This past week, Sandi and I (primarily NJ and Philadelphia wedding photographers) were down in Playa Del Carmen, Mexico. We were there for two reasons, one of which was to simply enjoy our time with new friends. The other was to creatively capture each and every special moment that made up Alex Calvo and Nick DiMattia’s Secrets Maroma Beach Wedding. If you’re a wedding photographer, or you’ve attended a wedding at Scotland Run Golf Club in Williamstown, NJ recently, Alex will probably look familiar to you. She is the wedding and event coordinator there, which is how we met her a few years ago. Since the first time we worked with Alex, we quickly became friends and hoped that she would ask us to photograph her own wedding. Well, this past week… we did just that.

We are at the peak of our busy season and I have more than enough editing to get caught up on, but our airport shuttle picked us up 5 hours before our flight on Saturday so I had some time to edit these shots from the wedding. Sandi and I spent 4 days down there, all of which were beautiful and sunny, except for the last day…. the wedding day. The night before the wedding, the forecast circled on the little card our housekeeper left on our bed called for rain and thunderstorms all day. Of course it would, why wouldn’t it?

On the morning of the wedding, Sandi went to the salon with the girls while I went to the pool with Nick and the groomsmen. I know, you don’t have to say it, I have the difficult job. Don’t worry, Sandi reminds me as often as she can, ha. I wasn’t at the pool for more than 20 minutes before the first storm rolled in causing everyone to start heading inside. No big deal, everyone was saying that it would blow over, and it did. By the time Alex and Nick’s first look was to start, the rain stopped leaving only the dark blue storm clouds behind, something we’re always happy to see. The rain held off all the way through the ceremony, and for most of our hike out to an old abandon mansion in the jungle. Hands down one of the coolest spots we’ve shot at.

As we made our way back to the resort we could see the storm clouds rolling back in. Not that it mattered all that much at this point since all four of us had made our way into the ocean by this time, including Nick with his dress socks and shoes still on. We made it back in time for the announcements and one speech before the rain started coming down pretty hard. While most brides would have let this get them down, Alex shrugged it off and enjoyed every second of it. It was how her wedding day was meant to go, and she had no problem with that. They both embraced it all as they made their way to the main building where the party would continue on til late in the evening. Such as awesome time, with some pretty incredible people. We made new friends, got to spend a couple days answering emails and editing while drinking Pina Coladas overlooking the bright turquoise ocean water.

Congrats to Alex and Nick, we couldn’t be more thankful that you not only asked us to photograph the most important day of your lives, but brought us both down to Mexico with you. We wish you both nothing but the best and look forward to seeing you when you get back home!

[For Photographers]

Daria and Bart’s engagement shoot at Valley Forge.

Mix of digital and film

A few weeks ago, I shot an engagement shoot at the Lokal Hotel Philly. Thomas and Jacquelynn booked Sandi and I to photograph their December 2017 wedding and wanted to do something a little different for their engagement shoot. Having already had some photos taken outdoors, they wanted something a little more intimate and with a totally different feel than typical engagement photos. We were originally going to do the shoot in the studio, but since we are still working on remodeling things we started looking around at some of the more original looking hotels in Philly. The Lokal Hotel had exactly the look we were going for.

I shot the majority of this shoot on film, a mix of Portra800 and Fuji400, shot on the Contax645. Developed and scanned by Goodman Film Lab. A handful of shots in here were shot on the Leica M10, which makes for a great combo with the Contax.

Jessica and Zack’s beautiful Perona Farms wedding, photographed by Twisted Oaks owners Jay and Sandi. They photographed this with a mix of digital and film which is why you’ll see some slight differences in the editing. After shooting at Perona Farms just once, Jay and Sandi were sold. This may have been the first time, but it would be far from the last. Perona Farms is a stunning farm venue that offers its clients a good amount of options to help personalize your day. It also offers plenty of photo opportunities on the property which is what we obviously love the most. Jessica and Zack couldn’t have been happier with the way their wedding day went and we couldn’t be happier for them. We wish them nothing but the best as husband and wife, congrats again!

[Top 6 Rustic Venues – NJ, PA, DE]

Jay