Philadelphia Wedding Photography | Jenn & Tom's Wedding at Vie

*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!

Delaware Wedding Photography: Paul & Emily's Wilmington Country Club Wedding

• Posted by Matt •

We met Emily and Paul through a previous wedding in Wilmington, Delaware, we did back in 2011 (Jen and Jay...remember that rusted train car photo?). Paul and his friends were dancing like maniacs at that wedding, so we were naturally taking pictures of them all night. A few weeks later they got in touch with us, and we had the pleasure of photographing their wedding this past summer.

They decided to keep things pretty simple logistically, with everything —  from where they both got ready, to their ceremony location, to the country club — being mere minutes from each other. For this one our good friend Melissa Kelly (whose work you've seen here before) joined the team.

Now, just as a precursor, we were warned about a big surprise happening during the reception, so we were kind of on guard for more surprises throughout the day.

Emily and the girls got ready at her parents house in Wilmington before heading over to the church. She picked a really vivid shade of purple as her wedding color, which was really awesome. Purple wedding shoes and a purple handbag really made things pop. While there, we met our first surprise of the day: their dogs dressed in doggy tuxedos!

After she made her grand entrance down the staircase, showing off her dress for the first time, her father then serenaded her with a song on the piano. Tears ensued.

Paul and his groomsmen got ready not too far away at his and Emily's house. There we found a literal ball and chain that his coworkers made for him as a wedding present, plus surprise number 2: matching bride and groom Chuck Taylor sneakers embroidered with the wedding date on the side (hers were in purple, obviously.)

They held their ceremony at St. Mary Magdalene in Wilmington and then ventured outside on the grounds for some bridal party portraits. Paul had some pretty priceless facial expressions. While the girls were being very cooperative and posing how we asked them to, the guys were off to the side just kind of doing their own thing. This was definitely our first groomsmen portrait involving pullups. After this we went back to the Catalano household for some more portraits before heading to the reception. At one point we had to ask Paul for some help with a portrait of his beautiful new bride. As you can see from his face he was pretty scared. But the picture came out great (once he got out of the frame)!Then we were off to the Wilmington Country Club for some partying! This was a really great venue with plenty of space for people to hang out and not be on top of each other. The temperature was a little bit hot but the cocktail hour was split between a nice, private outdoor space and an air conditioned indoor space, so people could cool off if needed.

Surprise Number 3 (for us, at least) was the Paul and Emily bobblehead cake topper they had made for the wedding.

After the majority of the formalities were taken care of, then it was time for that BIG SURPRISE we were told about. After the cake cutting everyone was told to head out to the patio for a large group picture. With help from the DJ and the coordinator from the country club, we were able to usher everyone outside, setup a photo and then...BAM: FIREWORKS!

The parents of the bride and groom organized the whole thing. Pretty awesome if you ask me.

From that point on it was just dancing and having a good time.

Emily and Paul, thanks so much for dancing like crazy people during Jen and Jay's wedding. We're so glad we had the chance to witness all the fun surprises you had in store for your own wedding.

MaryBeth & Eric's Allentown Brew Works Wedding

• Posted by Natalie •

MaryBeth & Eric discovered us two Aprils ago at Liz & Brian's wedding in Ocean City, NJ—and we're so glad they did!  They had their fingers crossed that even though they met us at the Jersey Shore, we'd be willing to travel to the Lehigh Valley for their wedding this past June.  They were thrilled to find out that we actually had an office in Bethlehem, and as we got to know each other, we found numerous other connections along the way.  We have had so much fun with these two from their epic engagement session where we criss-crossed Philadelphia to get portraits at over 20 Philadelphia landmarks through to their summer wedding at the Allentown Brew Works. MaryBeth told me recently in an e-mail that it looks like we are stuck being their photographers for life, and we wouldn't have it any other way!

Their wedding was our first time photographing the Allentown Brew Works, which is located in the historic downtown area of Allentown. Jeff, the event coordinator extraordinaire at the Brew Works, was juggling multiple celebrations that day, but still managed to accomodate everything MaryBeth and Eric wanted.  We were able to do a First Look on the High Gravity level, including some dramatic portraits with the giant beer casks on that floor, then we went up to FIVE, which is the top floor, for more bridal party portraits. We used the outdoor patio off the first floor for a few more portraits before heading down the the Silk Lounge to regroup (and play some pool and arcade games) before the ceremony.

MaryBeth & Eric had hopes of getting wedding portraits in front of the iconic PPL building where Eric works, and capturing some of the beautiful architecture in this historic part of the city, but just a week before their wedding they found out there would be a jazz festival the day of their wedding covering the two blocks between PPL and the Brew Works. But as one door closes, another one opens. Through a series of happy coincidences and the generosity of the man who owns the building next to the Brew Works, we were able to bring MaryBeth & Eric up to a helicopter pad on that building for some truly unique bridal portraits with panoramic views of Allentown and the Lehigh Valley.

And that was all before the ceremony! We were back in the High Gravity room for the wedding ceremony, which featured personalized vows from MaryBeth & Eric that brought tears to both the bride's and groom's eyes.  After that it was time to party! The reception was in the FIVE room, where their design theme of red & black circles showed up all over the place.  I love how they were able to incorporate this theme in subtle ways throughout the reception.

MB & E, we had so much fun with you and all your friends & family!  We're so glad to be "stuck with you for life", and we look forward to making all your fun and crazy photos ideas come to life in the future!

Red wedding shoes?  Yes, please!  And how awesome is MaryBeth's crystal necklace, which was her grandmother's?  The necklace really completed MaryBeth's look of classic elegance.

You may recognize some of these lovely ladies from Liz & Brian's wedding photos (including Liz herself!)  I love how these girls are up for anything, including picking up hot dogs from street vendors on the way to the wedding.

From up here, Allentown is pretty beautiful...

We probably could make a whole blog post featuring our former groom Brian's dance moves (bottom left corner of this group.)  We love catching up with previous clients at their friends' weddings :)