Hamilton Manor Wedding :: Brittney & Joe :: NJ Wedding Photographer

Updated: Jan 11, 2022

Welcome back!

As COVID-19 continues to affect the world, engaged couples are forced to decide whether or not to postpone or cancel their big day. Some couples, as you've seen in other some of my other blogs (An Intimate, COVID-chic NJ Wedding or When Your Clients Become Your Friends), chose to still have their wedding on the day originally planned but just in a much scaled down version that we've come to know as the microwedding.

Brittney and Joe, who first met while they were both working at Shoprite, chose to postpone from April of 2020 to May of 2021 and still have their big day as planned - well almost planned. The couple had an extra member of their wedding party - their four month old son! This little guy stole the show as he was wheeled into the ceremony in this all white carriage - which fit in with their rustic vibe and ceremony location at The Hamilton Manor.

Living only a few minutes from the venue, I drove past it often - in fact, I remember when it was the old Polish-American club prior to the renovated. After getting into wedding photography, The Hamilton Manor quickly made itself onto my wish list of venues I wanted to photograph at. I continued to stalk their instagram page and crossed my fingers that a future couple would book me for their special day at The Hamilton Manor. Anyways, enough about me and my dreams, back to this love story.

Brittney wore a beautiful gown from Bridal Suite Boutique, which is also located in Hamilton, NJ. The strapless sweetheart A-line wedding dress by Essense of Australia was simply breathtaking. Brittney said the dress she ended up with "was the complete opposite of what I thought I wanted. I went into the shop looking for a high neck, fitted dress and fell in love with my dress. It was definitely not something that I ever thought that I would want but I absolutely fell in love with it the second I put it on." I couldn't imagine Brittney in any other dress than this one. To top it all, the girls all wore cowboy boots, including Brittney - it was a gorgeous rustic look.

Joe proposed to Brittney at home in their kitchen. He hid the ring box in another box that was shipped to them with the dog's treats! The couple of 12 years shared their first dance with their son to the Luke Combs song "Forever After All." It was such a sweet moment to see the three of them dancing together - but the dancing did not stop there- DJ Iron Mike from Ambient DJs kept the music going all night long, leading so some epic dance moves being shown off, especially from the best man.

No wedding at The Hamilton Manor would be complete without some nighttime photos of the couple alone and I was so excited! Brittney mentioned doing some pictures under the string lights behind the barn, where the ceremony took place. It was so magical, just the two of them for some one-on-one (plus Rick and I) time, away from the festivities. This is one of our favorite times to do pictures with our couples. Not only does it give them a little breather from the reception, but it also allows them to get some more relaxed and creative portraits of just the two of them without worrying about the timeline for the day.

Enough from me, l'm going to let you relive their day through their photos. Happy viewing!