Celebrations Blog

Brooklyn Bridge Engagement

June 30, 2018

Allie and Josh: Love right on the nose –

All engagements are about the future, but this one is about the past too… we’ve watched Allie grow from gangly teen to a gorgeous, and accomplished, woman. She’s a psychologist PhD now, about to marry Josh, her Brandeis undergrad friend, himself an accomplished film maker. He also moonlights as a comedian, which explains his proposal offering a ring inside a Walgreen’s red nose. Funny, yes, but sentimental too: they bought red noses on their first date after reconnecting in Chicago, and wore them the whole night. We wish them a lifetime of continued laughter!

Share this post via

Blue Hill at Stone Barns Proposal

June 30, 2018

Melissa and Matt

A man walked into a bar…

Westchester’s refined Blue Hill at Stone Barns is about as far as you can get from a bar at the Jersey Shore; but Melissa and Matt made the journey! That bar is where they met six years ago, and Stone Barns is where he proposed in May. We conjured a plan with Matt for the staff to magically appear from the root cellar with a champagne toast, and the magic continued with dinner at Blue Hill. Good thing he waited outside for her to walk out of that Jersey bar–soon he’ll wait as she walks down the aisle.

Share this post via

Maris and Ryan

April 5, 2018

Maris and Ryan – They’ll take Manhattan –

We love feedback, especially when it includes phrases like “perfectly captured the essence of who they are…” That’s from Maris’ stepmom, viewing our engagement-party shots of Maris and Ryan’s stroll through a verdant Central Park and later, at the elegant Lotos Club nearby. The Club may be known for its refined tradition, but this couple is totally modern: they met on a dating website!

Share this post via

Wedding Album

April 5, 2018

When your wedding celebration ends (sob!), it doesn’t haves to fade–that’s what photo albums are for! And yours can be as uniquely personal, and beautiful, as your wedding itself. Choose page colors, borders and backgrounds, design montages, vary photo sizes and angles, write caption text, and pick cover styles and typography for a visual keepsake you’ll cherish “until death do you part.” Of course we can also provide an electronic image file, but–as we all know too well–storing files can be risky. Computers crash, files get deleted, disks become damaged or obsolete. A photo album is forever. Imagine, one day your children will hold it in their hands and thrill to it as much as you have. No jpeg file can match that!

Share this post via

Royal Palace, Elmsford, NY Wedding

April 3, 2018

Chloefaith and Daren – Share the Wealth –

We’ve seen our share of rituals during wedding shoots, but this was a new one: the Money Dance. An old ethnic custom, guests pay to dance with the bride and groom, and this couple’s generous guests showered them with bills. Not a typical accessory on a strapless ball gown, but there wasn’t much that was typical here. Talk about globalization: Chloefaith is Filipino, Daren African-American, and their reception was at an Indian restaurant. They met at church when Daren joined the choir, and their harmony still soars loud and true.

Share this post via

Sleepy Hollow, New York Nuptials

March 21, 2018

Karen and Matthew – No place like home –

We feel emotion at all the weddings we shoot, but this one was personal. The lovely bride was our daughter’s high school classmate, and her dad, our son’s soccer coach. And the venue was essentially in our backyard: our hometown of Sleepy Hollow. Karen and Matthew returned here from their home in Virginia to say their vows in her childhood Church of the Magdalene. Okay, so there was rain– it didn’t stand a chance against the sunshine in our hearts.

Share this post via

Harvest on Hudson Wedding

January 19, 2018

Stephanie and Joe – A Cafeteria Crush:

Most courtships unfold in restaurants or movie theaters, not a school cafeteria, but Joe was up for the challenge. Stephanie was a nutritionist there, and he’d take breaks from his social studies classroom to flirt with her. It took many visits, then 10 “friendship” dates, but she finally acknowledged a romance. The rest of the school did too after the principal spotted them at a restaurant! There was nothing secretive about their August wedding, with plenty of co-workers celebrating at Hasting’s riverside Harvest on Hudson. We give their story a definite A plus.

Immaculate Conception Church, Tarrytown, NY

Harvest on Hudson Wedding, Hastings on Hudson, NY

Share this post via

Spring Lake, New Jersey Wedding

September 16, 2017

Margaret & Zack – A nonstop celebration

Margaret and Zack met at the 2009 Kentucky Derby, and their New Jersey wedding had a lot of racing around. Let’s see– vows at church, photos at Spring Lake’s landmark footbridge, more photos at the bride’s house beneath a sentimental tree, an ice cream stop at Strollo’s, the beach, the reception at the oceanfront Breakers Hotel with endless dancing and a fraternity brothers’ goblet gulp. We only stood still once, amazed to view our very first hatchet toss at the house stop! A lot more fun than a bouquet toss, for sure.