I am absolutely in love with this intimate and rustic wedding, set in an old train station built in early 1900's.
Here's a recap of the wedding day:
We started a few hours before the wedding ceremony in order to capture the bride and groom as they casually spend time with their friends before getting ready for the day, and to also to be able to capture some of the details such as jewelry, small tokens, and the wedding dress beforehand. For the most part, we remained on the sides and just let things happen and capture them as they happen. This photojournalistic approach really helped keep the wedding photos authentic, and draw the viewers into the scenes and events of the day as if they were there.
For the ceremony, I was lucky enough to find a hidden spot in the front of the alter that would allow me to capture bride and grooms faces during the ceremony. I always clarify with the church where I can or cannot go during the ceremony. Some churches/pastors are more restrict than others. Whenever possible, and wherever allowed by the church, I try to capture some shots from this angle. I also try to capture the expression of the parents during the ceremony as I have here. It makes for very interesting moments, especially if I can frame both the bride and groom, as well as the parents in the same shot during the ceremony.
After the wedding ceremony we all headed towards the venue. I generally like to get there a little early and capture all the decorations before the guests enter (assuming the decorations are done by that time) You can see a lot of work has gone into the beautiful decorations for this wedding, and I would never want to miss out on capturing that while its still untouched. Once I was happy with the detail shots of the reception, we spent about an hour with the bride and groom and the wedding party for some fun photos. Typically I reserve this for around the sunset time to get the best lighting as seen here. This part of the day is probably where I do most of my posing/directing (and even then, I try to do that at a minimum). My goal is still to keep things feeling as authentic as possible. So while directing, I try to keep a photojournalistic approach and make things "look" in the moment even though I had made the bride and groom do a certain pose. I typically also make them do silly things at this time...the laughter that ensues is every bit worth it!
Once time was up and we were happy with our shots, we got ready to start the reception.
A great-sounding Mariachi band was playing before the entrance, all the important family had gathered, and were waiting for the grand entrance. Again, using multiple cameras, and doing my best to stay as unobtrusive as possible, I captured their grand entrance as it happened. There were lots of happy emotions seen on peoples faces, especially the bystanders and close family. They went straight into their dances and the rest of the night went by so quickly. I still get nostalgic going through these shots, they bring back all the happy memories I made while shooting this fun wedding.
Be sure to check out their engagement session as well. To book your wedding date, contact Robert today! Robert is a photojournalistic wedding photographer now serving Lehigh Valley: including Allentown, PA and Bethlehem, PA
