nicole & alex

alex is a fellow wedding photographer friend of mine, so when he asked me to shoot his wedding i was honored. then i was a bit freaked out! being asked to shoot another wedding photographer's wedding is one of the biggest compliments, but also one of the scariest jobs i could possibly land.

no pressure... no pressure....

alex and nicole were awesome. alex did a great job being a groom and not a photographer for a day, although he couldn't stop himself from adjusting nicole's dress as needed :o). the hurricane held out and we were able to shoot on the beach in long branch.

alex's beautiful daughter...

nicole looked amazing!

i loved this reaction of the flower girls and thought it was cool that i could creatively incorporate myself into alex's wedding photos...

nicole also photographs weddings. the first time i met her was on a shoot... and i liked her immediately. if she was uncomfortable in front of the camera, i definitely could not tell.

alex and nicole's balconies lined up perfectly so that i could photograph both of them without seeing one another. shortly after this photograph, they saw each other for the first time...

being on the other side of the camera can be uncomfortable for photographers. alex and nicole were so happy to be with one another, and their adoration of one another is so true and real that they were total naturals!

i gave alex my camera for a few minutes. he went crazy shooting nicole and nicole obliged and posed it up for him. it was adorable. here they are taking their own picture together...

yeah... we are still in new jersey...

i had to post this picture because the whole time this flower girl was mashing her face against the railing, waiting for the dove release, i kept thinking about when i was little and making faces and adults would say..... if you don't stop, your face will get stuck like that.

fortunately, her face did not get stuck like this...

dove release in honor of nicole's grandparents...

i loved how sweet and tender alex's relationship with his daughter is. a sweet moment during their father/daughter dance...

this is a more fun way of taking group pictures... truly candid

...but of course this is how i really take them.

i loved watching alex being able to relax and have fun at a wedding...he totally deserves it!

i had such a blast photographing alex and nicole's wedding at 'ocean place' in long branch. it was neat to have a chance to be a part of one of the biggest days of their lives. i have such respect for both alex and nicole and photographing their love was a pleasure. i'm stoked that they found each other...

the love and respect nicole and alex have for one another became even more evident during their vows. the intent they spoke them to one another was very moving. i'm not going to lie... my eyes welled up.

i hid them behind my camera.

christine & chris

it is not every weekend that i get to shoot an awesome bbq bowling alley wedding in asbury park. christine and chris had a unique wedding with a mixture of texas and jersey flair...

christine wore cute blue shoes with her wedding dress. an awesome color accent!

wonder bar... bruce also played here, but now you can bring your dog here to 'doggy yappy hour' every thursday!

my favorite boardwalk shot...

christine and chris had a short and sweet ceremony in bradley park with the history of asbury park surrounding them. i loved the reading from robert plant, and the reading of 'jersey girl'. (chris is from texas and christine is from jersey... hence he fell in love with a jersey girl, aw)

i didn't take any free socks...

i loved seeing women in dresses and bowling shoes... awesome combo!

the evolution of laughter...

ever try this move? the one where you throw the ball down the lane and move your hips in the direction you want the ball to move....

i'm still trying to figure this one out.

laura and joe

one of the first things laura mentioned when she contacted me about photographing her wedding was her colors...pink and green. somehow she could tell that i loved pink and green...

laura, her family and joe all warned me that he only has one smile. a closed mouth smile and that was all i would get... apparently though he does have a bigger smile. you just need to lay him in some grass and stand over him with a camera in his face to get it!

you would never know it, but there were a gazillion gnats out while we were shooting...

laura and i both agreed we would not take pictures in a gazebo... but i don't think this really counts as a gazebo. it was sort of an alterna-gazebo and therefore i could reason enough with myself to take a picture inside it.

our next stop was dunkin' donuts... while laura and joe do both enjoy donuts and joe is a cop (sorry joe, i couldn't resist), dunkin' donuts actually has some sentimental value to them...

laura and joe started dating almost 12 years ago. sitting in a mcdonald's parking lot (which eventually became a dunkin' donuts), laura cleverly asked joe to go out with her. years later, he brought her back to that same mcdonald's (errr... dunkin' donuts) and cleverly reenacted that moment when he asked her to marry him...

this was a great mural... however, the staff did not want us taking pictures inside. i couldn't help it and snuck a couple in...

maybe i should have persisted....i think if i got arrested while shooting an engagement session it would become clear to everyone how fanatical i really am about my work...

p.s. if my nutritionist is reading this, please know that i did not indulge in having a donut.