Love Me Do Photography

Christine and Mike were married in Cape May, NJ the other week. Aside from all the wind, it was a beautiful day! Christine and Mike are so laid back and great to work with, we felt right at home with them. Also, they know how to throw a party! The live band at the reception were throwing out all the hits: back-to-back Journey! Mike was breaking it down on the dance floor as well as so many of their friends and family. You could tell that everyone was having a really great time, and what more could you ask for in a wedding?

Here’s some of the detail info of the day:

Church: First Presbyterian Church of Cape May, NJ
Reception: Hotel Alcott (they catered it as well), Cape May, NJ
Flowers: Primrose Florist & Finer Things , Somers Point, NJ
Cake: Victory Baking Service, Cape May Court House, NJ
Wedding Planner: Kristin Barse of Bel Momento, Ocean City, NJ

And a little bit from Christine, our bride:
“We basically chose Cape May because both Mike & I have fond memories of spending summers at the beach when we were young & even fonder memories of going to the shore into our teens & 20’s with our friends. We wanted to pick a location that was both easily accessible & familiar to all of our guests & one where it felt like a mini-vacation. We fell in love with The Alcott the first time we took a tour. I wanted a smaller venue that had some personality & Mike wanted a ballroom & this was the perfect match. I have to say our favorite part of the day was when Mike got to jam out with the band… it was totally unexpected & made the night that much more fun. I know how much Mike loves to play the drums & I think it surprised a lot of our guests who never knew that Mike was this musically inclined. We did try to showcase our love of music with such little touches as the Led Zeppelin lyrics on the back of the church program, the names of the signature drinks which were inspired by one of our favorite bands, The Grateful Dead & of course by having Mike & a number of our friends sing/play with the band.”

Thanks Christine and Mike for having us shoot your wedding!

~ Carina and Amanda

John and Jessica made special arrangements for us to be able to photograph in the Neon Bone yard.  The bone yard is where  all the old signage that is no longer in use goes, all piled in one spot.  It’s currently under renovation and moving to a larger spot.  As it is now, it is pretty amazing.  We had only an hour to run around and we had a blast!  It was also nice not having to pull John and Jessica away from the wedding party for too long the night before, since we knew we would have an awesome opportunity to get great photos at the bone yard!

Hope you enjoy them!

Wow, Jessica and John were so much fun!  We first began talking to them about a year ago when they were planning a destination wedding in California.  With the economy the way it was, they decided to take a friend  up on the offer to use his gallery as the venue, where they live in Las Vegas.   Since the gallery was essentially a blank slate, John and Jessica were able to make the wedding so much more their style than any other place they could.  We were super excited to go to Vegas (no we did not gamble, but we did get to hang out in a shark tank pool) and we also got to go to the Neon Boneyard for a day after shoot. (I’ll post that one seperately)

I some info from John about the vendors and all the cool things the two of them made that helped make this day so unique, personal, and super fun

Jessica’s dress was from Oleg Casini, she made her cute little Bolero Jacket.  John’s suit is from Michael Korrs.

The boys all wore ties from Cyberoptix Tie Lab http://www.cyberoptix.com/

The real flowers were  from the Enchanted Florist in Vegas

Natalie Littlefield Catering Unlimeted did the catering. A friend, Eric Foemmel, AKA Dr. Leisure, (he has a PHD in ‘Lesuire Studies’)  officiated the cermony.

A friend of a friend (now their friend), Marty Eats DJed and totally rocked it.

Jessica and John made/put together just about everything else themselves:

Decorations were ordered from www.bulkpartysupplies.com (garlands and all the balls etc. also the bells to make the flowers.)

Centerpieces were a conglomeration of found items from many places in cluding tons of hand made paper flowerers (faux flowers in bases were from www.afloral.com)
Take away bags were hand stamped and filled with fun goodies from all over (Including homemade Hawiian lollypops!)
Table runners and Photo-Booth drape were hand stitched from fabric found at a local fabric store.
Gift sign painting and seating chart were put together by John
Candy Bar Design/candy/jars etc was by Jessica too, including the lollypop holders etc.
Cake topper was a vintage one found on Ebay, (base and details added by Jessica)
In John’s own words: “We threw a party that everyone enjoyed, and  it really was all we hoped it to be. (Much thanks again to Jessica’s amazing planning skills)”

Jessica and Michael were married at St. John’s Catholic Church in the town of Frederick, Maryland. It had been Jessica’s family parish since 1990, and her uncle is the priest. The reception took place at the Antrim 1844 in Taneytown, MD [link].

Jessica’s dress is from Venus bridal, and her flowers were from To the 9’s [link]. Jessica stated, “My inspiration for the flowers was woodland in spring. I think the florist did a good job with that.” Shannon from Soundsations DJed the reception, and the cake was made by Karen Rodkey.

Earrings were commissioned from Kate Borman for the bridesmaids and mother of the bride. Jessica’s earrings were from Loella Medina on etsy.com, and the invitations and paper goods were from the Pink Tomato in Wooster, Ohio [link. The placecards and the labels on the favors were decorated with the bee and the Chinese symbol of love for Mike's side of the family. The programs were sealed with a bee wax seal by the couple themselves. Favors were Betty's tasty buttons from Betty's Speakeasy in Philly [link].

We loved shooting Jessica and Mike’s wedding, as the day was so gorgeous, and it was great to get out of Philadelphia for such a beautiful wedding. We really took advantage of the grounds at the Antrim, and Jessica’s style seemed to line right up with ours artistically. We shoot alot of weddings but there was really something extra special about how Jessica and Mike interacted with each other. It was clear through the other side of the camera that their love for one another runs deep and they are perfect for each other! Not only that, their families and friends seemed to have a great time at the reception. There was so much fun and dancing, we couldn’t stop taking pictures!

Thanks Jessica and Mike for having us shoot your wedding!

~ Carina and Amanda