Katie & Don’s Tendenza wedding reception was simply awesome! They have some pretty cool friends that know how to have a good time. Beautiful Blooms did an incredible job with their centerpieces as well. The staff as always at Tendenza was top notch and everything wedding they do is absolutely flawless. During the reception, Don and his dad shared a few cigars out front. I love including the parents in whatever we do during the wedding day. Katie & Don then did a mini outdoor session in Northern Liberties with the beautiful street lighting that is provided naturally. We ended their wedding with some dance floor wall jumps which is something I love doing at Tendenza. I wish Katie & Don the best of wishes with their future together.
About Tendenza and the modern Cescaphe room
Tendenza is the most modern of the four Cescaphe wedding venues, the Northern Liberties loft with the polished concrete floor, the open beam ceiling, and the long bar across the back wall. Katie and Don picked it for that exact reason. The room has fewer architectural details than the Cescaphe Ballroom or Vie, which means the florals and the lighting do all the work. If you are touring Tendenza and trying to picture how it photographs at night, look for galleries with strong centerpiece work because that is where this room earns its name.
Beautiful Blooms centerpieces in a modern room
Beautiful Blooms handled the florals for Katie and Don and the centerpieces are the reason this gallery looks the way it does. In a room with a neutral palette and a lot of negative space, the centerpieces become the visual anchor of every reception frame. Tall arrangements work especially well at Tendenza because the ceiling is high enough to carry them without crowding the table portraits. If you are pricing florals for a Tendenza wedding, ask for a mix of tall and low pieces across the room rather than a uniform height, which is what Katie and Don did and what every Tendenza florist I work with recommends.
The father-son cigar moment
One of my favorite frames from this gallery is Don and his father stepping out front of Tendenza during the reception to share a cigar. I always pull the parents into a few quiet moments during the day because those are the photos that end up framed on a desk five years later. The Front Street sidewalk outside Tendenza works for this kind of frame because the streetlight casts warm side light against the brick, which softens a backlit portrait without needing a flash. If you are planning a similar moment at your wedding, build a ten minute window between dinner and the open dance floor and tell your photographer in advance.
The Tendenza wall jump
We closed the night with the dance floor wall jumps, which is the signature shot I do at every Tendenza wedding. The reason it works at this venue and not at most others is the wall behind the dance floor is unbroken loft brick at exactly the right height for a vertical jump composition. We pulled Katie and Don plus their entire bridal party for the sequence right before the last set. If you are booking Tendenza, ask your photographer about this frame at the engagement session and we can plan the timing around it.
Ceremony: St. Charles Borromeo
Reception: Tendenza
Florist: Beautiful Blooms
DJ/ Band: DJ Byrd
Bride’s Dress: L&H Bridal
*This is not her dog. I borrowed it from someone walking by…
Vendor recap, Katie and Don at Tendenza
Ceremony: St. Charles Borromeo, Cinnaminson. Reception: Tendenza, Philadelphia. Florist: Beautiful Blooms. DJ: DJ Byrd. Bride’s dress: L&H Bridal.