Ray & Kim

Kim and I met up with Heather and her wonderful family and bridesmaids at their house in Vineland. It was perfect with brightly colored walls and one entire wall of windows for awesome lighting. I’ve gotta figure out how to use their place again for other weddings, haha. Heather was constant smiles from the moment she walked in the door and it was great because it caused everyone else in the house to do the same.

Heather & Kyle decided to have a first look and it was a splendid day for it. For a late February wedding it was nice enough for us to have them see each other for the first time outside. Constant laughter made our jobs so easy as we got the bridal party together for some group shots just outside the winery.

It was a great party at the Valenzano Winery with Darryl from VIP Mobile DJs keeping everybody dancing all night long. The night flew by and we can’t thank Heather, Kyle and all their family and friends for showing us a great time and allowing us to document their wedding day. Below are some of our favorite shots from the day, we hope you enjoy them.

Below are a few of my favorite shots from the evening.

I arrived at my parents house to get myself together. My sister had flown up from her home in Florida and both of my parents were there while I got myself together. As is the norm in my family there was constant laughing and ball busting from my sister, always a good time in my book. I had plenty of time since I had to leave our house a bit early so Kim could start getting herself ready. I hung out at my parents for a while before my next task of the day, going to get the flowers.

We decided to have our ceremony at Batsto for a few reasons. First off it was the location of one of our first dates together. Way back I had invited Kim to go with me to Batsto before sunrise to take photos of the area and of each other. We had such an amazing time that day wandering around and taking pics of each other all day. It’s also just a really beautiful location where we have photographed many engagement sessions. When we first started planning our wedding we both decided that would be a perfect location for us, especially since we had a small history there.

After picking up the flowers I met up with our photographer Cliff Mautner at Batsto Village. Since Kim and I are both photographers you could imagine that one of the most important things for us on our wedding day was the photography. Kim had the pleasure of taking a class with Cliff a while before our wedding so he became our first choice for our wedding photographer. Cliff and I both arrived at Batsto a bit early so he asked me to go along with him to check out the area and pick out some good locations. Cliff was so polite and down to earth it was really nice to meet him personally and get a chance to chat with him for a bit. Kim and I chose to see each other before the ceremony so Cliff picked out a great spot for our first look and we planned how I would see Kim.

As soon as I went to the area where I was supposed to wait for Kim to arrive it really started to hit me. My heart started beating faster and I became so anxious, I literally couldn’t wait to see my bride. There was a small window through the building I was hidden behind that I could see through and I couldn’t resist to sneak a look. Kim was far away but she was standing there in the sunlight and working with Cliff rocking out some photos! I got the signal and I walked, actually I almost ran, up behind Kim and she turned just before I got to her (she later told me she heard me walking up behind her). She was and still is hands down by far the most beautiful woman I have ever seen and she looked so absolutely amazing in her wedding dress. I love the smile I get from Kim when she is incredibly happy, her eyes get kinda small and her cheeks lift up and I love it. I told her that the dress would have been worth twice as much and we kissed and hugged for I don’t know how long.

After our first look Cliff took us around the grounds at Batsto and we took a lot of portraits before our ceremony, it was great working with Cliff and he is so calming and reassuring. I remember not being able to keep my hands off Kim and I think I was kissing her too much but hey, can you blame me? Once we finished up with our portrait session it was time to get the ceremony rolling. I had met up with our officiant and we had everything ready to go. Just before our best man and maid of honor where ready to go down the aisle I noticed that I had forgotten the rings! Thankfully they were just in the car and we were pretty close to it so I sprinted to the car to go get them. Everybody at the ceremony I’m sure was wondering why I was running towards my car but as I ran back and held the ring box in the air, I could hear them all laughing. Somebody even managed to grab a blurry shot of me running with the ring box in the air. My soon to be wife took it in stride and laughed it off with me and we walked down the aisle to begin our ceremony.

Our ceremony was short and sweet and we both said “I do” and that was it, I was married to the woman I love and the one person who I have the most fun with every day of my life. I knew I was going to be happy but I have to say I was filled with more emotion than I expected, it truly was a great moment to become married to Kim. After the ceremony we finished up with more portraits with Cliff and then headed to our reception at Blue Heron Pines Golf Club. We had our close family and friends there and it was perfect. A friend of ours, Chris Garrow who owns Unforgettable DJ’s was kind enough to dj our reception and he did a fantastic job. He took the time to get to know some names and managed to make our reception very personal as he spoke to specific people and kept us laughing and entertained with great music.

From the time I proposed to Kim I knew our wedding day was going to be great but it certainly exceeded my expectations and I had an absolute blast. Everybody involved helped to make our day very special and for us I think it was just right to have a small, personal, and special day together with them. I am so happy to be spending the rest of my life with Kim and for us to be able to share our happiness with other couples on their special day is another wonderful result of our marriage.

Kim, I love you so much and thank you for always being the smart, challenging, beautiful, funny person that you are. I still can’t believe that I was lucky enough to marry you!

Below are some of my favorite photos from Cliff Mautner and you can check out Kim’s story of our wedding at her blog.

Rebecca and Michael had opted for a first look and as always we couldn’t have been happier. We found them a nice semi-private spot to see each other for the first time and let them do their thing. Once they had a few moments together we took them around the village to do some portraits. Rebecca and Michael are so great together. They are super comfortable in front of the camera and at times would be completely into each other and forget we were there which was perfect! As soon as we finished up with the portraits we were all off to the ceremony at St. Mark and All Saints in Galloway NJ. After the beautiful ceremony wrapped it was right back to the Smithville Inn for the reception.

At this point we had a lot of great portraits of the couple but they were kind enough to allow us to take them outside at night to walk around the Inn a bit more. I’m so happy they gave us this chance because they are some of my favorite shots from the evening. We finished off the night with a non-stop party and we had such a great time. Below are a few of our favorite shots from the day, I hope you enjoy.

These two were a ton of fun and super laid back. We wandered around Batsto with them for quite a while and had some great sunlight to work with for the photos. Terry can keep Katie smiling the entire day and it totally shows how much they are in love. I know it’s going to be an incredible wedding and we are definitely looking forward to getting to work with this great couple again. Below are a few of our favorite shots, I hope you enjoy.

Lauren and Chris had decided to do a first look so as soon as they were ready we had Lauren descend the grand staircase to see her groom-to-be for the first time. They had a few moments together and then we got right into the portraits of them and their bridal party. We were able to go outside since it turned out to be a beautiful fall day and the sun showed itself just enough for our portrait session. They had a wonderful outdoor ceremony and then we were off to the party. Kim and I had a great time with Lauren and Chris and below are a few of our favorite photos from the day.

After we finished up with her at the house we went to a small park in Cherry Hill so that the couple could have their first look together. They had a few moments together for the first time on their wedding day and then were ready to get right into photos with their bridal party. We have to thank them both for allowing us so much time to photograph their bridal party in a lot of locations and then still having plenty of time to photograph them together.

After the ceremony we headed to the reception at The Westin in Mt. Laurel. It was such a beautiful place and a wonderfully decorated room. Just before the reception they had a traditional Tea Ceremony which was really cool to watch. She-Yan, Mike and all their guests certainly rocked out this party too. People were dancing all night long and Kim and I had such a fun time photographing the party. They were a great couple to be around all day and we were so glad they asked us to be a part of that great day. Below are a few of my favorite pics from the day.