[Wedding] Cassie & Keith – Lake Valhalla Club in Montville, NJ

Much to Karis’ chagrin, there are very few things in life that would send me to DEFCON 5, much less DEFCON 1. Subsequently over the years, she’s endearingly nicknamed me “The Rubber Wall” – unyielding, aloof, and nothing (insults nor spaghetti) ever seems to stick. The kid fell off the bed again? Free lesson in gravity – great! Gained some weight? Shopping spree for everyone! For this unorthodox approach to life, I entirely blame my dad. His rationale was simple enough: the problem has already occurred, and unless you had a time machine, there was absolutely nothing in the world you can do to change it. What’s important was how you were going to fix it…and look good while fixing it. Crying/screaming/flailing arms? Leave those for the noobs :).

And just a few months ago, I realized I had just won the award for being the Noobiest of the Noobs for 2014.

Cassie & Keith’s beautiful wedding at the Lake Valhalla Club started with a first-look at the Frelinghuysen Arboretum in nearby Morristown. There’s a beautiful old barn between these two locations, and it was decided that we’d use the property as a backdrop for a handful of their wedding portraits. As the limo bus pulled over to the side of the road, I watched in horror as the bus started tilting into an embankment. When the rear wheels started lifting off the ground, I shamelessly cried/screamed/flailed my arms like a 12 year-old fangirl at a Beyonce concert. Every single main character of that day’s wedding was on that bus, and there was absolutely nothing I could do about it.

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Long story short, it would take more than a potential bridal party barrel roll into a steep ravine to prevent these two lovebirds from getting married. Better yet, we even managed to squeeze in some portrait time in front of that beautiful old barn (especially with all the trouble they went through, we’d better!). Despite their extraordinary adventures later that day, the morning of Cassie & Keith’s wedding day was actually quite normal. Bridesmaids in hair rollers and groomsmen playing shirt-vs-skins volleyball? TOTALLY normal in my book!

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Venue: Lake Valhalla Club // Hair: Trend E’ Hair // Make-up: Ani Tlatelpa // Dress: Bijou Bridal // Shoes: Amy Boles Designs // Groom’s attire: Kenneth Cole // Jewelry: Gabriel & Co. via W. Kodak Jewelers // Floral/Decor: Twisted Willow // Entertainment: Magic Moments Productions // Stationery: The Satin Bow // Favors: Country Squire Pottery // Cinematography: INZI Wedding Films

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