Brierley Wright and Andy Horton's wedding was beyond elegant. Brierley and Andy live in Vermont close to Andy's hometown and they pulled in many details of the place they live and love for their wedding in Philadelphia.

The Horton family are avid sailors, so much so in fact, that Andy started sailing when he was 6 and is now a professional sailboat racer. Andy even led his team to a gold medal in the Pan American Games. Andy merged his love for Brierley, with his love of sailing, when he asked Brierley to marry him. He proposed on his father's sailboat, "The Thistle". Andy used a beautiful pink ribbon to tie the custom designed engagement ring under a seat on the sailboat. It was very fitting that the couple used beautiful blue thistles in the boutonnieres for the wedding.  

The day of the wedding all of the plans had been set and carried out perfectly by the wonderful crew of Eclatante. Tony and I arrived at the Westin Hotel, in Philadelphia,  for the getting ready process of the day. I know everyone hears me say this, but it is my favorite part of the day. Emotions are high, butterflies in the stomach...I remember how I felt when it was my wedding day and it is a feeling that you wish you could feel again and again. It is a feeling of Love, thoughts of your future, excitement to see your soon-to-be husband and the happiness of your dreams coming true! 

While I stayed with the girls, Tony headed to Lucky Strike with the guys, to photograph Andy and his friends enjoying a little downtime with some bowling. After bowling, Andy gave all of his groomsmen wine in unique gift bags. The bags were made from recycled sails, in the past Andy donated sails from his own ship. Meanwhile, Brierley  was getting dressed in her stunning Romona Keveza gown, with a beautiful light blue, crystal encrusted sash around the waist. The shoes, of course, were Monolo Blahnik. Claudia Seyler and her gorgeous ladies did the hair and makeup for the bride and all of her girls. 

We created a special moment for Brierley and Andy to see each other for the first time. Brierley waited in the ballroom of the Westin and Andy opened the doors and was speechless when he saw his bride. As tears filled their eyes, Brierley's mother quietly embraced the moment , knowing that her daughter was going to be well cared for by this man. After a few moments and a couple of tissues, we headed to 30th Street Station for pictures. The large pillars outside the building and the hustle and bustle inside makes it a great  location. This was my first time shooting at this location. I loved bringing in the traveling aspect of this couple's life with the beautiful, old  "Tickets" sign hanging over the two of them! 

After a couple more stops, we headed to the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Hamilton Building, for family portraits, the ceremony and reception. The ceremony took place in one of the lower galleries of the building. Following the ceremony, guests selected their name cards from a table decorated with a stunning centerpiece. The name cards were handmade by the bride and groom. They were little sail boats: How Sweet! Guests made their way up a glowing staircase to cocktails. At cocktails, there was a beautiful spread of Vermont Cheeses for the guests to enjoy.

The reception room was absolutely stunning. Donna, from Beautiful Blooms, outdid herself yet again! The centerpieces were made up of tall lanterns and a very organic free-flowing design. I know whenever I work with this team of planners, florists, beauticians and caterers, I am going to have stunning images. There was a touching moment when Brierley removed a ring from her bouquet and placed it on her finger. The ring belonged to her great grandmother and was the "borrowed piece" from her mother to enjoy for the day.

Brierley is an editor at " Eating Well Magazine" and I knew the food was going to be great! It was not a surprise that they hired Jimmy Duffy's to cater the evening. Brierley's parents used the same caterer for their rehearsal dinner in the 80's. Dinner was fabulous, but the dessert was a masterpiece! The pastry chef had created a red sugar apple filled with the most amazing ganache.  As pretty as it was to look at, I watched as the guests enjoyed digging into the sides to get to the center. The band was also extraordinary.  They had the greatest song list for the evening. The "Sultans of Swing"  made there way here, for the wedding, from Martha's Vineyard. The guests were also spoiled with an expresso bar after dinner. The evening was a ton of fun and I had a wonderful time photographing all of the people that Brierley and Andy love!