Love Me Do Photography

Josh and Liz were married at the first presbyterian church of Bridesburg a few weekends ago. It was a funny coincidence that Liz had e-mailed me asking about wedding photography, unbeknownst to her that I had been friends with Josh for some years already. I’m so glad even though we are friends, they chose our photography based on the images, and not just the connections.

Liz and Josh are such beautiful people inside and out, I was glad to be able to shoot their wedding. All the info concerning decisions and details on the wedding can be found on Liz’s adorable blog: Chic on the Cheap.

Some awesome items of note: Liz and Josh decided to do an all dessert reception. Everything looked so good! There were cupcakes, cakes, mini-cakes, brownies, candies, and so much more. Drinks included champagne, coffee, and warm apple cider! There was a candy station, where you can fill a bag to take with you, and so many other cute items and stations throughout the room. We had a ball taking photos of everything the first half hour before everyone arrived.

Also, Liz had a “send-off” dress, where she adorned herself with a birdcage veil and vintage suitcase, as they rode off in a classic car. Pretty awesome.

Thanks Liz and Josh for having us photograph your wedding!

~ Carina and Amanda

Here are the finalists, you can vote vote vote!

Beth and Nic’s big day was finally here! Beth and I had been discussing her day for a while, and it turned out to be as wonderful as we hoped. Beth and Nic got married at St. Anne’s Church in Phoenixville, PA followed by a rockin’ reception at the The Radison at Vallery Forge. On our way, we stop at Valley Forge Park and had an amazing shoot. The lighting was PERFECT. It was just on of those September days, with a cool breeze and beautiful late afternoon light. I adored the classic car they rode in, and loved that we incorporated them into the pictures as my amazingly talented second shooter, Monika Broz was by my side. Thank you Beth and Nic for being so adventurous and wonderful to photograph!

~Nadine

Matt and Sarah are two amazing people, who in the last year decided to open up their own massage parlor, Agrimony and Everlast [link]. Matt is a certified massage therapist, and Sarah hand-blends all of their aromatherapy oils. Their wedding ceremony took place at Holy Trinity Church in Center City Philadelphia, right off of Rittenhouse Square (where we took some photos afterwards.) The tea reception was held at The Print Center, also located in center city. Another great thing about the Print Center, is that currently on display is our partner’s (Nadine) personal photography. It looks great hanging up in there!

There were alot of great d.i.y. elements of this wedding, Sarah explains the dress:
I knew that I wanted something that was more like an evening gown than a traditional wedding dress, so I found this particular pattern on Vogue patterns under their out-of-print vintage styles. It was sewn and fitted entirely by Haley McCormack (bridesmaid with the long red hair), who is amazing. The screen printing was done by Jenna Avellino. I designed the pattern of the screen print, but Nathan Taylor (friend) is the one who put it together for me on Photoshop.

The trees are significant because they were from Dan McCarthy, who is one of Matt’s favorite artists. Matt has been collecting Dan’s original screen prints for a long time. I loved the idea of using natural imagery, as especially something that was barren or stripped down, like a naked tree, because to me that stripping down and slow exposure is what a relationship, as especially Matt’s and my relationship, is about. Dan McCarthy uses tons of this type of stark imagery in his work, especially bare trees. I emailed Dan to ask if I could buy an image from him to screen print on my dress as a surprise for Matt, and he was kind enough to give me four. [link]

The bouquets:
They were made from all live herbs from City Planter; we bound the root balls with plastic and then wrapped them in tulle. I picked the herbs using folk lore, so each bridesmaid had an herb that represented what I felt that had given to me through their friendship (i.e. fennel symbolized “healing and protection,” oregano symbolized “substance,” lavender symbolized “love and devotion”) and also a blessing on our marriage.

The favors:
We made the favors; there were three. Bay Leaf and Rum Aftershave, Vetiver Oil Blend, and a Geranium Ironing Water (for pouring into your iron). They are all recipes using essential oils and herbs. We wanted to give our guests something that had something to do with our business together, and those are all things I have made or plan to make for Agrimony & Everlast. The bottles are the same ones we use at the business, they are just from a bottle supply vendor.

The use of herbs throughout the wedding:
The guests threw meadowsweet at the end. It is an herb also known as bridewort as has a long history as a strewing herb, especially at weddings.

Another way we used herbs in the ceremony was by having the groomsmen wear rosemary as their boutonnieres. Rosemary symbolizes remembrance and was used in the ceremony in memory of Matt’s dad. My bouquet and Matt’s boutonniere, as well as the boutonnieres on my brothers, Dad, and Grandpa, also had rosemary in them. Our use of herbs throughout the wedding has a lot to do with the business, because it is our goal to promote natural healing and health, so we have learned a lot about herbalism.

Tea Party!:

Beck Goldschmidt, from The Random Tea Room, where Agrimony & Everlast is located, catered some teas at
the wedding. They offered several of their own herbal blends, as well as their legendary Chai. Jor Kane, formerly of The Random Tea Room, came down from New York to perform a gongfu tea ceremony, an ancient Chinese practice of “brewing with great skill.” [link]

Thanks Sarah and Matt for all the great info and ideas, and thank you for having us shoot your amazing wedding!

~ Carina and Amanda

Phew! Diana and Ryan’s wedding was great! They were married at the Twin Lakes Brewing Company in Delaware. I cannot say how many times how a local brewery is the perfect place for a creative wedding! I’ve often thought myself, that if/when I get married, I might have to look into breweries. Twin Lakes was great because there were in fact, twin lakes surrounding the grounds. There was also great farmland all around, which really aided us in some awesome picture taking! The “Washington Pear Tree” was also on the grounds, as well as other historical natural and manmade pieces.

Diana and Ryan were super great. They are the type of people who from the second you meet them, you feel like you’re friends. They are so genuine, it made photographing them really easy!

Thanks Diana and Ryan for having us photograph your wedding!

~ Carina and Amanda

That’s right, FREE!

The Gist:
We will photograph your wedding for free! We have been booking up for next year, so unfortunately, the wedding would have to be planned on a day that we are still available for. Furthermore, we are willing to travel ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD! We love getting to visit different places, we just ask for transportation costs to be covered if it’s outside of the Philadelphia area.

Our package consists of:
Two photographers
Full day of shooting (about 8 hours, loosely based)
DVD of high-res jpeg images, edited and re-touched (1000+)
An online gallery of images where prints may be ordered

What we want from you:
your love story/how you met
any plans for your wedding: details/theme/design ideas
date/location
size of wedding party
a photograph of you, along with a few images of projects/invitations/location/etc.

Something you should know about us: We love to take photos. We can take photos of you all day if you let us. That being said, we want to really stress getting amazing shots of you, meaning… you’ll have to allow us the time and ability to do so on your wedding day. We will work with you in planning out the appropriate amount of time we’ll need for photos. We’re definitely not into taking up your whole day with awkward poses or anything like that… but we’d like to at least ask for an extended amount of time to be able to possibly take a few different types of shots in different locations along the day.

All details can be found at Rock ‘n Roll Bride! Enter to win there!