Erin & Dan had a hot day that was fun, elegant, and full of surprises. Dan and his groomsmen are pretty much up for anything! We even rocked Dan’s old BMX bike for some portraits with his best man/brother. I had to include their blag lab Shadow. Erin looked stunning as always and she was ready to get married on this hot summer day at their church Sacred Heart. After church, they headed over to City Hall in Philadelphia then to Northern Liberties to their Tendenza wedding reception in Philadelphia!
Erin & Dan were photographed in Northern Liberties before their Tendenza wedding. I love that area as you never know who is going to pop up in your photographs. One day some super fun hipsters the next a random group of bodybuilders. Their bridal party was equally fun and crazy as the random photobombs we had. They had their beautiful reception at Tendenza and one of my favorite DJ’s Joe Moser rocked the night. He even got to do a mash-up of Duck Tales with a club mix. I loved photographing another Tendenza wedding in Philadelphia! I had an amazing time with this wonderful couple and wish them nothing but the best.
About Tendenza in Northern Liberties
Tendenza is the Northern Liberties property in the Cescaphe wedding venue family, the one with the polished concrete floor, the floor to ceiling windows on Front Street, and the dance floor that lifts when the band starts. Of the four Cescaphe rooms it is the one that feels most like a Brooklyn loft and least like a ballroom, which is why couples who tour the Cescaphe Ballroom and want something less formal usually end up at Tendenza. The neighborhood matters too. Northern Liberties has the kind of street life that lets us shoot the bridal party portraits within a five minute walk of the venue, which is rare in center city Philadelphia.
The three-stop Philly day
Erin and Dan ran the wedding day across three locations, which is the move at Tendenza if you have an out-of-town ceremony. They started with the church ceremony at Sacred Heart in Riverton, drove into Philadelphia for portraits at City Hall, then walked the bridal party through Northern Liberties for the second portrait round before heading into Tendenza for cocktail hour. If you are pricing this out for your own day, the Riverton-to-City-Hall-to-Tendenza route is roughly forty five minutes of driving plus a fifteen minute walk in Northern Liberties. Build a 90 minute portrait window between the ceremony and cocktail hour and you can hit all three stops without rushing. We did this same route for two other couples that summer and it works.
DJ Per4m and the Duck Tales mash-up
Joe Moser of DJ Per4m ran music for the night and dropped a Duck Tales mash-up into a club mix during the open dance floor, which is the kind of thing you only get from a DJ who reads the room. Tendenza’s dance floor has a specific quirk worth knowing if you are planning here: the floor is the geometric center of the room, so the entire reception is built around the dance set rather than the head table. That layout rewards a DJ over a band in my experience, because the energy stays focused on the floor instead of split between a stage and a crowd. Joe also handled the BMX bike portrait moment we shot earlier in the day with Dan and his brother, which is the frame I always include in the album for this gallery.
Ceremony: Sacred Heart
Reception: Tendenza
DJ/Band: Joe Moser – DJ Per4m
The flower girl trying out my closeup filters from my film camera!
Vendor recap, Erin and Dan at Tendenza
Ceremony: Sacred Heart, Riverton, NJ. Reception: Tendenza, Philadelphia. DJ: Joe Moser, DJ Per4m. Florist: Blooming Bells Florist. Video: William Rossi.