new york wedding photographer – top 10 in the world – brian dorsey studios

Below, Rebecca’s Dad sees her for the first time – “Ta Daa!”

And one of my personal faves of the day, “Snagged”

Not only are Joanne and Anthony a lot of fun, but their friends are a blast as well. They had their reception here in my neighborhood at Tribeca Rooftop and the couple left some time for pictures in the area following their ceremony and before their reception started.

Now, as a person who doesn’t really like having my own picture taken (having spent waaaayyyy too much time as a kid feigning a smile while waiting for my Dad to focus and push the button and – wait, hang on, I forgot to cock the shutter…), I’m really sensitive to others’ “in front of camera” time. I do my “formals” or non-photojouralistic portraits really quickly. I find that if I keep things moving and lively and fun – people really don’t have time to think about the fact that they’re in front of my camera. And because this is a day of celebration (and very often, there’s an open bar a-waiting) I don’t want to keep people any longer than the absolute minimum.

But the funny thing is that, if you make the entire picture taking process fun enough, people can actually enjoy the time they spend with you.

Joanne and Anthony and their wedding party took it even further – they didn’t want to stop.

I kept asking if they wanted to stop and they kept saying, “no, this is a blast, let’s keep going”. And who was I to say otherwise. So even though I would have been happy just to get a shot like this:

(will you just look at the expression on that flowergirl?)

They wanted to do more and so we got this…

and this.

I mean, when I saw T&A coffee – I just had to do something funny with the bridesmaids…

Tribeca Rooftop is a wonderful space for those looking for something upscale downtown – great views, a huge, fun, loft space, a roofdeck.

And check out the great “interactive” menus – those fun little folding paper thingys that you played with when you were a kid.

At this size you probably can’t appreciate all the great goings on in this shot but many of the expressions are priceless.

Renee and Francois are going to be having a smaller wedding here at the Rainbow Room and then a large wedding in Hong Kong and they wanted to get some engagement shots that they should show at their wedding in China to give a sense of what their New York was like.

We ended up in Chinatown thinking that the family and friends in Hong Kong would get a kick out of a glimpse of Chinese life here in the big apple.

I hope it’s as much fun in Hong Kong as we had in Chinatown.

Some of you might remember Patricia and Chris from their engagement pictures in the Victorian Gardens Amusement Park. Well the wedding day, ended up just as amusing.

After Patricia and Chris got ready at the Waldorf, we headed to the Central Park Conservatory Gardens to introduce the couple for their “first sighting” and then to take some portraits there.

Shortly after Patricia stepped into her dress, she was modeling for her mother when I saw this shot. (Isn’t it amazing how alike they look?)

When I stepped into the next room, the flower girls were checking out the happenings in the street below.

At Central Park, the girls were having some fun together, but the younger flower girl had told her father that she had no interest in wearing a flower wreath/headpiece on her head. Dad figured that when she was distracted he could just slip it on and she wouldn’t notice.

He was wrong.

So that idea was a bust, but there were plenty of cute moments to capture nonetheless.

Shooting at St. Patrick’s Cathedral is a bit different than most churches. First of all, you’re in one of the most crowded tourist locations in Manhattan. And even though the space is so large (it seems to take hours just to walk down the aisle), they keep the crowd contained to certain sections so you feel alone in the vastness of the place. But once you exit through those giant oak doors, you’re on your own in Touristville.

And it seems like the whole world is there to congratulate you.

Or at least be in your pictures…

The plan was to take this great old Rolls convertible around town for pictures – but it started stalling after about 1/2 a block and after we got to our first stop to take a few shots…

the Rolls decided she was through and that she wasn’t going to start again. The limo driver called for a stretch to come pick us up but what fun was that going to be? I saw the pedicabs and hailed two putting Patricia and Chris in one while I followed, shooting, in the other.

We got a lot of great stuff rolling in insane circles through traffic.

But the funniest was Chris taking off when the drivers pulled over at the Waldorf to let us off.

If there were such a thing as a confectionary heirarchy, I’d have to place things like stale gumball-machine gumballs pretty close to the bottom. Candy dots on paper would have to be a close second. As you slide up the ladder, you pass necklaces you can eat, candy cigarettes (imagine that!?), oatmeal cookies without raisins, and twinkies.

It’s a pretty big middle ground after that (e.g. oreo cookies through godiva chocolates)

Then up near the top, you get into some pretty nice chocolatiers, a few great dessert/pastry chefs, and then the ranks get pretty rarefied.

As you approach the nadir (man, I’ve waited since 7th grade to use that word and, well, there you go), you get the real artistes. They’re so good that english words aren’t good enough – you need to use a french word (it must be a better word, it’s french, no?)

Ron Ben Israel is one of those precious few baker/artistes.

For the 100th birthday of the Plaza, Ron was commissioned to create a cake that was a 6 foot high exact replica of the Plaza. Probably one of the most exquisite confectionary projects ever.

I was honored to have been asked to help document this historic undertaking.

Now, right now you’re thinking, “Well, exact replica is a pretty relative term. The Plaza is a pretty special building. This cake is probably a big beige rectangle with green peaks on top”, right?

Guess again. In his studio, teams of artists labored on the details for weeks. Drawings to scale in the background.

Here’s the man himself, making it all happen.

The finished result was assembled over two days under a tent in front of the Plaza. Here’s the result:

Now would you have the heart to break off a piece and eat it?

That’s sugar!

And to give you a sense of the scale of this thing.

You judge how exact a replica it is….

The proud father….

The festivities were capped off with fireworks by Grucci – set off on the Plaza itself (the real one).

HB, Plaza. Glad you’ll be back in action soon. We’ve missed you.

And of course, if you need a truly exceptional cake, who you gonna call?

Kim and Rahul’s mothers took a trip to India together to get saris for all the ladies in the bridal party – and what a feast for the eyes it was.

The dashing Rahul joins in…

Indian wedding ceremonies can go quite long sometimes and I think Rahul wanted to liven things up a bit.

But everything was back under control for the evening’s black tie festivities. Not a single person rushed the stage to sing “Living on a Prayer.”

The bad part about walking away from corporate life to pursue photography is that I’ll never be able to afford to have Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers play at a party that I throw. The good part however is that I get to photograph parties that others throw where Tom Petty et al are “the band”. sweet.

The good news is that it’s like he’s playing in your living room.

The bad news is that it takes about 60 people a full week to build this living room on your property just for his hour and a half show and you end up tearing it down the next day.

The good part is that you get to see him this close.

Or is that the bad part?

The good news is that he still rocks and puts on an awesome show
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it’s quite an honor when wedding photographers ask you to photograph their daughter’s wedding. with that honor however, comes a lot of extra pressure.

but in reality, Tara and Nick were so delightful to work with they made it a breeze.

the truth is – the entire bridal party was a great time – I even got the flower girl and the ring bearer to kiss! check out her reaction!

the flower girl ended up stag at the end of the night anyway – but look how cute she was at her own little pint sized table!

Stephen proposed to Rumi at The Cloisters so it only seemed appropriate to venture up north for their e-session.

A few photographs from Claudia and Ryan’s wedding…

Their reception was at the oldest church in Manhattan, Trinity Church and they had their reception under the city’s oldest bridge, the Brooklyn Bridge, at a lovely place called The River Cafe.

Claudia’s dad kept her dog entertained at the Ritz-Carlton while Claudia got ready.

On the way downtown to Trinity Church.

The bridesmaids/stylists discuss proper train formation.

Bustling these amazing dresses requires entire teams of assistants.