I love everything about Melissa and Jan. You can easily tell how much in love they are with each other just from the series of images below, it made my job so much easier when two people naturally belong to one other. Melissa has a laid-back and fun personality and Jan is generous, funny, and the type of guy who will always be there for you, as Melissa described eloquently. He’s also a huge football soccer fan, and so is my second photographer, Bob, they hit it right off the bat. Melissa and Jan were engaged in December 2010 and have been together for 3 years. Both of them work at MoMA (Museum of Modern Arts) in New York, which I plan on visiting next week, so exciting!!! I hope I’ll see them again.
The day started with Melissa and Jan getting ready in their hotel rooms separately…
I’m so lucky to work with pretty brides like her.
… and handsome grooms like him.
This moment when Jan looks at Melissa as she walks down the isle with her father is so precious. You can FEEL the emotions going on here.
Do you call this luck or experience? She looked up at him for just a split second, and I’m so glad I caught it on camera.
It was quite an emotional wedding, especially for Melissa’s dad.
… and they’re happily married!
One of the reasons why I love this wedding so much was that we were able to take a little bit of time for sunset photos. A lot of the guests were from out of town and Melissa and Jan wanted to spend more time with them, so we took about 10 minutes to nail these shots.
I can’t pick a favorite out of these three, what do you think?
I loved that they put a photo from their Boston ICA engagement session on the place card table, it made it personal.
Father-daughter dance, so sweet!
What was the most memorable moment of your wedding day?
Groom: There were many memorable moments but I got to say that seeing Melissa walk down the aisle was very emotional. Luckily Sam and Bob were great and they captured the moment in one of the photos.
Bride: I’m happy we waited until the ceremony to see each other, that definitely made it very memorable, seeing Jan in his tuxedo for the first time!
Advice for future brides/grooms?
Groom: Just relax, enjoy the moment and take it all in. You only get one shot at this so might as well enjoy it completely. The stress that comes with planning a wedding is unavoidable but just remember that at the end of the day a wedding is just a big party with all the people you love and care for and they’re all there to celebrate love.
Bride: Try to eat! Or designate someone to make sure you eat/drink water. I was starving at the end!
You got choked up a bit when the best man made his toast, what was going through your mind?
Groom: I really couldn’t believe that my cousin/best man knew me so well. He captured in his toast what Melissa and I are all about as a couple and at the same time I was thinking, “Man, this is beautiful but it’s going a little long. If we loose the light for the twilight photos Sam is going to kill me”. Hahahahahaha!!!!!!
Bride: I can’t believe he just insinuated that Jan hits me!!! But seriously, it was a beautiful toast and so thoughtful.
Funniest memory on your wedding day?
Groom: There were two actually, the first one was during my best man’s toast, he was telling a story of how I hit him pretty hard when we were little and he follow that up with this pearl: “One thing you should know about Jan, he punches the people he loves”. Hahahahaha!!!!! Really???? The second one was during the reception, we were all dancing and the DJ played the FC Barcelona anthem (yes I’m a soccer freak) and I was singing and dancing and my father in law was standing next to me trying his hardest to sing along with me. It was interesting ’cause my father in law is from New Hampshire and the song was in Catalan. LOL!!!!!!
Bride: Jan and I played a practical joke on my mom a couple days before the wedding and convinced her that it was a Puerto Rican wedding tradition to have a clown at the wedding. We didn’t let the joke go on for long though- she knew there wasn’t going to be a clown. I told my aunts and cousin about the joke at dinner one night and they decided to play a practical joke on their own. I totally forgot they were going to do it and was laughing so hard when they started dancing with clown noses!
This is the only behind the scene photo of me ACTUALLY working, taken by Megan (the bridesmaid)’s boyfriend, Matt – thank you!
But most importantly, thank you Melissa and Jan for choosing me to document the most important day of your lives. XOXO.
Vendors: Main photographer: Ze Liang Photography Second photographer: Bob of Roberto Farren Photography Getting ready: Sheraton Hotel, Portsmouth, NH Bride’s dress: SAJA Reception: Portsmouth Elks Club DJ: Luis of Boston Latin DJ (It was really important to Jan and Melissa that the DJ was bilingual, Spanish and English, as they had family and friends that spoke both languages.)