Hannah and Dean's Miami Wedding Sneak Peek

During the tornado that has been this holiday season I completely forgot to post a sneak peek of the gorgeous Miami wedding Brad and I shot at the end of last month. Hannah and Dean's wedding was held at the historic Villa Woodbine in Coconut Grove and couldn't have turned out more beautifully. Here is a sneak peek to tide you all over until all the gorgeousness can be unleashed.




Hannah was such a beautiful bride. Her dress seemed to fit the mood of the historic villa perfectly.





The four adorable flower girls







Hannah and Dean we hope you enjoy this snippet of what is to come. You two were so wonderful to work with. We wish you both nothing but love and happiness in the coming year.

In love,
Mel & Brad

Ghosts of Christmas Past

A few days ago I was at my parents house for an early Christmas celebration when I came across this photo from a Christmas long long ago. My mom likes to laugh and point out that Adam and Kari are her good kids while Sam and I are her bad kids. I beg to differ. Sam and I are actually the interesting children... we add a little bit of spice and excitement to every situation. Beyond the dramatic expressions I love the fact that my old Billabong jacket made an appearance. I'm not sure how far this trend stretched in the early 90's but in my home town of New Smyrna Beach you weren't cool if you didn't sport your corduroy Billabong sleeves every day of the week. Yes I'm serious. No matter what outfit you were wearing that day, no matter how hot or humid it can possibly be during the summer months in Florida, you just weren't cool if you weren't wearing your Billabong jacket. As you can see it is highly versatile, complimenting my floral print dress perfectly. I wonder whatever became of the jacket?? It could very well still be lurking in a closet at my parent's house. I think I'll take a look next time I'm down there.


The Ellison Children Christmas 1992 - pay special attention to the bottom right corner of the photo. Notice Adam's super trendy tight rolled jean. Oh yeah... that was the hotness back then.
(clockwise from left - Sam, Mel, Santa, Kari and Adam)



and here we all are again (minus Santa) on Christmas Day 2007
(clockwise from left - Sam, Mel, Kari and Adam)



The Watson family Christmas card 2008
(Brad, Lucy, and Mel)



Happy Holidays from the Watson family and La Dolce Vita Studio. We hope you all have a very merry Christmas season and can't wait to see what 2009 has in store for all of us. May your lives all be filled with more love, happiness and adventure than ever before.

In Love,
Mel & Brad (Lucy too)

Love - A Bridal Boutique

Over the last few months Brad and I have been working on some new and exciting stuff for the future of La Dolce Vita Studio. We've been collaborating with some amazing people here in Jacksonville to help us accomplish all the goals we have set in place for our business. On a recent shoot we were blessed to be able to photograph a bride wearing two gorgeous dresses from Love Bridal Boutique here in Jacksonville Beach. Nancy Love and her staff are absolutely amazing to work with. After moving from Atlanta a few years ago, Nancy noticed a desperate need for a high fashion bridal boutique here in Jacksonville. She quickly set up shop and is now one of the most highly sought after bridal boutiques in North Florida. Love Bridal Boutique carries a wide variety of modern and vintage style dresses and accessories, including the fabulous line of vintage wedding attire by Stephanie James Couture. Brides, if you are still hunting for that perfect dress I would recommend heading over to Love's in Jacksonville Beach. Don't settle for the mundane on your wedding day... find that perfect dress and be a knockout!

Here is a little sneak peek of the dresses from our shoot a couple weeks ago. Don't you just love the branding Love's has. Their bags are so cute! How can you not adore a bridal boutique named Love?!










The veils and feather hair accessories were also from Love's. I couldn't get enough of the feather hair piece and birdcage veil.



We can't wait to share more with you all after the first of the year.

Cheers,
Mel & Brad

DQ QuiKeys Revolutionizing Workflow

Last night in the middle of our race to get everything done before Christmas, Photoshop decided it no longer wanted to play nicely with my computer. Only a few days before Brad and I leave for Tennessee and with a pile of work to get done before we head out, this could not have come at a lousier time. While he has been furiously trying to fix the problem, I have decided to do happier things... like talk about the best workflow tool that Brad and I have ever discovered.

Last January at the DWF Convention in Tampa, Brad and I met Dave and Quin Cheung, an amazing husband and wife photography team out of Canada. They introduced us to the workflow empowerment system they developed called DQ QuiKeys. We were so impressed by what Dave showed us in Tampa that we knew there was no way we were going home without our own set. Ever since then our editing workflow has sped up dramatically. Without these amazing little keys I'm sure this holiday season would have run me over like a Mack truck. Essentially, the QuiKeys paired with my Wacom tablet enables me to fly through my editing, and deliver images that are more refined than ever before. QuiKeys enables you to toggle through three editing platforms. One for RAW workflow in Lightroom, another layer for Photoshop editing and yet another for free form album design. Honestly, I would be lost without the QuiKeys system. For any of you photographers out there looking for a way to cut down on the time you spend editing I would highly recommend the QuiKey's workflow system. I could not imagine editing without them. Seriously, get out and get ya some!




I am crossing my fingers that I will be up and editing by the end of the day, today. Until then... its back to working on organizing the office.

Happy Holidays Everyone!

Mel & Brad

Jessica & Kevin's Jacksonville Wedding

Back in November, Brad and I had the privilege of photographing Jessica and Kevin's wedding here in Jacksonville. The ceremony was held at Blessed Trinity Catholic Church followed by a beautiful reception at Queen's Harbor Yacht and Country Club. The weather was perfect, the wedding party was relaxed and fun. We had such a great time at this wedding. Everyone was a blast to hang out with for the night and there was no shortage of dancing at this reception. We really are lucky to have some of the best clients ever. These two are so adorable together they made our job too easy. Here are a few of our favorites from their wedding followed by a slideshow. I hope you all enjoy. Jessica and Kevin, we had a great time with you both and hope that you will enjoy these photos for years to come!

Lots of love to you both,
Mel & Brad

Tacky Sweater Holiday Party

Last night Brad and I hosted our first annual Tacky Sweater Holiday Party. We had a great group of friends, tons of food and lots of fun playing celebrity and catch phrase. Here are some photos of all the super stylish tacky sweaters in attendance.

For some reason I was trying to stifle a laugh and managed to produce this contorted smile... awesome... I always rock the sexy face.


Erin trying to pose with Lucy...


eventually she was successful


Kara and Jeremy's happy faces...


Kara and Jeremy's angry faces...


Erin and Ryan


I loved Erin's light up sweater...


Star went all out even decorating her shoes!


Bobbie and James rocking the Bill Cosby style sweaters


Susan and Devin gave all their tacky sweaters to Goodwill so they came in chic black sweaters instead... tisk tisk! ;)


Christina and LeRoy definitely had the most controversial sweaters...


LeRoy's "hung stocking" sweater won the grand prize for the night by a nearly unanimous vote



*Note: Mark refused to be pictured. I think he was ashamed that we discovered his sweater really did come from the GAP.

Thanks everyone for coming by and sharing in the tacky sweater fun with us. We had such a great time. Happy Holidays!

Jacksonville Portrait Session with Monica and Patrick

Oh our poor neglected little blog. We don't mean to abandon you... sometimes it seems there just aren't enough hours in the day. There has been so much going on in Watson world lately. We've been traveling, shooting weddings, portrait sessions, racing to beat holiday deadlines, and visiting family for Thanksgiving, all the while working furiously to prepare our new website for its grand reveal in the new year. It has been a mad house around here. With all that said, here is some eye candy for your viewing pleasure from Monica and Patrick's super sexy couple session in downtown Jacksonville. These two were looking for an ultra moody shoot and when we were presented with one of the rainiest days in November we took shelter in a parking garage and made the weather work in our favor. The session turned out fantastic and we were able to run outside to get a few brief moments of outdoor shooting before the rain picked back up. It was a great session and these two have such incredible chemistry together. Monica and Patrick, we hope you love the photos. It was a blast romping in the rain with you two.