A few Saturdays ago I had the pleasure of photographing a really wonderful birthday party at the Garfield, NJ VFW Hall. It was Ashley’s 30th Birthday & all of her friends chipped in to give her the gift of my photography at her party. I photographed the entire event and set up a studio booth with a custom backdrop and props purchased especially for her. It was a really wonderful feeling to know that my photography was so well appreciated from such a wonderful set of friends to a truly deserving person. Ashley is absolutely gorgeous inside and out. Come relive the fun with me in this blog post!
1st of all: This is Ashley – the birthday girl that makes turning 30 look awesome! She is the life of the party everywhere she goes and exudes happiness.
Her party was themed red, one of my favorite colors! She wore a gorgeous red dress and decorated the hall with red and silver accents.
If you were to read a bit on my webpage it says that at events I try to capture every warm embrace & holding true to my word, I do. I love capturing all of the warm hugs and happy smiles as everyone meets at a celebration. The embraces are always so joyous! Here’s a collage of some of my favorites…
All of her guests were so very friendly, fun and photogenic!
I had a really great time soaking up the energy and photographing this wonderful group of people.
Although ‘posed’ portraits are beautiful keepsakes, I personally love the candid shots best! I love the raw emotion, huge smiles and great action shots that are captured candidly that really tell the story of the event. Here’s a collage of some of my favorite candid shots…
And below is one of those priceless candid shots of a few of the boys at the party hiding under the gift table, haha!
When it comes to candid’s at parties you can’t not mention the dancing!
I mentioned above that all of Ashley’s friends chipped in to add a few surprises to the party she had been planning. One of those surprises was a photographer (me!) and another was a book that they made full of pictures from her life that was used as a guest book for her party. It was a really great memento that all of the guests enjoyed looking through and signing. I think this is such a wonderful idea for a gift for anyone! I loved it! (*cough* hint to my family and friends reading this! *cough*)
On top of photographing the celebration itself I set up a Studio Booth with a hand-made backdrop of red & silver banners.
There were some really silly photographs taken in the booth that I hope all of you will treasure forever!
Below is a cell phone photo of the setup & some of my favorites images…
The party ended with a room full of smiling family and friends, arms linked, dancing together as one. What a wonderful way to end such a great night – together!
Thanks again to all of Ashley’s friends & family for being so accepting of my camera & I! xoxo
If you head over to www.hpalecek.com/ashleys30th and use her last name as a password, there is a special gift for all of you! <3
**And a SPECIAL shout out to Jill & Nic, Tiffany & Joe, Cynthia, The Kovacs, Melinda and everyone else who pitched in and invited me to photograph this celebration! I absolutely LOVE working with such amazing people like all of you & am so very blessed to have gotten to know each of you! xoxo
If you enjoyed looking at these photographs, consider having me photograph your next celebration!
Manville, NJ Event Photographer
(973) 903-2046 // [email protected]
