messy side braid, I had dark eye makeup, and we went out into the wheat field and by a lake with train tracks.  We toasted with a bottle of champagne while Dawn's husband took pictures of the three of us together--we definitely needed shots with our wonderful photographer :)

For the last part of the shoot, Dawn did my hair in a messy side bun with some corn rolls on top.  My makeup was more muted.  I wore her white shirt, my white shorts, and a grey ruffled shirt of hers.  I wore my high heeled pink with white polka dot cork heels and for some shots wore my Bride sweatshirt even though it was hot out!  We also used a shawl from my husband's mother, made in Russia, for some of the shots.

Dawn Binz Photography

My first experience with Dawn Binz photography was actually second-hand.  She appeared at my father's store that he owned at the time, a florist that employed survivors of brain injuries and those with other disabilities.  The store provided these individuals with vocational training and life skills as well as a pleasant work environment and a daily routine.  When Dawn had moved to Connecticut and heard about the store, she wanted to help out.  She went to the store, introduced herself to my father, step-mom, brother, and store mascot Molly and took some pictures to promote the business, thereby also promoting her photography business in the state she now resided.  Here are some photos from that day.

Dawn also has a facebook account.  You can look her up by name.  These photos are from the album entitled "Supporting Local Business".

When I was looking for a wedding photographer, my father suggested I give Dawn a ring.  He said I would like her.  She was bubbly, energetic, and talkative.  I didn't realize just how talkative until our consultation meeting, which lasted 2 hours.  Although it was long, we got a lot accomplished.  Dawn let me know that no matter the circumstances, she would be at my wedding shooting, rain or shine.  Since it was a backyard wedding, this was a big deal.  She also let me know not only was she not a fan of traditional photography (especially the "fan" formation of wedding parties at weddings) but she tended not to shoot that way.  She considers herself a "non-traditional urban journalist" according to her About Me section on her facebook page.  This was fine by me.  I tend to be the kind of person who enjoys taking candid shots of people in social situations because they show raw emotion and they aren't posed, read: fake.  I knew after that meeting Dawn would be a great photographer for my wedding.

Also at this consultation, she provided me with a thank-you gift bag which I thought was really special.  It included things such as candles, chocolates, and an eye mask that said "breathe" across it (which was exactly what I did not stop to do when planning my wedding!)  She really made me feel cared for and her personality was so warm.  I saw some samples of her work at the consultation, loved them, discussed the options with my fiancee, and we decided to pick her to do our wedding.  We definitely made the right choice.

Dawn told me she would start shooting the day of the wedding when hair and makeup were being done, and she would stay until the cake was cut.  If we needed her to shoot anything after that she would stay but it had to be stipulated in our contract and otherwise after the cake cutting her job was done.  I let her know there would be a bonfire at the end of the night, and she told us she would definitely be there to shoot it.  She was.

The day before the wedding, since she did not have any other shoots booked, she actually came by my bridal luncheon at The Hills in Waterbury, CT.  She took some shots with me and my two soon-to-be sister-in-laws, as well as shooting everyone else who could make it to the lunch, including my mother, my fiancees mother from Russia, his cousin from Ukraine, my grandmother from Florida, and a friend of his mother's who had taken my fiancee in to live with her when he moved to the United States on his own.  It was an important meeting, a time when gifts were given out by me, the bride, to my girls and to the mothers, thank you cards were distributed, and bottles of wine with our own labels were given to those who were in the wedding.  She showed my mother a photo she had taken of her while she was sitting at the table and my mother was so touched and stunned at the way she looked in the photo that she was brought to tears.

That night, Dawn also came to the rehearsal dinner at my father's house.  This helped her to know where she needed to be when the ceremony was going on, as well as where the tents would be set up with tables, chairs, and food, and how the day's events would go.  She shot pictures here as well.  She got a photo of my grandfather from Florida, who I don't get to see often, with the biggest grin on his face.  I don't know how she captured this moment, nor can I remember a time when his smile was bigger.

The day of the wedding, and also Dawn's birthday, true to her word, Dawn was at my apartment where all the ladies were getting ready.  She took photos of hair and makeup and also of my crazy cat eating my makeup artists makeup and brushes.  She had us all toast with my signature cocktail which made for some great photos of everyone in different stages of getting ready.  We headed over to my father's and her husband, who is her assistant, was already there getting photos of the guys setting up and getting ready.

She shot all day and got awesome photos of the wedding ceremony, the bridal party, family and friends, dancing, the wedding party jumping into the pool afterwards, and the bonfire at the end of the night.  She was so amazing that I had my mother, who made the wedding cake, make Dawn her own smaller cake and after my husband and I cut our cake we all sang happy birthday to her. This brought tears to her eyes.  We all liked her so much that one of my sister-in-laws took off the pair of earrings she was wearing that day and gave them to Dawn as a gift since Dawn liked them so much.  The day of my wedding, Dawn Binz became a member of our family.

After the wedding, she had an album of preview pics posted on facebook for everyone to enjoy within three days!  I was amazed I got to see some of my pics so quickly!  Also, she did separate albums and posted them for my DJ, Todd from Jock in the Box in Wallingford, CT, and also my makeup artist, Katherine Roll, who has done makeup artistry for both MAC and NARS cosmetics in New York as well as in CT. http://www.jockinthebox.com/Welcome.html

The day of my wedding was also the hottest day of the year.  Due to this fact, we took a million photos (in reality, she shot almost 3,000) but there were few of just me and my husband.  Because of this, we did another shoot this past weekend, just the two of us.  We met Dawn at her studio in the morning.  She did my hair and makeup, as promised, and made me look fabulous.  I wore my wedding dress, and she drove us o a few nearby locations to shoot.  We came back to her place, did a hair/makeup/dress change, and went out to shoot some more.  We had lunch, did hair/makeup/clothing change again, and went out to shoot some more.  During one of the sessions, my husband and I had brought a bottle of Prosecco to use as a prop for photos but the three of us also toasted with it while Dawn's husband, Chase, took photos.  It was an amazing day.  Dawn is such a professional and yet such a warm-hearted, kind, caring, and respectful person.  I still feel as though she is family.  I can't wait to see the photos from the second shoot!  I know she won't let us down :)

To those of you who have met Dawn, please feel free to comment on your experiences in working with her, for example, those of you who were photographed at my wedding.  I know many of you were extremely pleased with photos she took, even though you may not have known she was shooting you ;)

The Twisted Vine

I was so looking forward to a night out with my husband last night, his idea.  We went round and round about where to go to eat, finally settling on Twisted Vine in Derby.  I perused the menu online to see what it looked like.  Very interesting!  Italian/Asian Fusion/Pacific Rim is how they described themselves.  I thought the pan-seared tuna with wasabi aioli sounded good, as did the Malibu coconut tilapia.  We arrived at the restaurant which is in a decent location with a lot of businesses and restaurants on Main Street in Derby.  We were 15 minutes late for our reservation and the host was joking with us about it, which was fun.

Inside the restaurant, there is exposed brick on one wall, paintings and wallpaper on the opposing wall, and a staircase that leads up to a balcony level.  There is a cozy looking table that overlooks the restaurant.  Next time we go there, I am making a reservation specifically for that table (yes, I rated it a 2, but I will give it another chance).

The service was great as far as refilling my water glass, but I needed so much water because the food was so salty!  I am not used to meals with a ton of salt in them.  I probably could have eaten more of my meal if it was less salty but instead I wrapped it to take home, knowing full well I probably won't eat it again but maybe my husband will.  I hate to waste food.

Before our orders were taken we were brought a basket of focaccia bread to the table.  I thought it was fresh and tasty, but my husband thought it was stale.

We ordered a bottle of Bogle Merlot, one of our favorites.  Hard to swallow paying $24 for an $11 bottle of wine, but you have to expect that upon ordering a bottle of wine in a restaurant.

For an appetizer we ordered the crabmeat stuffed mushrooms and the tomato and fresh mozzarella salad.  The salad came topped with a dollop of pesto sauce on each slice of tomato and mozz, nice touch and really delicious.  The salad also came over a bed of spinach that was drizzled with balsamic.  This app was spot on.

The stuffed mushrooms were lacking in the crabmeat department.  You could taste the butter in the stuffing, and the cracker crumbs they used to make the stuffing, but you could not taste crab meat.  These were definitely not my favorite and I would not order them again.  Plus, they were slightly burned on top.

Again, we had a hard time deciding what to order on the menu.  Due to the eclectic sounding meals there seemed to be so many options but I asked the waiter.  I was trying to decide between the Malibu tilapia, the swordfish with artichokes and capers which was a special, (basically puttanesca without the anchovies), the veal with wild mushrooms and risotto, or the Italian salmon.  The waiter suggested either the salmon or the swordfish, I went with the swordfish ($19).

My husband ordered tortellini (they looked homemade) with sausage and peas in an Alfredo sauce.  This was really good but again, salty.  The waiter came over with a block of fresh parmesan and a grater and asked if we wanted any on our meals.  I have never seen that done before but really liked it.

My swordfish was slightly overcooked but had nice grill marks and good flavor.  It was a huge piece of fish too but sliced on the thin side.  The risotto was very tasty.  The sauce of tomatoes, artichokes, and capers was very good as well.  Overall, a good meal.  Even with a bottle of wine and two apps the bill was only $78.

We decided to check out the lounge downstairs after dinner.  It seemed cozy and there was live entertainment.  We were in a lively mood: until we got down there.

First, the bar area induced claustrophobia for me.  It felt like (and smelled like) a basement.  The bartender did not serve us after 5 minutes of us being there, which was actually a relief because I did not then feel bad getting up and leaving to go elsewhere.  The live entertainment consisted of one guy singing "Desperado" when we got down there.  The music was slow, it made us sleepy, and everyone sitting in the lounge must have been 60+.  Not our scene so we took off.

Bluu Cafe and Ultra Lounge

My friend, my mother, and I went shopping in Danbury CT.  Someone had told me he went to Bluu and thought it was a pretty cool place, inexpensive and eclectic, so we decided to check it out after a long day of shopping.  We were not disappointed.

As we were walking up to this building, which doesn't look like much, maybe a warehouse or something, we noticed a TV on the outside of the building near the front door.  That's different...

We got there around 7 pm on a Saturday.  The place wasn't busy but busy enough and we were seated right away, on the "balcony", let's call it.  The place kind of looks like a small night club, and it is a lounge with a DJ after 9 pm.  We walked up the couple stairs to our table.  It was dimly lit inside with blue LED candles on all the tables.  My favorite part was the bar which was back lit by lights that kept changing colors, like a fiber optic Christmas tree.  The place looked trendy and I liked it.

(Sorry bout the photos, they were taken from my Iphone)

We could not decide what to order.  The menu is limited to sushi (No combo meals either so you have to spend a ton of money if you want to order rolls or ala carte), salads, burgers, pizza, or pasta.  Of course, they have all different combos of each but they are different, like their lemon pizza which is topped with arugula or their Brazilian burger that gets a fried egg on top.  You can be boring and order just a cheeseburger, or you could put any toppings you want on a burger, pizza, pasta, or in the calzone.

It took forever for us to decide what to order, but our waiter was very nice and patient.  In the end, we decided to each get something different and share.  We got a shrimp tempura roll first as an appetizer.  It came out and the shrimp in the center was still hot.  I have to say, one of the best tempura rolls I have had!

My friend got the Mozzarella Tomato Basil spread burger.  It was quite tasty, cooked to her liking (medium well, whereas I would have asked for medium).  The tomato mixture on top had sundried tomatoes, basil, and mozzarella.  Different, but it worked.  The burger came with a side of fries.  We wondered why they were so dark they looked burnt but our waiter told us the Bluu fries  were made from Peruvian blue potatoes (different!  Interesting!  I like...)  The burger also came with a "coleslaw" which was actually a vegetable slaw that had green and red peppers, cucumbers, and was topped with a sesame dressing that tasted like the dressing from a seaweed salad.  Again, interesting choice but it was good.

Mom ordered a red spinach and garlic pizza with cheese.  Their pizza is nothing to write home about.  It's good, don't get me wrong.  The crust is nice and thin, just the way I like it, but it's one of those places where their pizza does not stand out.  Maybe we should have ordered one of their specialty pizzas.  Maybe next time.

I ordered sushi (of course).  The roll had tuna, salmon, avocado, tobiko, cream cheese, and cucumber.  It was really melt-in-your-mouth delicious!

We did not order any drinks and our total bill ended up coming to $17 each, plus tip for the waiter.  We all really enjoyed our experience at Bluu.  The waiter was on point, constantly filling up my water glass, right there when we needed something and to come back and pick up the check.  I will definitely go back there and explore some other adventurous menu options!