Timeless Mallard Island Wedding :: East Coast and Destination Wedding Photographer 

How did you meet?

We first met during college at High Point University in 2013. I remember seeing Bryan for the first time, I was a freshman walking around the Greek village with some friends and he was on the back patio of his fraternity.  Even though I thought he was incredibly good looking, I assumed he was a typical frat boy and didn’t want to get involved.  We ended up dating different people but ran in close circles of friends. Fate led us to reconnecting at a mutual friend’s Halloween party in 2017 and the rest was history. He was living in NYC and I was in Boston so we had to date long distance for the next year and a half.  At that time, we knew we were the ones for each other, so we decided to move in together.  We moved into an apartment in Boston where we now happily reside with our cavapoo, Teddie.

The Proposal!

Bryan popped the question on February 6^th 2021. It was a huge surprise! Bryan coordinated with my friends from work and boss to set up a time to meet at a local rooftop bar in Boston for drinks.  The bar was decorated for winter and had greenhouses set up overlooking the skyline of Boston.  When I got there, none of my friends were there and Bryan had one greenhouse set up with lights, flowers and champagne.  After proposing and me obviously saying yes (easiest answer ever), I was then surprised by both of our families being there to join us in celebrating. It was magical!

Tell us about your photography experience with Susan!

Susan and her team are just amazing.  From the first call we had with Susan, we knew instantly that she would capture our day perfectly.  I’m so glad we booked her because she blew our already high expectations away.  She was so organized and easy to work with.  She worked so well with our venue and other vendors to make sure we had every picture we wanted which I really appreciated.  She also got us our preview pictures and full album so quickly.  We were amazed at how beautiful every picture came out and cannot stop looking at them.  Lastly, she is such a blast to work with.  She made everything so fun by being herself and having a good time with it.

Favorite moment of the day?

That is a tough one!!!  If we had to choose one, it would be our first look.  We spent the whole day getting ready with our family and friends and were itching to see each other.  We’ll never forget seeing each other for the first time on the happiest day of our lives.  It was the best moment!

Why did you pick your venue?

Long Beach Island is a very special place for us.  Bryan grew up spending his summers there with his family.  When we first started dating, he told me all about how beautiful LBI was.  Being from New England, I was skeptical about the Jersey Shore.  All I knew about it was from the TV show.

The first summer we dated, Bryan brought me down to LBI to his family’s house where I first met his Mom and some other family members.  I fell in love with LBI immediately.  Later that year, Bryan’s mom unfortunately passed away.  We have been going to LBI to vacation every year since and always knew it would be the perfect place to get married.  It was a no brainer after our engagement to have our first tour be at Mallard Island Yacht Club.  We had to virtually tour it due to Covid but that did not hinder our love for the space.  We were so excited to share the beauty of LBI with our guests.  Mallard Island captured our love for the beach and warm weather with their boathouse chapel on the water and gorgeous ballroom that overlooked the bay.  We immediately fell in love with it and booked our date. It ended up being sunny and 75 degrees out on our big day and I have a feeling Bryan’s mom had something to with that. <3

Tell us about all the details of the wedding!

We got married on September 2nd, 2022.  It was the best day of our lives! We would describe our theme as classic and romantic with a touch of glam. Cassie was gifted her grandmother’s wedding ring from her mom.  Bryan was gifted a pin with a picture of him and his mom to wear inside his tuxedo from his family. These special mementos to honor our loved ones that couldn’t be there made the day so beyond special for both of us.

We were surrounded by nearly 200 of our closest friends and family.  It was a beautiful sunny day with a light breeze which allowed everyone to enjoy the ceremony with the boathouse doors open and cocktail hour outside on the lawn.  We had an incredible string trio playing music for our ceremony and cocktail hour.  Our ceremony was short sweet and included Bryan and I exchanging our vows to each other. Our cocktail hour  included an open bar for our guests to fully enjoy themselves with drinks of their choice or our signature drinks.  Bryan’s signature drink was an Old Fashioned and my signature drink was a Dirty Martini with bleu cheese stuffed olives (I hand stuffed 200+ olives because I’m crazy). I insisted on needing the Cacio E Pepe station at cocktail hour, because duh.

Our florals were classic and elegant primarily made up of white roses, some orchids, baby’s breath and some greenery.  We absolutely loved our floral arch on the fireplace in the ceremony and our flowers in the fountain in the cocktail area space.

During our reception, we had special dances with our family and heartfelt speeches shared from our wedding party.  We then kicked off a night of dancing by getting Bryan’s grandmother on the dance floor to get the party going.  We had fantastic entertainment from SCE Event Group.  Jason Jani absolutely crushed the music selection along with the best saxophone player who kept everyone having the best time on the dance floor. We finished the night with bringing in pizza and Rita’s Italian ice for a late night snack for our guests. We’ll never forget closing out the night with “Mr. Brightside” playing and our favorite people all around us.

Where did you go on your honeymoon? 

Greece! We spent 2 weeks island hopping from Crete, Santorini and Mykonos. It was the trip of a lifetime!

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