Valentine's Day Bat Mitzvah in Long Beach

We got to spend Valentine's Day with sweet Emily in Long Beach at her Temple Israel Bat Mitzvah.
The hearts and tasty candies were on display at the Long Beach Renaissance party--as well as the program guide for the Bat Mitzvah.
Featured here are some images from Emily's big day, and a little video highlight as well.

Palos Verdes Bar Mitzvah | Congregation Ner Tamid

It was our pleasure to return to Congregation Ner Tamid in Palos Verdes for Rob's Bar Mitzvah. Ner Tamid is the beautiful temple on the hill, where Rob was called to the Torah. A few hours later, he had the time of his life with a rocking party in the social hall. Randy from Real Genius DJs did a great job of keeping the party moving.

From Generation to Generation, Los Angeles Bar Mitzvah

One of the highlights of Bar/Bat Mitzvah photography is seeing the joy the older generation exhibit when watching young 13-year-old children step up to the Bima and read from the Torah. In this case, it was Dakota's Bar Mitzvah over the weekend at Congregation Tikvat Jacob in Manhattan Beach, where beloved great-grandfather "Poppy," got up from his seat, put down his cane, and took his place up on the Bima. He handed the talit to Dakota, and was at the head of the line for passing the Torah down, from generation to generation. The cool thing, as you can see from these images, is that Dakota got as much of a kick from having Poppy there as the old man did.
Dakota and mom Lisa (also seen posing in a killer shot from the sanctuary) put on a terrific baseball themed party (Dakota kind of enjoys sports!) at the Spanish styled Embassy Suites in El Segundo. (Attention Bar/Bat Mitzvah parents--this is one really special facility. We'll post more images from the event later in the week. In the meantime, ask for Deb and tell her we sent `ya.) You Should Be Dancing did their usual stellar DJ job, keeping the kids up and moving all night long.

Wilshire Boulevard Temple Bat Mitzvah | Irmas Campus

Here's one of our favorite all-time videos montages. It's images of Samantha, from her December Wilshire Boulevard Temple Bat Mitzvah, chanting from the torah.
Photodex, which makes our favorite video montage software, Producer, just came out with a new version that shows videos in crisp, widescreen, and we love the look.
Check it out!

Lana's Bat Mitzvah Video Montage by Graham & Graham

Here's the "director's cut," version (a shorter, 2.5 minute video) of one of our all-time favorite Bat Mitzvah video montages. It's from Lana's Redondo Beach Bat Mitzvah at the Crowne Plaza Hotel. We see more movie parodies in our future. Enjoy!

Redondo Beach Bat Mitzvah | Crowne Plaza | batmitzvahphotographer.com

Saturday it was finally Lana's turn. Lana made her majestic grand entrance to her rocking Bat Mitzvah party at the Crowne Plaza in Redondo Beach, with over 300 guests sharing the love.

It was the third simcha for the Granow clan, and we have been honored to be there for all three.

It was also Lana's third time on the Hora chair. See below for her 2007 and 2005 moments.

One highlight is always the Havdalah ceremony, as staged by the clergy at Manhattan Beach's Congregation Tikvat Jacob. We love photographing it in natural, colorful candle light.


The party was put on by master party planning service In Any Event, and Robin Crevelt. Love that color! DJ Mark Ray had the audience up and moving all night. We produced the montage, which we'll post here soon.

Mazel tov, Lana!

Less Stress? Let a Party Planner take care of it.

 
Interesting article in the latest edition of the Jewish Journal about several things that could go wrong during a Bar/Bat Mitzvah event and how to avoid them.
Party planner Yvonne Wolf offers her take on why Bar/Bat Mitzvah moms and dads need some well-deserved help on the big night. The venue will rent you space and collect their fee, but they rarely help with the all-important details, like decorating the room and helping you find the best vendors.
The party planner pro is also on site to help avoid problems.
For instance, what do you do if the wrong appetizers are served? Or, worse, the venue runs out of food during the cocktail hour and your guests start to get really cranky? How do you handle an excessivly long line at the bar? Yvonne has solutions--read what she has to say in the Jewish Journal.
By the way, we worked with Yvonne at one of the all-time most memorable parties, a baseball themed (natch) affair for Drew at Dodger Stadium last year. You can reach Yvonne at 323.356.2698, or via e-mail at yvonnewolf@roadrunner.com
Congrats Yvonne on the article!