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On Saturday, October 29th, Sandi and I had the privilege of photographing a breathtaking Kimmel Center wedding in Philly. Brandon Leichter and Mandy Glestein, two best friends, tied the knot with close friends and family in attendance. Sandi and I were there to capture every moment. This was a special one for us, and I’ll try to quickly explain why without getting too sappy. We have had wedding clients come from all over, such as The Knot, Google, social media, Fearless Photographers, wedding blogs, and word of mouth. Brandon and Mandy will tell you it was fate. Sandi and I would tell you the same.
To make a long story short, I met Brandon for the first time close to 4 years ago when I called Allen’s Camera, the camera shop his father owned. I wanted to try and buy the newly released Nikon D800, that was sold out everywhere else. I tried to pay for it over the phone using a credit card, and his father Allen wouldn’t let me. Since I had never bought anything from Allen’s before, he wasn’t comfortable doing the transaction that way. He gave me only one option, to drive an hour up to the store and buy it in person.
I was leaving for a Maine vacation the next day and wasn’t happy about it. But, I drove up anyways, bought the camera, and left angry. Never would I have thought, that the son of the owner who rang me up that day, would be standing in front of me on his wedding day waiting to see his beautiful bride for the first time.
Allen’s Camera is the closest camera shop, so even though I was a big baby and didn’t get my way the first time, I ended up making the drive up a couple more times that same year for other gear. I started to get to know Brandon and his father a little better with each trip up, and I quickly got over not getting my way the first time.
On April 30th, of 2015, Allen suddenly and unexpectedly passed away, obviously hitting the family hard. I had never spoken to Brandon about the passing of my mom just a few years earlier, but I felt the need to simply send him a Facebook message letting him know I was here for him if he ever needed someone to talk to. He never responded back, something I completely understood. I had done the same to many people during the first 6 months or so as I tried to get a grip on my new reality. The message didn’t go unnoticed, though. Brandon started following my work a little bit more, and watched as we built Twisted Oaks over the past year and a half. When he proposed to Mandy, he reached out to me, and to my surprise asked to talk about having Sandi and I shoot his wedding. This was a huge honor. Knowing that as a camera shop owner, Brandon had a pretty large pool of photographers to choose from. The two of them stopped over the house, we talked about their wedding plans, and the rest is history.
Brandon and Mandy’s wedding at the Kimmel Center in Philly yesterday was flawless, and we couldn’t have been more honored to be spending the day with the both of them. There was a perfect mixture of laughter and tears, along with some beautiful Fall weather that made for a perfect day. As Sandi and I got home late Saturday night, we sat down to unwind and popped in a USB drive that Brandon handed me when I walked into his hotel room earlier in the day. The USB drive had the digital video footage that he had transferred over from VHS for me just a few weeks earlier. On the drive… our wedding footage that neither of us had seen since the year we were married, 10 years ago.
On a day where I got to capture the wedding of a friend who’s father would be extremely proud of his son, I got to watch the video footage of me dancing with my mom at my own wedding. One of the proudest moments for my Mom. Earlier in the day, I had watched as Brandon wiped away tears thinking of his father, missing him and wishing he was there. It ended with wiping away my own tears, remembering my Mom at my own wedding. It was an extremely special day, and one that I won’t soon forget. Thank you again, Brandon and Mandy, it truly was an honor and we wish you both nothing but the best!
PHOTOGRAPHERS:
This wedding was shot on the new Canon 5D MarkIV’s and the Leica M240. If you haven’t already seen it, here is my First Impressions review that I wrote up a few weeks back. All my gear is purchased at Allens Camera 🙂
NOTE: To Uncle Afro Bob, it’s not a Gary Fong Dome, it’s a MagMod MagSphere.
A Kimmel Center Wedding
When we first met with Allison and Eric to talk about their wedding plans, they mentioned possibly getting their engagement photos done somewhere up in PA, in the mountains… with waterfalls. A few months after they signed the contract to have us shoot their wedding, we were planning their engagement shoot. After 6 hours of driving and a 4-hour hike that went past the sun going down, Sandi and I captured some of our favorite engagement photos we’ve ever taken. Anyone that knows us, knows that we love to hike and spend just about every summer in Maine doing just that. Anytime our clients want to take us on an adventure with them and have us photograph it, we are all in. It was a great day, and we got to spend it getting to know Allison and Eric even better. Their wedding will be one that we will no doubt be looking forward to all year. Scroll down and take a look through all the photos, it will no doubt have you wanting to plan a trip to Ricketts Glen in the near future.
Photographers: This entire shoot was shot on the new Canon 5D MarkIV. Sandi and I recently switched over from primarily shooting Nikon to shooting Canon with the new 5D. We still kept some of our Nikon gear, but we are loving our new Canon setup and this shoot is a great example of why we love it so much. The beautiful colors and tones of the Canon files, along with the impressive new AF system, the new 5D MarkIV is pretty much the perfect all around DSLR for our shooting style.
[Canon 5D MarkIV First Impressions Review]
On June 11th, Emily and Josh Dellinger were married at the beautiful Appleford Estate in Villanova, PA. Sandi and I have known Emily and Josh for several years, and this was a wedding we had been looking forward to all year. We first met Emily 4 years ago, when I received a call from her asking me if I would be interested in photographing a Big Brothers Big Sisters Christmas event. At the time, I had no idea who she was, or anything about the BBBS organization. Sandi and I were just starting to get our photography business going and both working full-time, so a Saturday off was a big deal, and this wasn’t a paid gig. Well, we decided to shoot the event, which was run by Emily, who at the time worked for BBBS. She had gotten our info from another photographer who couldn’t shoot the event that day and had to cancel last minute. Long story short, we ended up shooting several events for them in the years since. That was also the start of our friendship with not only Emily, but her entire family. In fact, Emily and her sister are both in the wedding industry. Emily owns a letterpress and print company named Narola Design, and her sister Alex owns the hair and makeup company named Taffeta Design. Last year, the 3 of us even went in together and rented a studio space in Hammonton.
When Emily and her husband Josh got engaged, we were excited that they wanted us to shoot their wedding. At the same time, we put a lot of pressure on ourselves to deliver her the images we knew she would expect from us. We have worked together on several projects, such as styled shoots over the years, a lot of which have been published. We knew that Emily would be going all out with the details, including her own letterpress, and we needed to capture everything perfectly. Well, the weather turned out to be perfect, and she was able to have the outdoor ceremony she had been hoping for. Even though it had called for showers that day, the sun came out, and we were even able to grab her a few flare shots that she had wanted. Her and Josh’s reception didn’t disappoint either, and knowing a good number of guests at the wedding allowed for us to capture some pretty great party shots. It was one hell of a party, and a pretty amazing day all around, one that we won’t soon forget. I couldn’t be more excited to show this blog post off, so I’ll end this here and leave the rest of the story to the images. Enjoy!
Photographers: This is a mix of digital and film. Digital images shot on Canon, Nikon, and Leica cameras. Film scans shot on the Pentax645n and Fuji400h film.
Related Article: (Real Lens Flare – Done The Right Way) Article on how I get sunflare in my images like some of the ones you will see in this blog.
Vendors for Emily & Josh’s Appleford Estate Wedding
Wedding Dress: Watters
Bride’s Shoes: Badgley Mischka
Groom’s Tux: Suitsupply in Philadelphia
Groom’s Shoes: Allen Edmonds (he’s obsessed)
Video: Brent from Saltwater Studios
Hair/Makeup: Taffeta Hair & Makeup Design
Florist: BloomingBelle’s in Audubon, NJ
Caterer: Robert Ryan Catering & Design
Ceremony/Reception: Appleford Estate
DJ: DJ Tommy Bertolini from Steve & Co. Productions
