It’s rare when I get to photograph a wedding and get to be around my friends at the same time. This was the case and it was great, especially on the 4th of the July! A cozy ceremony took place at Appleford Estates in Villanova, PA. Sage Catering brought their culinary wisdom to the table. It was a wonderful day!

This Sunday was as warm as their love for one another. No matter what the season is, Longwood Gardens is always a beautiful place and offers many options for my “studio on the go” imagination. It also helps when the subject smiles, in which case it took absolutely no effort to see Sarah laugh outloud! She is very ticklish, but don’t tell anyone.

After the shoot, all of us including Nick Antony (huge props for great help to my demanding shooting) went out for a great local food to celebrate the engagement and also my birthday!

This has to be one of the most heart-warming weddings I’ve photographed to date. Currently living in California, Anna decided to celebrate her wedding at the closest place to her heart, a home where she grew up. Family and friends gathered on the farm to celebrate this special day.

I found these miniature chairs on the window in the kitchen. Glenn, Anna’s dad told me that they make these when they gather with friends and family and keep them to remember these special occasions. That was a perfect prop for my photo.

Anna & Steve had a traditional Quaker ceremony where they declare their intentions to the “meeting” (a gathering of friends and family). There is no priest and the ceremony usually involves a Quaker marriage certificate. Anyone is welcome to speak at the ceremony if they wish to say something about the couple. After that everybody signs the marriage certificate.
The farm presented some great rustic backdrops and beautiful scenery.

In the back of the farm, there is a beautiful vineyard where we took newly weds for a few photos. 

All the flowers were grown on the farm and Karen, Anna’s mom made all the beautiful floral arrangement for the whole day.

All the table settings, plates, salt and pepper shakers had a rustic feel and were one of a kind and different on each table.
Catering was done by Feast Your Eyes. That team was so coordinated, everything went without a hitch.

The lighting was impeccable. Courtesy of Rodney Shumaker. Even during the day, you could see some beautiful patterns on the table cloth. Later, the saturated colors really set the mood for the evening.

Ever since I went to see Jay’s band Cloud Minder, we’ve been great friends. I met Alanna at one their shows and instantly I knew she was perfect for him. Long story short, they got engaged, we took some photos and had a lot of fun while at it. The theme of the shoot was South Philly. We started on South St and worked our way down, getting some sushi and riding bikes along the way. Thanks to my wifey Jess, who was such a great help! Now I’m really looking forward to Alanna and Jay’s wedding this summer!

I had such a great time with Ksenia and Mitya! They found me through my commercial site / music work via some random European design blog and considered me for Mitya’s music project. Being Russian natives as well as myself, they were pleasantly surprised that I was local and got in touch. The wedding date settled in and they asked me to capture their special day, which turned out to be very intimate and beautiful. But first we spent some time in south Philly visiting the finest spots…