Laura+Joel @ The N.Y. Botanical Gardens

…about 2 weeks ago, Laura and Joel were married at the New York Botanical Gardens. I’d visited over the years a number of times for special events, but had never shot a wedding there, so was pretty psyched to get an opportunity to shoot someplace new. I had photographed Laura’s sisters wedding last year at The Basin Harbor Club in Vermont, so it felt a little like a reunion for me!

we set up a first look near the ceremony spot. What made it especially interesting is that there was a videographer there from TLC/ Say Yes To The Dress! Laura had taped a segment for the show and they were at the wedding to get some footage of the actual day. (I’ll bet the 6 hours she spent there videotaping will yield all of 5 seconds of footage in the end!!)

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Mary Coburn was on hand as Officiant, and—as usual – did an amazingly personalized ceremony

They set up folding walls outside the garden for the bride to ‘hide’ behind. I love this shot Steve Depino got of that! Incidentally, though I’be known Steve for many years – this was the first time we got to actually shoot a wedding together…and therefore I shall now steal all his shot ideas…

one aspect that Mary does during some ceremonies, is have the rings passed around in a pouch for every guest to touch and add their good wishes to. Laura’s dad takes a moment here with the rings, before passing them on.

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the folks at Abigail Kirsch catering were not only super-nice but incredibly accomodating to Steve and I and really kept us in the loop with what was going on!

I LOVE these 2 parent dance moments – both courtesy of Mr Depino