Bride and groom at The Palms Hotel

This photo is one of my favorite pictures taken at The Palms Hotel in Miami Beach, Florida

There is a reason why Miami Beach is such a popular wedding destination. Awesome weather, beautiful beaches, a fantastic nightlife and some of the best restaurants on the planet make South Florida the most popular place for upscale destination weddings. When driving down Collins Ave you can’t help but take in all the beautiful hotels. Some of these wedding hotels are modern, others look vintage, and when you drive into South Beach many become Art Deco. For a newly engaged couple South Florida is the wedding capital of the world!

Just think about it, you can spend the days leading up to your wedding hanging on the beach and jumping in the waves, by the way, the ocean water here is warm! Like a bathtub. Sure California also has a beautiful beach and many hotels. But have you tried to get into the water in LA? It helps if you have a wetsuit.

After spending a day on the beach, you can spend you evening dining in some of Miami’s fantastic restaurants. Don’t want to spend a fortune dining? Miami has a range of low priced and very high priced dining options. Take you pick and enjoy.

It really doesn’t matter if you are having a large 200 person wedding or a simple elopement for two. Getting married in South Florida is going to be a great time.

For some spending every day on the beach may not be their cup of tea. In South Florida that’s fine also. Here you will find many beautiful museums, parks, and woodlands. Don’t believe me? Check out Vizcaya, or drive north to Delray Beach and visit the Morikami Japaneses Gardens. By the way, both Vizcaya and the Morikami Gardens are both fantastic wedding venues. I have shot many weddings and elopements in both places. Want to do some shopping? don’t forget Worth Ave, which is the Rodeo Drive of Florida.

One of the more popular hotels is The Palms Hotel. That’s where this photo was taken. You can see how beautiful the beach is in this photo. After the ceremony, which actually happened under the Palms Hotel gazebo on their manicured courtyard this, couple and I took a walk to the beach for some in the sand bride and groom photos.

While posing the pictures I loved how the ocean curved in giving me a spot to place the bride and groom with some ocean behind them while still showing the hotels in the background. Mother nature really gave me the perfect environment and scene to take this photo.

The groom holding the bride is one of my favorite poses. When doing this pose often the groom will naturally pull his body backing order the get the bride up high enough. Doing the makes to pose look too much like the groom is struggling to lift her and also creates an unflattering angle. What I alway do is ask the groom to lean a tiny bit forward for the camera once he has lifted the bride. This is more difficult to do. However it creates a much more flattering photo. Once the groom has lifted the bride I will take several shots in order to get several different photos. For example, the bride and groom can kiss, then look at each other, then look at the camera, then the bride and look at the camera while the groom looks at her, or the groom can look at the camera while the bride looks at her. The groom can also told the bride back and have her touch the sand or if they are in the ocean she can touch the water.

Just doing this one shot can result in 5 or 6 useable poses.

Over the years shooting weddings at The Palms I have found that this wedding hotel is perfect for all kinds of weddings. I have shot small elopements and large weddings with 170 + people both at this hotel.

I had a blast photographing this wedding at The Palms Hotel in Miami Beach. This South Florida Wedding Photo was taken after the wedding ceremony when the sun was soft and provided nice even lighting. Often this time of day is referred to as The Golden Hour. It's happens about one hour before sunset. When I walked out the to beach with the bride and groom I noticed how the ocean sort of curved around into part of the beach. This created a situation where I was able to photograph the bride and Groom with the ocean and Miami Beach in the background. As a Miami wedding photographer I often find that photographing the bride and groom with the ocean and beach community in the background is no always possible. Often it requires me getting into the water in order to get the correct angle. This worked out perfectly.

Some info about myself, I moved to South Florida in 2004 after being a wedding photographer in Los Angeles for over 15 years. Since moving to South Florida I have photographed weddings and events in almost every wedding venue imaginable. Not only am I familiar with most of the South Florida Wedding Venues I'm also knowledgeable about all the things you need to be aware of when planning a wedding here is South Florida. Although I'm not actually a wedding planner, a lot of what I do is wedding planning. At the beginning of the wedding day, someone needs to decide how much time is needed for the photo taking process. Your photographer, needs to shoot the getting ready photos, The bridal portraits the groom and groomsmen photos and the family photos. This means a wedding timeline needs to be written. Having shot so many weddings in Southern Florida, I'm well educated in making a wedding timeline.

If you are recently engaged and looking for a photographer, I would love to have the opportunity to speak with you. Feel free too call me at (561) 737-5561

Thank you for visiting my website.

If you are in the process of planning your South Florida wedding and need help, feel free to reach out to us at (561) 737-5561 In my 15+ years photographing weddings here, I have worked in almost every popular hotel. Being based in Boynton Beach, I’m familiar with all of the area communities. So if you need a recommendation for a hotel in Miami, the Florida Keys, Boca Raton or even Palm Beach we are here to help. Just give us a call or send us an e-mail at jeffkolodny@yahoo.com

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