Sharon & Arnold - Crown Plaza Suffern NY

Of all the weddings I photographed this year, Sharon and Arnold's was definitely one of my favorites. This was Arnold's second marriage and Sharon's first.  From the moment I met them it was readily apparent that they truly adored and deeply loved each other.  Besides being in love, you could tell that they were each other’s best friend.  Their family and friends also radiated their joy at being able to share in the celebration of Sharon and Arnold’s special day.

The wedding ceremony and reception were both at The Crown PlazaHotel in Suffern, NJ. Most everyone was staying at the Hotel and this made it possible to pose all the formal pictures before the ceremony.  While this is always a great idea for the bridal party, in this case all of the family and friends were also present in plenty of time beforehand.  This enabled me to set up good shots of everyone who wished to be photographed.  That really takes a lot of pressure off of me and allows me to focus on candid shots throughout the evening.  A truly great candid shot captures a precise moment and more importantly the emotion of that split second.  A slight bit sooner or later and the whole power and beauty of the shot would be lost.  As you look at a truly great candid shot you can almost feel the emotions of the moment.  It is almost as if you are there.  Two good examples that you will find below of my efforts in this regard are the shot of the vows and the shot of Arnold and Sharon acknowledging their friends as they walk down the aisle.  These are two of my personal favorite shots from wedding.

When I met Arnold's daughter Emily, I bounced an idea off of her.  I asked if she thought her father would let me set up his first look at Sharon in her wedding dress.  Emily loved the idea. While this moment was sort of set up by me, Arnold’s reaction would be totally candid and from his heart. Arnold was escorted into Sharon’s room by Emily his daughter, who had her hands over his eyes so that he could not peek.  I was able to get several photos of Arnold’s first look at his bride.  The moment was truly priceless for all.  Arnold kept saying over and over that Sharon looked so beautiful.  It touched us all and tears were shed.  I've included a photo of that first look in this post.

Liz & Santosh - LBI

I photographed Liz and Santosh over the summer during an engagement session.  Both love the outdoors and especially the NJ shore.  They wanted to get married on LBI by the Barnegat Lighthouse.  From the engagement session I was familiar with LBI and the area surrounding the Lighthouse.

The weather was perfect, not a cloud in the sky.  That was very fortunate, since once a date is set you can control almost everything but the weather.  After the ceremony they wanted a few shots with the rocks and the Lighthouse as back drops. While we walked, Liz mentioned to me that they had written their names in the sand and wanted me to snap a few pictures of it. What I soon discovered was that I had to climb all 217 steps of the Lighthouse in order to get an aerial view of them and their names in the sand.  Of course I obliged, but I can say with all honesty that it soon became the most exhausting set of shots I had ever taken.

The reception was at the Haven Beach Club which is one of the oldest nonprofit clubs on LBI.

More images here...

Holly & Brad - Red Bank NJ

Holly grew up in NJ but now lives in Colorado. Since most of her family and friends are here, Holly & Brad decided to tie the knot in NJ.  Due to the distance, my first face to face meeting with Brad and Holly was on their wedding day.  This is not ideal, but fortunately I had several conversations with Holly leading up to the wedding.  Therefore, I had a pretty good idea on how the day would unfold. There were no large surprises and for a wedding photographer that is always a good thing.   

Holly and her bridal party got dressed and ready for the ceremony at the Molly Pitcher Inn. From there it was only a few minutes drive to the Methodist Church on Broad Street in Red Bank, NJ.  The church has a nice balcony containing a huge pipe organ.  One of Holly & Brad's favorite pictures that I have included in this post was from that balcony. One of my favorite pictures from the entire day is of the flower girl walking down the isle.  The expression on everyone's face as they watch her is both moving and beautiful.  This picture is a perfect example of what I strive for as a photographer - the capturing forever of priceless moments in time.

The reception was at Mcloones Rum Runner located in Sea Bright NJ.  They have a nice reception room on the second floor overlooking the bay.  It is very romantic, especially at sunset.  I really loved the innovative favors from the wedding.  Holly & Brad are nature lovers so they gave everyone a tree in a tube to plant.  As the tree grows one could be reminded over the years of the special day they spent with Holly and Brad.

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Jennifer & Mark - Wedding The Tides Estate

Jennifer and Mark waited three years to get married because they wanted their wedding to fall on 9/10/11. The venue they choose for both the ceremony and reception was The Tides Estates, in North Haledon, NJ.  I love photographing weddings when the ceremony and the reception are at the same venue.  This simplifies the logistics of so many things and allows more time for me to set up and select the perfect backdrops, angles and poses for the Bride, Groom and all of their family and friends.

This was an afternoon wedding and because of that we had the entire place to ourselves.  The Tides has a beautiful lobby and I was able to pose the Bridal party there without any interruptions at all.  Interruptions of posed photography occur frequently during peak hours at large multiple wedding venues.  For example, at 5pm the same lobby you see in these pictures was totally mobbed with people waiting for their particular reception.  The Tides had three separate weddings booked that evening.  If Jen and Mark's wedding had been scheduled for the evening, I would have had a very hard time pulling off these shots.