Helen & Larry's South Philly Engagement Portraits

 

• Posted by Natalie •

Despite the order of these posts, we actually did meet up with Helen and Larry about a month before their April wedding for some engagement photos in South Philadelphia.  The architecture around Headhouse Market gave us the opportunity for a mix of urban and classic engagement portraits. On Sundays from May through October the area is a bustling Farmers' Market, which can also make for fun photos, but on this day we had the marketplace to ourselves. After we wrapped up there, we wandered around the surrounding South Philly streets where there was no shortage of colorful and interesting backdrops.   Looking back, I'm glad we had such a beautiful day for these photos since there was so much rain on Helen and Larry's wedding day, which is another great reason to get engagement portraits.  We were able to take our time and find the right poses, backdrops and style for Helen and Larry during their engagement portraits, and that helped a lot on their wedding day when we all dashed into the rain, they fell right into a perfect pose and we were able to get some outdoor photos before anyone washed away!

Winter Wonderland | Andrea & Nathan's Snowy Engagement Portraits

• Posted by Natalie •

I think Andrea and Nathan win for the biggest contrast in weather between their engagement photos and their wedding day.  A late winter burst of flurries were in the air as I traveled to Blair Academy, a boarding school in Blairstown, NJ where the Andrea and Nathan both live and teach, for their March engagement session.  The students were on break, so the campus was quiet and the fresh snowfall made the whole area look like a postcard. This couple's late July wedding at Villanova University ended up being on one of the hottest, most humid days of last year, and I think all of us at the wedding would have happily stepped into this setting for a bit to cool off!

I love how much Andrea and Nathan make each other laugh. It's impossible not to feel the joy around these two!

Baby it's cold outside | Lauren & Mike's Art Museum Engagement Portraits

 

• Posted by Natalie •

Lauren and Mike might have been one of our most ambitious 2011 couples—Lauren is an accountant who was planning a late April wedding and when we met up with them last February they had just closed on a new home and planned to move in the next month!  We're glad they were able to carve out a bit of time to meet up with us at the Philadelphia Museum of Art for engagement photos.  Even a brief session like this one is a great opportunity for us to get to know a couple better and allows us to create more personal portraits on the wedding day, especially since Lauren and Mike opted not to have any getting ready photos during their wedding day coverage.

It was quite a blustery day—but that just gave them an excuse to cuddle up more!  We love the diversity of locations around the Art Museum—these two photos were only taken a few yards apart from each other.

Holiday Cheer | Gretchen & Ron's Peddler's Village Engagement Portraits

 

• Posted by Natalie •

This post is very overdue, but there was just so much I loved about Gretchen and Ron's engagement portraits in Peddler's Village just after Christmas last year, that I couldn't pass up sharing them.  First, how perfect is her vintage fur coat?  It was passed down from one of Gretchen's relatives, but it fit perfectly and coordinated ideally with her boots.  The whole atmosphere at Peddler's Village, which is located in Bucks County near New Hope, just fit perfectly with Gretchen and Ron's ideas for their engagement photos.  This little collection of gift shops housed in colonial-style buildings with paths and gardens between them goes all-out for the holiday season. The whole village is lit with Christmas lights and holiday music wafts through the air.  It's hard not to be in good mood!

We met up with Gretchen and Ron about an hour before sunset to get some vintage-style portraits among the colonial architecture, then we warmed up at one of the restaurants while waiting for it to get dark enough for some shots with the Christmas lights.  I'm so glad that Gretchen even got her wish to have some snow on the ground for the photos!

After the sun finished setting Gretchen opted for an outfit change for a more modern, classic look. All these cozy winter photos were such a nice contrast to their June wedding portraits!

Jay and Lori's Urban Engagement Portraits in Philadelphia

• Posted by Matt •

This coming March we will be photographing Jay and Lori's wedding at the Tendenza in Northern Liberties. I met both of them a few years ago when I started working out at a Crossfit gym in my neighborhood, and I am honored to be a part of their special day.

They were interested in getting engagement portraits done around the city, but they didn't want a traditional session. They were interested in a more gritty, urban look to their photos which Natalie and I were more than excited to make happen!

We started at the Race Street Pier before heading into North Philly to hunt down some interesting walls with graffiti on them to use as a background, as seen in the image above. We made a quick stop at the Philadelphia Museum of Art before ending back at Sherman Mills in East Falls, where they both live, because they wanted have some portraits with their dog as well.

I can't really put into words how much we love the images we were able to make with these two. They were so relaxed and comfortable in front of the camera, it felt like we hired models to hang out with us for the day!