Shannon and Tony’s story starts at a bar fittingly called Uncle Tony’s. Shannon’s group of friends met Tony’s groups of friends and the two groups quickly connected – but it was the relationship between Shannon and Tony that really took off.

Let’s back up a little bit though. Let me tell you about the first time I ever heard about Shannon and Tony. It was at Mikala & Derek’s wedding, where I was talking to Brianna before the ceremony started. Brianna told me at that point that their good friend Shannon was going to get engaged soon and she knew that Shannon wanted a Moved By You wedding video. We were chatting a little bit about Shannon and Tony and I was like, “these people sound awesome, I really hope I get to do their wedding!” Soon after, I found Shannon on Instagram and began following her many travel adventures, initially on a trip to France! Indeed, Tony had proposed shortly after Mikala’s wedding. Then, I got to meet both Shannon and Tony at Kacee & CJ’s wedding and immediately knew I would be super excited about this wedding. It was definitely a wedding I was really looking forward to as 2019 started. (And by the way, she’s still one of my favorite people I follow on Instagram, now with the addition of her charcuterie board instagram, shanncuterie!)

 

Shannon got ready at her parent’s house with all of her bridesmaids, including two sisters and an all-star bridesmaid who had just had a baby one week prior! I loved seeing Shannon and her family stand in front of their house after everyone was dressed, underneath the tree that her parents had planted when Shannon was first born. I thought that was such a sweet and meaningful way to honor their daughter (and was immediately regretting that I didn’t do the same when my kids were born!).

We traveled over to Port Dickinson Park for their first look. I absolutely loved this park with all of it’s mature trees that provided plenty of shade and awesome lighting for both photos and video. At this point, I had done several weddings in Shannon and Tony’s friend group that I knew most of the bridal party. These weddings that I do within this group are always some of my favorite because the group is so much fun and so welcoming. I don’t feel like just another wedding vendor there, but that I can really connect with them as people and get to know them. Again this was true for this bridal party. I had so much fun with their bridal party and guests, it barely felt like work for me.

After bridal party and couple photos at Port Dick, we went over to Chenango Valley State Park. They had a gorgeous backdrop for their wedding ceremony. Their ceremony was short and sweet and led right into the party! There were a lot of speeches at this wedding and they were all SO GOOD! Some sang, some cried, some told jokes, everything you ever want in your wedding toasts was there that night. Looking back, that was probably the hardest part of editing for me. All of the toasts were SO GOOD it was really hard to pare them down so they didn’t overtake the entire video. They topped off the night with some family dances, an ice cream truck, and an energetic, feel-good dance crew all night long. Shannon and Tony, thanks for allowing me to capture your beautiful day. I have nothing but good memories from that gorgeous June day!