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This past weekend, Sandi and I flew down to South Carolina to photograph a wedding on the 20k acre riverside property known as the Montage Palmetto Bluff, just 26 miles outside of Savannah, GA. We spent 3 days down on the absolutely beautiful property photographing the story of two very special people, Martin, and Kelly. It was basically a 3-day event that turned out to be everything the two of them had dreamt throughout the entire planning process. The weather was in the mid 60’s, far from the 35-degree temps we left back in NJ, and I honestly don’t think that things could have gone any smoother than they did.
The story of how Sandi and I ended up down in SC for our last wedding of the year is a pretty simple, yet interesting one. We had met Martin and Kelly at a wedding that we shot a couple years ago down in Florida. They were both in the wedding, Martin actually being the marriage officiant for his good friends. During the few days that we spent in Florida we got to know Martin and Kelly pretty good, really enjoying their company. There’s a story that involves a grilled cheese sandwich that may or may not have saved my life, which basically led to Martin and I staying in touch over the past couple of years. Once Martin proposed to Kelly, he immediately reached out and we started the planning process of getting Sandi and I down to the Montage Palmetto Bluff to photograph the wedding. Martin, who actually works for the Montage, made sure that we were treated like family throughout the entire trip.
The first day was spent walking part of the property with a canopy of overhanging Spanish moss that is a dream to shoot if you aren’t used to seeing it like us Jersey folks. We spent some time just hanging out and capturing some photos of the two of them. Just a few hours later the weekend festivities would be getting kicked off, so the four of us simply took advantage of some downtime before the evening’s events got started. Two hours later we found ourselves hopping on a boat to take us over to an island like getaway where we would all enjoy an incredible dinner party. Everyone that had traveled down for the wedding was taken by boat to where the party was held on the water with a live band and plenty of good food to go around.
The second day started early with a trip with all the guys to the no-property gun range as a way of having some fun while the girls began prepping for the wedding. Once we wrapped things up at the gun range, it was time to get down to business. There was a big day ahead of us still and I could feel the pressure and anxiety starting to kick in. Sandi and I put a lot of pressure on ourselves, as we do with every wedding, but this was one that we both felt we needed to step things up a notch. We wanted to be creative while still capturing all the emotions of the day in a very documentary shooting style. Once back to the hotel later that night as we uploaded all the images, we were pretty happy with how things went and the job we did.
I’ll let the photos tell the rest of the story, but it truly was the perfect way to end our most special year as wedding photographers. It was an emotional day for everyone, as you’ll see in the photos, but it really was an extremely special trip for us. This was a wedding that we had briefly spoke of two years earlier and hoped that we would be there to not only photograph it but be part of it. As we sat back and looked around, it was really surreal to see how everything ended up playing. We couldn’t be happier for these two and couldn’t be more thankful that they flew us down to capture their story that you can see a short preview of below. Thank you for everything and we hope to see you both again very soon!
This is very similar to the wedding I have planned for my Leica Akademie workshop coming up in January that is just a few miles away in Savannah. Here is the link if you’re interested in seeing how I shoot a wedding like this from beginning to end where nothing is off limits and you’ll be pushed outside of your comfort zone as much as possible. Any New Jersey or Philadelphia wedding photographers looking for a good way to get the 2019 season started, head down to Savannah with me and enjoy some warmer weather for a few days!
Tae and Samantha’s wedding at the Eagle Oaks Country Club was the last wedding of the year for us that’s close to home. We’ll be traveling to South Carolina in a few days to end the 2018 wedding season out. Being that Samantha works for the country club, we knew that we had to step our game up and therefore decided to bring our associate photographer Cecilia along with us to help out. We put a lot of pressure on ourselves leading up to this one, and just like all the others, it turned out to be an amazing day. Easily one of our favorites from 2018.
Samantha and the bridesmaids got ready in the beautiful Eagle Oaks Savannah House Guest Suites. Tae and his groomsmen started the day with a round of golf then got ready in the Eagle Oaks library. The ceremony took place at the St Peter’s Church in Point Pleasant followed by spending some time back at the Country Club getting some photos of Tae and Samantha just in time to catch a beautiful golden hour and sunset. The two of them made our day extremely easy being that they needed no direction whatsoever. They took full advantage of this time alone, away from everyone else, loving on each other and making sure they made the most of every second they had together.
It was a cold and windy day, but the day couldn’t have gone much smoother. Samantha looked absolutely stunning in her wedding gown which was custom made by her longtime friend Joy Cioci. Joy actually created three variations of Sam’s dream gown, including a detachable train (18 ft long, weighing 6 pounds!), and cape. Samantha discovered Joy when she was designing her ready to wear collections and Samantha’s company sponsored her fashion show – Sam told us that she always knew Joy would design her dress someday. It was definitely one of the most impressive custom designed gowns we’ve seen. We even went back out later in the evening when the temps were just above freezing to capture some night shots of Sam in the gown, you’ll want to make sure you check those out at the end of the blog. We couldn’t be more grateful for Tae and Samantha choosing us to photograph their big day and wish them nothing but the best in the future. I know this is only the first of many life events that we’ll be capturing for them.
OTHER VENDORS:
Bride’s Shoes: Alexandre Birman
Groom’s Tux: Ammar Belal
Groom’s Shoes: Salvatore Ferragamo
Videographer: Off Beat Productions
Florist: Ivie Joy (florals & decor)
Planner: Diana Lin, Founder of Collectives by Diana (one of the bridesmaids!)
Makeup: Angie Parker (assisted by Riley Kate) // Hair: Lisa Cohen and Madison Kranis
Print Work: Art Paper Scissors
Wedding Cake: Palermo’s
DJ: Denny Testa with Off Beet Productions
Sarah and Diego’s Winterthur wedding will hopefully leave no doubts as to why this is one of our favorite venues to shoot at. Over the past few years, as we’ve shot at more and more venues, there have been a select few that hold a special place in our hearts. The former DuPont residence that stretches for over 1000 acres called Winterthur is one of those venues. What was once the former home of Henry Francis du Pont, a renowned antiques collector and horticulturist is now a museum and most importantly for us a wedding venue. A venue that has a perfect mix of beautiful architecture and landscaping to keep a photographer’s creative motor fueled for well over multiple visits due to its size and intricacies.
Sarah and Diego were married at St Elizabeth’s Catholic Church on June 22, 2018. The remainder of the day was spent at Winterthur where the two of them spent a good amount of time enjoying their big day together while Sandi and I captured every moment. We love seeing our clients dedicate a nice chunk of time to themselves on their wedding day, allowing things to slow down a little and letting the biggest day of their lives soak in. No matter how long the wedding day is, it always seems to be over in the blink of an eye. Sarah and Diego set aside almost two hours where the two of them simply explored the Winterthur property hand in hand, enjoying each other’s company. Sandi and I did our best to capture as much as we could of that time in a storytelling way so that the two of them can look back on the photos and relive the day all over again.
It was an amazing day for two beautiful people at one of our favorite venues. Sarah looked absolutely stunning as you’ll see the photos that Sandi captured of her as she got ready. She looked even better with her arms around her new husband. We lucked out with some beautiful weather and we couldn’t have asked for a better Winterthur wedding in the typically hot month of June. We wish these two nothing but the best and look forward to seeing them again soon.
A last-minute trip up to Acadia was well worth it. It was cold and rainy the first couple days but the weather cleared up and we had some sun and temps in the mid to high 60’s. We stayed in the Southwest Harbor just 10 minutes from Bass Harbor Lighthouse and got to do some new exploring. It was just in time for Luke’s birthday, he turns four on the 30th, but we are working so we celebrated while we were there. It’s the perfect place to celebrate his birthday since we were in Maine just weeks prior to him being born. We were there for one last vacation before becoming parents and to take some maternity photos in our favorite vaca spot. One of those maternity photos was taken at a tree that sits alone out in the middle of a huge wild blueberry field that has captured my attention since I first saw it twenty-some years ago. I took this specific photo of Sandi in front of this tree with a much larger idea in mind. This past trip up to Maine we captured the third photo in the series that started with that first shot, taking a new one every 2 years. Pretty cool to see that not only did Luke double in size with each photo, but so did the tree. Click on the photo of Sandi and Luke to see all 3 photos.
