A few months ago, we had the pleasure of photographing Maryann & Don’s wedding. The couple had a very fun Manhattan wedding that even included one of the ubiquitous New York City sightseeing buses!  No, they’re not tourists who came to visit and decided on a spur of the moment to get married in the Big Apple.  They’re actually New Yorkers and they hired the double-decker bus to transport their friends and family down to Battery Gardens for the wedding.   The ride was fun-filled and had a lot of spontaneous jokes on the bus’ PA system.
One of our favorite parts of the ceremony is the emotions displayed by the groom when he says “I do.” We’ve discovered that it’s very hard to predict how grooms will act on this special occasion, regardless of how they normally are.   As you can see, this particular groom was very moved by the vows of his wife-to-be. Don seemed like such a quiet and collected guy, we were really surprised by the outpouring of feeling. Surprised and frankly, touched.
This was our first visit to Battery Gardens. Little did we know that Battery Gardens has such magnificent views of the sunset…
and to be able to have your cocktail hour outside next to that sunset – what a beautiful place for Maryann & Don to get married!
On that same day, there happened to be a group of revelers who marched down to Battery Park (where Battery Gardens is located). They were all dressed up in funky clothing and had colorful flags, make-up and yes, hula hoops. They called themselves the Kaleidoscope Parade and when we saw them, we had to get Maryann & Don out to join the fun. As you can see, Maryann knows how to handle a hula hoop.
One of Don’s groomsmen got a bit drunk and ended up without a shirt by the end of the evening. Think he was already drunk by the end of cocktail hour though because he tried to lift me (Alice) up and turn me upside down.  I shouldn’t say “try.” He actually DID lift me up until one of the bridesmaids yelled at him. James and I didn’t care. We thought it was all very funny!  For us, his shirtless shenanigans added to the great picture moments of the evening although, as you can see, Maryann was not very happy with his behavior.
We had a great time at Maryann & Don’s wedding and know that they did as well. Not only did they have a memorable ceremony and a fun celebration, they also had a Kaleidoscope Parade and a drunk, mischievous groomsman and we were very happy that we could capture it all for them.  In Maryann’s words, “Wow! Wow! Wow!!  I have to gather my thoughts before writing you a formal thank you, but you really captured every special moment. Your photos are amazing. Thank you so much!!!”
To see more of Maryann & Don’s photos, click on the image below.