Harmonie Club Wedding Photographer
During their first dance at The Harmonie Club in New York City, the groom closed his eyes and smiled as he held the bride close.
Photographing a Wedding at The Harmonie Club
I keep coming back to the groom’s expression in that first-dance photograph. His eyes are closed, and both hands are resting on the bride’s back. I wanted enough of the room in the frame to feel the presence of their guests. The softness behind them lets you linger on the way he holds her.
I felt something similar earlier in the day, when the bride glanced up at him beneath the chuppah. There’s a hint of a smile she seems to be keeping to herself. Those are the photographs I’d want the couple to see together years later. Each holds a moment when the room was full and their attention narrowed to each other.
Before the Ceremony at The Harmonie Club
In the portrait with the bouquet, the mirror lets you see the bride from behind while her face is still visible through the veil. I like what that does to the photograph. You get a sense of the gown and the room, but your eye keeps returning to her expression. In the closer portrait, the green stones in her earrings catch the light, and her gaze leads you just outside the frame. That’s the detail I keep coming back to. There’s a feeling of anticipation in where she’s looking. I like leaving whatever caught her eye outside the frame. It gives me a reason to linger on her expression, as if I’m waiting with her for whatever happens next.
A Candlelit Wedding Ceremony at The Harmonie Club
Before the guests arrived, I photographed the room from the center of the aisle, where the chandeliers cast a warm glow across the wood paneling and the red chuppah framed the fireplace.
From behind the bride, I could see the candlelight catch the folds of her veil as it moved. I like how the motion softens the photograph and gives it the feel of a memory. In the closer frame, what draws me in is the little smile she gives him while he’s still looking ahead. A room full of people was watching, and that glance feels like it belonged just to her.
Beneath the Chuppah
Back Down the Aisle
From the end of the aisle, I could see their joined hands between the black of his tuxedo and the folds of her gown. She’s carrying her bouquet and gathering her skirt as she walks, and he has this wide, unguarded grin. There’s so much movement in the frame, but their hands give my eye somewhere to settle. I wanted to leave enough room around them to see the guests standing close on either side and the red chuppah still glowing behind them. All of it belongs to that walk.
The longer I spend with this photograph, the more I notice what’s happening at the edges. There are hands caught mid-clap in the foreground and faces turned toward the aisle farther back. Some of those people are already behind the couple. I think about how quickly you pass someone on a walk like that, close enough to brush shoulders, with only a second to catch their eye. A photograph gives you time to look at the faces you might have missed.
Years later, I imagine they’ll look at this picture and recognize someone in the crowd by the way they’re standing or smiling. That’s one of the reasons I’m glad I framed it wide enough to keep those people in. The couple gets to see themselves in those first few steps after the ceremony, and they get to see the people who stood up to send them on their way.
A Family Portrait at The Harmonie Club
For this portrait, I wanted the bride and groom at the center and enough space for everyone around them to settle in. Some are seated, others stand close behind, and the bride’s train spreads across the marble floor. I like the formality of the arrangement against the dark wood paneling. It lets you take in the whole family before you start noticing the small ways people lean toward one another.
When I think about this photograph in a wedding album, I imagine someone pointing to a person in the second row and telling a story that has nothing to do with the wedding. That’s part of what I value about a family portrait. Years later, a younger relative might open the album and see people they’ve only heard about, all dressed up and gathered in one room.
The First Dance at The Harmonie Club
For this frame, I wanted to show what it felt like to be in the ballroom with them. The chandelier fills the space above the couple, and the guests are close enough that you can see their expressions. At the center, the bride has her arm around the groom’s neck, and they’re both smiling as they turn. I love that the photograph gives you a little time to watch the people watching them.
There’s a guest raising a camera on the right, and someone just behind the couple is already clapping. Those details give the photograph a rhythm of its own. You can almost hear the room around them, even as the two of them hold each other close.
The Hora at The Harmonie Club
When the bride and groom are lifted in their chairs, they’re laughing and reaching toward each other across the space between them. I like that you can see the hands doing the lifting, too. One guest has both arms up around the groom’s chair, and others are clapping so close to me that their hands come into the foreground. From that spot on the dance floor, the crowd felt as much a part of the photograph as the couple.
There’s a detail I love in the bride’s expression. She’s high above everyone, with the folds of her gown spilling over the chair, and she’s looking straight at him. I can imagine how much fun it would be for them to see this later and find out who was underneath those chairs, holding them up.
By Candlelight at the Reception
At dinner, she reaches behind his neck and they smile at each other across the table. The candlelight catches in the glasses, and I like leaving those reflections in the foreground. They give the photograph the feeling of sitting across from the two of them and catching a bit of their conversation.
In the gold-toned frame, she leans back against him, still holding her glass, and he rests his hands on her shoulders. I like ending the story there. By then we’ve seen them lifted above the dance floor with everyone cheering. Here, the way she leans into him tells me something different about how it felt to spend that evening together.
Planning a Wedding at The Harmonie Club?
If you’re planning a wedding at The Harmonie Club in New York City, I’d love to hear what you’re looking forward to most. Tell me a little about the two of you and what you have in mind for the day. We can talk through how I’d photograph it and what you’d most like to remember.