Wedding
When you have the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Boathouse Row and everything around there for wedding a backdrop, the real question on where to do portraits is: where do we start? That's the situation we were in for Patricia and Andrew's wedding at the Fairmount Water Works. Luckily we came prepared with a plan!
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*Posted by Matt*
Appleford Estate in Villanova was one of those places we had always wanted to work but just never had the opportunity. The estate has these wonderfully manicured grounds and extremely unique interiors so making things look pretty could not be easier. Then Tom and Kim came along and their wedding at Appleford Estate was simply beautiful.
We started out with a ceremony in Conshohocken at St. Matthew's Church which just set the tone for the day. The church itself is stunning with an elaborate altar design and bright white color scheme. Kim's beautiful trumpet-style wedding gown and Tom's grey suit looked super sharp there!
From there we went straight to Villanova for portraits at Appleford Estate. If you've never been to Appleford, you really should go. It has trails open to the public so you can just enjoy the scenery without having to shell out any money! For weddings, it's a dream. The estate itself sits at the end of a long, tree-lined drive and has ample space for bridal party portraits and bride and groom portraits!
We kind of wandered around with the bridal party and got their portraits outside done first so we could really spend some time with the bride and groom around the property. They have some small ponds and a really cool manicured garden, so there are really a lot of options to choose from! Then we went inside to utilize the awesome staircase! We were even able to do a few bridal party portraits with bookshelves!
The big group did not disappoint when it came to party, either. There was rarely open space on the dance floor and, for the people who weren't so keen on dancing, these guys had a contingency plan. They had outdoor games at the wedding!
One other huge highlight was when they rolled out Federal Doughnuts as wedding desert!
Our first time at Appleford did not disappoint! We can't wait to go back.
*Posted by Matt*
Talk about one of the more laid back, funny and fun couples we were ever able to work with! Maggie and Matt had a lot to deal with on their wedding day, on top of the normal stress and distractions. Excessive heat? Check. Thunderstorms? Check. You name it! But, to their credit, you would have never known judging by their excitement and exuberance that day.
We started off very hot and sweaty with bridal party portraits at Valley Forge Park. The blazing sun and open fields actually lent themselves nicely to beautiful portraits of the bride and groom, along with their bridal party (which was just their two siblings!). From there we moved around the park a bit to the National Memorial Arch for bride and groom portraits. Again, solid choice!
After that we stopped in Pheonixville at Bluebird Distilling, naturally, to relax and play some Jenga. Following an epic Connect Four matchup of Bride v. Groom — where the bride pulled out all the stops on her way to victory — we were off to the wedding at Columbia Station.
That's when the skies opened up and the rains came pouring down, forcing the ceremony inside. Neither bride nor groom let it affect them, though, and the ceremony went off without a hitch. One of the best parts of the night came when the best man speech took place. Matt's brother and best man recounted their childhood growing up on a self-described compound where, according to Dan, pretty much anything happened. Spoiler alert: Matt seemed to be the target of a LOT of what went down on the compound, haha.
Maggie and Matt, thank you so much for bring us along for this super fun day! We were so happy to be a part of it with you guys.
*Posted by Matt*
Jenn and Tom! Jenn and Tom! Such a fun day!
Over the years we have had the opportunity to work at a few different Cescaphe venues (like Tendenza in Northern Liberties). Jenn and Tom brought us to a new one, though, for their wedding at Vie on North Broad Street. Naturally it did not disappoint!
They got ready at the Franklin Hotel before heading across the street for a First Look in Olde City. Then we made our way to Washington Square Park for bridal party portraits. With a crowd stopping to watch, these two did fantastic! After we got done wrangling their bridal party, we knocked out a few portraits of just the bride and groom before heading to the venue.
One of the things Jenn and Tom asked to do, in order to save time after, was to do the family portraits before the ceremony. I LOVED this idea. We were able to get all the pictures we needed and they were able to be at their whole cocktail hour (which is the whole point of throwing a party, to attend it...right?).
The reception started off with a bang (see above) when a confetti shower welcomed the couple onto the dance floor and the partying really got going!
Enjoy!
*Posted by Matt*
The ability to do this job anywhere is really rad to me! It's honestly one of the main things that attracts me to this line of work. So when Sallyann and Ronve asked if I was willing to make the beaches of Florida my "office" for their wedding at the Grand in St. Pete Beach I jumped at the opportunity!
We've been blessed with the opportunity to travel to Florida for weddings before and also to California for a wedding over the last few years and each time has been a blast. Weddings are such beautiful events as is but add in having all of your closest family and friends on a vacation of sorts and the revelry is heightened.
These two, and their entourage, definitely did NOT disappoint.
I should start out by explaining that both Ronve and Sallyann are artsy by trade. Ronve is a musician and performer with a musical theater background while Sallyann studied theater design in college and currently works for Juilliard. Their friends? Hella talented.
They had multiple Broadway performers at the wedding (either in attendance or in the bridal party) and some or all of whom were putting on a show in their own right. Ronve's old rap group also performed during the reception and so did Sallyann's dad's bluegrass band, the latter of which the whole reception learned how to line dance. Talk about a diverse mix of happenings at a wedding reception!
They also were incredibly thoughtful about the lengths people traveled and invited everyone to a rehearsal dinner the night before and also threw together a BBQ-style picnic the day after the wedding!
Truly a super-fun way to spend a few days at a wedding in Florida!
