What a wedding! In the first place, Mady’s energy is absolutely contagious! She is so joyful, funny, and just wears her heart on her sleeve. I had beyond a blast photographing Mady and her insanely expressive personality. We were laughing all day, and as I expected, her family and friends all had incredible energy and were the most fun people to be around. I don’t want to leave out Mitch, because his love for Mady was just so amazing to watch, and he is also the kindest person.

Now let’s talk about the floral, because it was insane. Peonies to Paint Chips, you outdid yourselves. The florals were whimsical, textured, and luscious. If I could choose a bouquet to live in forever, it might be Mady’s. She also let her girls select their own dresses in sorbet sunset colors – and the effect was intoxicating. Sunset garden party pastels (did I just make that up? Maybe.) are one of my favorite combos, and everything was executed with perfection.

The icing on the cake for this day was the gorgeousness of the grounds at Ashford Estate. I’m not going to lie – it was hot. I’m talking probably a steady 100 degrees all day. I had sweat thru my dress many times over, and I think between us and video we had consumed 100+ oz of water and it still did not feel like enough. But the crepe myrtles in all their glory right in the front of the estate were so stunning. It felt like every single leaf on the property was in peak form.

How did you meet?

We met back in July of 2020 on Hinge – during what some may call, the ‘golden age’ of dating apps – no one was ready (or able) to leave the house and go meet someone at a bar quite yet, but everyone was itching to socialize with another human being, so basically everyone was on the apps (thanks for something COVID, I guess?).

Mitch had (literally) just moved from TX to Philadelphia to start his masters at UPenn, and I had been living, working and studying all around Philly for the past three years. Neither of us can remember who DM-ed who first, but I suggested we go to Monk’s Café for our first date (partially because beer and mussels made me seem like a ‘cool girl’, and partially because it was right across the street from my apartment, if all else failed).

Well, as we all know, it didn’t fail – and every year, on our anniversary, we go back to Monk’s to share some Thai-curry mussels and a few Belgian beers, just like we did on our first date back in July of 2020. After four years, one (back & forth) cross country move, two masters degrees, and a lot of love, loyalty and laughter later, Mitch officially asked me if I would marry him on July 26th, 2024, almost exactly 4 years to the day of their first date. I (obviously) said YES! and we spent the weekend celebrating with close friends and family at one of our favorite places, Avon-by-the-Sea, NJ. But of course, we had to close out our anniversary weekend with a trip to Monk’s 🙂

Creative Team:

Photography: Kelly Sea Images | Venue: Ashford Estate | Floral: Peonies to Paintchips | Bride’s Gown: Milla Nova from The Wedding Factor | Beauty: Gloss Studio | Stationer: Ofelia Botella | Cake: The Bakeworks | Cinema: Joe Reggio | Band: EBE – Milan 77 | Cannoli: Carrello Di Cannoli