Jen & Kyle
Roger Williams Park Botanical Center
September 3rd, 2016
I'm a big believer in the power of first impressions.
I know that, as a wedding photographer, at any given moment I may meet someone I end up working with some day and, as such, I always try to put my best foot forward and showcase who I truly am whenever encountering someone for the first time.
And that's why I knew from the first email they sent my way that Jen and Kyle were going to be an awesome couple to work with.
In my bio on this website, I list one of my interests as the TV Show Supernatural and anyone that knows me knows I'm a geek at heart so when Jen, Kyle and I sat down to talk wedding photography and the conversation veered quickly to geekdom, television shows and Star Wars, I knew we would be a perfect fit.
And on their perfect wedding day, that connection proved invaluable as Jen and Kyle planned a beautiful ceremony at a stunning location and had some of my favorite formal photos ever taken at Roger Williams Park.
This day couldn't have gone better if we tried and watching this young couple celebrate their love was better than any television show.
As is typically the case, my coverage of Jen and Kyle's big day began with hair and makeup with the bride and her bridesmaids. But, unlike most brides getting prepped for their big day, Jen was all business and focused more on finishing up some of the little details of the day (like the placecards) than she was stressed over her hair and make-up.
Of course, it was easy for this bride to not let the emotions of the day get in her way. As we predicted during their engagement session, the fact that Jen and Kyle were new parents to a beautiful baby girl prior to the wedding day removed any of those typical "This is the biggest moment of my life" jitters many couples get.
Because, after all, once you've had a child with someone, you've already connected in an incredible way for the rest of your life. And something as compariably trivial as a wedding ceremony? Man. That's not going to stress you out. No way.
I adored watching Jen and Kyle interact on their big day, particuarly during a beautiful first look inside the Botanical Garden.
I'd never been to this part of the park before but seeing all the trees and flowers was incredible and made for a gorgeous backdrop for family photos. On top of that, Jen and Kyle picked the perfect time of year to do this ceremony as it was right in that perfect window between summer and fall.
This made for a remarkably comfortable day that was just made to go to a wedding.
Jen and Kyle had one of the simpliest ceremonies I've ever seen.
With a few readings and kiss, we were off and running to the receiving line and then the formal photos.
And it's a good thing it was so short too as we barely made it in time to get to the famed Carousel before it closed for the evening.
In fact, that's actually a bit of a lie as it HAD closed but an employee was nice enough to let us in for a couple of quick photos and boy am I glad he did as the photos with Jen and Kyle on the carousel, as well as their large wedding party shot, were easily my favorite photos of the entire day. And that says something as Jen and Kyle's formal photos came out really great.
After a beautiful formal photo session, Jen, Kyle and I made our way back to the botanical gardens for their reception.
I'll be honest. I didn't know what to expect here as I've never seen someone party in a garden before but this venue actually had a very nice dance floor/grand roomset up for couples on site.
But, even then, Jen and Kyle only had around 65-70 people at their wedding so I was initially worried we wouldn't get any fun dancing photos.
Thankfully, that wasn't the case as the small amount of people in attendance at this private celebration more than made up for it once the party music hit.
As much as I loved seeing Kyle and his mother have their sweet and emotional dance, I'll be honest when I say I was really excited to see what kind of energy this crowd would bring and they delivered.
The dance floor wasn't as packed as I'm used to seeing it but that was largely as the bride and groom spent a ton of time with their guests outside the venue enjoying the cool night sky and hanging out.
When they did hit the dance floor, though, this party was rocking.
By the time it was time to call it a night, Jen and Kyle were absolutely spent.
The couple partied from the moment the reception began until the lights came up and then some and for a young bride and groom with a newborn child, that time to let loose and relax was a welcomed sight.
In all, I loved Jen and Kyle's wedding for a number of reasons but, as is usually the case with me, my satisfaction with how the day went was largely thanks to the personalities of the two individuals front and center on this big day.
Jen and Kyle were an absolute blast to work with and, together, we produced some fantastic photos that perfectly captured their day.
I have no doubt they'll be great parents as the love they have for their daughter was obvious all day long. And, if nothing else, it's nice to know there will be another person to one day join the ranks of geekdom that the three of us so proudly belong to.
-PJS
