Jamie+Matt // Backyard Wedding in Ontario, New York

It was good, great, amazing luck that we were able to come to upstate New York and photograph this wedding. Geoff’s cousin was getting married in Rochester the weekend of Labor Day, and it had been on our calendar for a very long time. But we very coincidentally (and luckily!) got an inquiry from Matt and Jamie to photograph their wedding in Jamie’s parents’ backyard in Ontario, New York the weekend before Geoff’s cousin was to be married, and only about 30 minutes away from Geoff’s aunt and uncle’s house! And it’s GORGEOUS in upstate New York this time of year, and the humidity is lowww, and so we graciously accepted and were very excited.

I actually went to high school with our wonderful groom Matt! He was a grade or two below me and I knew him without a beard. When his identical twin showed up at the wedding sans beard, I was like “THAT’S MATT!” but then no, that’s the Germany-based, identical twin, beardless version of today’s Matt. And I believe by our counts that brings our identical twin client total up to 5! Anyway, Matt is kind and caring and fun and has great tattoos and I was so excited to be reunited with him, and to meet his lovely fiancee Jamie in person. We Skyped with them when we first booked them, and Jamie was really gorgeous. And I’ve seen her pictures on Instagram and she was still really gorgeous. But then in real life, it’s like she takes all of the gorgeous video and photos of her and mashes them together and it gets amplified into this REALLY RIDICULOUSLY GORGEOUS PERSON THAT THERE ARE NO BAD PHOTOGRAPHS OF EVER. Really. I culled through all the photos we took, and there are zero bad pictures of her. I didn’t see her make one expression the entire day that wasn’t 100% lovely and charming in every way. I’m not entirely sure how she does it. My best guess is some sort of Little Mermaid-esque magic where some sort of trade was made with a nefarious Disney character at some point, but I don’t have the proof.

Their wedding was beautiful, warm, and sunny. People threw rainbow sprinkles at them as they walked down the aisle, and Jamie ate them as she walked (again, she’s a girl after my own heart), and then Matt and the bridesmaids had to pick them out of her hair before they melted. There were lots of cats. There was also apple cider, donuts, and cotton candy. We took pictures next to willow trees! And next to Lake Ontario! And then in a freaking apple orchard covered in actual full blown apples and it was like WHAT KIND OF DREAM AM I IN. Apparently we need to photograph weddings in upstate New York more often.


– Date: August 26, 2017
– Ceremony + Reception Venue: Private Home // Ontario, New York
– First Dance Song: “You Are The Best Thing” – Ray LaMontagne
– Jamie’s Occupation: Freelance Graphic Designer
– Matt’s Occupation: Art Director, Advertising
– How You Met: Art School in Pittsburgh.
– Interesting Fact: We love coffee, we’re depressed that Hogwarts may or may not actually exist, cats should run the world (or do?), Matt’s an identical twin.
– Honeymoon: Backpacking in Europe
– Vendor Credits: Officiant – Jen Mastro (family friend). DJ – Adam Dibble from Encore Events. Florist – Kittleberger. Cake – Katie Beck. Caterer – Root Catering. Hair/Makeup – Rocky Grecco. Videographer – Mike Liu. Coordinator – Jenna with Bella Co.