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

wanted to share some images from elana + barry’s manhattan wedding

barry waited for his bride to arrive and when she appeared the best man appeared on the scene to step in an take his place.

elana grew up ice skating at the rink in rockefeller center so what better place for her to get married than the rainbow room.

some grooms kiss the bride.  other grooms KISS the bride.

this was one of the last weddings at The Rainbow Room since Cipriani is giving up the space.  it really is the end of an era.

the deco detail in the space is so cool.

how many places still have a giant rotating circular dance floor?

I got the following note in the mail from alison’s mom shortly after alison and ed’s wedding.  It underscores the fact that there really is more to this than just creating images.

—————

Dear Brian,

We thank you and your associates for the terrific job you all did at Alison and Ed’s wedding.

Your participation was a success even if you got back to your studio and discovered you forgot to put film in your cameras.

Your cheerful, low-key approach made everyone feel that the picture taking was just another fun part of the wedding day.

Please accept our gratitude.

Sincerely,

Eleanor and Norman C_______

———————-

And while there actually was no film in the camera, there were CF Cards that had at least the following 3 images.

been a blaze of portraits and engagement sessions now that the weather is nice… been shooting every night somewhere in this town …

thought I’d share a few from a session i had with the beautiful liliana and her fiancee jeff that we did a couple of weeks ago in central park.

i was absolutely thrilled when I got a call from angela telling me that she was getting married.  i’ve worked with her siblings and parents on so many events and portraits over the years that at this point they almost feel like family.

it was also great getting to know marc who’s just a fascinating guy.

partway through the session at the south street seaport, angela slipped into this stunning white feather dress…

i actually shot their wedding this past weekend at the plaza – wait until you see what she wore that day!

been cataloging some very old images from my archives and thought I’d share a few of my old cyanotypes i rediscovered recently.

can you identify the locations??

eric has this awesome hinckley picnic boat that he, danielle and i went out on for their engagement portraits.

and although danielle was freezing – she was a trooper and kept that beautiful smile shining…

cold and windy.  but a good day to sail in a regatta (in the background)

or just to watch them…

the “guy’s” shot… with chrome plated dials, knobs, wheels, horns, switches, depthfinders, & compass – ooooh  so cool & manly man.

my wife says i love anything sharp, shiny & black and potentially dangerous.

ain’t they cute?

you might remember jen + david from the engagement session that I did with them in SoHo last year.

we had so much fun together but alas I was booked on their wedding day so they selected my associate matt as the lucky guy that got to shoot their wedding at the metropolitan club

that’s a killer shot – every guy can identify with that moment.

david beahm of david beahm designs did the decor as well as this awesome chuppa out of cherry blossoms.

i love the old world new york feel of stanford white’s metropolitan club.   i like it even more because it’s the type of club that wouldn’t have me as a member.

it was founded by j.p. morgan because the other clubs weren’t interested in having him as a member.  maybe i’ll start my own club too.

a selection of great shots by matt.

and here’s the lovely note that Jen’s mom sent to us the next day:

Matt,

p.s. If you have a counter on that website, check it. I bet we will break a record. I have people forwarding it to friends of friends of friends.  We hope to be your biggest fans!

danielle, christian and i went to central park for their engagement session.

it was a gorgeous day and the park was absolutely packed.

but the amazing thing is that, if you’re careful -

even though the park may be mobbed…

you can make it look almost totally empty.

except for the turtles.  can’t avoid getting turtles in the shots.

most brides are excited by their wedding day.

christine was ecstatic!

from before the shoes went on …

through the arrival of the flowers…

to the limo…

she was grinning ear to ear the entire day.  tommy too.

you couldn’t help but smile along

and they lived happily ever after…

(i got major flare from the dj’s pink lights on this shot but i liked it – it even matched her flowers!)

so people are always asking about what it’s like shooting destination events.  most people don’t realize that photographing destination weddings are quite a bit of work.  first of all you’re traveling internationally with a ton of gear – in this case 5 camera bodies, 9 lenses, 2 supercharged laptops each weighing about a ton, 6 flashes, 2 tripods, lightstands, sandbags (empty), 2 power packs, a printer, tons of batteries, chargers, lights, weatherproof cases to carry it all, etc. etc.

then there’s international work permits (which require not only approval from the foreign government but in this case we also had to get certificates of good conduct from the NYPD which meant fingerprints, background checks, etc. etc. to prove we were good people (so in case you were wondering, we don’t have criminal records).

of course it’s true;  there is an upside…

our room…

the view out the back of our room…

how you kill time waiting for your subjects to show up…

great weather… although i did thoroughly dunk my $10,000 1DsMkIII and 70-200 lens into the damp sand moments after this shot was taken.

but it is work.

here Kim grabbed a shot of me taking 3 seconds to calculate how many more seconds before the sun broke through the clouds, how many stops I’ll have to open up to compensate for the backlight, how many minutes we have before the sun falls below the horizon, whether or not gen’s hair will blow in her face if I have her stand over there facing that way, and how wet we can let her dress get before it gets too droopy looking….

And of course, most importantly, how can i make sure that Gen and Steven are having a good time while we shoot because without that – everything else is for naught.

I also wanted to give a special thanks to Helen Richardson www.anguillaweddingplanner.com who made sure everything went smoothly for everyone. She was not only the driving force behind all of the wonderful events we attended in Anguilla, but she made a complex weeklong series of things to do and places to be effortless for everyone.  Thanks Helen!