Their Wedding Day: The Reserve at Perona Farms, Andover, NJ

Jeanie and Tony’s Perona Farms wedding day was everything they’ve been dreaming of and more. They had to wait quite a while for this big day to come around due to pandemic rescheduling, but thankfully, their marriage didn’t have to wait! They tied the knot last year on their original date with a private intimate ceremony in their backyard! More on that in a bit! 🙂 So, their gorgeous wedding day at Perona Farms was the perfect celebration of their first year of marriage! It was so special seeing all of their loved ones there to witness their love story continue!

Jeanie and Tony knew they didn’t want to wait to get married, so they asked if I would photograph their romantic backyard ceremony last fall! I was honored to capture their love, and I actually got to sign as a witness along with my fiance, Shawn, who was my second photographer! They kept their marriage under wraps all the way until their big wedding day this year! They displayed the photos from their ceremony with a sign that said, “love was not canceled!” How sweet is that?! It was super cool to see everyone’s reactions to seeing that they got married in secret! I had to hold those special photos for a year before I could share!

Their Love Story

I adore the story of how Jeanie and Tony met. In the summer of 2009, Jeanie was working at a local farm stand one day when Tony’s best friend, Greg, saw her as he was driving past. Greg decided to stop at the farm stand to introduce himself, with the intention of asking her on a date! After talking to Jeanie for a while, Greg realized that she would be a perfect fit for Tony, so as he was leaving, he called Tony and told him, “You need to go to the farm stand as soon as you get out of work! You’ll know what I mean as soon as you get there. Don’t ask why, you’ll thank me later.” And now, nine years later Jeanie and Tony are engaged! Go, Greg – such a matchmaker!

Tony proposed to Jeanie after getting home from a night out of pumpkin carving and dinner with friends. Earlier in the evening, while they were driving from dinner to their friends’ house, Tony turned on the song “The Rest of Mine” by Trace Adkins and Jeanie recalled Tony asking her, “Do you remember this song? And the last time that you heard it?” Jeanie told me she felt puzzled, “I tried and tried to remember anything about this song—but I couldn’t.”

Tony laughed and told Jeanie she could think about it and come back to it later. So, later that night, right as they were getting ready to go to bed for the night, Jeanie said, “I feel terrible, but I can’t remember anything specific about that song. Can you tell me about what you meant?” Tony smiled and said, “That song was our friends’ wedding song.” It started to come back to Jeanie as she remembered hearing that song at that wedding! Tony continued, “Do you remember what I said to you while this song was playing?” She dug deep and tried to remember, but she couldn’t quite remember. Finally, Tony said, “Four years ago, I told you that the next time you heard that song, something really big was going to happen in your life,” and it definitely did, because Tony asked Jeanie to marry her right then! <3 How special is that!!

Jeanie and Tony,

It’s been a wild ride ever since you reached out, and I’m so glad I could be a part of so many milestones with you two! From a freezing cold engagement session to a dreamy golden backyard wedding to your stunning Perona Farms wedding day, it’s been a joy from day one! Wishing you two all the happiness and love in the world! Congratulations!!! Love you xoxo