Advice To The Young Wonder Woman, On Her First Milk Bath

Last month milk bath portraits started populating my social media feeds. Of course, I became mesmerized and wondered ‘what it would be like to be like Cleopatra and indulge in one of these luxuries...and be photographed doing it?’ I sent a text about my idea to my friend Rob Yaskovic, who happens to be a wonderful portrait photographer (among other things) and he replied immediately, “I’m totally in.”


The 7 things I learned getting this awesome portrait:

1) You don’t need milk from the farmers’ market for your milk bath.  I went to Walmart because I knew they would have Dry Milk at affordable prices. I ended up getting 6 large boxes of generic brand dry milk (everything they had on the shelf) and 5 gallons of whole milk.  I chose whole milk because I wanted to get my milk bath as white as possible. When it was time to get the bath ready, I poured the dry milk in one box at a time as super hot water was filling the tub. I wanted the warm water to dissolve the dry milk so there wouldn’t be clumps, and it worked.

*I feel like I should make a disclaimer, I also bought one bag of Oreos at Walmart while picking up the milk (I don’t even want to know what the cashier thought). Turns out, so many of the cookies were damaged when we opened them and were getting ready to start. As an Oreo aficionado, I have seen the occasional broken cookie, but never to this degree.  So where I can comfortably recommend Walmart for the milk, I would suggest your fanciest grocer for the pièce de résistance–America’s and my favorite cookie, Oreos.


2) There is such a thing as a modest milk bath.  For modesty’s sake, I made the photographer Rob close his eyes as I slipped into the tub. I was fully clothed mind you, in my Wonder Woman costume, but I still felt shy. It’s good to work with someone you trust when you’re trying out something kind of outrageous.

Upon reflection, I probably did not need to do my hair for this project.

3) You don’t have to be a method actor for a portrait shoot. Being in a milk tub surrounded by Oreos, I have to admit was disorienting. There was a very limited time we had to get the shot once the Oreos hit the milk because they dissolve quickly. I wish future me was there to tell me that I shouldn’t actually eat the Oreos. So many of the pictures that Rob took have me with my mouth closed chewing—or worse yet, with some of the black residue on my front teeth. Confession, there was even one point I grabbed an Oreo that was floating by my shoulder and popped it in my mouth. As it dissolved into oblivion in my mouth I thought, “wow, that milk got this Oreo just the perfect consistency.” It was against my nature to waste these cookies, but if I were to give myself advice, it would be to just use the Oreos as a prop during the shoot. You can eat what’s left over when the work is done.

4) Get some help. Rob wishes we had an assistant on hand for cookie placement and to fish out the soggy ones I didn’t eat first between takes. As it was, Rob was perched on top of the tub, straddling the edges to get his shot. Between his precarious position and the grip on the camera, he wasn’t able to toss the cookies at me like I had imagined.

5) Outtakes and behind the scenes are where it’s at. We both wish we had someone there to film the entire process. This whole shoot was hilarious. Rob and I wish someone was there to document us as we figured it out.

6) Culture Club for the Jet Set—Just three days after the milk bath shoot, I went to thoroughly clean up the tub. I noticed a slight sour smell and then saw a viscous creamy drip coming out of one of the Jacuzzi jets. Yuck! We had started a yogurt-like culture in the jet system. If I were to do this over again, I would immediately clean the tub right after the shoot. That means refilling it with clean hot water, adding bleach and then letting the jets run a full cycle. If you’re working with one of those old fashioned tubs, then you don’t have to worry about this part.

7) Collaborate and Listen. Like most people who make an effort to cultivate creativity in their daily lives, there are a handful of times every week where I’ll have an idea or vision for something new, silly or outrageous. Following the leads on these magical moments of creativity takes effort, time and courage. Not all of these ideas are birthed, but every time I pursue one, I learn something new and am happy I did. Most of the time, working together with a friend or trusted colleague will make the original idea only better.

And it's a wrap! Such a pleasure working with photographer Rob Yaskovic on this silly project.

Ashley + Jon, 'I Want The World To Celebrate'

Ashley and Jonathan were married surrounded by warm glowing lights at Philadelphia’s Front & Palmer. The sparkling backdrop from their ceremony space was a perfect fit to describe their special connection, love for friends and family, and hopes for the future.

"She’s gorgeous, intelligent, hardworking, funny and confident. You can’t imagine a “better partner with whom to share the rest of your days.” This is the woman with whom you share a magical connection, the face that lights up when you return, hands that will touch yours as you share life’s many adventures together." --Alisa Tongg, Celebrant

"He’s smart and handsome, funny, kind, romantic and outgoing. This is a man who demonstrates his capacity for fierce loyalty and optimism, even when his beloved Philadelphia sports teams are down on their luck. The man who makes you laugh everyday, who warms your soul and fills your heart, he’s the sane to your crazy, the calm to your storm, the clean to your messy, he’s your perfect complement and your best friend."--Alisa Tongg, Celebrant

Through all the changes in their past eight years together, Ashley and Jon have built their dreams around each other one day at a time.

Love Story (an excerpt from their ceremony)

It was Senior Week, and Ashley was in Ocean City with friends celebrating graduation. “On a whim”, Ashley texted her friend Brandon from work, (who lives in Pennsylvania, but just happened to also be in Ocean City on this particular Wednesday night), and invited him to join in the celebrations.
Brandon was in Ocean City with his friend Jon and within the hour they all met up to head over to a party together.

Now, during the summer of 2007, Jon was going through a stage where he wore sleeves on his head, and this particular night, like many other days that year, he was fully committed to helping this fashion trend take off.

At the party, in a room full of people, Ashley remembers being drawn to Jon, and out of everyone, it was him she wanted to know. And Ashley had made an impression on Jon too. He says he remembers being in disbelief that his friend Brandon was “chatting with a girl that attractive!”

And maybe there was a little magic in Jon’s sleeve, because at the end of the night, Ashley texted Brandon, “your friend in the sleeve is really cute!” Ashley and Jon made plans to meet up again, and Jon says, “I knew something was going to come from it…and it did!”

Five months after they first met, while both home for Thanksgiving break, sitting next to each other on a sofa watching a movie together, all Jonathan could think about was how great it felt to be with Ashley. He recalls, “everything just felt right” he asked Ashley if she would be his girlfriend. And a few months later, on Valentine’s Day, he finally told her what had been brewing in his heart since that night on the sofa…it was love.

For Ashley, when it came to love, it seems as if she and Jon were existing in their own dimension of time, “it happened all at once and slowly at the same time,” she says, “which when you think about it doesn’t make much sense, but that’s how it felt—and how it still feels…”

Over the years, Ashley and Jon have evolved and developed into new versions of themselves, and this has been exciting. In the summer of 2009, when they both moved to State College together, Jon remembers knowing that he wanted to be with Ashley in a forever sort of way—“It was moving day, her dad and brother left and it was just us in our new apartment full of boxes,” Jon remembers looking around and at Ashley and just knowing that “this was going to be great.” Ashley adds, “as we grow and change and mature, it feels like we are doing it together…I am always discovering new parts of him to love.”

Last year, over Memorial Day Weekend, Jonathan flew into Chicago to surprise Ashley who was there on a work assignment. On their way to dinner, Jon asked a young woman walking by if she’d snap a picture of the two of them together...and then a second one just to be sure. When Ashley went to put her arm around Jon for the second picture, she reached and missed…then she discovered Jonathan down on one knee, with a ring in his hand, asking, “Will you marry me?”

Ring Blessing Jon and Ashley wanted their guests to feel invited to participate in the start of their marriage, so we included a Ring Blessing in their ceremony. In a Ring Blessing, or Ring Warming, the couple’s wedding bands are passed through all the guests, so that each friend or family member can infuse the rings with their own private wish or prayer for the couple and their marriage. By the time the couple exchanges their rings later on the in the ceremony, the rings have collected a tremendous amount of good will from all the witnesses.

Bill Murray was also there in spirit.

Remembrance Not every loved one was able to be present to witness the start of Jon and Ashley’s married life together. So we included a special Remembrance for Jon’s father Robert. In honor of his father’s influence and lasting and loving example in his life, Jon chose to wear his late-father’s wedding band as his own.

Unity Ritual, Wine Box: Ashley and Jon chose the Anniversary Wine Box + Love Letters for their unity ritual. They brought a wooden box symbolizing the strength and endurance of their marriage; a bottle of wine symbolizing that their marriage will only get better over time; a hammer and two nails to demonstrate the active and intentional part of love in a marriage, and love letters. They plan to open their Anniversary Box once a year, drink the wine while  reminiscing and then replace the bottle and add new love letters for the next anniversary.

 

Guests signed their best wishes on to the Newlyweds' custom Anniversary Wine Box

As Ashley and Jon sealed their vows with a kiss and took the first steps into their married life, MIKA 'Celebrate' played and set the tone for the rest of the celebration.

"...Everyone says now or never


I say only if it's better


Be a night like this forever


We know better



I want the world to celebrate


I want the world to celebrate


I want the world to celebrate


I want the world to celebrate..."

Solidity Films was there to film the entire celebration, watch their highlight film here...https://vimeo.com/139632935

Photographer || Pat Robinson Photography 
Cinematography || Solidity Films 
Venue || Front & Palmer 
Officiant: Alisa Tongg, Celebrant

Lisa + Ben, Stylish Micro-Wedding at The Living Wall at Promise Ridge

This August, Ben and Lisa traveled down from Toronto where they live, to northeastern Pennsylvania to exchange vows at the Living Wall at Promise Ridge. Just their immediate family was invited. Although their family knew of their plans for an intimate elopement-style wedding, the details of the celebration weekend were kept as a surprise for Lisa and Ben's family. 

Micro-wedding set-up at The Living Wall at Promise Ridge

Limelight hydrangea from the garden.

 

Lisa looked elegant in her two-piece lace pencil skirted wedding suit and held a simple bouquet of summer flowers from the garden. Ben was handsome in his new dark blue linen suit excited for the surprise finale to their wedding ceremony. 

We included a Ring Blessing in their ceremony, so that everyone would have a chance to infuse their best wishes for the couple and their marriage into their rings before Lisa and Ben exchanged them.

   

After their exchange of vows, Lisa and Ben signed their marriage certificate, and then sealed their promises with a kiss. Their first act as a married couple was partaking in an adaptation of the German wedding tradition of sawing a log in half. 

 

Leading up to their wedding, Ben had found a man in New Jersey, close to the airport they flew into, who had beautiful estate tools for sale. On their drive into Pennsylvania for their wedding weekend, Lisa and Ben, delighted in their procurement of one of these vintage double-handled saws for their unity ritual. 

 

Lisa and Ben started the task of sawing their log in half, symbolizing that they will continue to work together as a team to overcome life's obstacles. Then, their gathered family was surprised to be asked to participate as well. Lisa and Ben wanted their family to know how much they depended on their love and support in their lives too, and asked everyone to take a turn at helping them saw their log in half. The dads were up first, followed by the bride and groom's mothers, then their siblings all took turns helping. When everyone had pitched in, the newlyweds finished the task to the sounds of enthusiastic cheers.

Lisa and Ben gather their families for a new family portrait.

As the newlyweds made their way to their getaway car, they discovered that their family had a surprise for them too!

Photographer | Susie Forrester Photography
Officiant | Alisa Tongg, Celebrant
Venue | The Living Wall at Promise Ridge