Church Ceremony in Ridgewood, New Jersey

The first zoom call I had with RJ and Lissett I knew something rad was happening. Their love for each other was apparent and the meeting was flawless. Lissett was confident and knew what she wanted, but was also very open and laid back, which is such a great trait in a bride. I learned that RJ loves fishing and has a Mom tattoo. I adopted him as a friend without any say in the matter from him (hey, it’s hard to make friends at 38!!).

They were splitting their Wedding into two different days. The first day was a traditional church ceremony in Ridgewood, New Jersey. I don’t shoot too many of these, not by choice, but I think church weddings are happening less and less these days. It was a beautiful ceremony in the church Lissett has attended her whole life.

Wedding Prep at the Jersey Shore

A few days later we hit the beach! I met my 2nd photographer at Chat & Nibble down in Asbury Park. We had an excellent breakfast and chatted about the day ahead of us. We then headed out to the Bride & Grooms rented Air BnB’s, both a few minutes away.

The house that Lissett and her girls had was awesome. Lots of good light and great photo opportunities. I was happy to meet Olivia, a flower girl who was celebrating her birthday on this same day! Her and her sister were adorable and we had a pretty serious discussion on unicorns. I am still waiting for my unicorn bathrobe!

We took some really great shots and got ready to head to the boardwalk for formals.

Wedding Formals on the Jersey Shore

The beach was gorgeous! One of our first nice days of the year. I almost dropped everything and went surfing!! With a beautiful day like this comes every photographers worst nightmare (well, one of them…): harsh afternoon sunlight. NOOOOOOO!! RJ wanted these pictures on the boardwalk and I wanted to give them to him. Luckily Jesse, my 2nd shooter, was there to help me tackle this issue and came up with a perfect solution and the result was great family photos. Sean, the best man wanted to get out on the jetty for a few photos with the guys, too. I am glad we listened to him because that gave us a few great images.

Wedding Ceremony at Porta-Asbury Park

Ceremony #2: Short and sweet!! But 1st I have to talk about Porta. When the couple told me this wedding was at a pizza joint down the shore, I may have had an internal groan….man was I wrong! This place is so awesome. As soon as I walked in, it was one of those places I mentally added to a ‘come back later’ list. It was huge and open inside with lots of outside seating too. Big long family style tables outside of a huge bar, and very rustic. We were led to one of the back rooms where they hold many weddings and I was immediately enthralled with this place. The first thing you notice is the incredibly unique animal paintings on the wall. Cats, Rams, Chimps etc all dressed to the nines in old, huge, victorian-style paintings. Just amazing and hilarious. Also,a ceiling full of disco balls, lots of natural light coming from the open garage doors at the back of the room and a big bar. The food they put out for cocktail was sooo delicious. Fresh mozzarella with sea salt and olive oil? Yes, Please!!

The ceremony got started and as I mentioned, it was short and sweet. The staff were on top of the organization and everything ran very smoothly. Thanks Peyton and Elizabeth at Porta. We nailed the ceremony and got to Cocktail and Reception.

…and then there was an epic party!!! (keep scrolling for the best cake cutting)

I was so happy to get to spend the day with these two. They were so nice and laid back. Weddings can be stressful, photos can be stressful and these two just seemed to enjoy themselves, the day, and most importantly each other the entire day.

Sidenote: They invited me to a BBQ this summer….FRIENDS!! Nailed it.

Thanks Lissett & RJ