Antonia Finds Mr. Right with the Help of Mr. White

July 07, 2019 • 3 Comments

Antonia & Jeffrey

June 15, 2019

In September of 2010 it was a brand new school year for high school students Antonia and Jeffrey. Antonia was just fourteen years old and Jeffrey fifteen. They hadn't know each other before this day but met in Mr. Whites last period class. Mr. White had thought he was doing himself a favor by assigning their seats next to each other. You see Antonia was what many teachers would call a class chatterbox, while Jeff was the quiet, maybe even a little shy guy. This turned out to not be the best move for Mr. White while at the same time being the moment in Antonia and Jeff's lives that changed everything. Antonia being the talkative fourteen year old she was got Jeffrey to talk to her, and a lot. By December 24, 2010 it was official they were a couple.

One night, while over Antonias house, because you see they were teenagers who didn't have much freedom or options for hanging out, they were watching Antonias favorite movie, Elf, and at some point during that evening Jeff popped the question, "Will you be my girlfriend?" Of course Antonia said yes! Lets fast forward six years after they first met, and it's now 2016. Jeffrey is preparing to ask Antonia another big question. He had planned out this beautiful proposal and it just wasn't going as planned. He wanted to pop the big question at The RiverRink while they were ice skating, but unfortunately that wasn't in the cards because Antonia was way too cold to ice skate. He came up with another plan, and I think it happened exactly how it should have. His family as well as Antonias all went to Historic Smithville to see the Dancing Christmas Lights Show. Jeff is a brilliant man! Remember six years earlier at the age of fifteen he asked Antonia to be his girlfriend on Christmas Eve after watching her favorite movie Elf. Now all these years later he is asking her to marry him right in the midst of Christmas Season doing a very Christmas related activity.

While everyone was at dinner Jeff's mother handed Antonia a wrapped present and told her she couldn't open it until after everyone had ordered their food. So when the time came she opened it and it was a photo book of memories from the six years the two of them had been together. When she got to the last page of the book it said, "Will you marry me?". Of course she said YES! Antonia recalls how she felt that day and said that it was so sweet to be surrounded by the people who love them the most, as well as all of these complete strangers who were all so happy for this couple who is so in love. The two of them began planning their wedding day which ended up taking place two and a half years after their engagement. The very first venue they went to was Brigalias and Jeff said, this is the place. Of course Antonia urged him that they should look around before making such a huge decision, and they did, but after all the tours and visits to different venues they ended up right back where they started at Brigalias because that was their venue! Antonia has told me that some of their main reasons for their decision was because the staff is amazing, the grounds are absolutely beautiful, which I can 100% agree with as a photographer the photo opportunities are endless there, and the food is delicious! Really what more could you want from your wedding venue?

Now it's the day of their wedding. I am excited as a photographer for all of my weddings because I always want everything to be perfect for them. We do have pressure in our field and I also had an added pressure because I had done Antonias sisters wedding the year before. All of that disappeared as soon as the day got started. I first went to Jeff to do pre-ceremony photos with he and his members of the bridal party. I want to state that Jeff is definitely a tough guy. I mean that in all the respectable senses of the word. He is into the things you would generally associate with a tough guy and the main thing that jumps out at me is his love of motorcycles and of course riding them. Once Jeff was dressed we got to do some fun photos with him on his motorcycle which I'm fairly certain he referred to as his "other love". I was nervous with some of the shots we did because I didn't want anything to happen to him or his clothes but he was a professional on the bike. I must say that Jeff as well as all of the groomsmen and groomswoman looked amazing in tux's from Chadmoore Formal Wear. After I finished at the house with Jeff I headed over to Antonia and the girls who were getting ready at Brigalias. When the ladies arrived they had hair and make up complete and were looking stunning. They had spent the morning in Tribeca Hair Studio and Blow Dry Bar in Swedesboro getting hair and make up done. Everything went perfectly with the ladies during the pre-ceremony portion of the day. I got some amazing shots and Antonia looked like a bride straight from a magazine in her gown from Bridals by Cyndi and her girls looked amazing as well in their dresses from Bridal Manor. Next came the first look, which I always recommend doing when the ceremony and reception are taking place in the same location just because it really does make your day run so much more smoothly as well as the fact that you can get some absolutely amazing shots during the first look, shots that you would never get otherwise if you do not do one. I have to say though I could not have imagined that this first look would have turned out the way that it did. Let me rewind a bit though. Antonia did a first look with her Father before Jeffrey which was super sweet. Then it was time to do the first look with Jeff and what happened next I never expected but boy was I glad I was there to capture it!

Remember how I said Jeff was a pretty tough guy? He assured me that there would be no crying coming from him because well, that's just not his thing. Often times though, people surprise us, and they even surprise themselves. I am pretty sure that is what happened when Jeff turned around and saw Antonia for the first time on their wedding day. I can see why he would have this flood of emotions though, she did look like a bride from a movie or a magazine. I have to thank these two because they definitely gave me some of my most favorite "first look" images ever. The rest of the day went equally as amazing as the first part. Their ceremony was beautiful, the reception was a blast right down to the fun choreographed father/daughter dance which Antonias mother also joined in on. We even got to slip away for a few moments to take some night shots which is always fun, especially at Brigalias.

I absolutely loved every moment of this wedding from beginning to end. This couple was so easy to work with and I got some of the best images on their wedding day. It's so beautiful to see couples who meet each other at such a young age and understand the true meaning of loving someone and sticking together through everything. It all came together perfectly on their wedding day and as their photographer I couldn't have been happier.