Ryan Brenizer — NYC Wedding Photographer. Problem solver, storyteller.

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You know, most couple are lucky enough if they have a fabulous wedding, surrounded by loved ones, laughter, and great food, but Emily and Jeffrey got to do it twice in the same day! The marriage ceremony was at the fantastic River Cafe in Brooklyn on a freezing November day. Apparently this is the best view of Manhattan anywhere, because even despite the cold we saw seven or eight other wedding parties wander by! Without a doubt ours were the most fun, though, especially the ladies who were willing to freeze in their dresses for good photos! This is when being able to work quickly comes in handy, but I couldn’t resist a little “OK guys, just hold that pose for … twenty more minutes…”

After that, the wedding party headed to Queens for a giant Chinese reception, complete with Emily’s outfit change and course after course of delicious food. On the way in between, I designed a slideshow of the wedding ceremony, which allowed the 80 percent or so of the reception guests who weren’t there to experience the full day. I was sore but ecstatic after two separate ceremonies, but not nearly as much as the couple.

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This wedding couldn’t have come at a better time. I recently got back from a seminar where I heard the great Australian portrait photographer David Williams talk about the importance of families, and of photos in our own personal histories. At the end of the day, what we wedding and portrait photographers do isn’t about equipment or Photoshop actions or textures … it’s about documenting the stories of friends and families, and shaping memories. And I felt that so keenly at the wedding of Alexandra and David.

You see, once upon a time, there was a bride named Marisa. New Yorker through-and-through, as you can see below:

I shot her wedding in May 2007, and had an absolute blast. Marisa had a sister, Natalia, who was getting married in November. “I LOVED your photographer,” Natalia said, “but I want to get married in Miami. Where can I find someone like him down there?”

Marisa said, “you know … I don’t think Ryan would mind leaving New York for Miami in November.” And so I shot Natalia’s wedding:

It was an especially great compliment to be flown down because, as of the last census, South Florida has 156 wedding photographers per square foot. It felt like a personal reunion as much as a wedding, and I left with a glow, loving life and my job.

You can probably see where this is going. There was a third sister, and her name was Alexandra. With the help in particular of her amazing mother, she was able to plan her wedding all the way from Singapore, where she and David live. It helped, of course, that she saw what had worked and what didn’t for her other sisters … and hiring me was a foregone conclusion. Our first client meeting basically boiled down to … “So, do you book the flight or do we?”

It has been such an honor to shape so much of a family’s history, to walk into a home during bridal preparations and see prints of my work hanging on a wall. It’s times like these that even a 14-hour day doesn’t feel anything like work. (Of course, it didn’t hurt that the wedding was at the fantastic Red Fish Grill in Miami, not a bad place to be in December).

I’m only sad that I’ve run out of sisters.

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You want to talk intimidation? How about shooting for a family of surgeons where they joke that the Harvard-attending world-class fencer is the underachiever? How about a groom who’s a top-notch, award-winning cinematographer? How about trying to do justice to a gorgeous ceremony at New York’s prestigious Yale Club?

In fact, though, every moment of shooting David and Sharon’s wedding was a joy. They are warm, fantastic people, and there’s nothing quite like shooting for a room full of cinematographers. Every five minutes or so someone would come up to me and say, “Hey, that shot you just took? That was a great frame!” Above all, the emotions were heart-felt and vibrant. Eventually people stopped even trying to wipe away tears, it was just no use. And guest after guest lavished praise on the couple. As the best man said when it was his turn to speak, “I know there have been a lot of long speeches already about how great Sharon and David are … and this one isn’t going to break that mold.”

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What a wonderful couple Stephanie and Jerry were. I feel like I’ve known them for years. Oh wait … I have.

I’ve known Stephanie and Jerry for more than 10 years, and all that time Jerry has been crazy Stephanie. Most of the time, she returned the favor. I knew right away that their wedding was going to be something I didn’t want to miss, but they also really wanted my photographic vision to cover their day. Since Jerry is a television producer, I figured he knows what he wants. So I did double-duty on this wedding, photographing all the great moments while also getting to break into a Kid N’ Play routine on the dance floor. As you can probably tell, I had a blast the whole night.

Stephanie is a foodie (her father noted she carries maple syrup around in her purse in case she ever runs into a pancake), so it’s no surprise the food at the venue was fabulous, including a specially-made cake that was basically a giant three-color cookie. The ceremony was at our alma mater (and now one of my favorite corporate clients), Fordham University. It was cold and rainy, but that just made for a beautiful, colorful scene, and in about 15 minutes in the rain we did one of my favorite formals sessions of the year.

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I’ve always appreciated irony, so I love it that probably my most Manhattan wedding of the year, that just dripped that intimate, cosmopolitain feeling, was that of San Franciscans Michael and Nadia. How intimate? The wedding, a stylish affair in the gorgeous SoHo House, had seven guests. With just the closest friends there, everyone was comfortable and at ease. Also, one of the big advantages of a wedding that size is that you can have the reception under a normal reservation at the amazing Japanese restaurant Morimoto. This isn’t your father’s wedding food.

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All you need to know is that I had more photos from Courtney and Greg’s wedding than I’ve ever shot on a single day before.

OK, that’s not all you need to know. How about why? How about the incredible amount of friends and loved ones: 300+ guests and a wedding party roughly the size of the cast of Ben-Hur? How about a willingness to do fun outdoor formals even though it was twenty degrees below the normal late-Novemeber in Allentown, Pa? How about the great work of my second-shooter Dave Zaveloff?* And how about a dance floor so crazy that probably no one who attended the wedding should ever run for public office? All in all, and with a fantastic couple to boot, it was a recipe for a great wedding, and the 10 images below can barely contain it. You gotta watch the slideshow.

*As always, since I use these for promotional purposes, all of the images below and in the slideshow were taken by me. But Dave got some great shots, too.

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I was honored and flattered to shoot Keith and Laura’s wedding right from the start. One night quite a while ago, I picked up a call from an elated woman. “Ryan! My son is engaged, and we want you to shoot the wedding!”

“Great!” I said. “When is it?”

“We don’t know!” She replied. “They just got engaged an hour ago!”

The wedding ended up being in the couple’s home town in southern New Hampshire. I traveled up the night before to meet the wedding party and shoot the fantastic rehearsal dinner … at which point I already knew this was a fun, lively crowd.

Well, I don’t know what they put in the New Hampshire water, but this wedding had some of the most outgoing, craziest dancers I’ve ever seen (and boy have I seen a lot). The ceremony was a formal affair at their beautiful local church, and then the reception continued strong until 1 a.m. As you can see from the last picture, taken right at the end, Keith and Laura were still glowing after everything.

Without a doubt, October was the most beautiful month of 2008 here. The weather was usually perfect, the leaves were great, and Howard and Annie made the most of it at the gorgeous Surf Club in New Rochelle. It was a wonderful interfaith marriage ceremony. As the rabbi noted during the ceremony, “Secular marriages are wonderful things, but there’s also another, spiritual level when you get married by a priest or a rabbi. When you get married by a priest and a rabbi? Watch out!” And the fun continued through the night … I’m pretty sure Annie is the first bride I’ve seen do an air guitar routine on the dance floor. 10 shots from the night follow, but I recommend viewing the slideshow to get the whole story.