Lisa and Mike drove down to the Hagley Museum all the way from Northern Jersey for this great spring shoot. They are professional tap dancers! I met Lisa at another wedding last year. We will be photographing Lisa and Mike’s wedding up in New Jersey in August.

See the Photographer’s Picks from this session HERE.

Jana

View the Photographer’s Picks HERE.

Reception Venue, Caterer: Crystal Tea Room, Finley Catering
Flowers: Arrangements Unlimited
Music: Carnivale

View the Photographer’s Picks HERE.

Coordinator: Kelsey Gilland, A Little Soiree
Reception Venue, Caterer: Vie
Flowers: Cottage Flowers
Hair and Makeup: Calista Brides

Claire and Chris got married in one of their favorite cities: charming Annapolis, Maryland! They were married at St. Johns College. St. Johns college only hosts weddings during spring and summer break which just leaves a handful of weekends available each year so it’s a rare treat to book and marry there.

Says Claire, “Chris and I met in Princeton, NJ during the summer of 2007. I had recently moved from Gainesville, Florida for my first job out of college at Princeton University Press. Chris is a Princeton area native, and at the time, was moonlighting at the local bar called The Ivy.

I first saw Chris when I was at happy hour with a coworker and instantly noticed him when he walked in for his bartending shift. Getting to know someone is pretty difficult in a loud bar let alone while one of the persons is also working, so Chris did what any guy in 2007 would do and told me to ‘Myspace message him.’

After checking out his Myspace page, which impressed me with obscure Bruce Springsteen lyrics and claims (which all turned out to be true) such as never missing a phone call and possessing a sophisticated culinary palette, I sent him a message. After exchanging a few messages back and forth, we had our first date. Pretty soon thereafter, we became inseparable.

We moved into an apartment together and got our first dog, Maggie. Four years later, in the kitchen of our own home, Chris asked me to marry him with a beautiful ring he designed, which includes a very special ruby that my dad had given my mother.

Once we decided to get married in Annapolis, MD I began scouring the internet for possible venues. I came upon a beautiful photograph of long reception tables in a room with neo-classical architecture and Georgian details. I found out that the photo was taken at St. Johns College right in downtown Annapolis. The location was truly ‘picture perfect.’

Once we had the venue nailed down, the rest fell into place. As Event Director at a floral and event design company, I know the importance of picking top-notch vendors and I have the advantage of knowing who those vendors are. I knew immediately I wanted MK Photography to shoot my wedding and I was thrilled when they agreed to follow me down to Annapolis. Ken’s Creative Kitchen did a phenomenal job; from the butler-passed lemonade with mint before the ceremony to the grilled cheese and sliders served late night. But I truly couldn’t have done it without my team at Viburnum Designs. From linens, lounge furniture, and centerpieces, to those gorgeous wreaths on the front doors of the hall, they truly created the wedding of my dreams.”

For the Photographer’s Picks click HERE.

Venue: St. Johns College
Caterer: Ken’s Creative Kitchen
Wedding Planner: Wedding Savvy
Floral and Event Design: Viburnum Designs
Music and Lighting: DJ Deesh
Cake: Fiona’s Cakes
Dress: Vera Wang
Reception Dress: Forever XXI
Bridesmaids Dresses: Their own
Calligraphy: Friend of the Bride

From the Bride:

I was set up with Andrew on a blind date by a family I was babysitting
for that knew him very well (it was actually Michael Goldberg, our
Jeweler that was the matchmaker). Our first date was a 6 hour road trip
to Pittsburgh to visit friends. He told me he was going to visit a
friend and I told him I was coming because i had a very good friend out
there at the time. We hit it off and were seriously inseparable since.

Andrew took me to the Brandywine Zoo in Wilmington and took me to the
otter display. He started to talk about how otters have one partner in
life and how we were like the otters but he cut his speech short when
we were interrupted by a woman cleaning dirt out of the otter pool. He
then took me on a walk because it was a beautiful day down to the
Brandywine river. It was very private and intimate and I was totally
surprised other than the “one-life partner” at the otter cage. He got
down on one knee and I of course said yes!

As far as plans, I had a ton of help from our AMAZING wedding planner
Samantha Diedrick of Secretariat. She
thought of every imaginable detail and helped make my vision a
reality. Her attention to detail was mind-blowing!

The amazing vendors!
Coordinator: Secretariat
Reception Venue: Greenville Country Club
Caterer: Greenville Country Club
Video: CinemaCake
Flowers: Celebrations Design
Music: EBE Entertainment-Rio

This gorgeous wedding and couple was featured on Style Me Pretty! See the full story and gallery HERE

You can also see the Photographer’s picks HERE

We love working together with great vendors to make these days come together in such a beautiful way!

Coordinator: Details by Kelly
Reception Venue: The Franklin Institute
Catering and Cake: Frog Commissary
Videographer: Tangerine Media Group
Flowers: Uncommon Events
Music: Star Talent, Inc.
Hair and Makeup: Glamourella NYC, LLC
Bride’s Dress: Martina Liana
Bridesmaid’s dresses: Monique Lhuillier

This was a great wedding day…..
We wanted to share Brooke’s short story with you.
“Scott and I had grown up in neighboring towns and had alot of mutual friends, so we knew of each other. He formally introduced himself at a bar with friends in 2003. We dated briefly then, but were both in college and doing our own thing. We always kept in touch! Fast forward to 2010, we were both single, older, and started dating more seriously. Scott moved in after a year of dating, and 9 months later, Memorial Day weekend, we took our normal bike ride down at the shore where he popped the question. When we rode our bikes back to our shore place, both of our families were there to surprise us! We picked a wedding date that gave us 9 months of planning time. We were aiming for a classic, romantic, and elegant affair, with lots of family and friends to celebrate! ”

Dress: Maggie Sottero
Shoes: Our favorite funky boots Hunter Boots
Jewelry: Heirlooms from family
Flowers: Beautiful Blooms
Hair and Makeup: Duo Make up Artistry
Ceremony: VIE
Reception: The VIE by Cescaphe Event Group
Getting Ready and Portraits: lemeridien Philadelphia
Videography: Doug Rivers
Band/DJ: Central Park

From the Bride:

How We Met:
Kenny and I met a little over 5 years ago at our college’s Alumni Homecoming. Although we went to the same college, we never crossed paths until that night. I was out that night with a girlfriend and Kenny was with some of his friends. Shortly after arriving I spotted Kenny across the way. I quickly told my girlfriend that I was going to go up and talk to him. Being a very shy person my friend doubted me and was shocked when I actually did! So, that’s how it all began…me taking a risk to go up and talk to a very attractive man from across the room. It still surprises me today that I had the courage to approach him first but as I look back and remember that night, there was absolutely no hesitation. I just knew I had to meet him.

The Proposal:
Kenny and I were dating over 3 years and spoke occasionally of marriage. The night before my birthday I brought up the “future” topic, but he quickly dismissed me. Well, this made me want to discuss it more. Finally at the end of it all, Kenny told me that I just needed to stop. So I did unwillingly. Little did I know he had a ring and was planning on proposing to me on my birthday. To throw me off any suspicion he waited a week or so.
The night of the proposal I came home late and was ready to go to bed right away. Kenny, the night owl, decided to follow me up to go to bed also. Strange but ok, didn’t think anything of it. As I open up our bedroom door, I noticed the lights out, candles lite, and roses petals laid out on the floor spelling “Marry Me”. He then hands me a ring; his great aunt’s ring. I am looking at him waiting for him to ask, but he is telling me the story of the ring and asking if I liked it. This was his way of distracting me. He then pulled out the real engagement ring and got on one knee and asked me to marry him. Of course, I said yes.

Wedding Planning:
We both wanted a fall wedding but we got engaged in May and did not want to feel rushed or have the stress of planning a wedding so quickly. So we decided to wait until the following fall. Best decision ever! We had 1½ year to plan. I knew, however, that I needed to book certain things quickly since fall is now a very popular time to get married. So we went out searching for our location shortly after getting engaged. As we went from place to place nothing seemed to fit right. We knew we wanted the ceremony outside and also wanted the ceremony and reception at the same location but nothing caught our eye. A friend of mine recommended going to Loch Nairn. We instantly fell in love with its atmosphere and charm. Their event coordinator, Rebecca Brooks who unfortunately no longer works there, also fit our easygoing personalities. We couldn’t have asked for a better location.
Although Kenny was a big help…I did most of the planning. I was very lucky to have such wonderful friends and family members that gave me a ton of advise and help during the planning stages. I used a lot of Loch Nairn’s recommended list of vendors and did a good amount of research before committing to something. Let’s face it I had the time, so I was able to do so. I used bridal magazines, blogs, and surprisingly enough Facebook. All I would have to do is put up a status asking for advice. I was surprised on how many people would respond. My table cards come from a Facebook idea. I am a kindergarten teacher and I knew I wanted something unique while incorporating my students. I got a ton of ideas from others through Facebook. I then combined the ideas into what worked for me. I ended up having my students write out the guests’ names in fall colored crayons and they turned out adorable! And best of all I killed two birds with one stone; a writing lesson for my students while not having to write out them myself!
I can honestly say our wedding was us. Simple but elegant. Laidback but polished. It couldn’t have been a more perfect example of Kenny and I and our love for each other.

Thank you to all the vendors who made this day possible!

Reception: Loch Nairn
Caterer: Loch Nairn
Cake: Liberty Lane Bake Shoppe
Flowers: Blue Moon Florist
Music: Rich Buchanan- DJ
Hair and Makeup: Bella Hair and Spa contact Kelly Miller at weddingbybella@gmail.com
Wedding Dress: Tara Keely
Shoes: Lulu Townsend
Bridesmaids dresses: Dessy

From the bride:
Cinderella Complex, that’s what I had diagnosed myself with years ago. Who doesn’t want the handsome prince, on the white horse, with the happily ever after ending? Was that too much to ask? Apparently….it was. Handfuls of failed relationships later I was left without the handsome prince or his horse but I did, however bring my beautiful daughter, Skylar Rose, into this world. At that point, I did start to give up on the fairy tale, cursing Disney movies and love novels for giving me a skewed sense of love, for there were no princesses I could remember that had been a single mom. So I stopped looking, hid the Disney books and movies from my daughter, and moved forward.
That was until one day I received a Facebook message (what else these days) from a friend I had known in college. He was looking to buy an investment property and it just so happened he knew I was a Realtor. The first day we began to look at homes Jarryd didn’t ride in on a white horse, or even a brown one for that matter, it was a silver BMW, so naturally (out of old habit) I paid no attention. He bought the property and we said our “goodbyes, nice to see you again, we will talk real soon”. Little did I know he had feelings towards me so I was shocked when he called telling me he wanted to buy ANOTHER property. He must have realized he would have to tell me he how he felt because buying properties just to keep me around was getting expensive. I am sure I will be forever known as his most expensive dating experience. So, instead of buying that second property, he decided to take me out to dinner. And so our story continued….
Three short years later, January 7, 2011 to be exact, Jarryd surprised me with a weekend getaway, only catch was he wouldn’t tell me where we were going. I was told to pack everything from a bathing suit to snow gear. I still don’t know why he showed any sign of shock when he showed up and I had three large suitcases that needed to be loaded up. I then sat in the passenger seat, blindfolded, for the next 4 hours. It was probably the only relaxing drive we have ever taken together, since he insists my backseat driving makes him crazy and I am sure he can’t possibly drive without me telling him how to do it. But I sat there, in the dark, and when he finally let me take it off we were in the Lincoln Tunnel! As soon as we arrived we walked to Central Park. It was my first time, and even though my toes were already frozen from the snow, I was excited. We boarded a carriage, not horse drawn (remember I gave up on that fairy tale), bicycle drawn and began our tour. We made a stop and Jarryd and I took a walk down a snow covered path, until we reached a beautiful ivory colored bridge hovering over an icy pond. We stood in the middle of the Bow Bridge for quite some time, taking in the views of New York City. Then he turned to me and got down on one knee, in the snow, pulled out a little blue box, and asked those four words, “Will you marry me?”. It was the moment I had dreamed about for years and shockingly my instant reaction was to jump off the bridge, run the other way, or get sick. I had given up on this long before, how was this happening? But, everything in my heart had told me that even though he didn’t have the horse, we hadn’t met at a ball, our story didn’t start with Once Upon a Time… he was my prince. He made me believe in my fairy tale again.
For the next year I searched high and low for my castle and stumbled upon it in Philadelphia. In the middle of all the crazy drivers, beeping horns, and some not so nice people I looked up at the Masonic Temple of Philadelphia and everything else just faded away. I knew this was it. So, on August 11, 2012 I married my prince, in a castle, with my daughter right beside us. And (wait….here comes my favorite part)…..we all Lived Happily Ever After….The End

To see the Photographer’s Picks look HERE

This wedding was also featured on Style Me Pretty!!! You can see the feature HERE

A big thank you to the wonderful vendors!!!

Dress: Lazaro, purchased at La Bella Moda in Conshohocken
Jewelry: Touche in King of Prussia and La Bella Moda
Flowers: Beautiful Blooms
Hair and Makeup: Salon Thalia in Philadelphia
Nails: Cinderella nails in Worcester
Ceremony: Corinthian Hall at the Masonic Temple of Philadelphia
Reception: The Atrium at the Curtis Center by Cescaphe Event Group
Portraits: Masonic Temple of Philadelphia, City Hall in Philadelphia, Love Park in Philadelphia and areas surrounding
Videography: Branded Productions
Band/DJ: Mittman Entertainment

Jana was born in Staten Island, NY to a loving and supportive family. She grew up playing sports and going to the beach with friends she “would die for”. She is described as being outgoing, friendly and patient and lives by the motto “Turns out not where you are, but who you’re with is what really matters.” Shaun grew up in Delaware and is described as athletic, funny and generous. They met before a Phillies game when a mutual friend introduced them. They instantly bonded over their mutual love of baseball, playing softball and going to the beach. These two were meant to be together by any standard!

Jana and Shaun wanted an elegant, beautiful and modern wedding with a dance club atmosphere and this photographer can attest to their success! The ground shook with the party they threw and the enthusiasm of their guests when it came time to dance! It was difficult not to start dancing right along with everyone; I certainly could not stop myself completely and frequently found myself keeping time with the music. Not only did we love this couple, but we loved their families! It was an honor to document their day and we cannot to wait to see what their future brings (hopefully a dog as we know Jana wants!)

To see all the Photographer Picks click HERE

Thank you to all the vendors who made this day possible!

Reception: The Merion
Caterer: The Merion
Cake: The Merion
Video: Hi Focused Videography
Flowers: London Creative
Music: All Axcess Entertainment
Wedding Dress: Alfred Angelo