Oct 28 2015

Lisa & Matt’s wedding at The Harvard Club

Lisa & Matt were married on a beautiful Sunday in October at the Harvard Club of NY in midtown Manhattan, just a few blocks north of Bryant Park. Despite the stress of an unforseen parade impeding traffic around the venue, our bride was calm and happy– she was truly radiant all day, and not just because she was wearing an amazing Provonias wedding gown and elegant Jimmy Choo heels! After spending the preparation with her mother and maid of honor we brought her up to meet her groom who would be seeing her in her wedding finery for the first time– this first look with Matt was so special. These two just can’t help but beam at each other and their excitement to marry one another permeated the whole wedding day. Naturally I planned time in our schedule to take the couple for a beautiful portrait walk down through the park and up past the historic NY Public Library before heading back inside to shoot the wedding party and family group pictures in the Gordon Reading Room upstairs at the club before preparing to shoot their beautiful ceremony in Harvard Hall. As usual in dark-walled venues such as this (or a huge cavernous cathedral) this ceremony required some off-camera lighting especially during the movement of the processional and recessional, and I love the dimension this lighting adds to my imagery, especially as the light skims across those amazing crimson velvet curtains behind the ceremony. They had a favorite professor of Lisa’s perform the ceremony, which I thought was unique and a wonderful idea– she is a professor herself now so this was a natural choice! After tying the knot, Lisa & Matt walked back down the aisle to one of my all time personal favorites, “Wouldn’t it be nice” by The Beach Boys! While guests enjoyed a fabulous cocktail hour the happy couple enjoyed signing their marriage license upstairs and then we finished off their family photo set with the extended family pictures, and then we set up our off-camera lighting in the main dining room so we’d be ready for the couple’s grand entrance and first dance as soon as the reception kicked off. I love shooting receptions in rooms like this with balconies– I always bring a little ladder to get a higher vantage point, but from a balcony you can get more or less ‘aerial’ shots of the dance floor, which is a special treat if you ask me! Lisa & Matt performed a wonderfully choreographed first dance complete with a deep dip and even a stunning lift. Other highlights of the evening included a hilarious story recounted during the best man’s toast, a photobooth the guests enjoyed complete with props, the ring bearer and flower girl absolutely killing it on the dance floor, and even a spontaneous “tied-ties Limbo!” I was thrilled to be the photographer for such a warm, elegant, and joyful celebration of love. Congratulations to Lisa & Matt!