I guess I missed the memo on this when it was announced, but I just found out that I was awarded the Bride’s Choice Award by Wedding Wire for the second year in a row.  As with last year, I take this as a huge compliment since the award is based on the recommendations of my brides who have already used me for their wedding.  I want to thank everyone that chose to include me in their wedding plans and trust the photography of their wedding day to me.  I also want to thank you for voting for me.

I’m thrilled that Josel & Brad’s Trash the Dress session that Pete and I photographed in San Diego back in March was recently featured on Bridepop.com’s blog.  Josel and Brad planned their destination wedding here in San Diego, and wanted to take advantage of the scenery at the beach, and the cliffs but didn’t have time during their wedding day to do any portraits at the ocean.  So a few days later, before they traveled home to Washington, DC we met up at Sunset Cliffs to photograph a day after/trash the dress session that was outstanding.  It was really an opportunity to create some unique portraits for them both to add to their already amazing wedding memories.

If you haven’t visited Bridepop it’s a great resource and place to find inspiration for your wedding planning and I’m so honored to have my photography featured on their site.  If you’re thinking about a Trash the Dress or Day After session, or just want to know more about them, you can also read my article in the resources section of my blog.

Every year brides on the Knot.com vote for their favorite local wedding vendors.  I’m proud to have just received notice that I was awarded the ‘Best of Weddings’ for my photography.  It’s always nice to get recognition and awards, but particularly when it comes from the clients, the brides and grooms who’s weddings I have already photographed.  I take it to mean, ‘If we had to do it all over again, we would still hire you to photograph our wedding!’

I want to thank all the brides and grooms that chose to hire me for their wedding in 2009.  Trusted me with their most intimate, private and joyful moments, and then voted to make me one of the ‘Best Wedding Photographers’ in Baltimore, DC and San Diego! I’m thrilled, honored and humbled.

Let’s do it again in 2010!

I’m thrilled to announce that Destination I Do Magazine recently posted Kim and Ben’s Bahamas wedding on their blog for their featured Real Wedding Wednesday article!  If you remember, Kim and Ben had an awesome wedding, but had to deal with not only the stress of organizing a destination wedding, but once in Nassau, the added stress of the iffy weather.  Showers rained down on and off through the morning, and were forecast to continue throughout the day.  Undaunted, Kim pressed on and chose hours ahead of time to have her dream destination wedding on the beach at Compass Point Resort.  The weather held, and we have amazing images to prove it.  You can see the blog post over on Destination I Do’s Blog.

So then what happens when your images place Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Seventh and Tenth in one of these competitions?  You hit your head on the ceiling from jumping out of your seat, your heart jumps into your throat, you try not to hold your hand to your mouth like you just won the Miss America pagent and you keep that ‘I just pray for world peace speech’ in your pocket.  

It is just a photo competition after all.

The International Society for Professional Wedding Photographers holds quarterly photography competitions for their members from over 30 countries around the world.  The photographers are accepted into the society based on portfolio review, and references from other photography professionals so membership in itself is an honor.  I’m thrilled to announce that in the latest quarterly competition six of my images placed in the top ten in their respective categories placing me 12th among all ISPWP photographers worldwide.  

Many many thanks to all my couples who have again trusted me to document their wedding day in the past year.  Without their faith and trust in my photography I wouldn’t have a single image to submit to be considered for the competition.

Check out the images below!

I’m thrilled to announce that three of my images from 2008 were placed in the top twenty of the Wedding Photojournalist Association (WPJA) year end competition.  The process is a difficult one, starting by going through the tens of thousands of images I shot throughout the year and narrowing those down to my favorite 20 – 30 images.  At best one image from each wedding could make the cut for the competition; less than 1% of the images I shoot in a year will end up making the cut to even be considered among the year end images.  When you multiply that out over five thousand photographers from 87 Countries world-wide it’s humbling to have a single image selected let alone three.  

A huge thank you to all the couples that entrusted me with their wedding images in 2008.  Without the belief that I could faithfully document your day, there wouldn’t even be the 1% of images to submit.

And the hits just keep on coming!  This has been an incredible week for me and just before I head out the door for a truly inspirational week at WPPI I received notice from the Wedding Wire that I recieved the 2009 Bride’s Choice Award!  Check out the announcement and badge below:

WeddingWire, the nation’s leading wedding technology company, just announced that Evan Bishop Photography has won the 2009 Bride’s Choice Awards™!

In its inaugural year, the Bride’s Choice Awards recognizes and honors vendors from the WeddingWire Network that demonstrate excellent quality of service, responsiveness, professionalism, value of cost and flexibility. This year’s recipients represent the top three percent of WeddingWire’s vendor community, which includes over 100,000 wedding vendors from across the US. 

Unlike other awards in which winners are selected by the company, the Bride’s Choice Awards are determined exclusively by recent newlyweds through surveys and reviews.

“We are excited to launch this annual award program to honor high-performing vendors based solely on the experiences of our WeddingWire community,” according to Timothy Chi, WeddingWire’s Chief Executive Officer. “This year’s recipients have set the bar high, exhibiting excellent service and expertise in the wedding industry.”

 Oh!  Did I mention it’s getting printed as a 24×36?  She’ll be coming home with me after the convention!  Check out the images below.  I’ll definitely post which one was selected as soon as I find out.

Special thanks again to Rudy of Chrome Salon for asking me to do this project with him, and of course Nicole Palermo for stepping outside the box and going with the white on white look I imagined, then kicking it up a notch! BAM!