Judith going over some ideas and ways Caitlin and Rodney’s vision can be done

A few sneak peeks of colors and ideas Caitlin and Rodney have

Armas going over details.

Allie and Nicole laughing it up. I feel like personality counts just as much as talent. Getting along with your vendors is key to success.

Judith showing Caitlin a wedding they had just done for another bride.

Moda’s third partner, Bailey, was there making flowers for an event they had later. It’s kind of cool getting to see the inner workings of a floral design studio while having a meeting. Brings home that Moda is a floral design studio where you get to meet and work with the designers and not a salesman.

Another reason I enjoyed this wedding was all the business partners that I got to work with. Judith Campbell from Campbell Studios was the planner and kept everything running smoothly. She had a huge job because the ceremony was in the morning at Christ Church, then a cocktail hour at the Arden Theatre followed by carriage rides and walking tours for guests, an out of town accapella group, another cocktail hour and the reception. I am tired just thinking about it. Beke Beau, make-up artist extraordinaire, made Nicole gorgeous. Ilonka Comstock did the flowers and Kris Sumey of Event Fx did all the lighting at the College of Physicians.

Check out some of our recent work in the slideshow below.

Stacey and Justin had a gorgeous wedding. With the help of Erin Proud, planner extraordinaire, Stacey pulled off a flawless wedding with amazing details. Stacey and Justin are such a sweet couple. I learned at their GTKY session, they met in high school and have been sweethearts ever since. It was beautiful to see them together the entire day, laughing and mingling with friends and family. I really loved to see how comfortable they were with each other. They just seemed to fit. The glow in each other’s eyes when they caught a glimpse of the other, the smiles, the laughter: It was like coming home.

Stacey had the most amazing blue shoes ever!

Stacey’s sister and sister in law getting her ready. They had such a fun time looping all of her buttons.

Since it was raining off and on all day, Stacey bought some navy blue galoshes so her shoes wouldn’t get ruined. Her sweet brother in law is putting them on for her. What a guy!

Right in the middle of photos, it began to pour. We all took cover under a big tree while the limo driver and my second shooter ran for the umbrellas. 

As we were walking back to the car, I noticed this nice little reflection in a puddle. Who said it is bad for pictures to have rain on your wedding day.

Justin having the time of his life dancing with Stacey

Stacey and Justin had a cigar roller and an old time photo booth. I caught them here in the booth smoking the cigar.Have to do a little conga! The band kept everyone dancing all night long.

Stacey and Justin really wanted fireworks but were told it was not allowed, so they settled for sparklers instead. Having a little fun with them.

I absolutely love this photo. I like the lighting and all the guests faces. Even though you don’t see their faces, you know Stacey and Justin are smiling too.

There were so many great moments from the evening, I had a very hard time picking what to highlight. Check out their slideshow to see a lot more. Please be patient and let the show load all the fancy images. Love you guys!

Having ever been a ballet dancer and an artist, I really had no means of finishing school and could not justify $50K+ in student loans for a photography degree. So, I ventured into the School of Hard Knocks. I called all of my dancer and actor friends and practiced on them. I assisted commercial photographers and worked with wedding photographers. My first wedding assisting job was on the beach and I had to carry a 50lb generator (half my weight) and a huge flight case full of equipment. I think it took me 30 minutes to get 2 blocks in the sand!

Right away, I realized how much I love weddings. I love people. I love watching people and anticipating what is going to happen next. My husband says I am just nosy. Whatever it is, I love being around the energy, the movement and the spontaneous, real moments that happen during a wedding. I love getting to know couples and their families. Capturing a wedding is like dancing…  to be a dancer, you must create a picture with every step, interpret the music, feel the other dancer’s energy, anticipate and respond with your own movement and heart. As a photographer, I capture that with my camera: anticipating, feeling and sensing the next moment and creating an image that responds to what is going on around me. 

Having a boutique wedding business allows me to get to know each client personally; building relationships that last a lifetime. I truly become a part of their family and I would not have it any other way. I also photograph events for other clients such as MANNA, Philadelphia Magazine, Tendu Magazine and Medical Meetings Magazine. 

I am very excited to be doing this project with Geoff, Ryan, Joy, Jenn and Pete. They are some of the best friends a girl could have. I can’t wait to find our couple and document their story.

So that’s the story of Sofia Negron. Now it’s your turn. Send us your story!

Thank you to Ryan for taking this pic of me. I love it because I always wear my chucks and I actually look good in it. I usually hate photos of myself. I met Ryan a few years ago at a workshop I organized. He followed me when I took a model off by myself and asked about posing. I laugh now because Ryan has no problems posing and all his images are really good. =)

Marisa and Greg were married May of this year. Sofia Negron captured their wedding at the Manor House at Commonwealth.

In Marisa’s own words, here is their story.

Greg and I met almost 11 years ago in high school. Greg was a little sophomore and I was the older junior girl. We kept passing each other in the hall, and I thought he was really cute so one day I gave him “the look.” This look sent Greg into a tizzy. He told his friend, DJ, “ I think I just got a look from Marisa Hoover.” DJ did not believe it, so the next day I did it again and DJ confirmed “the look” was real. I gave my number to a mutual friend, but Greg would not call, he was too shy. Being the experienced older woman at 16, I took matters into my own hands, and made the first move. We soon began dating.

We dated all through our college years, but as I approached graduation we started to drift apart and eventually broke up. I was heart broken. This was a very difficult time for me. I thought I would graduate college, find a job, and shortly after Greg graduated we would get engaged. God had a different plan though.

A few months later my grandmother moved here. I spent a lot of time with her running errands for her, cooking with her etc. We really had such a great time together, she wasn’t like other grandmothers, and her favorite magazine was “The Globe”. She knew the latest on every celebrity and watched the entire series of “Sex and the City” with me.

Although my grandma kept me busy, my mind was still on Greg. I seemed to always be set up with some new guy, but they never compared. I never really talked about Greg, but my family knew I still wanted to be with him. My grandma would say to me “ Why don’t you just marry Greg and end the story”.

Two years after we broke up Greg called me out of the blue. Now in my mind things were over and done, but this changed everything. We spoke for three months before we told anyone else close to us that we had been communicating. We really connected on such a new level during this time.  It was so hard not to share this with my grandmother, being we had grown so close. After much nervousness and deliberation we both told our families we were back together. Now you wouldn’t think this was a big deal, but since we had begun dating at such a young age we really became a part of one another’s families. Luckily things fell right back into place, and we were a happy couple again.

We dated for about a year before we started to talk about marriage. During this time, my grandmother had a heart attack and passed away. It was very sudden and very upsetting. All I could think about was that my grandmother would not be at our wedding. She was always the one to say to just go and marry Greg, and we were just about to become engaged and she would not be there to see it.

December 26, 2007 was the day Greg proposed to me. I had to work that day and when I got to his apartment there was music playing, candles lit and my gifts waiting for me! Greg is always romantic so the music and candles did not surprise me. My first gift was a beautiful jewelry armoire that I had always wanted, BUT there was no jewelry inside. There were several keys to a locket hanging on the hooks where you put necklaces. My last gift was a small jewelry box with a locket inside. I found the correct key, opened the box and found it filled with rose petals and a beautiful diamond ring. Greg was on one knee and began to ask for my hand in marriage. Later that night, we had a lovely dinner at La Viola, our favorite BYOB in Philly and called our parents to let them know the wonderful news. I was sad that I did not have my grandma still around to enjoy her voice, but I knew she had the best seat in the house!

We both do not regret one thing about how our dating years panned out. Having that time apart showed us that there was no one else we would rather be with. It has solidified our relationship. Not only was this time apart beneficial for our relationship, I would not have become as close as I did with my grandma if Greg and I had continued to date for those two years. I would have been driving to his college on weekends to visit to him, but instead I built a bond with her that I will treasure forever.

We immediately began to plan our wedding. First the church and venue, then photography! Pictures have been a passion for me for years. I could look at pictures of people I do not know and still enjoy them so much. My cousin had mentioned Sofia’s name a while back, and I quickly found her website. I loved her story of how she became a photographer. As a former professional dancer myself, when I read she was as well, I thought what a perfect match! I set up a meeting and loved her even more, she was so down to earth and her images she showed me sold themselves. I just had to bring Greg to meet her because I knew to get the best smile from Greg he had to really like our photographer. We met again and it was a hit; we were off and running.

Our first shoot with Sofia was our engagement pictures near our apartment. We walked around Rittenhouse Square, side streets and even made our way to La Viola. Sofia really wants to get to know her couples so she has each one fill out a questionnaire about us. This was a great background of us for her to start conversations. The day flowed perfectly, and we ended it with a wonderful meal at a quaint seafood restaurant. We were so happy when our pictures came back and knew we had a great photographer for our wedding.

Our second shoot was in Cape May, NJ. Greg spent several years as a lifeguard there, and I went to visit almost every weekend. We have a lot of fond memories there. This day was perfect! It was late September, and we could have not asked for more perfect weather. Not a cloud in the sky, low humidity and lots of fun to be had. We walked around town and ended on the beach. We had some fun playing around and frolicking in the ocean and ended our day drenched by a crashing wave! The pictures blew us away; we never thought we would have images like this in our life. How could our wedding images even compare to these we thought. But little did we know they would be just as awesome!

Our wedding day, May 9, 2009 came, and we were both so happy. The whole day was such a breeze, everything went as planned and we even made it to all of our cocktail hour. By this point Sofia had become a friend, not just a photographer for our wedding; we had total trust that our wedding day story would be told through the images she took. We are currently working on our wedding album, and it is so hard to decide on what images to have because they are all so wonderful!

What’s your story?