I love it when a couple works together to make the wedding an expression of themselves, and few anywhere have done that better than Colleen and Steve. Of course, it didn’t hurt to have a family camp available as a setting, since it made the day both pastoral and intimate, a place where the couple and many of the guests had already whiled many days away on the lake. Steve’s father completely restored a 1948 Chris-Craft boat just for the wedding, dutifully earning the captain’s hat they gave him as a gift. Every aspect of the day was a heartfelt, playful delight, from Colleen’s polka-dotted wedding dress, to the men’s boutonnieres labeled with descriptions like “Groom” and “Sinner,” to, most importantly, the couple themselves.

All you need to know about the feeling of this wedding is that the couple and the guests couldn’t even wait for the reception to be over to strip out of their clothes and don swimsuits, with everyone, even some of the parents, diving into the waters of Green Pond for an immediate afterparty.

It was too epic a story to tell with words. So I took pictures.

What better way to spend Independence Day than with Heather and Jordan at their Ritz Carlton Battery Park wedding? You may recall that we’d already had lots of fun together, with an engagement shoot stumbled across by Dave Chappelle. The day was extremely hot and windy — the moment Heather stepped outside her gorgeous cathedral veil almost went flying off the edge of the building — but they couldn’t have been having a better time. They were so excited that every time they saw each other in key moments, from the first look to the ceremony and kiss, cake cutting, anything, they would just keep bursting out in gales of laughter.

Of course a wedding at the Ritz was classy and gorgeous, with a fantastic cake that marked the day in another way, looking like fireworks exploding over the city. We never did see the fireworks display, which was on the other side of the city, but they had plenty of their own. Congratulations!

I love shooting weddings in California. Not just because the cities are great (although there is a special place in my heart for San Francisco), but because you can’t throw a 5D Mark II without hitting three great wedding photographers there, so when a couple says “We want to fly you in to shoot this,” I know that their styles and mine will mesh perfectly. That was true with Karen and Kamil, and it was oh-so-true in the case of Valerie and Matt.

I mean, all you really need to know is that they Rick-Rolled their ceremony. After the gorgeous and heartfelt ceremony (with vows that Val, of course, read off her iPhone), the strains of Rick Astley’s Never Gonna Give You Up came over the loudspeakers, and the crowd went nuts as the wedding party danced their way off.

I don’t have to tell you how much fun I had; just look at the photos below and the slideshow. Their love, their awesome friends, and their care for their guests having a good time was constantly palpable. Congratulations Valerie and Matt!

Yes, as the best man noted, their names rhyme. And frankly, I think that’s kind of awesome — it shows the natural chemistry these two have. Wedding days can bring stress and worries, particularly when the weather threatens rain on and off and whenever the words “highway traffic” is involved. But the moment that Karen saw Aaron, that was it. He was it. Smiles and connection and pink socks. And you know what? The rain held off, leaving only a gorgeous sunset over Manhattan, which the Water’s Edge has a great view of.

As someone whose name starts with Ryan Kelly can attest, the Irish throw some good parties. Mix that with Karen’s Greek heritage, including traditional dances at the reception, and things really get going. But their deep affection for their friends was represented in yet another way — a close friend of theirs, the amazing singer-songwriter Langhorne Slim, performed at the reception, a performance both touching and fun.

This day was so important and meaningful in ways that are theirs alone, so for a public message I will just say congratulations to you both.

I spend a lot of time on this blog talking about tricks like flash composites or the Brenizer Method, which I tend to use to open up new possibilities in portraiture. But my real love in photography is storytelling, and Elyse and David knew that they wanted photojournalistic coverage that would just let them enjoy their day. And why not? Elyse started her career in journalism … usually I’m the one telling stories about having to explain myself to officials on a photo-shoot, but her journalistic adventures came up several times during the speeches.

I always enjoy temple weddings, because you combine all the importance of ceremony and ritual to the marriage process, from the separate receptions of the Kabbalas Panim, to the (rainy) march to the b’deken, and the ketubah signing all before the public ceremony, but you also have the relative calm that comes from having every moment of the wedding day in one place. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that the temple is gorgeous. Fitting, of course, with these too. David, no one pulls off a Snoopy yarmulke like you do.

Congratulations!

Sarah and Michael had a gorgeous, elegant wedding in Columbia University’s Saint Paul’s Chapel, with a reception at the Faculty House. With the fantastic help of Nerissa and Jennifer at Private Receptions, every detail was stunning, from Sarah’s unbelievable dress to a cake with some of the finest detail work I’ve seen anywhere. The black and white theme added to the urban Manhattanite feel. Yet these two sophisticated New Yorkers both originally hail from Canada — warmth and kindness are the right kinds of stereotypes for a country to have, and Sarah and Michael and their families more than lived up to it. Not having grown up in America, they are making up for lost time, now on a tour of all the lower 48 states — a fantastic idea and something I would love to do.

Words don’t do justice to how gorgeous St. Paul’s Chapel is, the fun of an endlessly energetic band, or the relaxation of guests smoking hand-rolled cigars on a terrace in the summer night. Luckily I took some pictures.

There are few couples I’d rather get lost in the woods with than Mary and Mike … which is good because that’s exactly what happened.

They’d just finished a classic, emotional Catholic ceremony on Long Island, and we were all excited to head out and take some pictures with them and the extremely fun wedding party. So we went out to a forest reserve they’d heard was nice (with the groomsmen picking up drinks along the way, ensuring that the wedding party was getting more fun all the time), and it was great, but required a lot of walking along winding roads. We photographed some relatives … and then they left. We photographed the wedding party … and then they left. This left us with the opportunity to take intimate portraits with Mary and Mike, which I loved.

“Great!” I said. “Which way is out?”

“Hm, we’ve never been here before either…”

So the adventures continued for a bit, and we took some more portraits along the way. (There’s always a silver lining). But we got them back to the cocktail hour right on time, important because Mike was understandably excited about a full-sized rowboat filled with seafood that was the centerpiece.

The reception was incredibly raucous and fun — I’ve never seen such choreographed entrances, including a groomsman who borrowed some of my gear to pretend to be me, photographing the bridesmaid playing America’s Next Top Model. The giant dance floor was filled to capacity all night, mixing between modern and ethnic folk music with twisting and turning line dances that eventually took them outside into the night.

A wonderful time, congratulations you two!

You know you’re going to have a gorgeous, classy wedding at the TriBeCa RoofTop, and Ellen and Jeff’s fantastic affair was no exception. After all, one of the biggest arbiters of style in Mahattan is how many random letters are capitalized in the middle of a place name, and no one beats TriBeCa RoofTop. We started the day at the new Trump SoHo Hotel (see?) and had a gorgeous, sunny day shining down on their ceremony. I don’t need to tell you how clearly in love these two were; all you have to do is look through all the different expressions below or on the slideshow. Tears to laughter in two seconds flat.

Ellen spent most of the day in a gorgeous gown, then joined her mother and aunt in a colorful, traditional Korean Hanbok. I was joined on this day by Kenny Pang, a friend and fellow NYC wedding photographer with great energy. As always, the photos below and in the slideshow are just the ones I took, since I use them for promotional purposes, but he did a great job covering the guys and the wedding day.

Congratulations, Ellen and Jeff!

I knew Alicia and Jason were awesome. I just didn’t know how awesome they were on the dance floor.

It was a hot, humid Memorial Day weekend for the two of them — as I took the flash composite group photo (in the slideshow), at any given time half of the party was in the shade fanning themselves. But that didn’t stop everyone from having a great time throughout the day, whether it was the carefully choreographed wedding party entrance, or Jason doing the Kid N’ Play routine from House Party.

A gorgeous couple and a gorgeous day (at least, when you look back in the photos and don’t have to feel the heat), but in the end it all comes down to the fun you have and the love you share. At the reception, the DJ asked a woman who had been married for more than 60 years to give advice to the newlyweds. She paused for only a moment: “Just keep dancing!”

Congratulations, you two. I’m sure you will.

Tribeca Rooftop is a gorgeous venue for anybody, but it was uniquely perfect for Allie and Vilas — they live about 20 feet away. There’s nothing like the convenience of being able to stop by your (awesome) apartment if you need something during the day. And what a day it was — the rain held off, allowing a gorgeous ceremony on the roof, and the reception hall was stunningly decorated, including hundreds of carefully hung tea lights over the dance floor.

There were enough little touches that even some of the venue operators (who have seen a LOT of events) were marvelling. “How cool is this?” One of them asked me about a plaque that spelled out their new name, entirely using architectural detail from around the city instead of letters (watch the slideshow to see it — consider that the director’s cut).

There was a personal emergency for the couple before the wedding (that I won’t describe for privacy reasons), and it made the day and the throng of loving, joyful friends and family all the more poignant. It was a joy to document the day for them. Congratulations!

There are a lot of general rules you find once you’ve done enough weddings, and one of them is that generally during daytime weddings, when the light is streaming in, nothing is hidden and you have to deal with the consequences of your alcohol consumption for the rest of the day, the dance floor doesn’t get quite as rowdy. Luckily, my clients tend to be rulebreakers, and Sarah and Larry rang in their marriage at the Bridgeview Yacht Club with fun, laughter, fake mustaches and the first time I’ve seen a bride do a split on the dance floor.

But before the merriment, the ceremony was held at the church Sarah grew up in, Our Lady of Peace in Lynbrook, NY. It would be a gross understatement to say that the priest knew Sarah well. I shoot a LOT of Catholic ceremonies — I’m one of the favorite photographers of the Archdiocese itself — and I’ve never seen a priest give a copy of “Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus” to a couple during the ceremony, or allow them to give a speech from the pulpit! All of this made for a warm, caring environment throughout the whole day. Congratulations, you two!

There were a thousand moments when I knew I was going to get along with Carol and Johann — this is a couple that spent their rehearsal dinner performing trapeze tricks, after all — but I will always remember when he looked over my shoulder at a nearby wedding photographer and said “Hey look! That guy’s using his flash wrong!” (Yes, yes he was. Sorry about your underexposed formals, Mystery Couple). I love that my Internet presence gives me so many couples with a strong passion for photography themselves, because we can work together on a number of levels, and because this might be their one chance to actually put down a camera and enjoy themselves.

Carol and Johann had a gorgeous day at the Hyatt Harborside in Boston, the sun blazing over the skyline. They also had a hilarious priest who, during the ceremony, told us fascinating bits of Boston history and started calling out to me to make sure everything looked OK. (I gave a thumbs up). The night was devoted to fun, dancing, two fabulous cakes, great family, and a finishing treat of Jones Soda.

Congratulations, Carol and Johann!

One of the things I love about being a photographer in New York City is that you can never see every block, so there are always fresh surprises. Crystal and Bryan’s wedding was my first time at Brooklyn’s Basilica of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, and man is it gorgeous. And a great fit for a couple with long ties to the church and the neighborhood. Thanks to Crystal and Bryan’s lively and fun wedding reception in Staten Island, I have now photographed weddings in all five NYC boroughs. (Next stop: 50 states) If it began as a relaxed, fun occasion throughout the whole day, as the night progressed, everyone got more and more into the spirit. Ties became props, the band and guests intermingled, and no floor, wall, or even ceiling was safe.

Yes, you heard that right. I’m pretty sure this is the first wedding I’ve shot where the bride managed to get her footprints on the ceiling. You don’t need me to tell you how awesome that is.

Congratulations!

I always love getting calls from Preeti, the head coordinator at Spotlight Style, because I know it will be an over-the-top gorgeous, meticulously planned South Asian wedding, with all the colors and fun and detailed ceremonies that entails. But this time, the bride Preeti’s own sister, so I knew it would be as gorgeous and wild a wedding as I had ever seen. And boy was it.

Like so many great love stories, Sameepa and Beeren’s begins in the dentist’s office. She was his patient, and apparently he did a great job, because Sameepa has a killer smile.

Believe it or not, all of the photos below are from only one day of three. It was wonderful to get to know the family during the sangeet and the mehndi, as well as the first birthday of Sameepa’s nephew, all in the course of a week. By the time the wedding started, it felt like I was among friends as well as clients. The ceremony and reception were at espace, a fantastic event space that made a perfect canvas for Spotlight Style’s design skills and incredible floral arrangements. The ceremony was a traditional Hindu ceremony, which I always love to shoot because so many of the tiniest gestures have incredible meaning, from light touches to the materials used to a sharing of the first meal.

And then it was time to party. From the moment the music started to the end of the night, the huge dance floor was packed to capacity, and it got just a *bit* wild, as you’ll see below. Congratulations, you two, and thank you!

From some perspectives, I am a terrible businessman. I always approach my client offerings with “What would I want from a wedding photographer?” and often throw things in because I think they’re cool, for free. Photos want to be seen large. They want room to breathe, they want to run around on mountaintops and sing. So I decided to make my life a bit more interesting and design my post-wedding slideshows to be not just bigger, but HDTV compliant. And what a wedding to start with — the bigger-than-life multi-day Indian wedding of Sameepa and Beeren! See it here in 720p HD or see it smaller if it’s just too much of their awesomeness for your screen.

Well, you knew from their engagement that I was excited to fly out to California to shoot Karen and Kamil’s wedding, but it topped even my lofty expectations. Any way you look at it, it was the epitome of “geek chic” (which is very much up my alley). Sure, you have an attractive couple getting married in the land of sand and sea, but instead of beaches and sandals we had Wall-E as a ring-bearer, XKCD-inspired table settings, and more Super-Mario-inspired details than I could ever imagine. When you start to get into an argument with your brother/assistant about whether one of the masks for the guests was a Mexican wrestler or Storm Shadow from the GI Joe movie, then you know the wedding has reached maximum, fabulous geekiness.

I had a great time at every moment, but the wedding party had even more fun, including singing the “Age of Aquarius” to mark the end of the ceremony (which is why the slideshow is set to it). And, with further thanks to my brother, we got a nearby merry-go-round working for them, and started having so much fun that they had to be reminded that somewhere out there, a reception was waiting for them.

Congratulations, you two!

The wedding was at Fordham. The groom went to Fordham. I went to Fordham. My assistant went to Fordham. I shoot for Fordham.

(Sorry, Viv. Penn State is a good college, too.)

I knew Henry a bit when we were in school together, and I’d been looking forward to this one for a while. We’re talking about a couple who met in salsa dancing class — if that isn’t the recipe for an awesome reception, I don’t know what is.

And it didn’t disappoint. From a ceremony at the gorgeous Fordham chapel to a colorful and energetic reception, it was a blast the entire day. And that’s not to mention the groomsmen’s hilarious stop at White Castle on the way to the reception, or Henry bringing in a singer to re-enact a classic moment from one of Viv’s favorite movies: Coming to America.

Awesome.

With their engagement shoot still fresh, I was thrilled to start my 2010 wedding season with Emily and Myles. I knew from experience that not only were they passionate and fun, but boy do they know how to throw a party. I have never before seen a bride even consider doing The Worm at the reception (at the great Scarsdale Women’s Club). She thought better of it, though. Of course, the party was destined to be fun the moment the bridesmaids were given their garters, complete with flasks.

But the wedding was as elegant as it was fun, with a ceremony and mass at the intimate and gorgeous St. James the Less in Scarsdale. Among Emily’s accoutrements were a veil that had been in her family for generations and a ring from the 1800s!

Thanks guys and congratulations!

Big post to follow. Hey, it’s a new year and I’m excited.

Also, video lovers and camera geeks will want to see this capture of the Last Dance, filmed on the D3s at ISO 12,800.

2009 was without a doubt the craziest year of my life, and I was so glad that I could end the wedding season with a couple as nice and fun and Dora and Josh.

The mixture of Eastern and Western heritage started early, with the traditional Chinese game of forcing the groom to either pay money or pass challenges to be let into the brides’ parents’ house. As weddings go later and later into the winter, you can see the groomsmen being increasingly desperate in just their tuxedos. The mix continued with a beautiful ketubah signing and Jewish ceremony under the chuppah. For this ceremony, the rabbi turned Josh around so that he was the very last person in the congregation who would see the bride, and his reaction was priceless.

Also, for my fellow geeks, this was one of the rare weddings where I shot with both Canon and Nikon cameras. Watch the slideshow and see if you think you know which is which.

I couldn’t have ended the year with a better couple. Congratulations!

I knew I was going to like Jenny and Chris right from the start of the engagement session. We were shooting in the Bronx Botanical Gardens — a very pretty place, but with a pretty serious limitation that your movement is severely restricted to the path. I said to them: “Well, I can see a really good shot here, but it might get kicked out.” Without hesitation and with a gleam in her eye, Jenny said, “Let’s do it!”

So it was no surprise that the wedding had a light, fun tone throughout the day. I mean, just look at the groom’s cake — an amazingly accurate and entirely edible rendition of R2D2 (I am told the arms were using Rice Krispies for support). Not to mention the melding of Asian and Western cultures, which in this case meant some games that got … a bit risque (rolling an egg up one pant leg of the groom and down the other. An interesting proposition normally, but more so since tuxedo pants tend to have snug inseams.)

Congratulations!

It was such a pleasure to shoot Andrea and Scott’s wedding at the sumptuous Cosmopolitan Club in Manhattan. I knew right from the start, when Andrea’s mother and aunt did a dance routine in the bridal prep room, that this was going to be a fun night, and I was not disappointed. The entire evening was a mixture of class and full-out wild enjoyment. They were both constant fixtures on the dance floor, whirling from person to person making sure that their loved ones were having as good a time as possible.

Well, I certainly did.

If not for the calling of journalism and photography, I had a dream to attend the University of Chicago School of Social Thought, which basically locks you in academia forever. So I was especially excited to shoot Victoria and Alex’s wedding on the gorgeous U of Chicago campus. They were both graduates, as well as most of the non-family guests, which always makes for a fun social scene. As for the tone of the wedding? Gorgeous, fun, and … delightfuly geeky. The best man brought a giant printout of this xkcd comic to the rehearsal dinner, after all, and compared the bride (as a girl vying for his best friend’s affections) to the brain-eating zombies in Zombieland.

Of course, I’m an online columnist. These are my people. And as you can see from the photos and slideshow, it was a fantastic group of people to spend the weekend with.

Anna and Thomas were kind enough to plan their wedding at the All Souls Unitarian Church on the Upper East Side, about 500 feet from my studio, and they had the foresight to plan it long before I moved there! Actually, we met way back when I was still working as a photographer for Columbia University, where Thomas researches. Anna is a Harvard alum, and the erudition showed — this was the first and only time I have ever seen a couple’s shared love of yeast research mentioned in several speeches. (Anna’s father perhaps said it best, noting his personal love of yeast and the wonderful things it gives us, including bread and beer.)

The reception was at the gorgeous Metropolitain Building at Long Island City — a location so fantastic and wonderful that we came back there again a few days later for another shoot! (You can see samples from that shoot on my Facebook page). Clearly, I couldn’t get enough of either the space or these two.

Lauren and Jeff had a Halloween wedding, but not because of any special desire for a Frankenstein-themed wedding; they met on Halloween night years before, at a bar that neither of them normally went to. So there were no tricks but plenty of treats — and not just the giant table of candy, making sure the kids (and adults) at the wedding didn’t miss out on an annual opportunity to sate their sweet tooth. The reception was at the stately Round Hill House in Washingtonville, NY, and featured not just a live band, but Lauren’s dad stepping in on electric guitar for a number or two. (Not, for obvious reasons, “Your Mama Don’t Dance (And Your Daddy Don’t Rock and Roll)”

Again, as is contractually obligated in 2009, it rained just in time for the ceremony, but with a gorgeous church, great couple, and extremely personable minister, it was hard to notice the trivial details, and it was a great night throughout, as you can see: