I am soo thrilled to share these! I LOVE Ariel and Greg’s closeness and joy gushing from these photographs- I mean look at their faces above!
They are getting married in September of this year where I will once again ask Greg to “wrap” Ariel up. Looking forward to seeing you both and spending time with you!
It seemed like it took forever for Laurie and Brian’s wedding to get here. We got together way back in May of 2010 for their November 2011 wedding, which may not seem long, but after being a bridesmaid in two of her best friends’ weddings I photographed, she was definitely ready for her big day!
Laurie was the first to book me but the last to get married out of a group of three lovely friends I had the joy of photographing- you may remember Sonya & Kevin in August 2011 then Allison & Sheldon in October, and finally Laurie & Brian in November. By the time their wedding had rolled around I had seen so much of Laurie and Brian between their engagement session and their friends’ weddings, it was like seeing someone I had known for years, and so exciting to finally be at their wedding!
As for Laurie, she is such a joy, an absolute gem to be around! Just look at her through all the photographs- biggest smile you will ever see. Beaming from beginning to end! (Sometimes the smile takes the shape of a scrunchy face, though. Admittedly, she does this a lot!) Laurie is a pediatrician which absolutely fits her perfectly. Her laugh, upbeat demeanor and caring nature find their way into her personal relationships, and with her counterpart, Brian. The man of her dreams. Her perfect companion. And she’s the same to him. Where she can be bubbly and high energy all the time, Brian can be the rock she leans on, as well as quite a character himself. Just make sure to check out the viking helmet photos during the reception with his frat brothers. Get a bunch of fraternity brothers together who haven’t seen each other in awhile, and you are guaranteed a party!
Laurie started getting ready in The Spa at Bear Creek with her mom, Brian’s Mom, and all her Bridesmaids packed in to have their hair and make-up done. While hair and make-up were underway, I snuck up to the room to snap a few shots of her gown, which was a little nerve racking this time, hanging it from the balcony. When I returned the girls were not far behind me to get into their dresses and put the finishing touches on before heading over to the dark stone, ever gorgeous Gideon F. Egner Memorial Chapel on Muhlenberg College’s campus where Laurie and Brian first met! After spending a little time on campus, we headed back to Bear Creek where the surrounding trees made the perfect backdrop for Laurie and Brian’s party! I had such a great time spending the day with them!
Sonya & Kevin, Allison & Sheldon, and Laurie & Brian- I am absolutely thrilled to have been a part of each of your wedding days. Thank you for inviting me so warmly into your lives and allowing me to be there with you through all of it!
A little wedding day limbo!
This is Laurie.
Thanks for looking!
-Dan
Smooching in the back of a Rolls Royce!
Hi everyone! Dan was kind enough to let recap my wedding day, so here I am to tell you all about it.
After about three months of researching photographers, Joe and I finally got a chance to meet with Dan. Even if the guys hadn’t worn almost identical outfits, Joe and I knew straight away that Dan was the right photographer for the job. We emailed often in the run up to the big day, and a few weeks before we met one last time to go over the little details.
Ten days before our wedding, I checked the forecast and saw that there was a pretty strong possibility of rain. In an attempt to be proactive, Joe and I hunted around for some golf umbrellas that would be cute in the photos. I went back to wrapping up all of the tiny details and didn’t think much of the forecast since these things tend to change at the last minute.
And change it did. Joe and I were married on October 29th. And for those of you who remember, the day of a freak Fall snowstorm.
When I woke up, it was grey and rainy. I knew I could handle that because we already had our golf umbrellas and I had my trusty green rain boots. Sometime later, the rain had changed to snow. After all of effort I put into the day – making the escort cards, menus, card box, etc. – you’d think that I would be freaking out (brides are always portrayed that way in movies). But for some reason, I didn’t. I actually started to laugh because, let’s face it, what are the odds of snow in October?
When the girls and I were finished getting ready, we hopped into the limos (all of which backed into my parents’ garage so our dresses wouldn’t be ruined) and drove to the church. This was the only time I was nervous since the roads were so obviously terrible. Thankfully, we arrived at the church safely. As I got out of the car and walked toward the main entrance with my dad and the limo driver, I started laughing. With everything going on, I had completely forgotten we hired a trumpeter (in his traditional garb) for the ceremony.
It was a beautiful ceremony and when everyone was receiving Communion, Joe leaned over to me and told me that the venue had lost power. My response was a simple “Eh, we’ll figure it out”. After the mass, Joe’s dad called our reception site, Twin Brooks Country Club, and found out that they had regained power. We let all of our guests know that the party was still on (to cheers in the church) and after some portraits hopped in the limos to go celebrate.
On the way, we found out that the venue lost power again. Since we were only about five minutes away, Joe and I decided to scope out the scene and cross our fingers for the power returning.
It didn’t. Chris, our amazing events manager at Twin Brooks Country Club, offered us two options – to celebrate that night (to piano music and candlelight) or have our reception the following afternoon. Neither of us wanted to risk our guests braving the terrible road conditions from the hotel, and Dan, our deejay, and limos were all available the following day. It was a pretty easy decision to move the party to Sunday.
(I, Dan, am just going to quick interject that the drive from Twin Brooks to the hotel was the scariest driving I have encountered. Ever. And I photographed the whole thing.)
While Joe and I drove back to the hotel to check in, we let our guests know that the party was being postponed until the next day. Thankfully, our wonderful friends and family members all got together and organized an impromptu dinner for just about everyone staying at the hotel. Maggiano’s (located across the street from our hotel in the only part of town with electricity) was ready and able to accommodate more about 70 of us. After quickly changing in the hotel room (me in my regular clothes and headband, Joe sans jacket), we all braved the ice and snow to enjoy one of the most memorable meals of our lives. It was a truly wonderful experience being able to sit down and talk with our guests on such a strangely exhilarating night. After dinner, a decent-sized crowd hung out at the hotel’s bar where we enjoyed a much needed drink. Finally, we crashed for the night.
At 7:00AM the following morning, Chris called to let us know that the venue had regained power. The sun was shining off the new snow that had fallen the previous day (it was weird to see snow on trees that had red and yellow leaves), and the highways looked clear from our hotel room. We passed the message along that the party was on, and I started to get ready…again. My friend Katie let me borrow her curling iron so my sister could redo my hair and my mom helped me once again with my make-up. Joe was tasked with re-buttoning my dress (I still find this hysterical).
We arrived at the venue to find out that they had lost power once again, except for a single outlet outside. We had seen a lot of the damage on the drive over – trees fallen, downed lines, live wires, so this wasn’t exactly a surprise. Thankfully, the sun reflecting off the snow made the room beautifully bright and the one outlet was plenty for our deejay (all we needed to do was run an extension cord).
I might be a bit biased what with me being the bride and all, but it was definitely the best wedding I have ever been to. And to hear our guests, it was by far their most memorable. Not only did we get a chance to spend two wild days with all of our closest friends and family, but the mood at the reception hall was joyous. Dan captured some great pictures of Joe and I in the snow (pictures we wouldn’t have gotten if we had the reception the night before) to go along with all of the other amazing pictures from the previous day. It may sound a bit strange after such an improbable string of events, but in the end we were incredibly lucky.
Wedding Dress: Always Elegant Bridal (Flemington, NJ)
Designer: Enzoani Blue
Bridesmaid’s Dresses: Always A Bridesmaid (Staten Island, NY)
Designer: Bill Levkoff
Tuxes: Men’s Warehouse
Groom’s Tie: Macy’s
Shoes: Nine West
Jewelry: Earrings from Cheline (via Amazon)
Venue: Twin Brooks Country Club (Watchung, NJ)
Hair Stylist: Kim at Expert Makeup Artistry
Florist: Camille at Floral Sentiment
DJ: Platinum Entertainment (Staten Island, NY)
Limos: A1 Limousine (Princeton, NJ)
My something old was the lace of her mother’s veil wrapped around my bouquet, my something blue was one of my grandmother’s earrings clipped onto the bouquet, and my aunt had gotten a sixpence from a friend on a trip to England.
Haha I love this set-up- mirror on a Toasteds box!
Seeing Kristen in her dress for the first time!
Kristen’s dad absolutely knew he was giving his little girl away. He fought back tears the whole way up the aisle.
It took us 40 minutes to get from the church to Twin Brooks while trying to navigate around closed road after closed road leading up to it. The entire place was black with a few lights and candles.
These next three images are just a small part of the terror of driving down the side of a mountain on closed roads following the limos. There were 2 limos, then my car, then a few more cars behind me. As we drove and came across closed road signs, we eventually hit a dead end with a closed road sign in front of us. There was no way possible for the limos to turn around with the cars behind them on a mountain road. Out of nowhere a car came from the other direction through the closed road sign. You can see in the second image going through the blocked roadway barriers. There were so many broken trees on the road. The branches scratched our car roofs- hanging low from the intense weight of the snow.
Sunday afternoon…
Thanks for looking!
-Dan
I had an awesome time with Meghan and Marc! I love when I get to work in the city with a couple simply because there ends up being so much walking and walking equals talking! I was great to be able to walk around with them and talk about everything from their wedding coming up in June at the Memorial Hall at the Please Touch Museum (super excited!) to how Marc proposed with this amazing scrap book he created of the photographs of the two of them over their relationship which culminated with an image of him on his knee (there’s a beautiful image of the two of them looking at it below and a photo of the final page of the book).
Meghan and March- it was lovely to be around the two of you. I am thrilled to be seeing you again so soon! Can’t wait!
I love the look Meghan is giving Marc below- its that “you are one of a kind, what would I do with you look.”
Thanks for looking!
-Dan
Just found out I was awarded the WeddingWire Bride’s Choice Award for 2012!
Special thank you to all my awesome couples!!!
This means I am in the top 5% of Wedding Pros nationwide! The WeddingWire Bride’s Choice Awards™ recognizes the top local wedding professionals from the WeddingWire Network that demonstrate excellence in quality, service, responsiveness and professionalism. Unlike other awards in which winners are selected by the organization, the WeddingWire Bride’s Choice Awards™ are determined solely by the reviews from over 1.2 million newlyweds.
You can view the full list of Philadelphia/Lehigh Valley winners here!
Thank you!!
How about this! I am absolutely thrilled to have Allison and Sheldon’s wedding featured on The Fab Bride today! If you are not familiar with The Fab Bride, then you NEED to check it out! Other than some sweet Real Weddings post submitted from tons of photographers and Brides, Bola and her crew, have the best inspiration posts! Inspritation on dresses, decor, groom stuff, accessories, you name it! But best of all, they are based right here in Philly!
Allison and Sheldon are the second couple of a group of three friends that I had the opportunity to photograph. Which is where the image above comes in! You may remember Sonya & Kevin from August 2011 who were the first of the trio’s weddings (check out their wedding here). Laurie and Brian, who will be coming up on the blog later this month were the first to book me, but the last to have me photograph them!
I met Allison and Sheldon in mid-2010. We got together at a Starbucks near their apartment and chatted for awhile about what was going to be their late 2012 wedding. The more we chatted, I quickly realized what incredibly kind and beautiful people they are. I have no words to describe it, you have have to be around the two of them. It is really something! They are both so easy going and a joy to be around. We hit it off right away!
Shortly after their engagement session, I received an email from Allison saying that the Basilica was going to close for 2012 and they were not going to be able to get married there unless they moved their wedding date! After a few emails and phone calls, we narrowed it down to October 22nd, 2011, almost a year earlier than they had imagined! It actually worked out perfectly, and I know how happy they are that they do not have to wait another year for their wedding!
Despite it being a little cold, their day went off without a hitch! The Basilica looked absolutely amazing, the Philadelphia Art Museum provided an absolutely perfect setting for our portrait time together, the highest floor of the Sheraton Downtown gave a perfect view during their reception, and Logan Circle made for the perfect late night, post wedding portraits. Make sure to check out one of Allison and Sheldon’s favorite engagement session images that we recreated the night of their wedding!
Enjoy!
The image above is from their November 2010 engagement session, and the one below is the recreation from their wedding day. I love it!
Thanks for looking!
Dan
Details:
Talk about covering a lot of ground during an engagement session! Tara, Tim and I were all over the place! We started in Ken Lockwood Gorge where we chatted and walked along the trail there for a good 30 minutes before turning back! There was a great little river with huge boulders jutting out into it and a little bridge that provided a resting spot and great photographs! From there we headed a short distance to the Califon Farm Market & Orchard. We simply could not take a bad photo with the beutiful fall colors, and that late day Autumn sun! It was so perfect and fitting for the two of them and the plans they have for their wedding coming up this June! A backyard ceremony and reception in a wooded area that Tara and Tim are clearing out. It is going to be a blast!
After the orchard, we skipped over to Clinton where we found a few really great night images to round out our day!
Thanks for looking!
Dan
