Jeff Mason Wedding and Portrait Photographer

I ran across these by accident but they are awesome video testimonials from couples who have been married for 50+ years.  I always make it a point to ask brides who contact me, “Where did you and your fiance meet?”.   More than a few have said that they met when they were in grade school or the groom-to-be visited his grandparents who lived across the street every summer.  Really wonderful stories.  These little videos hit home because they are the same kinds of stories.  I feel so fortunate that Jeff Mason Photography can be there to photograph each of our new couples as they start their lives together.  Video by Gillian Laub

Macon and Jim – Married 51 years

Betty and Lou – Married 60 years

Imogene and Elmer – Married 55 years

Aren’t these wonderful!

Corrie + Gabe were married on January 23, 2010.  I have known Gabe and his family through our church for more than 10 years.  I haven’t known Corrie as long but she is one of those sweet souls who makes everyone she comes in contact with feel like they have been friends forever.

Their wedding as held in the courtyard of Presbyterian Church of Seffner and Corrie was escorted by her son, Aden.  In a large part, the magic of their wedding ceremony was the simplicity of the event and the surroundings.  The courtyard was beautifully landscaped, the trees were adorned with jewels and flowers hanging from the branches on wire, and the guests sat on bales of hay wrapped in white cloth.  It couldn’t have been any more perfect!  Their reception was held at Keel and Curley Winery in nearby Plant City, Florida.

Here is a slideshow of a few of the images from their wedding taken by Jeff and Nancy from Jeff Mason Photography.  Thank you for inviting us to share in your wonderful day.

Press Release

Tampa, Florida – January, 19, 2010 – WeddingWire, the nation’s leading wedding technology company, just announced Jeff Mason Photography has been selected to receive the 2010 Bride’s Choice Awards™ for Photographers!

The annual Bride’s Choice Awards™ recognizes and celebrates excellence in quality and service within the wedding industry, as determined by recent reviews and extensive surveys from over 500,000 newlyweds.

Jeff Mason Photography is among the top five percent of all vendors in the WeddingWire community, which includes over 100,000 wedding professionals across the US and Canada. Awards were given to winners across 19 different service categories, from wedding venues to wedding photographers.

“We are excited to recognize and honor the success of the top wedding professionals within the WeddingWire Community” said Timothy Chi, WeddingWire’s Chief Executive Officer. “The annual Bride’s Choice Awards™ program has given us the unique opportunity to highlight the best wedding professionals in each region as reviewed by brides and grooms who have utilized their services in the past year.”

We are happy to announce that Jeff Mason Photography is among the very best Photographers within the WeddingWire Network, which includes WeddingWire and Martha Stewart Weddings. We would like to thank our past newlyweds for nominating us for the 2010 Bride’s Choice Awards™.

For more information, please visit our WeddingWire Storefront today at http://www.weddingwire.com/biz/jeff-mason-photography-valrico/f66a04b8cfc1c3c7.html [?].

Saturday Annie and Doug were married on St. Petersburg Beach at the Grand Plaza and we were there to photograph their day.  Annie and Doug as well as their family and friends all came down here from Kansas City for the wedding.  They had about 30 people so it was a really intimate and fun time.  I enjoyed hearing about their adventures over the past few days but to protect the innocent (or not) I’ll leave it out of this blog post .  As you can see, Annie is a beautiful bride and she and Doug make a great couple.  I hope you guys have an awesome time in Negril.  Here are a few of my favorite images and a slideshow.  Enjoy!  -Jeff

Chrissy and Ed were married on 4/18/2009 at St. Petersburg Sunken Gardens.  It’s a beautiful botanical garden and they had their ceremony near the butterfly garden.  Their reception was at the Marriott Pinellas Park.  Both of their families were a lot of fun and there was a lot of dancing during the reception but one thing that really stuck in my mind was what Ed’s brother, Pete,  said during his toast.  He said that Ed has always been one to do things his own way and that when Ed told him that he cared, truly cared, for Chrissy that was when Pete knew they were meant for each other.  Chrissy and Ed, I wish you many years of health and happiness together.  Here is a slideshow with a few images from their day.

Karyn and Alex were married March 29 at the Hilton Clearwater Beach Resort in Florida.  They live in Manhattan and made the trip down here with about 60 of their family and friends for a destination wedding on our wonderful beach.  It’s obvious that they are loved by many since guests came from as far away as Seattle, TX, TN, and upstate NY.

The weather was a bit sketchy in the morning but by the time the ceremony started it was nothing but blue skys and sunshine!  Here is a video with a few of my favorite pics from the day.  Congratulations, you guys!  -Jeff

Saturday was my last wedding for 2008 and it was a good one to end with. Kimberly and David were married and had their reception at the Hard Rock Casino in Tampa and rockin’ they did! They hired Bella Pictures to handle the photography. I’ve mentioned in previous posts that I am a Bella photographer when I have open dates. I’m glad that Nov. 22 was open because Kimberly, David, the bridal party, and both families were wonderful to work with.

I shot a handful of weddings in 2008 for Bella and so far it has been a good experience. I would much rather have my own weddings fill 2-3 weekends every month but when I don’t it gives me an opportunity to stay behind the camera and to meet wonderful people. Their wedding was no different.

Kimberly and David, I wish a happy and healthy life together. Enjoy Aruba and then the cruise with your family. Stay in touch. Here is a video and pictures of some of my favorite images.

I always seem to be able to find some “supposed” reason why I can’t take a few minutes to update my blog. In December I’m going to do another Blog-a-Day for the entire month. I did this a few months ago. I wasn’t perfect, I missed a few days, but it was fun and kept things rolling.

At the moment I’m flying back to Tampa from Boston. I had some business there with a client for my consulting business. Boston was COLD this week but then I understand Tampa was too.

I have one wedding remaining this year. I shot 18 weddings this year. These were either my own or shooting second for friends. I also shot a couple of weddings for Bella Pictures. I’m hoping to have about as many weddings in 2009 but I really don’t want any more than that. A goal for ‘09 is to greatly increase the number of high school seniors photographed.

I am in the process of developing my wedding pricing for next year. Instead of focusing on Collections I am going to give brides more options to build photography packages a la carte. I’ll be adding fun new products so check my website in the Info area under Weddings in the coming weeks.

On Saturday Elisa and Anthony were married. They have to be the two most easy going people I think I’ve ever met. Here it was Elisa’s wedding day and she was as calm as could be. The day started out with some photographs of Elisa and the girls getting ready at her mom’s house. Janie Coey helped me photograph the wedding and she started out at Anthony’s getting pictures of the guys clowning around getting ready. Janie is a fantastic photographer and I am so glad she was available to be there.

The wedding was beautiful. Around 200 family and friends attended and the reception was a blast! A particularly memorable moment was the mother and son dance. I’ve seen quite a few but Anthony and his mom had the most emotional dance I’ve ever seen.

Here is a video and a few pictures from their day

Occasionally I photography weddings for Bella Pictures…like Kristen and Mark’s this past weekend.  I started talking to Kristen on the phone a little over a month ago. I could tell right away that we were going to get along great and that it was going to be a fun wedding.  When I shoot for Bella I don’t get to personally meet the brides ahead of time so I try to get to know as much as I can about the bride and groom during our phone conversations.  

Kristen and Mark met several years back while they were on a house boating trip with several other friends, in fact there were two large house boats.  They didn’t really meet each other until the last day.  Mark dropped all of his CDs and as Kristen helped him pick them up they realized that they had the same taste in music.   Well, it was a good start but it wasn’t until several years and a couple of states later that friends again brought them together.  This time it was for good.  Their wedding was on Clearwater Beach at the Hilton Clearwater Beach Resort.  

It was great to meet you and your families.  Have an awesome time in Jamaica, mon.  Let me hear how it was when you get back.

Here is a fun little slideshow…see the images in more detail below.