Matty & Rene’s Heartfelt Brooklyn Wedding
Client: Matthew Wilson (Groom) Wedding Planner: Vessel Brooklyn/Julia Burns Alexander
Venue: The Wythe Hotel, Brooklyn NY Mobile Studio Dimensions: 15’ x 20’ x 10’
Guests: 150 Sessions: 72
Booking Duration: 4 hours
Equipment: 2 Nikon D800 cameras, Nikkor 24-70mm F 2.8 lens, Profoto strobes, beauty dish, 2 strip banks, social media kiosk, printer, wind machine, edit bay, video hub, router, mobile hotspot, PA system & headsets, 2 iPads for guest sign-in, custom background support system and side panels, 10’ x 10’ classic black background with textured overlays and side panels
Jonsar Personnel: 2 photographers, 2 editors, 1 guest experience coordinator
THE STORY
Once upon a time, two men named Matty and Rene stepped into our portrait experience at an event at the Bowery Hotel in New York. They had just met, but they knew they were meant to be together. Four years later, we got a call from their wedding planner, Julia Burns Alexander. She explained that the photo we’d taken of them that night had a place of honor in their living room. They had just started planning their wedding, and the one thing they knew for sure was that they wanted Jonsar Studios to be there.
First, we invited Matty and Rene to our Brooklyn studio for a pre-wedding engagement portrait session. We used the resulting images, GIFs and videos to make slideshows for display at the reception as guests filtered in. Then, we settled on a timeless look and feel for our mobile studio at the event: a classic black background with texture overlays, and black-and-white portraits. We wanted to capture the elegance of the occasion—and make portraits that would become cherished keepsakes, just like Matty and Rene’s very first photo with us.
THE EVENT
We set up our studio in the Wythe Hotel’s Garden Terrace—a partially open-air, glass-walled courtyard adjacent to the Main Event Hall on the ground floor. This gave us plenty of space and allowed guests to move back and forth between the two rooms easily. For display purposes, we hung monitors in the Garden Terrace and also set up two 65” LCD displays in the main hall (where dinner was held), so everyone could see the portraits and videos being made in our studio.
They say rain on your wedding day is good luck, and if that’s true, Matty and Rene are luckier than most! During the reception the sky opened up with torrential rain, thunder and gusting wind. The Terrace’s glass ceiling even began to crack, and rain started dripping onto our edit bay, our social media kiosk, and other electrical gear. We had to locate and deploy a slew of umbrellas—fast—to keep everything dry so the party could continue.
One of the best parts of bringing our portrait experience to weddings is seeing families coming together in celebration. Matty and Rene’s friends and families were all in attendance, and we directed them in 72 beautiful, heartfelt sessions. The grooms told us later that the time everyone spent together in our portrait experience was something they’ll never forget. The resulting photographs show a lot of emotion—and a whole lot of love.
IN THEIR OWN WORDS
“You all are absolutely incredible, and we couldn’t have been happier with your work and the experience. Guests can’t stop talking about it!”
“We cannot thank you enough for making our wedding AMAZING. You and your whole team worked your asses off and it meant the world to every person there. It is definitely a wedding we won’t forget. Thank you for making it happen, and for all your generosity”