Their Wedding Day: Private Residence & Manasquan River Golf Club, NJ

I’ve been waiting for this gorgeous wedding day ever since Danielle and Tony’s UNREAL engagement session! They had to revamp their wedding plans a few times, and they were total troopers with all that the pandemic threw their way! They landed on the most romantic, intimate secret garden-y ceremony at Danielle’s parents’ house and a wild party at Manasquan River Golf Club! It was the most perfect blend of laid back and wildly fun you could ask for!

Danielle and Tony have such care-free, fun attitudes toward life, and it’s been such a joy getting to know them throughout their planning process! Their smiles are infectious and the way they look at one another truly makes a whole room light up. There were so many sweet moments and fun details from their day that I just adored! To name a few:

Father-daughter first look!

Danielle and her father seeing each other for the first time on her wedding day was a tear-jerker!! Her dad was SO cute and burst into tears the moment he turned around. Those are some of my favorite photos we caught!

Private vows during their first look!

This is my new favorite wedding idea!! If you’re a little shy, don’t want to recite vows during your ceremony, or just want to keep the ceremony short – private vows during your first look is a perfect option! It was romantic and intimate, and it allowed them both to show emotion without worrying about all eyes being on them!

Trolley rides to the venue!

I love that they offered super cute trolley rides for their guests to head over to the venue because it was so unique and also super conveinent! They had their guests back in the evening for drinks, so everyone could leave their cars and take the trolley instead!

Sunset photos!

I was PUMPED that Danielle and Tony wanted to run out for some playful, whimsical portraits at Manasquan River Golf Club later in the evening! Since we did all of their photos back at their house earlier in the day, it was nice to change it up for sunset! Manasquan River Golf Club has golf carts we took out to the water so we could shoot in the gorgeous tall grass! It was the perfect way to end off the evening just before cake cutting!

Their Love Story

Danielle and Tony met when they were only in the fourth grade, but it wasn’t until their junior year of high school that they started dating. They were together for two years and took a little time apart in college. Danielle and Tony kept in contact for a while and would occasionally see one another while they were both home, but eventually, they both got into new relationships and didn’t end up seeing each other for about four years!

One day, Danielle saw one of Tony’s pictures on Instagram and liked it. When Tony saw her name pop up, he said, ‘My heart dropped into my stomach when I saw you liked my picture’ and he immediately knew that he was still in love with her no matter how much time had passed. Tony didn’t have Danielle’s phone number anymore, so in an effort to get in contact with her, he texted a bunch of random numbers from memory, hoping one was hers! That didn’t work, so Tony messaged Danielle on Snapchat and they started reconnecting from there!

One day, they decided to meet up for Tony to help Danielle with her Fantasy Football draft (side note: she was just doing it for him to hang out with her)! They met up at a restaurant after work and ended up staying until it closed! Everything felt just so natural and right with them, so the occasional dates turned into days of hiking and weekend trips, and soon enough, into actually dating again!

Danielle and Tony,

You two are a freaking dream! It’s been the biggest honor getting to capture your love from your adventurous camping engagement session to your beautiful wedding day! Thank you so much for choosing me to be a part of it, and for being such amazing people! I’m so so so excited for you two to officially be MARRIED! YAY! Congrats, love birds!!! xo Love you so much!