Kristin & Stephen’s Wedding Day Highlights

Perhaps one of my most favorite parts of the wedding day is at a reception when the couple decides to take the microphone and make a toast to their guests. I believe it genuinely shows how grateful and thankful they are to have the love and support of their family and friends. It also made my heart melt when Stephen told his bride that she “was his music.” Such a sweet sentiment!

Kristin and her bridesmaids gathered at the Embassy Suites in Valley Forge to get ready for the wedding day. It’s hard to sometimes choose a favorite detail on the wedding day – for Kristin it was her Manolo Blahnik shoes. The bright blue pop was her “something blue.” I have to post two photos of them because the blue is amazing, but I seriously love how these shoes photographed in black and white – super sexy!

It was no wonder that Kristin wrote on her pre-wedding day questionnaire to us that her favorite features of her wedding dress was the lace back and train. When we hung her beautiful Martina Liana gown, purchased from Bijou Bridal, in the hotel window I just wanted to photograph it all day long.

While his bride was getting ready at the hotel, Steve was hanging out with his sons and friends at the Phoenixville Foundry.  I love when our clients get ready in “non-traditional” locations.  It provides a real “pop” to the images, while allows our clients to enjoy more of the locations they pain stakingly picked!  In Steve’s case we headed upstairs to the balcony overlooking the ballroom.  The one side of the balcony is cascaded with light from large (like 12 foot tall large – maybe larger) windows letting in the most gorgeous light.  As Steve put on this Men’s Wearhouse formalwear he was pretty calm, cool, and collected, however you could tell there was a boiling excitement.  Once dressed, we headed down stairs were we met his sons who were already spiffed and ready to go.  With the fix of a tie and hug we headed outside for a few images before tucking Steve away to wait for his “bride-to-be”.

Once Cheers 2 U Events finished their final hair and makeup touches on the the ladies, the women got dressed and piled into the Ace Limousine to be taken to the Phoenixville Foundry. Though they had already made the tough decision to move their ceremony inside to the ballroom, it was still sunny and pleasant outside so we opted to have their first look in the shade by the tall dramatic windows.

Kristin and Stephen did one more thing that makes my heart very happy – though their ceremony was moved inside, as part of their first look, the two exchanged their wedding bands (to wear for photos) at the outdoor ceremony site at the Phoenixville Foundry. It always gives me goosebumps to watch couples change rings (no matter how many times in the day they do it!). We did a handful of photos out in the Sculpture Garden before we deemed it was a little to warm outside in the August sun. We headed inside to make use of the West Wing Ballroom for bridal party photos.

Their wedding ceremony and reception was to take place in the Cupola Ballroom so we had an entire empty ballroom to photograph the sixteen people that made up the bridal party. The high ceilings and multiple story windows created a timeless beautiful backdrop for these images. For a photographer this is a dream! Did the kids steal the show? I dunno, you tell me!

We stole a few more moments in the historic upstairs space to create a few more portraits of the bride and groom amongst the chandeliers. This was the exact moment where the bride and groom forgot about the cameras and just relaxed into the quiet moments of their wedding day. The day goes by so quickly and there are so many people and emotions, that to have just a couple moments where there is just you and your love – it’s priceless.

The ceremony, performed by Bob Devine, took place in the Cupola ballroom surrounded by romantic white draping.,  Guests enjoyed the handful of kind words read by two of Stephen’s children. With a kiss and a smile, the two were pronounced married in front of their 100 (or so) guests and they excitedly exited the ceremony space to celebrate in the mezzanine at cocktail hour with their guests.

As guests enjoyed the tasty benefits of cocktail hour by J Scott Catering – the staff at the Phoenixville Foundry flipped the Cupola ballroom into a dazzling reception space. The gold chiavari chairs lined up in perfect rows for the ceremony got reassigned around circle tables with warm gold linens and champagne flutes. Each table had a centerpiece by Sommerfield Designs. Tea candles created a romantic glow to the space. It was time to party!

DJ Marty from Silver Sound Entertainment announced the bridal party and the newly weds into the ballroom at the start of the reception. They shared their first dance to Kenny Chesney’s ‘Me and You’ and besides sitting down for a few moments to eat some of their dinner – the newlyweds spent most of their night on the dance floor or chatting with their guests. A fun feature of the Phoenixville Foundry is the bride and groom cut their cake (their cake was from the Master’s Bakers) from the mezzanine and the bride can toss her bouquet from up there as well!

Mother nature also also finally gave the downpour she was promising for the entire day. It was okay though, everyone was inside dancing the night away. I love this photo below – it is a completely unstaged moment from when the DJ played a special song for all the women at the reception. Once all the woman gathered on the floor, they gathered in the shape of a heart!

#Hillnohyphen was a great success! Thank You for bringing us along on your wedding day journey! (And good luck with the new puppy!)

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