Justine Ungaro & Gary Kordan – The UnBride Wedding – Part I

This is the first of two articles from Justine Ungaro and Gary Kordan’s wedding. There are too many great images from this wedding to put into one post. Today I’ll publish the getting ready, first meeting and portraits. Tomorrow I’ll put up the ceremony and reception.

Usually it doesn’t take us 3 months to turn around a wedding, but this is Justine Ungaro, the UnBride after all. Justine is a well-known photographer in the DC area recently relocated to LA. Justine has also gained rapid notoriety as the author of the UnBride Blog. What the heck is an “unbride” you ask. Well, here’s how Justine describes it on her blog:

“The Unbride name was invented in part because my last name begins with “Un” and partially since I’ve been to a lot of weddings and seen it all. This blog is all about the design and execution of my own wedding and those of other unbrides…weddings that are both unconventional and unforgettable. I hope you enjoy! “

Let me just say that Justine’s wedding was both unconventional and VERY unforgettable. She has definitely succeeded in fulfilling her UnBride mission statement.

Because of the high visibility of the UnBride Blog and because she is known by so many photographers, we knew this work would be seen by a lot of people. We wanted to take our time on this one and make sure all the images looked great before releasing it to the public.

It’s always flattering to be asked by other photographers to record their wedding day. What higher compliment can you receive from a peer than to be trusted to capture such an intimate and memorable slice of their life? What can be more important to a wedding photographer on her wedding day than the pictures! No pressure, right??? Not to mention that her wedding was a virtual who’s who of some of the best wedding vendors in DC.

I have known Justine since 2003, mostly as a casual acquaintance. Justine’s mom, Diana Adams, has been a highly regarded photographer in the DC area for many years through her Studio Diana. I really got to know Justine last January when she and I attended a photography convention in Tampa and happened to cross paths. We ended up spending a lot of time together and over the past year she has become one of my very best friends.

While in Tampa we talked a lot about her wedding and one day I just said to her “Justine, your wedding is in DC, you should let me shoot it for you.”. The funny thing is, she didn’t answer right away and I was afraid it became one of those awkward moments when a friend offers to do something for you but it’s something very important that you would really rather have someone ELSE do for you…so you end up saying nothing or being non-committal to avoid hurting their feelings! I didn’t think much more about it.

A few months passed and one day out of the blue I got a call from Justine. She told me she really wanted me to photograph her wedding and asked if I still had the date available. I was ecstatic. I had followed her Unbride blog a bit and I knew a little about what she was planning. Given her personality, I knew this would be a fun, perhaps even quirky wedding.

I didn’t get to meet Gary until the wedding day. Actually, the first time I met him was when I came downstairs at the Hotel Helix to photograph their first meeting. It took about 5 minutes to size up the fact that Gary and Justine are the perfect complements to one another. Gary is a television producer and has worked with a lot of people in the music industry. In addition to being a great guy, he shares that same funky, hip vibe that Justine has.

The pictures from this wedding are some of the best we have ever produced. I had some excellent help on this one. Charlie Archambault, one of our associate photographers and a regular second shooter came along as did our production manager and occasional second Kurstin Roe. Kurstin did a great job of finding unique angles and intricate details while Charlie and I took the main positions.

Kurstin also did a fantastic job on the post production. He did the processing and retouching on all of the finished slideshow and blog images. There are over 500 images in the complete version of the slideshow and he put a little love into every one of them. I’ll be posting links to the slideshow tomorrow.

It’s been really hard to edit these images down for a single blog post so I’ve decided to break it into two posts spread over two days. Today I am posting images from the getting ready, the first meeting, and the portraits. Tomorrow I will post the ceremony and reception.

Here is Justine’s “dream team” of wedding vendors that helped pull off this remarkable event.

Planner – Engaging Affairs – Laura Weatherly and Sara Muchnick
Catering – Well Dunn Caterers – Steve Dunn
Hair – Elegant Hair by Giselle – Giselle Chreky
Makeup – Leah McKay Makeup
Flowers – Janie Medley Flora
Cake – Fancy Cakes by Leslie
Band – Gonzo’s Nose
Lighting – John Farr Lighting
Video – Monachetti
Decor – Syzergy Event Productions
Venue – Halcyon House
Hotel – Hotel Helix

Here are a few faves from the first part of the day:

Gotta love the hairspray.

Justine’s mom greets flower girl Zoe.

Justine’s “Dorothy” shoes. Okay, they weren’t ruby slippers but they did remind me of them. That’s Justine’s baby boy Oliver checking them out.

Justine’s sister Lauren and her mom get hair and makeup.

Giselle Chreky doing hair, Leah McKay doing makeup.

Justine’s fabulous dress from The White Dress in Corona Del Mar, Ca. and her beautiful black orchids by Janie Medley Flora.

Justine and her mom have a laugh before taking the dress down for the big moment.

Shedding some unnecessary undergarments!

I love how the look on Lauren’s face is identical to the look on Justine’s face.

This was an important picture and one of the few the that Justine actually asked me to shoot during the day. This happened as Giselle was putting her veil on. Justine told me she wanted to remember this view for the rest of her life.

The finished product. Justine was my first bride to use a birdcage veil. It was a lot of fun to play with.

Gary wore a funky pair of black leather Chucky T Converse All Stars (aka Chuck Taylor All Stars) with his Wayfarers.

Adding the finishing touch.

The cool car. Pink cadillac, (although it looks green here in the shade). I loved the Elvis touch on the steering wheel.

I always love the anticipation when couples see each other for the first time.

Justine twirling in the dress.

A smokin’ hot, hip couple.

The Hotel Helix has this strange artwork out front, along with these two giant chairs. The quirkiness of the hotel was another great fit for this wedding.

Justine kept everyone laughing tossing her bouquet in the air. I have to admit she was worried Janie Medley would be mad with her if she dropped it!

Some quick portraits in the hallway at Hotel Helix using the existing halogen track lights.

On to the Lincoln. We were supposed to have enough time to go to 2 or 3 different locations. However (coughcough)Justine was late getting dressed(coughcough) and we lost a lot of our time. When we got to the Lincoln we had about 10 minutes to shoot. That’s where having a team really played to our advantage. We were able to take different angles and produce a diverse set of images relatively quickly.

I shot the long lens.

Charlie shot wide.

And Kurstin was able to find something very different.

One More

This image in the car on the way to the ceremony is one of my favorites. It took a lot of patience to wait for the right light to combine with the right moment and I love the intimacy.

Check back tomorrow for the second and final post from this wedding which will include images from the ceremony and reception.