I want to share my favorite moments from 2017! These focus on my favorite thing to photograph, People! I live for capturing natural emotional interactions …Plus a lot of puppies!
I will be sharing my favorite family lifestyle moments and my favorite photobombs with random strangers edition soon!!! Keep an eye out on the blog…
2017: A Year of People First
Looking back at a full year of weddings, the through-line is always the same. The venues change, the seasons change, but the moments that make my favorites list are the honest ones. A father seeing his daughter for the first time, a bridal party that will not stop laughing, a quiet look between two people in the middle of a loud reception. Those are the frames I chase, and 2017 gave us a lot of them.
This collection runs from Philadelphia ballrooms and Old City rooftops to the Jersey Shore and the country clubs of South Jersey. Some of these couples I had photographed for years going back to their engagement sessions, and a few I met the morning of the wedding. Either way, my goal does not change. I want photographs that feel like the day actually felt, not stiff poses that could have happened anywhere.
Why a Best-Of Edit Matters
Pulling a year down to a single gallery forces me to be honest about what is working. It is part highlight reel and part gut check. Working with a second photographer at most of these weddings meant we caught the big moments and the small reactions at the same time, which is how a gallery ends up feeling complete instead of just full. If you are planning your own wedding, this is the kind of coverage you can expect, no matter the venue.
People, Emotion, and a Few Puppies
If you scroll through this gallery you will notice it is not a parade of perfect poses. It is people. Tears during toasts, a grandmother on the dance floor, the split second a groom loses it during the first look. Those reactions cannot be staged, so I spend the day watching for them instead of forcing them. And yes, there are puppies. Couples kept bringing their dogs into their sessions in 2017, and I was not about to argue with that.
A lot of these frames come from engagement sessions that happened months before the wedding. Getting to know a couple before their big day pays off every single time. By the time the wedding arrives, the camera is not a stranger anymore, and that comfort is exactly why the wedding-day photographs feel so relaxed. If you are early in your planning, that is the part I would not skip.
Plan Your Own Day
If a venue here caught your eye, start with the rooms we know best. Browse the best Philadelphia wedding venues and the best Jersey Shore wedding venues we have photographed, then reach out and let us tell your story next.