Juliana & Brandon *
Holy Apostles Catholic Church (Ceremony) & Alpine Country Club (Reception)
November 16th, 2025
Whenever I second shoot a wedding, I feel like I'm getting the Cliff Notes version of a bride and groom and their relationship and, I'll be honest, sometimes I want to see the whole story.
Take a couple like Juliana and Brandon, for instance. While I only spent four and a half hours with them on their wedding day, that small sliver of time told me everything about who they are as a couple as that is a couple that is beloved by their friends and family, a couple that cares deeply about one another and a couple that is flat out fun.
And their wedding day was the same. Juliana and Brandon's November nuptials were the 10th and final wedding I had as a second shooter in 2025 and I couldn't have asked for a better way to close out that portion of my wedding schedule as their day had a little bit of everything and was the perfect balance between traditional and serious ... and downright, pure silliness.
The best of both world, if you ask me.
* These photos were taken as part of my work as a second photographer for Jessica Hosey Imagery.
and are presented here strictly for portfolio/display purposes.
I knew from the moment I arrived to Juliana and Brandon's wedding day that this would be a fun one. While I live fairly close to it, I'd never been to Holy Apostles Church in Cranston, Rhode Island and could tell, immediately, it was a unique church that would be fun to shoot in.
And, as I was working with one of my photo besties in Jess Hosey of Jessica Hosey Imagery, I knew we were in for a good day. This was especially true when the groom arrived and was all about my ideas for some photos of him and his guys before guests began to arrive.
The biggest challenge I knew I would face on Juliana and Brandon's wedding day was a request from Jess to shoot everything natural and avoid using off camera flash as her style lends itself more to that type of photography.
Thankfully, I love a good challenge and a good religious ceremony and could tell this would be both.
Juliana and Brandon's wedding was a beautiful reminder of the sanctity of a church wedding. While I certainly understand the desire a lot of couples have to move away from religious weddings, especially if they are not faithful people themselves, there's something I find oddly comforting and soothing about a church wedding.
Sure, it comes with challenges as a photographer and you never want to feel like you're intruding on the moment but when you're able to capture the natural feelings a bride and groom have for one another in a religious setting, it just feels very special in a historic and time-honored way.
I loved this ceremony for a lot of reasons, not the least of which was how beautiful the church was and I could tell that Juliana and Brandon for living for every moment and would remember this ceremony for the rest of their lives.
The crazy thing about second shooting a wedding like Juliana and Brandon's, where I'm not there for that long, is I sometimes feel like I have to hurry up and shoot as much as possible to document as much of the day as I can.
Thankfully, when I arrived at Alpine Country Club, where these two would hold their reception that evening, it didn't take much work for me to find things to photograph as Juliana and Brandon had some of the most beautiful decorations and decor for a wedding that I saw all year.
Everywhere I looked, you could see the thought and care this couple put into making their special day stand out and it certainly did.
My main task as a photographer for Juliana and Brandon's wedding was documenting cocktail hour as Jess worked with the couple during their formal photos and Juliana and Brandon's cocktail hour was one of the most fun I got to see in 2025 as their friends and family members were all fun to work with and all super happy to be in attendance.
Admittedly, as much as I thought Alpine Country Club was a fun place to work, the bar area this cocktail hour was held in made things crazy tight and difficult to work around but that was half the fun as it created a cozy and intimate feeling for everyone in attendance.
I especially loved the caricature artists Juliana and Brandon hired for their cocktail hour and thought that was a nice touch and a great way to set a fun tone for the night's festivities.
Even though I knew I wouldn't be at Juliana and Brandon's wedding reception long, I was so grateful I'd be on site long enough to capture the beginning of their reception. Not only was it fun to see the big energy way they were introduced into the reception (see the photo that led this blog off) but their first dance was one of my favorite parts of the day.
Right behind it, literally and figuratively, was the combined parent dance Juliana and Brandon shared with their father and mother, respectively, and both moments just felt so grand and elegant in that amazing ballroom and with all of their friends and family members looking on.
As my time with Brandon and Juliana came to an end following their combined parent dance, I packed my gear up and was amazed at how quickly the day flew by.
But, for a mid November wedding, coming on the tail end of the longest and hardest wedding season I've ever had, I couldn't have asked for more.
Juliana and Brandon's wedding day was one of the easiest shoots I had in 2025 and that's exclusively because of how great they were as a couple and how easy they were to work with. So thank you Juliana and Brandon for a wonderful day and I wish you all the best on this new and exciting chapter of your lives together as husband and wife. :)