Delaware and Philadelphia wedding photographer

What was your favorite part of the wedding day?
The best part of the day was getting to see so many family members and friends all together in one place.  Our guests came from all over the place-some international-and we felt so lucky to have all these amazing people travel from near and far to celebrate with us. Also, just seeing everything come together after so many months of planning was pretty great.

Tell us about your decor, flowers, etc.
Our theme colors were navy and gold, with some fall colors mixed in. We went with a lot of orange and peach colors for the flowers and had 3 different styles of centerpieces at the reception for a little variety. Lots of pumpkins too! The string lights that were supposed to be at our outdoor cocktail hour were instead hung in the visitor’s center for the reception, and we also had paper lanterns.

What inspired your decor?
I wanted to go for a “simple yet elegant” theme, and also incorporate elements of Fall- acorns, pumpkins, leaves, etc. We wanted things to look very classic overall but with some fun personal touches, like our cake topper.

Tell us about your cake…. and your cake topper!
Our cake was from The Master’s Baker in West Chester, PA. It was 4-tier, round, navy/white/gold with buttercream flowers, and had 2 different flavor combinations- pumpkin spice and cinnamon, and red velvet and cream cheese. We had to go with pumpkin because, well it was delicious, and it went perfectly with our Fall theme.  And for the rest of the flavors, Jake loves cinnamon, I love cream cheese, and we both love chocolate.

I ordered a custom cake topper on Etsy with a silhouette of a bride and groom with two fluffy cats.  We have two cats  (Snuggie and Puddles) who had to stay behind in Texas, but I wanted to represent them in some way at our wedding. They love people food so on top of the cake was the perfect place.

Now that you’re married, and you’ve been through planning a wedding together, what advice would you give to other couples who are just starting the process?
Find and book your venue first, and then work on the other major details and anything that needs to be booked far in advance in the first few months – band/DJ, photographer, florist, etc. The rest of the details can be worked out later. You can find pretty much anything on Etsy. If you decide to hire a wedding coordinator, you will not regret it. Try to make decisions together as a couple – don’t say “I don’t care” about anything.

What’s next for the two of you?
We are living in Dallas and both working at UT Southwestern Medical Center. Jake is embracing his new role as a cat dad. Now that the wedding is over we are exploring our new city (we just moved to Dallas in July), trying new restaurants, checking out museums, etc. We weren’t able to go on a honeymoon after the wedding because we had both just started new jobs, but we are hoping to go to Australia in the spring

Venue: Winterthur Museum & Country Estate – Winterthur, Delaware
Dress: Jennifer’s Bridal – Hockessin, DE
Suit: Men’s Wearhouse
Hair & Makeup: Currie – Glenn Mills, Pennsylvania
Flowers: Fresh Designs – Chester Heights, Pennsylvania
Cake: The Master’s Baker – West Chester, Pennsylvania
Invitations: Crane & Co.
Wedding Planner: Proud to Plan – Wilmington, Delaware
Officiant: Reverend William Melnick
Band/DJ: Imagine – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Delaware wedding photographer – Leslie Barbaro

Who proposed to who and how?
Kathleen: Jake proposed while we were on vacation in the Bahamas in February 2015.  He usually tries to talk me into going skiing in the winter, but I prefer beach vacations, so we’ve tried to alternate ski and beach years as a compromise.  I think it was supposed to be a ski year, but since he was planning to propose I guess he figured he should take me somewhere I would like to go.  He proposed after dinner one night while we were relaxing in a hammock between two palm trees on the beach looking up at the stars.

How did you choose your venues?
Kathleen: The ceremony was at IHM – the church I grew up attending.

Growing up in Delaware, I had been to Winterthur several times, and when I found out they were also a wedding venue I had to check them out.  I loved the reflecting pool area – although unfortunately that didn’t end up being part of the day. The grounds are so beautiful, I knew it would be such an elegant backdrop to our celebration and a great place to take pictures.  Because the majority of our guests were coming from out of town and many had never been to Delaware before, I wanted a venue with a little bit of history that really showcased the beauty of the area.

What was the one thing you were most stressed about before the wedding and how did it turn out?
I was pretty stressed about everything…Jake and I were living in different cities, both far from Delaware, and most of the planning had to be done remotely. Luckily we had a lot of help from my mom, who held it down on the home front and did a ton of legwork for us. And we got some great some great suggestions and guidance from our wedding coordinators at Proud to Plan, as well as the Winterthur wedding coordinators, along the way. In the end everything turned out perfectly.

In the weeks leading up to the wedding I started to get pretty stressed about the weather, because the forecast for October 1st was changing from sun to rain every couple of days. We were planning to have our cocktail hour outside around the reflecting pool at Winterthur, and that obviously wouldn’t mix well with rain. Aaaaaand it ended up being chilly and rainy the entire weekend. The weather unfortunately caused some flight delays and cancellations for our guests, and yes the cocktail hour was moved inside.  On the bright side though, the rain made for some amazing photos and the cocktail hour rain site was gorgeous.

Does it feel different being married?
A little bit!  Not a whole lot has changed in our day-to-day lives but I think we feel more content. It’s nice not to be spending all our free time planning a wedding!

Venue: Winterthur Museum & Country Estate – Winterthur, Delaware
Dress: Jennifer’s Bridal – Hockessin, DE
Suit: Men’s Wearhouse
Hair & Makeup: Currie – Glenn Mills, Pennsylvania
Flowers: Fresh Designs – Chester Heights, Pennsylvania
Cake: The Master’s Baker – West Chester, Pennsylvania
Invitations: Crane & Co.
Wedding Planner: Proud to Plan – Wilmington, Delaware
Officiant: Reverend William Melnick
Band/DJ: Imagine – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Delaware wedding photographer: Leslie Barbaro

Kathleen & Jake met on July 3rd, 2010, in the hallway of an inpatient floor in a hospital in the Bronx. It was her first day on call as an intern on the vascular surgery service, and his first day on call as an ENT resident. Jake recognized her from a picture he had seen on Facebook and introduced himself, asking if she needed any help.

Kathleeen: I was pretty flustered and overwhelmed, and I think I just said thanks and ran off to probably fail at drawing blood or change a dressing on a rotting foot or something. Jake thought I was rude and then went off to see 20 consults over the course of the next few hours.

We didn’t see each other much at work for the rest of that year because we were usually rotating at different hospitals. We shared the occasional cab ride home from resident events and ran into each other on the Upper East Side once or twice. I thought Jake was much cooler than he actually is, and he (for reasons that are unknown to me) mistakenly had the impression that I was an expert on 90s rap music.

Finally in April 2011, we found ourselves working in the same hospital. I was rotating through the surgical ICU and Jake would come by occasionally to see consults there, and we had the opportunity to take care of some patients together. He would usually stay and chat for a bit, and we got to know each other a little better. I started to get the sense that Jake might be interested in more than discussing excellent patient care on his visits to the SICU.

The first time we really hung out outside of the hospital was with a group of our co-residents on Cinco de Mayo. A few days later we went on a pseudo-double date with our fellow ENT residents Patricia and Dave (well, Patricia and I saw it as a date, not sure if the guys knew what they were getting themselves into), and our relationship basically got started and went from there.

Kathleen and Jake survived residency together and two years of a long-distance relationship as they completed their fellowships in different cities. Finally together, they were still tasked with planning their Delaware wedding from out of town. More from the couple in the coming days. Today, enjoy a few photos from the bridal preparations…

Tell us about your dress.
It was a strapless mermaid-style Tara Keely dress from Jennifer’s Bridal in Hockessin. The top was lace and the bottom was tulle with quite a bit of volume. It was totally different than what I envisioned when I started looking – I never thought I would wear something so poofy! But when I tried it on it felt perfect. I added a sparkly belt (also from Jennifer’s) for a little bling at the reception.

Venue: Winterthur Museum & Country Estate – Winterthur, Delaware
Dress: Jennifer’s Bridal – Hockessin, DE
Suit: Men’s Wearhouse
Hair & Makeup: Currie – Glenn Mills, Pennsylvania
Flowers: Fresh Designs – Chester Heights, Pennsylvania
Cake: The Master’s Baker – West Chester, Pennsylvania
Invitations: Crane & Co.
Wedding Planner: Proud to Plan – Wilmington, Delaware
Officiant: Reverend William Melnick
Band/DJ: Imagine – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Delaware wedding photographer – Leslie Barbaro