joanne + anthony – the wedding day

Not only are Joanne and Anthony a lot of fun, but their friends are a blast as well. They had their reception here in my neighborhood at Tribeca Rooftop and the couple left some time for pictures in the area following their ceremony and before their reception started.

Now, as a person who doesn’t really like having my own picture taken (having spent waaaayyyy too much time as a kid feigning a smile while waiting for my Dad to focus and push the button and – wait, hang on, I forgot to cock the shutter…), I’m really sensitive to others’ “in front of camera” time. I do my “formals” or non-photojouralistic portraits really quickly. I find that if I keep things moving and lively and fun – people really don’t have time to think about the fact that they’re in front of my camera. And because this is a day of celebration (and very often, there’s an open bar a-waiting) I don’t want to keep people any longer than the absolute minimum.

But the funny thing is that, if you make the entire picture taking process fun enough, people can actually enjoy the time they spend with you.

Joanne and Anthony and their wedding party took it even further – they didn’t want to stop.

I kept asking if they wanted to stop and they kept saying, “no, this is a blast, let’s keep going”. And who was I to say otherwise. So even though I would have been happy just to get a shot like this:

(will you just look at the expression on that flowergirl?)

They wanted to do more and so we got this…

and this.

I mean, when I saw T&A coffee – I just had to do something funny with the bridesmaids…

Tribeca Rooftop is a wonderful space for those looking for something upscale downtown – great views, a huge, fun, loft space, a roofdeck.

And check out the great “interactive” menus – those fun little folding paper thingys that you played with when you were a kid.

At this size you probably can’t appreciate all the great goings on in this shot but many of the expressions are priceless.