ABOUT

AMV Retreats was founded by Amanda Virga of AMV Weddings in the heart of the COVID-19 pandemic while searching for ways to bring creative minds together again and build something beautiful to be captured and enjoyed by the talented souls of our industry, after a shortage of wedding business and endless postponements. During a brainstorming zoom call with a fellow industry friend, the brilliant Andreas Georgiou (the photography master behind our retreats), the AMV Retreats community was born!

Having traveled to 56 countries and coordinating weddings all over the world, Amanda began planning retreats in some of the most jaw-dropping locations around Europe. Amanda invited a hand selected group of photographers to join the initial retreats in order to curate a community of diverse individuals with the same goals from the start. We believe that each and every photographer who comes to us, comes for a reason. These retreats are not just another opportunity for content or a “Styled Shoot”, these meaningful experiences are just the beginning of your journey being welcomed into a community of supportive and uplifting fellow industry professionals who you will build lifelong relationships with! It’s not just a workshop, it’s truly an enlightening experience that will give you a comprehensive set of tools to apply in many aspects of your life and business.

Our restorative and exclusive retreats are hosted in breathtaking locations around the world and aim to present a select number of attendees with a 3-day-long intensive masterclass on business development, style, photographic technique, visual culture, and purposeful branding. The workshop balances hands-on learning and classroom time in order to help you create an inspiring portfolio, develop clarity of aesthetic direction, book more of your ideal clients, and build a profitable and resilient photography business.

Our editorial shoots feature professional bride and groom models who are often real couples, top industry suppliers, high fashion & breathtaking settings for our attendees to craft an inspiring portfolio that elevates their brand & attracts their ideal client. Over three days of interactive workshops, classroom time & networking experiences our attendees Develop clarity of aesthetic direction while receiving invaluable tools & guidance to completely transform their business.

The 5-star retreat experience

From gourmet dining to wine tasting, perfume making to sipping champagne with friends in the pool of a 5* French chateau, this is YOUR time to indulge!

The Production Value

A coterie of the world’s best vendors works for months in order to create our lavish photoshoot productions. Our productions are small-sized ultra-luxury realistic weddings. In fact, aside from the lack of guests, you‘d be hard-pressed to tell these are not a real high-end wedding.

The Community

15-20 people form an intimate cohort, allowing EVERYONE to find those special like-minded friends who will champion them on their journey both during and after the retreat. This community is the very heart of our Retreats, and what makes our participants join 3,4 or even all of the Retreats!

A Safe Place

We take great pride in the fact that, thanks to the small number of attendees, we can give our participants a level of creative freedom that most workshops cannot.

Amanda Virga

Founder of AMV Retreats, Worldwide Wedding Planner

Amanda Virga is a worldwide wedding planner who has 13 years of experience in the event industry, executing over 500 weddings during her career and 13 successful retreats to date from Bali to Portugal. While based in the South of France, she has also worked on weddings across the globe, over 4 continents from Spain and Tuscany to Thailand. Her approach is unique, not only does she have a passion for creating flawless events but she is also committed to creating valuable experiences that bring industry professionals together, collaborating with some of the best in the industry, and designing breathtaking editorial projects. Her weddings and editorial work have been featured on Good Morning America, Vogue, BRIDES, Style Me Pretty, WedLuxe, The Knot, Junebug, Wedding Chicks, and more.

Amanda is an avid traveler having visited 62 countries, she also spent an entire year traveling the world in 2018 while immersing herself into the wedding industry in each of her destinations. Her adventurous and worldly spirit is what inspired the creation of AMV retreats, a one of a kind experience connecting wedding creatives across the globe. When not traveling or planning events, she is usually found snuggling up with her chihuahua, enjoying a glass of prosecco or practicing yoga. She is a firm believer that achieving a good life balance is the ultimate key to success.

Andreas K.  Georgiou

Andreas is one of Europe’s leading destination photographers. His work has a distinct editorial quality captured on analogue film (or film-emulated) for that painterly old-world appeal. Andreas’ work takes him to Italy, the US, France and Greece, among others, where he photographs high-profile weddings and editorial campaigns for many brands around Europe. In addition, Andreas hosts a Marketing podcast that helps other creatives find a sense of purpose and create thriving brands that make a lasting, positive change in the world.

Andreas is also a serial entrepreneur, and following his studies in Brain Science at the Universities of Cambridge and Harvard, he co-founded a multi-million marketing agency, launched several internet companies, and worked with one of the world’s largest mobile phone manufacturers. All of these experiences have propelled his own business into becoming a successful brand and provide the foundation of his coaching sessions.

Andreas lives on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus near mainland Greece with his wife, Alexia, and their two children. He is an avid equestrian, plays jazz piano, writes, and enjoys long walks along his home island’s endless shoreline.

Sophie Kaye

Sophie Kaye is a New York City based wedding & commercial photographer living on the Upper West Side with her French Bulldog, Olive. After beginning her career as a fashion photographer in college, she branched out into weddings and quickly fell in love with capturing joyful, curated celebrations and commercial work for select clients. With a fashion-oriented, editorial aesthetic, she has photographed campaigns for Carol Hannah, Claire Pettibone and Randi Rahm; as well as the collections of Marchesa, Galia Lahav, and Reem Acra. Her work has been featured in Vogue, Martha Stewart Weddings, Style Me Pretty, Over The Moon, and The Knot.

Jeremy Chou

After getting my Bachelor’s degree in Architecture, I worked in one of the largest architecture firms in the US. I was making a great living, bought our first house, and things were looking great. However, my life became all about excel spreadsheets & writing reports. I still remember the day when I was working on yet another excel spreadsheet, and I told myself, “I’m not doing this for the next 30 years of my life.” I knew something needed to change. I decided to buy my first DSLR camera just to give it a try! I started off by taking photos of my daughters, and became OBSESSED with photography. I loved everything about it. The ability to create art and connect with my subjects was fascinating to me. It gave me the creative outlet that I needed.

A decade and 300+ weddings later, now as they say, the rest is history. I consider it an honor to be entrusted with the task of documenting some of the most important days of my clients’ lives!

Marlies Hartmann

As an NYU TISCH School of the Arts graduate and former New Yorker, I have been perfecting my craft for the past decade in Santa Monica, California, where the sun-kissed beaches of the Pacific Ocean meet the charm of old Hollywood. Having studied abroad in Florence Italy, I am deeply rooted in my love of art history, specifically Renaissance art, and the Dutch masters. Listed as one of the top 100 photographers in the world, I am known for artfully intertwining my love of photojournalism with an editorial flair and insatiable obsession with beautiful light. As a former speaker for Canon USA, I currently mentor a select few photographers each year and am a proud ambassador for many industry partners and leaders.

Holly Clark

Named as one of the top society photographers by Harrods and as preferred photographer to some of the worlds leading wedding planners, Holly prides herself on providing a unique, discreet and personal service to her portfolio of clients.

Inspired by travel, and the people and places she encounters along the way, Holly aims to craft timeless, graceful and honest images whilst narrating once-in-a-lifetime moments and stories.

As Henri Cartier-Bresson once said, “Photographers deal in things which are continually vanishing and when they have vanished there is no contrivance on earth which can make them come back again” – this is a statement which resonated with Holly since her career began and it is with this in mind, that she is so dedicated to her work and the creation of family heirlooms for generations to come.

Niki Marie Taylor

With over a decade of experience photographing weddings and events, Niki has mastered the delicate balance of anticipating and capturing the beauty of emotional, once-in-a-lifetime moments while also authentically guiding couples to achieve classic, romantic images that they will cherish.

Niki provides wedding photography for chic, fashion-forward clients looking to capture their love story in an authentic way.

Photographing all over the globe, she has developed a classic style that has brought her a loyal base of clients and followers. Over the years she has grown the NMP brand to include not only incredible weddings but also highly curated educational workshops for photographers seeking to further their craft.

Niki’s work has been featured in top publications such as Brides, Martha Stewart Weddings, Over the Moon, Carats & Cake, The New York Times, and more.

Kir Tuben

When you think of luxury DC Weddings, Kir Tuben is your gal. This hybrid wedding photographer has captured close to 200 weddings in her tenure as a full-time, fine art photographer and she has no intention of slowing down. Kir started her career in 2011 after graduating from Duke with a degree in Documentary Photography; she also gives back to the photo community by using her Masters in Education to mentor budding creatives in business and art direction.

While she resides in Northern Virginia with her two cats, husband and adorable dog Pepper, Kir shoots weddings all over the globe and is frequently capturing love in her hometown of Delray Beach, Florida for winter wedding season. She has photographed campaigns for the Knot, WeddingWire and multiple national TV shows and has also been featured in People, Martha Stewart, Brides, Style Me Pretty and more. Accolades aside, her proudest accomplishment as an extreme romantic is creating legacy memories for her clients. She loves a mule (both the shoe and the drink), all things vintage and probably wants to take you to karaoke.

Chris Jespersen

A sought-after filmmaker with a larger-than-life personality, Chris Jespersen is a destination wedding filmmaker who truly loves his work and clients. With a heart for people and service, he approaches filmmaking with joy and a grateful heart.

Passionate about celebrations, people, and entrepreneurship, Chris Jespersen has built a business based on what he loves. These things, along with cinematic excellence, are the core of Storybox. Because of that, Chris and his team travel all over the world for their clients who are recognized for their accomplishments in politics, athletics, business, fashion, and the entertainment industry.

In the early days of his business, Chris took many risks. He will be speaking on "The Art of Risk Taking" and how risk taking has impacted his business - for good and bad. You will be taken on a journey through the evolution of what Storybox has become how it's gotten here. More importantly, you will walk away with actionable steps for pushing the needle forward in your own business."

Harper's Bazaar named Chris Jespersen of Storybox Cinema one of the top wedding cinematographers in the world. 

Branco Prata

LUCY MUNOZ

CLAIRE MORRIS

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