Kim & Justin Furniss

Growing up is a funny thing. One day you’re sitting there watching the Goonies on cable in the dead heat of the summer and then suddenly all your friends are getting married. It can throw you for a loop if you aren’t ready (I have a relatively large dvd collection and a lot of John Cusack movies so I’m pretty well adjusted.) I say all that to say this: I’ve known Kim & Justin for as long as Kim & Justin have known Kim & Justin. Did that make sense? I hope so. Anyhow after courting for several years my two good friends called me up and of course I was overwhelmed with joy to hear the news.

How does the old saying go? There’s nothing like old friends. Back in college Justin used to get us into to trouble, and Kim would get us out. Not a whole lot has changed. One of those classic examples of opposites attract, I suppose. It was scorcher that day, they opted to have the whole ceremony in their back yard. That was fortuitous because afterwards we took the wedding and turned it into a pool party! Man, I love shooting my friend’s weddings.

Jill’s Adventure

Sunday I set out with Jill to do some pictures.  I always get a little nervous before an editorial shoot.  It’s not that I doubt my craft, but something about having complete freedom to shoot however I like is sort of a daunting task.  So I like to start out simple and then make things more complex.  This is especially the case when I’m shooting a subject for the first time.  It helps establish a trust, and pretty soon that nervousness breaks down and I’m floating in the void again.  It was a 4 hour shoot but I felt like it was only twenty mins.  I think we got a ton of great shots! Check them out!’

Chris & Katy

Chris might just be one of the funniest guys I’ve ever met, and I’ve met quite a few funny cats in my day.  When he and his fiance, Katy, told me they wanted me to be their wedding photographer I was really excited to get the chance to shoot another old friend’s wedding.  Growing up I was extremely good friends with his younger brother, Harry.  In fact, I still am!  We used to hang out in their family’s basement on the weekends and stay up all night playing video games and listening to music.I had my friend Jimmy assist on this one.  Jimmy is one of Kate Connolly’s associate photographers and I very talented guy.  He has a total way with the group shots and was one heck of a snappy dresser.  We actually both showed up wearing the same thing!  Which confused the Brides family when we got to the door.  The Katy’s father tried to shoe us away when we got there.  I can’t blame him though.  It was Saturday Morning we were dressed alike and the two of us looked pious enough to be peddling our religious values door to door.  After a quick laugh about the misunderstanding and a little sweating, we were welcomed in with open arms.  Jimmy and i went to work.

Katy has a big family!  Everyone was really excited.  We finished up with some family shots at Katy’s then made our way to the church.  Chris’ folks were there, I said my hellos and how do you dos and we got set for a really great ceremony.

But let’s be honest, the real magic happens at the reception!  The DJ’s were a riot!  Chris and one of his friends danced the knife-fight scene out from Beat It!  The night it self was a lot of fun.  Katy looked wonderful!  Chris was hilarious.  It was great seeing my surrogate South Jersey family all together having a good time.  Here are some of the best shots from that night.

Brooke & Bob

Did I ever mention I really dig ampersands. You use them instead of writing “and”. In general it’s most appropriate when the two nouns you are connecting have a familiarity or common proximity. Y’know peanut butter & jelly or fish & chips I’m sure you get the point. But that’s just me I’m kind of writing geek. I feel it was more than fitting Brooke & Bob share one when I mention them… they go well together, they look good together, so I say it’s ampersand time.  Anyhow, that really doesn’t begin to describe how excited I was to be present on this day.

Brooke is an old friend. One of the oldest, in fact. You see I moved around a lot growing up. And sadly, you don’t get to take your friends with you when you go. Not so sadly though, there’s an opportunity for new friendships to bloom when you settle back down. So in 5th grade I met Brooke. For the next 8 years we went through school together. We spent more than a few class projects together, worked on the class yearbook, we even did crabwalk relay once. Good times! So when she told me she was looking to a photographer for her wedding reception/vow renewal I jumped at the chance!

Along came the day. My assistant (Melanie McLean of Wayward Winos fame) and I showed up at the hotel and met Brooke in the suite. Mel and I geared up and I went in to see Brooke. I had no idea that all her bridesmaids were friends of mine from high school. It was like a mini reunion. Brooke started to get all teary eyed. She said something to the effect about how blessed she was that we all could be here for her. I told her to stop it or she was going to get me to cry, and I didn’t make it through 8 years of school without having them see me get all emotional to breakdown now. We all laughed and things progressed on a very happy note for the rest of the day.

After hearing Brooke talk about Bob and seeing pictures of their wedding ceremony in Jamaica it was a total pleasure meeting him in the flesh. I got to meet the rest of Brooke’s family as well (I’m not positive but I think there’s a fishing trip I got roped into with Mr. Conaway).

We went from the photos at the hotel to the cocktail hour to the vow renewal and finally got to my favorite part: Dance Floor Mayhem. It was a seriously fun night and great to see everyone. Here are my Top Ten pics from the night (OK Eleven I had a hard time leaving one out).

“If You Start Me Up!”….

…Just like the Rolling Stones said “If you start me up I’ll never stop.”  I’ve been waiting about a year to start a blog for my wedding photography.  If you’ve read my other blog Rocker Tycoon, you know that I like to get right into the thick of the scene and produce a story to show you what it was like to be there.  I guess you could say I’m trying to help you live vicariously through my lens.  I’ve been having a blast doing it at rock shows so now I want to bring that momentum and enthusiasm over to the wedding arena.

My angle is simple: I’m New Jersey’s Rock N’ Roll Wedding Photographer. Each week I’ll recap a previous wedding and give you a top ten photos.  I’ll tell you what it was like for me as an outsider looking in, and we’ll just see where it goes from there. I think you can dig it.  So here’s to romance, good music and a gathering of old and new friends!