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Harrisburg Wedding Photographers: Susan & Ross

An intimate downtown Harrisburg wedding, followed by a sentimental stroll along the Susquehanna and six course gourmet meal and wine tasting at Bricco….
best-harrisburg-wedding-photographers-1Susan shared, “We had initially been referred to you by another photographer and were blown away by your work!  We fell in love with your style of photography, your use of color and especially the way you can capture emotions in your photos.”
She continued, “When it came to working with you on our wedding day, you were extremely professional, you showed up early, were very friendly and were able to put us at ease when taking photos which is neither my husband nor my strong suit!  Plus you were always happy to experiment with poses and from what you showed us on your view finder I can’t wait to see them. I am most looking forward to just re-living the day through your photography.”
Susan thanks so much for your kind words!  I’m so thankful that you were referred to me!  Helping to put couples at ease and capturing natural emotion is one of my favorite things to do and I love to play with color and  get creative too!
I started out with a softer, emotional shot that incorporates the iconic Walnut Street Bridge and will share a colorful silhouetted shot of your wedding rings at the church…
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The stained glass was stunning as was the golden light streaming through the window.  Here Susan bows her head in prayer prior to her wedding ceremony…
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Susan shared, “The veil that I wore was the same veil that both my mother and grandmother wore on their wedding days.”
Here Susan’s mother helps Susan to adjust the family heirloom…
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She continued, “I remember being in elementary school, visiting my grandmother’s house, and trying on her veil. ”
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I love capturing a unique and beautiful portrait of brides on their wedding day.  I loved the way this angle looked on Susan and how comfortable she was in front of the camera when I snapped this image.  I made sure to show off the veil, too.
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The stained glass windows of Holy Name of Jesus Catholic Church in Harrisburg are so pretty, if you look closely you can see Ross silhouetted in the window…best-harrisburg-wedding-photographers-8
Susan shared, “Ross is one of the happiest, kindest people that I know  always willing to go out of his way to help his friends with anything they need.”
While I love getting creative, I also enjoy capturing classic portraits of the groom, too and work on finding just the right angle…
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The gold light filtering in the stained glass, again was stunning– it is the same window that Susan stood before earlier!
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Susan shared, “Choosing our ceremony location was very easy.  I had asked one of the priests I worked with at the Diocese of Harrisburg to perform the ceremony and so we knew that his parish is where we would have our wedding.”
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Ross shared, “Seeing Susan in the church on our wedding day stunned me. I actually forgot to thank her father for escorting her like the priest said I should do! Seeing her then hit me with the reality of it all!”
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The marble floors of this church are so pretty, I played with the reflection here a bit…
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Ross explained, “When we first started to discuss wedding plans, I didn’t think I would enjoy the small ceremony and reception that Susan wanted so badly, but it really did work out great. The intimacy of the whole event made it really special.”
Kiss the bride…
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Man and wife!  Their expressions here are priceless!
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The wedding was intimate, with only a couple of family members in attendance.  Susan’s grandma was one of those guests!
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After getting married their next step was to call people and make the announcement.
Here Ross plays with his brand new wedding band as they both talk on speaker phone!
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I captured a quick classic portrait with all of the pretty golden lights and details in the background…
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And Ross took Susan for a spin 😉
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Then we headed out for a walk in downtown Harrisburg— the happy couple was all smiles.
If you look closely you can see the capitol building in the background…
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Something about this part of the day totally reminded me of Belle from Disney’s Beauty and the Beast…  maybe it was her long ringlets and blue cape or the winter scene or colorful, historic town, but I loved it!
Here I really showed off her cape and framed Susan and Ross as they walked together along Front Street.  I framed them in the trees and hedges and used the background of downtown Harrisburg.
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Ross shared, “Susan’s personality fills in mine in many ways. Where I’m more of a sedentary person, she wants to go on adventures. Where I try to contain my excitement about things, she lets her excitement known. Saying that “she completes me” sounds so cliche, but I do think that she fills in the parts of my life that I lack in, and that I do the same for her.”
I focused sharply on the couple also including the Susquehanna River and bridges subtly in the background…
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In this photo I really capture all of the bridges and the river… it almost feels like Paris to me here– I liked the black and white feel:
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Susan explained, “Ross and I luckily both share a favorite color, blue, so when it came time to decided what color we wanted to be our main theme for the day it was an easy decision to make. ”
Their wedding attire and florals had blue accents.  Here I played a bit with perspective as they crossed below the bridge I was standing on.  I love playing with framing like this…
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Ross reminisced, “I realized I was falling in love with Susan during Thanksgiving week 2013. At the time, I was teaching her how to play the trumpet (with mixed results) at school, but as time went on our lessons became less about music and more about just talking for an hour. I planned on texting her maybe once over the Thanksgiving holiday to say hello, but I ended up talking to her every single day, and I loved every minute of it. We started dating a week later.”
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Susan added, “I first met Ross during the early morning workouts we had to do for the Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets but it wasn’t until the end of freshman year when I decided to learn trumpet and a mutual friend suggested Ross as a teacher that I actually started to talk to him on a regular basis. I was horrible at remembering to practice my trumpet so during every lesson I would try to talk to him to distract him from asking me to play for him an I slowly fell in love with his personality, specifically his very sarcastic sense of humor.”
I’m not sure what Ross is saying here, but my guess is that it’s pretty sarcastic!
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Susan explained, “It meant a lot to me to take photos in downtown Harrisburg because I some of my earliest and my favorite memories take place in Harrisburg, from  visiting the capitol when I was in kindergarten, to walking along front street attending all of the different street fairs that get put on every summer. Harrisburg just reminds me so much of my past, so it was fun to start my future there as well.”
Here they slow danced a little,  talking and smiling surrounded by the water, bridges and a flock of geese…
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Ross shared, “After being together for five years, we’ve never stayed upset with one another for more than a day. We understand the value of communication and the importance of having unique opinions on certain things.”
He looked so pleased to have Susan by his side…
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Susan shared, “I’m happy to report, even after being together for several years, Ross is the same person I met then, always willing to go on adventures with me, continuously putting up with how messy I can be and always quick with either a sarcastic remark or bad joke and I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with him.”
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I loved the lines and contrast of the bare branches against the fading sky.  I also thought the leaves on the ground were pretty and interesting to play with.  I may or may not have laid down in the middle of Riverfront Park to capture this shot…
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Susan explained, “My cape was originally a part of the uniform that I wore when I was in the corps of cadets and it was so warm!”
I love how the wind caught her cape in this moment!  As day faded into evening, there was a very subtle sunset…  there is something about it that is so soft and sweet…
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Susan smiled, “While the church was easy, choosing the reception location was a little harder, we knew we wanted to have a sit down dinner because of how small our wedding was. My husband came up with the suggestion of Bricco which I loved immediately as my family had been going to the restaurant for years and always had a great experience.”
Bricco was within walking distance of Front Street.  It was charming, elegant and had upscale Mediterranean fare… it was located off of third street in Harrisburg and I loved the buzzy downtown space.
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Their private room was decorated with pretty wooden wine boxes and a clever culinary themed chandelier.
They were greeted by a sommelier who introduced them to a new wine between every course…
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Here I focused on the wine and let the bride and groom fade into the distance– there was so much delicious food and wine!
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The menu was quite extensive…
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A candid moment with Ross and his mom, haha he peeked over at me at the last second…
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The chef also came in and talked about each course, too…
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Everyone shared stories and chatted, it really was a very sweet experience!
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The kitchen was open as well and I was able to capture the chefs hard at work!best-harrisburg-wedding-photographers-39
Ross stated, “The staff at Bricco did a very good job making the dinner so special. It was literally the best mean I’ve ever had!”
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Ross smiled, “The dinner was fantastic and a real highlight for me.”
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Here Susan’s father joked with the rest of the table…
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Everyone burst into laughter…
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A peaceful stroll along the Susquehanna at twilight…
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Susan & Ross, I am so honored to have spent your wedding day at your side.  I hope these are just the sort of colorful, beautiful, emotional images that you were both hoping for!  Please share this blog post with all of your friends and family!

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