Category Archives: Recent Weddings

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Reena & Ryan’s Indian Wedding at the Venetian Yacht Club, Long Island

July 29, 2010 – 9:55 pm

Next in our anniversary series is Reena & Ryan’s wedding at the Venetian Yacht Club in Long Island.  This was actually our first Indian wedding, so it was even more special to us.  We always enjoy learning about other cultures and really value being able to witness all these fantastic traditions firsthand.  It one of the many things we love about being wedding photographers!

It took Reena hours to get ready.  And it’s not because she needs a lot of extra help to become a beautiful bride.  Reena is naturally a beautiful woman, but an Indian bride on her wedding day has a lot of extra make-up and accessories. 

This little girl is watching with rapt attention as everything is applied…

…and the final product is truly magnificent!

After spending so much time observing the detailed preparations and the pre -wedding emotions, James admits to getting a little emotional when the stunning bride walked into the ceremony.  It was very sweet to see all of the tension disappear and Reena’s face light up when she saw Ryan.   

 The ceremony has many traditions, one of which involves rice as you can seee from the below.

This picture is actually from Reena’s sangeet.  In an Indian wedding, the bride has a sangeet a few days before.  It’s like a mini celebration with a lot of traditional dancing and singing.  At her sangeet,  Reena’s hands were painted with elaborate henna, which we found to be fascinating.  The intricate patterns made her hand look like a piece of exotic art! 

During the vidai part of the day, the bride says good-bye to her family.  It’s a very touching time and as new parents ourselves, we can definitely understand Reena’s father’s feelings as he hugs his soon-to-be-gone little girl.   

According to Reena, “we LOVE the pics… we really are speechless.”  Since last year, we’ve photographed a charity event for Reena’s cousin and the wedding of the same relative’s professor.  And, in 2 weeks, we will be photographing the wedding of another one of her cousins.  Thank you, Reena, for always thinking of us!

To see more photos from the wedding, click below.

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Clare & Nick’s Spring Lake Heights, NJ Wedding at The Mill

July 10, 2010 – 1:32 am

We’re going to feature 3 more 2009 weddings as part of our “anniversary series.”  Two of them happened in May 2009 (which is our wedding anniversary month) and the last occurred on June 20, 2009, which was actually the day that our daughter was suppposed to have been born!

The first of the 3 is Clare and Nick’s wedding at The Mill in Spring Lake Heights.  These are 2 of our favorite photos of the happy couple.  They’re also some of Clare and Nick’s favorites too, it seems.  How do we know that?  We know because they selected these 2 images for their thank-you card.

Clare was an absolutely beautiful and stylish bride.  As you can see, the back of her dress is fantastic and don’t you just love that jaunty featheredveil?

The couple’s dog was part of the wedding party, but alas, she wasn’t very cooperative for photos.

Not to worry, ring bearer to the rescue!

We always like to see our brides and grooms having a good time.  It’s your wedding – you should have a ball!  This couple in particular had a great time when their friends and family started singing to them.

After the celebration, we and the wedding party went to nearby Spring Lake.  As youc an see, Spring Lake has some beautiful spots for photos and this old bridge really caught our eye.  While it might not seem like it, we actually took this picture from very far away (to get the cool faded look to the trees in the background). 

According to Clare, “the pictures are gorgeous.  It’s taken about a month to look through all of them!!!  They’re just beautiful.”  Thank you, Clare, for the kind words.  We’re very happy to hear that!

To see more of Clare and Nick’s wedding photos, click on the image below.

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Mary & Jim’s Vineyard Wedding at the West Park Winery

May 28, 2010 – 11:09 pm

Today is our wedding anniversary, so we’d like to continue our anniversary series featuring our newlyweds from this time last year.  Mary & Jim got married on May 9, 2009 at the West Park Winery.

These are 2 of our favorite photos of the happy couple.

Mary’s sister gave a very touching speech.  It turns out that Mary is a heart surgeon and many people owe their lives to her.  One guy in particular chased after her just to thank her for saving his brother’s life.  Brains, beauty and a very sweet person to boot.  Mr. Schumacher – you are one lucky man!

Mary and Jim hired some belly dancers for their reception.  For those of you who read our blog regularly, you know about our Best of 2009 photo contest.  This was one of the images that got a lot of attention.  Not votes, but attention from admirers with some very funny comments like “my vote is for #21, but this photo has my heart.”

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The happy couple recently wrapped up their wedding album.  I really like this page because our pictures and our design really capture the festive mood of the night.

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According to Mary, “the pictures were absolutely gorgeous. I love the song you put for the slideshow. It made me cry.  You really know how to put pics together to bring out the tears.”

To see more of Mary & Jim’s wedding photos at the West Park Winery, click on the image below.

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Maura & Pete’s Long Island Wedding at the Royalton at Roslyn Country Club

May 2, 2010 – 12:14 am

Maura & Pete got married on May 1, 2009 and had their reception at the Royalton at Roslyn Country Club.  To the happy couple – happy anniversary and hope Pete found a good restaurant for you to celebrate in tonight!

 It drizzled a bit last May 1, but as you can see, the fun-loving Kemptons didn’t let the rain get them down.

 bride and groom outside roslyn country club

bride and groom dances inside roslyn country club

This is our favorite picture of the bridal party.  Their reflection on the limo’s hubcap makes for a very cool-looking photo, don’t you think?

wedding party reflection on hubcap

The happy couple and their friends loved to do shots, so much so that the toasts were done with little shot glasses as well.

toast with shot glass

Maura and Pete had a very fun group of friends and family and the Royalton floor shook with all of their dancing and butt-slapping.  These 2 groomsmen have obviously done the butt-slapping before – they have the technique down to a science!

groomsmen dancing at roslyn country club

We had a great time capturing all the merrymaking that night and we’re happy to say that the Kemptons loved what we captured.  In Pete’s words, “all we can say is that we love them!  You two were amazing on our wedding day and in seeing the first couple of shots we are amazed that you really were able to capture Maura and I as we were that day!  We cannot begin to thank both of you for making our day even more amazing!”

To see more of Maura and Pete’s wedding photos, click on the following image:

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Luciana & Denis’ NY Wedding at Marina Del Rey Caterers

April 24, 2010 – 7:06 pm

Next up in our “anniversary series” are Luciana & Denis. They got married at Marina Del Rey Caterers in the Bronx on April 18, 2009. To the happy couple – congrats and hope you had a fun first anniversary celebration in Aruba!

Luciana & Denis started their day with a Catholic mass in St. Barnabas Church in Long Island…

st barnabas church wedding ceremony

and ended with a reception at Marina Del Rey Caterers. Marina del Rey is in the Bronx, but with its beautiful pier, you’d think it was in a more exotic location!

wedding party at marina del rey caterers in bronx ny

bride and groom at marina del rey bronx

For those of you whom we’ve had the honor to meet, you know about our “wall of photos.” From our first meeting, Denis has been very keen to get on this “wall.” Well, Denis, we have to say…YES, we love your photos and in particular, the 2 below! One of these will be going up on our wall in the near future.

bride looks lovingly at groom during first dance

bride and groom kiss on dance floor at marina del rey bronx nyc

We’re always very happy to hear that our brides & grooms love their photos. According to Denis, ” I remember saying that if the wedding photos are half as nice as our engagement photos, we are in luck. These look even better. Thanks again for capturing this day and making it look as memorable as it was.”

To see more of Luciana & Denis’ wedding pictures, click on the image below.

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Salwa & Ahmed’s NJ Wedding at the Valley Regency

April 14, 2010 – 2:11 pm

We’d like to start our anniversary series with Salwa & Ahmed, who got married on April 5, 2009 and had their reception at the Valley Regency in New Jersey.  We knew quite a few people at the event since we had photographed the weddings of many of Salwa’s friends!  This is one of our favorite wedding photos of Salwa.  She was just about to get into her limo and we caught her in our side view mirror.

reflection of bride in side view mirror

Doesn’t Salwa look so happy here?  She and Ahmed are about to start their Zaffa.  Many of you reading this are probably saying “a what?”  A Zaffa is an Egyptian wedding march led by performers in colorful garb with tambourines and other instruments.  That’s part of the fun of our job - we get to see how different cultures and religions celebrate marriage.  We’ve found that wedding celebrations across different cultures have a lot in common.  It must be because love is universal AND we all like to party.

  egyptian bride at zaffa

Here’s Ahmed at the Zaffa with his wedding party.  You can see some of the performers with tambourines in the background.

groom at beginning of reception at valley regency wedding

Hmm…since most of them are kneeling, you can’t really see the groomsmen very well.  What is that we hear?  You want to see their handsome faces more clearly?  Voila!

cool groomsmen photo with swords

This is another fantastic Egyptian wedding custom- dancing with swords.  As you can see, Ahmed and his brother are very good at this.

groom dancing at valley regency wedding

In February, we called Ahmed and told him about a great anniversary gift idea we had for them.  Salwa loved the slide show we had put together of their wedding day highlights.  We asked Ahmed to say a few words and then, we added his voice and message to the slide show and sent it to them for their anniversary.  Our intuition paid off because Salwa loved it!  In Salwa’s words, “I looove everything!!…Thank you so much for being a part of the most amazing day of our lives- I really feel like we’re family and am a little sad we don’t have any more work to do together.”

To see the slide show we created, click on the image below.

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Kerryann & Andre’s Wedding at Tappan Hill Mansion in Tarrytown

December 11, 2009 – 1:18 am

Kerryan and Andre got married at Tappan Hill Mansion in Westchester, New York a few months ago.  They purposefully timed their outdoor wedding ceremony to occur at sunset, which, as you can tell, made it absolutely beautiful!

  tappan hill bride walking down aisle at ceremony

Kerryann dearly loves Andre.  We know because she made a lovely heartwarming speech during their reception.  The intensity of her expression as he said his vows already says it all though.  We didn’t need to hear the speech to know that she was head over heels in love with her new husband. 

 vow exchange at tappan hill mansion ceremony

 ”With this ring, I thee wed…”

creative wedding ring photo

Andre is a very calm and soft-spoken guy.  Little did we know that once the music started, he became the dancing king! 

bride and groom dancing at wedding reception

We’ve spent a lot of time with the happy couple.  Before the wedding, we did a fun engagement shoot with them in Battery Park and DUMBO.  As you can see, both locations have really great spots for photography.

dumbo engagement photo

  battery park engagement photo

Congrats to the new Mr. & Mrs. Benjamin!

 tappan hill wedding bride and groom kissing

In one of Andre’s e-mails, he says “ thanks again for all the great work you’ve done for us so far.”  To Kerryann & Andre – thanks for inviting us to be part of your very fun celebration!

To see more of the couple’s photos, click on the image below.

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Julie & James’ NYC Wedding at Tavern on the Green

October 28, 2009 – 7:31 pm

Julie & James had a great New York wedding a few months ago.  They started off at the Church of the Blessed Sacrament on the Upper West Side and ended with a bang at the Tavern on the Green.   

Their limo’s air conditioner actually wasn’t working properly that day.  For those of you who’ve ever worn a wedding gown (myself included), you know that on a hot day, a wedding dress can be pretty hot and stifling and you REALLY need that air conditioning.  Julie was a trooper though.  She looks so cool and comfortable, doesn’t she?  

bride in limo

Mr. Fallon, we love how you sweetly you looked at your lovely wife-to-be on your wedding day.

church of blessed sacrament ny wedding ceremony

Congrats to the new Mr. & Mrs. James Fallon!

church of blessed sacrament nyc catholic ceremony

The couple had their reception at a well-known New York City landmark, the Tavern on the Green.   The venue has these festively-lit trees in its garden.  Aren’t the decorative lights great – they make it seem like it’s a holiday every day!

tavern on the green wedding

And, of course, the chandeliers inside the room match the green lights on the trees outside. 

tavern on the green wedding reception

We recently heard that the Tavern on the Green is going to have a change of management (soon to be run by the folks who run the Boathouse in Central Park).  James tells us that he’s going to try to get some memorabilia when the change of ownership occurs.  What a fantastic idea – not only will he own a part of history, he will also forever have a special memento from his wedding day!

Julie & James love their wedding photos and we’re very happy that they do.  In Julie’s words:

We were so thrilled when we discovered James and Alice, and we couldn’t have been happier to have them photograph our wedding! Besides being extremely professional, we loved that they were a husband/wife team, and they worked incredibly well together, capturing every single moment that was important throughout the day, and they were able to perfectly capture the emotion in each special moment as well. They were so personable and made us feel special the entire time. We so appreciated their extra effort to go out of their way to visit our photograph sites before our wedding date to find the best shots in order to be prepared for the big day! Personally, the photographs were the most important part for us because they last a lifetime, and the pictures were truly amazing!! Alice and James were consistently kind, friendly, and they helped make the planning of our wedding and the wedding day go so smoothly. They are extremely talented, and we would HIGHLY recommend them to everyone. We absolutely loved them!!

To see more of the couple’s photos, click on the image below.

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Maryann & Don – Wedding at Battery Gardens, Battery Park, NYC

May 18, 2009 – 9:34 pm

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.

double decker bus wedding

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.

groom getting emotional at ceremony

This was our first visit to Battery Gardens.  Little did we know that Battery Gardens has such magnificent views of the sunset…

battery gardens wedding bride and groom at 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!

wedding cocktail hour at battery gardens

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.

kaleidoscope parade

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.

wedding reception where groom takes off shirt

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.

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Naima & Rich – Wedding at Giando on the Water, Brooklyn, NY

March 1, 2009 – 4:15 pm

Naima & Rich got married at Giando on the Water a few months ago.  Funny thing is that when we got married, we were thinking of checking out Giando on the Water as well.   We even made an appointment to visit the venue, but their website…shall we say, didn’t leave a very good impression.  Actually, I shouldn’t say “we.”  It was all “I”, i.e., Alice.  James didn’t even know that I was looking at Giando on the Water.  The pictures on their website definitely do not do the place justice.  Looking at the site, you’d have no clue that the hall actually has an absolutely stunning view of the Brooklyn Bridge (see our pic below). 

giando on the water wedding portrait of bride and groom

We ended up getting married in Long Island and James was actually a bit upset that we could have gotten married here instead!

Every bride goes through a few hours of preparations to become “all she can be” for the wedding day.   Naima is naturally a beautiful woman, but of course, no bride will say “no” to a little extra “enhancing” on the big day.

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After she was ready, we took a few pictures of Naima by herself.   This dramatic shot of her with the sun and the city in the background is one of our favorite pictures.

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Naima & Rich had beautiful weather for their wedding day, so they were able to have their ceremony outside.  Their vows were very sweet and touching and as you can see, Rich was quite moved by his lovely bride.

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The couple had a merry reception with their friends and family.  Everyone celebrates in his or her own way though and in this image, Naima’s sister and Naima are celebrating very differently.  Naima’s sister is dancing lovingly with her boyfriend while Naima is getting down in the background.  Funny contrast, huh?

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And, in case you want to really feel the “getting down”, below is a close-up of what Naima and her friends were doing in the background.  We love it when people are obviously having a great time! 

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Naima recently said to us “I can’t tell you how many compliments we’ve received about the pictures you guys took.”  And, she told us something that noone else ever has.  James and I know that we have different photography styles, but we didn’t realize that other people can see it too.  According to Naima, our pictures have a “great feminine and masculine perspective.”  Who knows?  Maybe, it is the girl versus guy thing.  It definitely is something because our images definitely look different.  Very interesting observation, Naima – thanks for sharing the insight!

To see more of the good times had by Naima, Rich and their friends & family, click below.

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