Richard and Steven @Grounds for Sculpture ~ mkPhotography, New Jersey Wedding Photographer
Sage, insightful words from Richard on their loving, special Day:
“The best advice I can give couples planning their wedding– especially a same sex wedding like ours– is:
1. Pick a place that you feel comfortable and welcome from the very start. It’s your big day; we finally attained in the hard-fought battle the right to legally get married and you deserve all the special treatment without any hints of prejudice from anyone! Rat’s Restaurant, Grounds for Sculpture and mkPhotography were the perfect choices for us!
2. Pick a Venue that speaks to you and showcases what you are about as a couple. We love travel and especially travel to ancient places in the world. Choosing The Nine Muses garden location at the Grounds for Sculpture brought the Ancient World into the Modern World and allowed our guests to have an experience! They felt like they were at a destination wedding without the travel!
3. Craft a ceremony that also reflects exactly who you are! We were lucky to find a celebrant, Dorry Bless, who was such a great listener she created a one-of-a-kind unique ceremony in collaboration with us so genuine that all who attended said it was like nothing they had ever experienced. So loving and intimate!
4. Attend any open house events your venue may offer. We found our photographer, tasted our food and found our celebrant all in one place! And the fact that all of them had previous experience working that venue, all of them guided us and made the stress level lower in all regards!
5. Don’t let the theme overwhelm you! Make it simple and elegant. If the venue is already beautiful or the setting for the ceremony stunning, let that be most of the backdrop. Add a few larger flower arrangements and simpler displays on the tables and you are all set!
6. Consider a Cocktail Reception instead of a more formal sit down! Everyone loves the Cocktail Hour so why not extend that for three hours? We did and everyone loved being able to mingle with each other without assigned seating and we got to roam around too spending more time with family and friends! The pressure of not having to do table charts etc, was perfect! We had a Sunday afternoon wedding and this suited the occasion perfectly!
7. Pick a photographer that coincides with your artistic side! mkPhotography shot every picture from several angles giving us shots from formal to candid that brought the day to life in pictures! They were unobtrusive and were not a hindrance during the day at all. They were well-prepared with photo options and set-up from their years of experience and we are totally overwhelmed in the work of art they captured!”
Some details:
Venue: Rat’s Restaurant at Grounds for Sculpture
Flowers: potted Geraniums
Music: Mason Gross School of the Arts
See the Photographer’s Picks slideshow HERE
