Wedding – Claudia & Andrew – The Castle NJ

I still remember when Gisele tagged me in a comment on Claudia’s Instagram profile saying that Andrew had proposed to her.

Listen to some music and enjoy this story…

My connection with Claudia was made through Gisele and David, whose wedding I shot here in Fortaleza in 2015, and whose engagement session I did in Brooklyn, New York City.

In 2015, when I went to NYC to do Gisele and David’s photoshoot, I had even scheduled to photograph Claudia and Andrew, who until then were only dating. But Claudia got sick the day before the e-session and we had to cancel. I was sad that day, but I got over it and moved on. Haha…

In August 2016, just over a year later, Gisele commented on a video on Andrew’s Instagram profile, in which he was at the beach in New Jersey asking Claudia to marry him.
Check out the comment below:

After that, I DMed Claudia on Instagram about the possibility of going to Cranford, New Jersey to be their wedding photographer.

One word led to another and BOOM! We made a deal! Haha! It’d been almost one year since we had started talking about their big day.

Claudia is an incredible person; she is a genuine and really enjoyable. Always with a big smile on her face and lots of excitement about every step in her life.

She decided to do her own makeup on the wedding day, something I’ve only seen once at weddings here in Brazil. It was amazing!

Another cultural difference between Brazilian wedding traditions and American ones is that the bride and groom see each other before the ceremony. Right after getting ready, Claudia and Andrew drove their own car to Nomanhegan Park in New Jersey for the first look.

They had a unique and exciting moment during the first look. Those who know their story know how important that moment was.

Family formals and the toast were also done at Nomanhegan Park before we went to The Castle NJ for the wedding ceremony and the party. They made the right choice about this because I was able to do everything with beautiful natural light.

The Castle, which is located in Roselle Park, NJ, is a nice place with good food and first class service, even for me who was there to photograph the wedding and not as a guest.

I photographed the whole wedding by myself, without any help from a second shooter, something that raised my level of responsibility and required that I work intensely over 12 hours, paying close attention to every detail and looking for unique, candid moments.

It was a bit tense, however, based on her feedback, I think that I surpassed Claudia’s lofty expectations. :)

Anyway, let’s wrap this up and see the pictures! They capture the essence of what Claudia and Andrew’s wedding was like.

Hope you enjoy!

In these pictures below are Claudia & Andrew, Gisele & David, and me. Love them!