San Jose, CA Febrruary 09, 2010 - WeddingWire, the nation’s leading wedding technology company, just announced Jill Johnson Photography has been selected to receive the WeddingWire 2010 Bride’s Choice Awards™ for Wedding Photography.

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.

Jill Johnson 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 Jill Johnson is among the very best Wedding 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.

Happy New Year everyone.  We are so excited about the new year and can’t wait to tell you about some of our favorite things about 2009 and to share with you what has been going on.  But there is so many things to do , show, edit, and blog that I just wanted to say hello so that I could get working on all the things to share.  So many of you sent such wonderful cards and gifts and I was so touched.  It was so fun to hear what was going on with your lives.   One of my favorites was a couple sent me a picture of the dog they said they were always going to get.  They named him Burger, love that!  Plus, they even had more exciting news that they were expecting their first child.  So many of you shared your adventures of 2009 and your plans for 2010 it made my day.

Over the holiday my e-mail and computer came down with a horrible virus.  The doctors weren’t able to save it.  So, if you wouldn’t mind resending me your contact info.  I would so appreciate it.  So saying that 2010 is also teaching me a whole new operating system etc.  My first challenge of the year.

If your new and looking for a photographer I’m so looking forward to talking with you and getting to know you too.  Please contact me with any questions or to set up an appointment.  Now off to work so I can share what we did and what have cooking for 2010.

Last  in the meantime if your planning a wedding don’t forget to check out the Vintage and Consignment dresses and the wonderful Vendors that make up Adorn Bridal in Los Gatos.

Kelly, one of my brides, sent me over the coolest thing when I asked for her final papers.   Normally , I ask all my couples to send me a wish list.   I ask them to list things that they want us to try and photograph during the day.  I tell them I know to get you coming down the aisle, the toast, the cake, all the things that happen at most weddings.  What I like to know is the broche that your wearing was your grandmothers, the watch he’s wearing was a gift from his father, we decorated with wheat because it is significant to my fiance’s family etc.  Make sure you get the different centerpieces I spent 50 hours picking them out and I want to remember them.   I also ask them to make a list of groupings they want taken.  I have about 6 standard family formals that I do.  If there is time and they are requestiong more I ask them to list the people and the groups they want.  For example my mom and her brother, they haven’t seen each other in 5 years and he’ll be there.  I’d like a photo with all my nieces and nephews.  Family dynamics can be difficult at times so this is also when I ask will divorced parents be in a photo together etc.  It is like a blue print for the day and for us to know  what and who is important.

So when Kelly sent me over this page with family member photographs I loved it.  I didn’t have to guess if they were family or not and I knew ahead of time who to look out for during the day.  She called it Faces to Recognize.  It was great.  She also sent me another page that had some poses and photos I’d taken at other events that she loved.  This was such a fantastic asset.   Thanks Kelly for the inspiration.  I’m going to ask other couples to do the same thing.

I am so pleased to be part of the Una Bella Serra again this year and more excited to invite you.  All past, present, and future couple are invited to participate in a wonderful experience created by Amaze Special Events and Nicole Ha Floral design.  A World of Glamour will definatly knock your socks off as you see what these two talented and  creative professionals can do with their magical skills. This event will be held on Sunday, April 5, 2009 at the infamous and historical Julia Morgan Ballroom at the Merchant Exchange Building in San Francisco.

You will be inspired as you view the latest trends, tabletops, and floral designs for your wedding or event.  Come out for a night of inspiration, fun, entertainment and food.  We know you won’t be disappointed and I personally would love to see you there.  There is a limited amount of spaces available for this event so please register yourself at www.unabellaserra.com.  Also, check out the list of other vendors that will be there under The Great List.

Here are a couple of shots from last years event.

Like I mentioned earlier we had a fantastic time and here are just some of the behind the scenes stuff.  Andrew Hsu of MSV Studios hung out with us crazy girls for the week and was an intricate team member. He did a fantastic job on all the videos for the presentation.  To see some of them about Dork energy check out his blog.  These were just funny silly stuff and if he can make this look good then you know he can do it all.   He does amazing work so if your looking for a videographer check out his website.  You’ll love working with him

Andrews Hsu of MSV Studio’s Video Recap of WPPI!  Click here for some behind the scenes fun and to watch the video.

Andrew was just one of the amazing sponsors we had for this talk.  Besides Andrew the main sponsors were Richard’s Photo lab and YWD Magazine.  A special thank you to Richards because they really encouraged Tanja to do this.  YWD provided beautiful magazines for everyone attending the talk.  Plus, we had some wonderful give aways from some very special companies!  Special thanks to:  Big Folio, Gigbooks, Gross National Product, Carlos Baez “Seeing the Light”, Fast Track Photographer, Fuji Film, and Waxworks.  In fact here I am with Leah the super talented artist behind waxworks.(We’re in the right hand corner of the collage).   I’ll be talking about them later.