nyc wedding photographer

The Lighthouse at Chelsea Piers Wedding /  by Ryan Brenizer

While New York is on pause, we are going back to amazing weddings of the past that came when we were too busy to show them off. For good reason, Amy and Jan were one of the first that came to mind. We don’t need to tell you how fun they are or how magnetically attracted they are to each other or how much fun the wedding was … you’re about to see that for yourself. And we don’t need to tell you that The Lighthouse at Chelsea Piers pulled it off incredibly well — they’re managed by Abigail Kirch; that comes with the territory.

It was a thrill both to tell this story and to look back at a wedding like this.

Yale Club wedding /  by Ryan Brenizer

We loved this wedding so much it hurts.

If we’d written that at any other time, you could write it off as florid hyperbole. But now it is keenly true: Not only are Melissa and Zach fantastic people to be around whose love for each other is obvious, but they celebrated that love and their commitment fervently and wildly, surrounded by friends and family, dancing and laughing and sweating and dipping each other deeply to the amazing music of The Hook Club in the regal beauty of Yale Club.

We think that it’s so important to be able to do this that we’ve dedicated our lives to telling these sorts of stories, and it hurts to have so much uncertainty about when we can all safely crowd together on a dance floor again, singing and yelling and smiling until our cheeks ache.

But seeing amazing celebrations like theirs still brings us an incredible amount of joy, because we know that we will get back there again. This, too, shall pass. And no celebration will ever feel sweeter than when we can all come back together.

And Melissa has a heck of a party dress for just such an occasion.

We want to reward people willing to take a chance on hope as well as help people through challenging times, so we have extended our 2020 Sales to weddings as well. We cannot wait to tell stories of celebration again, and we are well-practiced at helping couples work through related details and uncertainty.

Tribeca Rooftop wedding /  by Ryan Brenizer

We love so much about weddings that we would enjoy them wherever we are, but man is there something special about weddings in NYC, with their tremendous variety. Where else can you attend an event with posh fashion, heartbreaking emotion, and drag performers? Only at a wedding like Charlie and Max’s.

They lucked out with a gorgeous fall day, perfect for walking around the West Village and hopping on the 1 train down to TriBeCa to meet their massive, boisterous wedding party and on to TriBeca Rooftop, decorated to perfection by The Wild Bunch. In a nod to Charlie’s British heritage, half the wedding party were decked out in elaborate fascinators. Charlie and Max heightened the fashion themselves, with custom suitcoats and wedding bands and shoes they designed themselves.

The fantastic weather allowed for a touching ceremony on the rooftop and cocktail hour mingling, followed by a parade of heartfelt and hilarious speeches from friends and family. Then the party began, the energy brought by The Sugar Lane Band and even more toward the end of the night with drag performers joining the guests on the dance floor. An amazing day all over.

Central Park Boathouse wedding /  by Ryan Brenizer

“Classic” and “unique” might seem to be opposites — classic beauty seeks to honor and elevate what has come before — but Veronica and Gary managed to pull it off spectacularly. The examples are countless: It’s not often that guests of the Central Park Boathouse find themselves dancing with human disco balls, for example. We could tell this from their first message: Instead of working with a traditional event coordinator, the couple put their trust in a close friend, yoga instructor and activist Jase Cannon — and Jase absolutely nailed it.

The Boathouse was as beautiful as we’ve ever seen it, and quirky details like the human disco balls and flitting fairies blended seamlessly. But the real star of the day was the deep passion Veronica and Gary have for each other. Whether vamping in the Gramercy Park Hotel or laughing uproariously, spread out on a bench in Central Park’s Ramble, their energy was electric.

We’ve seen wonderful moments at weddings where the bride or groom unveil their musical skills and serenade their partner, but Veronica took it to the next level: She didn’t have the skills, so she learned, practicing piano for months in secret so that she could surprise Gary, and the wedding guests, at the reception.

It was an amazing day to be a part of. Thank you, Veronica and Gary!

Florist: Lenox Hill Florist & Events
DJ/Musicians/Lighting: Classie Sounds
Greeters & Entertainment: Athena Entertainment
Stylist: Lorenzo Hair Stylist
Makeup Artist: Esteban Martinez Makeup
Vegan Doughnuts: Dunwell Doughnuts
Wedding Cakes: Milk Bar

(click on any image to view larger)

The Pierre Hotel NYC wedding /  by Ryan Brenizer

Rachel and Brendon’s wedding was a thousand positive adjectives turned up to 11. Each one —- gorgeous, wild, elegant, emotional — needs their own exclamation point. Take the ingredients of a Pierre Hotel wedding, Central Park in fall*, and a couple bursting with excited energy for the day and for each other, and you have a recipe for an amazing day.

Rachel and Brendon not only have amazing positive energy, but a deep connection to their family and friends (whom they treat like family). It has been such a delight to see Rachel mark occasions both happy and sad on her Instagram with photos we took at her wedding, from Mothers’ and Fathers’ Day to new engagements. It reminds us of the lasting impact wedding images have!

We were happy to be helped by Jerry Ng and Tom Harmon to capture as many aspects of this wild-and-joyous-every-minute day as possible. And thank you to Dawn Celovsky at State of the Art Enterprises for planning such a beautiful event.

*Something so wonderful that Ferris Bueller sang about it on the top of a parade float … even though he was in Chicago.

New York Botanic Garden wedding photo /  by Ryan Brenizer

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I admit I never fully appreciated the set of modern or abstract art that makes you think “Is this wonderful or is it terrible?” This probably has helped with wedding photography, which has at least some objective-ish measures: broadly speaking, you are flattering someone or not, you are capturing a powerful moment or not.

But as with any art, it also is highly subjective. Sometimes we will process an image that we didn’t realize we had already processed for the preview and end up with an entirely different look, both of them valid approaches. And when I first delivered this photo I liked it but it wasn’t even my favorite one from the location. Now I just came back to it and everything about it felt electric to me.

Hopefully it hits you right away too. But if not, that’s OK … come back in six months.

Housing Works Cafe wedding /  by Ryan Brenizer

I think it says a lot about Nora and Evan that our first impulse isn’t to tell you about their wedding, but to tell you about them. Because they’re awesome. Funny, smart (congratulations on that dissertation, Dr. Nora!) and brimming with the sort of nice that you still feel after they’ve left the room.

The wedding was pretty great, too. We love everything about Housing Works … from their mission to their donations to photographing a wedding surrounded by amazing books. They took it to the next level by hand-crafting decorations, building time into the schedule to build their own chuppah and adding hundreds of paper cranes they and their friends had painstakingly crafted.

Oh, and they have great taste in neighborhoods. Not only are Nora and Evan sort of our neighbors (geeking out over all the same local haunts we do), Evan and his friends got ready in our studio!

On a gorgeous sunny day Evan and Nora met each other in the Brooklyn Heights promenade. A short jaunt across the bridge brought us to Housing Works and a ceremony officiated by three friends. The reception was catered by Pies ’n' Thighs (as good as they sound) and coordinated by Brittney at BLB Events.

New Year's Eve Angel Orensanz wedding /  by Ryan Brenizer

Jenna and David managed to pack in a heck of a lot into their day: Not only was their wedding at the Angel Orensanz Center also a New Year's eve party, we stopped in for photos at …

Not bad for a freezing December day. And, of course, it was packed with the kind of love and joy you get when you put 200 friends in a gorgeous space with ample reasons to celebrate.

It's wonderful that Tatiana and I not only get to spend New Year's Eve together, but doing something that we love: Capturing the story and union of some really great people.

Russian Tea Room wedding /  by Ryan Brenizer

Like so many of those who keep making the choice to deal with the complication and expense of living in New York City, Tatiana and I are huge fans of its culture, idiosyncrasies, and history. So we were excited at the outset when Adriana and Stephen came to us with their wedding in New York's iconic Russian Tea Room, which has connections to Adriana's family. Of course, most excitement came from Adriana and Stephen themselves, and how fun they were to work with.

We asked Adriana what was most important to her while planning the wedding, and … well, we have to swear this isn't a paid advertisement: "Booking our photographers!" You see, Stephen wanted to become a wedding photographer himself in part from seeing our work, which is one of the biggest compliments we could possibly get. Adriana reached out to us the day after they got engaged, and kept it as a surprise to Stephen for a while. "I wasn't above planning our wedding around your schedule - anything to lock you in!"

As avid photographers themselves, it might not be a surprise that the photos were one of their favorite parts. When planning weddings, we know that the thought of mid-reception photos isn't for everyone, since it takes a few minutes away from valuable action, but for some couples it's a perfect time to actually get to see and talk to your new partner amidst all the chaos.  "It was so wonderful to just be able to steal a moment away and go off without anyone knowing where we went (or realizing we were gone) so we could enjoy some time alone and take more photos."  She also fondly remembers her brothers -- Ken, who officiated, and Adam, who "sobbing like a baby during my dance with my dad - it was super sweet."

Family appears prominently in their memories. Stephen remembers Adriana's sister having a brief but "extremely intense" show of emotion at the wedding. "(She's not one to ever really show emotion - so it was amazing!)"

Guastavino's Wedding /  by Ryan Brenizer

There is something extra-special about photographing a wedding for a sibling of a previous client -- it's a sign of trust and appreciation, not just for us but of one sibling for the other. And we love stepping back into families that we had already come to appreciate. Ryan had photographed Ashley's sister's wedding in 2012, and it was such a thrill to see familiar faces in such a personal, lively setting.

It was also a thrill to get to know Max and his family, and to return to the amazing Guastavino's, a place as thrilling to photograph in as it is hard to spell. One of the great things about Guastavino's is how easy it is to host every part of the wedding day there, taking the extreme logistical difficulties of Manhattan traffic out of wedding planning.

It's a place made for a good party, and with the help of Hank Lane Music and countless additions like cotton candy passed out on the dance floor, it was a great one.

Of course, the only sad part is when one of these wonderful families runs out of siblings.

3 West Club wedding /  by Ryan Brenizer

Angela and Sean's wedding at the beautiful 3 West Club merged a taste of Korean tradition with Western elegance. Emotional speeches and a lively reception capped off the day.

Tatiana was joined by the excellent Diane Stredicke to document this wedding.