Month: June 2010

  • Bok Tower Wedding Photos

    My Favorite Wedding Venue… Ever.

    Last year, my wife and I were married at one of the most beautiful places on the planet.
    Seriously!

    We had an incredible day, filled with precious moments, and surrounded by family…
    And ever since, I’ve done everything I can to help promote this amazing place.

    Where?


    Bok Tower Gardens…

    Way back in 1921, Edward Bok (a noted philanthropist and editor of “The Ladies Home Journal”)
    spent the Winter months in my home town of Lake Wales, FL. During his time here, he was drawn
    to a spot, known as “Iron Mountain”. He bought the land and soon discovered that it was actually
    the very highest point in peninsular Florida.

    Around the same time, my Great Grandparents (Carl Sr. and Bertha) arrived in Lake Wales,
    with a vision to create a few high end communities for the rich iron and oil barons, arriving
    from the North East in droves.

    Tragedy struck my family in the mid 20′s when my Great-Grandfather died from Pneumonia.
    All plans to develop our land were halted, and my Great-Gandmother, Bertha worked herself
    into a frenzy, caring for her two young children.

    (Sorry for the history lesson, I’m going somewhere with this I promise!)

    In 1929, Bok’s workers completed the incredible Pink Marble tower you see in the photo
    above… (My Wife’s Great-Grandfather was a part of that team!)

    At the time, our little rural County was the most wealthy in the WORLD, and people flocked
    from everywhere, to experience “Bok’s gift to the great people of Florida”. On top of the tower,
    he placed a series of 60 bells and a carillon keyboard. He firmly believed that the music they
    produced was akin to the sound of angels.

    As time went on, Bok Tower Gardens grew and developed. Yet it’s still holds the same values,
    to preserve the TRUE beauty of Florida, and to give back to the community.

    Today, Bok Tower is working hard to continue offering it’s beauty to the world, and over the
    past few years has put special emphasis on helping couples create magical wedding experiences.

    After our wedding there, I was offered a few truly unique opportunities to capture events
    at the gardens… At first just for clients, and later working with Bok Tower’s publicity team.

    I’m attaching a few of my favorite photos from Bok Tower Weddings and Engagement sessions
    below… Hope you enjoy them!!

    Jon & Amber…

    This next image is actually being featured in Get Married magazine this Fall!

    One More :)

    Joseph & Alex:
    (You may remember their Chalet Suzanne Wedding this February, we recently
    took some time out at the Gardens “after hours” to capture some truly unique portraits).

    Beside the new Visitor’s Center:

    A Fairly Special Perspective of The Tower :)

    Shot this little landscape photo during the same shoot…
    Can’t you see why Mr. Bok fell in love with the area?

    We’ve been truly blessed the past 6 months or so, to develop an exclusive relationship
    with Bok Tower. We’ve helped them with their projects, and in exchange we get special
    access to the Gardens and Tower here are a couple spots you’re not likely to ever see
    photos from :)

     

    One final session before I finish this post….
    Meet Dan & Jess:

     

    (She’s way cuter than him ;) [and rightly so].

     

    So darn precious!!

     

    I know this blog post is a little convoluted, but I hope you captured the beauty
    of Bok Tower Weddings, and that you’re able to see just why *I* am so excited
    to be shooting there.

    If you’ve found this blog post through Google or Bing, feel free to jump over
    to my main website page and say hello, I’d love to talk to you about YOUR
    Central Florida Wedding (or wherever it might be ;)

     

     

    Any way, as I type this; My lovely wife and I are sitting in the Fort Lauderdale Airport,
    waiting for the next leg of our journey to Jamaica… I’m SO excited to be shooting a
    beautiful wedding there this weekend, and I promise to get the images up as soon as possible :)

    I hope that you, dear reader are enjoying your week… I’ll do my best to get us back
    to our “regularly scheduled” blogging soon :)

     

    P.S. I know there were a PLETHORA of photos in this post, but which SHOOT was
    your favorite?? These are definitely some of my all time favorites :)