Alexandra and Rich met during an audition for a student musical while they were both attending NYU. After hitting it off, they took a long evening stroll through Gramercy Park and down to Chelsea Piers, watching the sunset together and talking all night long. From there, their relationship continued to grow, largely in part of their shared love for the arts. Whether it be creating works of art, singing, acting, attending performances or watching films together – these two built their relationship on the foundation of their mutual passion for creativity and self expression. Given this, it was no surprise to us that they chose to have their beautiful wedding ceremony at Buffalo’s own stunning Burchfield Penney Art Center – an absolutely perfect venue choice for A+R. Erin of Fern Croft Florals worked her own artistic magic, creating so many beautiful flower arrangements for this amazing day! Colorful and modern, with a touch of whimsy and romance, the flowers really took this day of embracing love, and love of art, to the next level.
Alexandra and Rich clearly have an incredibly strong love for each other as well as for their families, which is exactly what we’re all about. On top of all of the physical beauty of this day, and of course, more importantly, there was even more beauty in the emotions and traditions. No discredit to the flowers or the venue or the attire, but the real human connections and the realization of what this day truly stands for is the most beautiful thing of all. One of our absolute favorite parts of A+R’s wedding was the inclusion of their Filipino heritage traditions during the ceremony. They chose loved ones to act as sponsors, acknowledging and confirming that yes, Alexandra and Rich were ready and willing to commit their lives to each other. They laid Alexandra’s veil over the shoulders of her and Rich and bound them together with a cord, to symbolize their unity as one and the unbreakable bond of marriage. They also exchanged las Arras, or coins, symbolizing their commitments to each other and their families. These traditions we so, so beautiful and emotional to watch, and were a wonderful reminder of what it really means to love someone so deeply that you never want to be separated from them for the rest of your days.
What do you get when you cross a unique, fun loving couple with National Puppy Day? You get Megan and Jody’s incredible wedding!! (Ba-dum-CHING!) Ok, so maybe we aren’t good with jokes, (like, at all) but we must be at least somewhat good with photographing weddings or else Megan, a wedding photographer herself –> Megan Dailor Photography, probably wouldn’t have chosen us to document her own very special day. It’s always such an honor and a truly humbling experience to be photographing the wedding of a fellow pro photographer, and being able to capture all of these amazing moments with Megan and Jody was certainly no exception.
One of our favorite parts about M+J’s big day were the unique locations they chose. This was our first time shooting at Rochester Brainery and Studio 180, and we’re dying to go back!! The spaces were enhanced by Megan’s beautiful vision of clean, bright, cozy and natural, and was brought to life with help from her wonderful florist, Lisa Meyer of Kittelberger’s Florist & Gifts.
Ok so, how does any of this tie into National Puppy Day exactly?? Well, it doesn’t really – BUT – in honor of the day, and their love of dogs, and their love of one very special dog in particular, Megan and Jody honored their own sweet pup Pepper throughout their wedding. Pepper walked Jody down the aisle, he stood up in front as an honorary groomsdog, and they even had special reception beverage glasses made to celebrate their “Puppy Love”. Basically, this wedding was right up our alley in every possible way, and we hope that you love it as much as we did :)
Megan: “Jody and I met on Match.com! Jody messaged and said he couldn’t believe how much we had in common, and we had a very fun correspondence for a couple of weeks before setting a first date. Obviously we were both trying to be our wittiest selves, and at one point I referred to ‘troglodytes’ and he bitterly lamented that he was not the first one to use the word in our writings. He later made me a custom family crest style poster and across the top in a banner he found a Latin translation of ‘first to troglodyte.’“
Megan: “One of my favorite things about our first date happened before it even started. Jody asked if I wanted to meet right after he got out of work (around 5:30) or later at 8. I said 5:30 so he didn’t have to drive home and back. He then said ‘I’m so glad you picked 5:30, I didn’t want to have to wait any longer to meet you!’ After dealing with some annoyingly wishy-washy guys on the apps, it was refreshing to have someone be so excited and genuine. And it just got better from there. We met for drinks at Good Luck, which turned into dinner. We were there for about five hours, just talking and laughing and having a great time. It was clear from the start that this was special.“
Megan: “We just have so much fun together; all the time. Good times are immeasurably better. Mediocre times, like cleaning and running errands, are tons more fun. And bad times, like his 14 days in the hospital and 3 months of medical limbo this summer, are tolerable with each other to lean on and laugh with. We love to ride bikes, make up songs about our dog, laugh about stupid things, then laugh about how stupid we are for laughing at them. We turn pretty much everything into a silly adventure.“
Megan: “Jody‘s a scientist and I’m a photographer, so he leaves all the visual stuff up to me! I wanted a clean and pretty look for our ceremony. The Brainery is totally my aesthetic – clean and bright with a little industrial edge. Adding more greens to the existing plants was my amazing florist’s idea (Lisa Meyer at Kittelberger’s – I trusted her completely and let her do what she wanted). She even filled the shelves right behind the ‘altar’ with candles to make it a little warmer.“
Jody: “Being able to have our dog as part of the ceremony was the best. She’s an important part of our family and it would not have been the same without her. I had fun walking her down the aisle as she stopped to lick everyone along the way.“
Megan: “I wasn’t even sure if I wanted a wedding at first, but the more I thought about it the more important it felt to make these promises to each other in front of our favorite people. I’m not typically super open with my feelings so the fact I felt compelled to do this was kind of striking to me, so I went with it.“
Megan: “By far my favorite part of our wedding day was the ceremony, which I wasn’t expecting. I had no idea what our friend Jon, who was officiating, was going to come up with. He’s a chemistry professor so I know he has the ability to be serious, but he’s also one of the weirdest, funniest people I have ever met (and I say that with the utmost affection) so I wasn’t sure how it was going to go. It was so heartfelt and beautiful and hilarious and perfect for us. People were laughing and crying, it was just outstanding. I wish I could live in that 20 minutes forever.“
Jody: “Jon’s ceremony was awesome. When we first met with him to talk things over, he made an offhand comment about basing the ceremony on a 1970’s Clint Eastwood movie and I thought he was kidding because it was so left field. He ended up actually tying it in, and it was beautiful. It blew my mind. The whole thing was fantastic.“
Megan: “Being surrounded by all of our favorite people and seeing how much love and happiness they were all carrying for us felt so special. It was also a real treat to be able to show them how much we love them by creating a day that really kept their comfort and enjoyment in mind. We picked Studio 180 because of how cozy and inviting it is. I have been to multiple parties there and love that on top of the dinner seating there are little lounge areas and a loft for people to hang out in so if they want to get comfy they aren’t stuck at their table. Our caterer, Farmhouse Table, are all about quality- local, in season ingredients and creative dishes. I wanted the food to be like a hug to our guests.“
Megan: “Jody and I are really silly with each other and have a whole list of dumb inside jokes, made up words and phrases. We had my mom, a former wedding calligrapher, do some of our phrases in gold lettering and framed them around the place for our own amusement. It was such a fun project, deciding which ones to use and seeing our goofy things written elegantly and framed around the place.“
Jody: “Not being plugged into the wedding industry like Megan is, it came as a surprise to me that would could really pick any music we wanted. Knowing they’re one of my favorites, Megan suggested ‘Legend Has It’ by Run The Jewels for introductions, and I was immediately on board. The two of us dancing out to that was so fun.“
Megan: “Jody and I chose ‘Heart of Gold’ by Neil Young for our first dance. We are music people and had a really tough time deciding. ‘Heart of Gold’ felt like it embodied what we have found in each other and what it took to get here. It’s also a classic, but one I haven’t heard at dozens of weddings.“
Megan: “Before the wedding I didn’t have much of an opinion on sweetheart tables. We ended up doing one because it made the overall seating chart easier and ended up LOVING having a little bit of time to ourselves. It’s such a whirlwind, and having some private time was really special.“
Megan and Jody: “Our advice? SIMPLIFY. Don’t bother with traditions you don’t care about. The more things you have to do, the less time you have to enjoy your day. We also really liked how simple and laid back everything was with Jenn, and we love so many of the happy memories they captured!“
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