Patrick Sweeney Photography

About 20 years ago I was working my real job with the NJ lottery fixing a lottery machine in a hardware store in River Edge.  I had on a jacket that said Patrick Sweeney Photography.  I did portraits and other things but I wasn't doing weddings at the time back then.  The women working the lottery machine saw my jacket and asked if I had a business card.  She asked if I did weddings and I told her i didn't.  I gave her a card anyway.  She said her granddaughter will be getting married some day, maybe I will be doing weddings by then.

Well here it is 20 years later and her granddaughter is getting married.  Ok so this is her second granddaughter that is getting married.  I did the first granddaughters wedding about 10 years ago.  In between the two weddings I have done 50th anniversaries and birthday parties and family portraits and many other things for this family.  They kept me in business when I first started out with all the events they have given me.  

Yesterday I did Chrissy and Dave's engagement photos.  We went to a park near by and took some shots and just talked about the years that have gone by.  Chrissy was this little punk kid when her sister Maria got married.  Ok she wasn't little, she has always been pretty tall.  Now she is this beautiful woman all grown up and getting married in a few months. 

Unfortunately I was already booked by someone else for the day she is getting married.  We will still be doing her photos but I am not the one shooting the special event and I am sorry for that.  Not just because I like to shoot all my weddings but this is a special one.  I have known the family for years and would love to see chrissy walk down the aisle.  

Here are some photos of Chrissy and Dave.  Guys I wish you the best of luck and I do wish I could be there.

I just thought I would chime in a bit here and say today my blog is 2 years old.  I started it 2 years ago today and I have had a lot of fun doing this thing and even though many people don't post on here I do get emails or people tell me in person that they have looked at it and like certain shots and things like that.

So for all of you people that have posted or commented or just left emails or have told me that you like my blog, I want to thank you very much.

We were determined to get this shoot in yesterday.  It looked like it was going to rain all day and we already cancelled a previous date to get these shots done so we were going to get these in no matter what.  Then the rain started just as Wendy and Thomas showed up at my door.  Oh no you won't dare rain!  it held off, just a few sprinkles came down and we were able to get some fun shots and get it all in before it started to rain.

Wendy calls herself Wendy 3 to me.  She has a similar email address of another Wendy that I did their wedding awhile back and I am working on their album.  Another Wendy that she knows told her about me as well.  So she named herself Wendy 3.  I can't believe I had that many Wendy's.  It's right up there with all the Jennifer's I had this year.  

We got things done pretty quick I thought considering we had to run through raindrops and run through geese poop.  It was like little bombs all over the place.  They were troopers though.  Wendy and Thomas that is, not the geese.  

We have a few months before their wedding but it does close in real fast.  I can't wait for August.  We are going to have so much fun.

Wow say that 5 times fast.  Sarah & Shane Slideshow

Sarah & Shane from Patrick Sweeney Photography on Vimeo.

This is another one of those posts that will combine personal and professional.  You see Sarah and I had this wacky "Grey's Anatomy" thing going on for about 4 months.  I saw Sarah every day for four months.  She was one of my parent's nurses for that time.  If I was getting off the elevator, she was getting on, and vice versa.  It started to get funny after awhile.  She would always call me Mr. Sweeney.  She was just such a professional.  I begged her one day to just call me Patrick.  She finally did.  I started out being a relative of someone in the hospital and her their nurse.  I finished with her being a friend having her arm around me holding me up as we waited for the doctors one last time.  

I always said these nurses became family to me.  They did and they always will remain that way.  I got to see them again this past weekend. 

Ok now on to the wedding.  

Sarah and Shane came to see me along with her parents.  I was glad they came along for two reasons.  One, I like talking to parents and letting them know what they are in for the day of the wedding as well.  I always worry what they will think of me though because I am a bit hyper and get excited talking about the wedding day and what we will do and how things will go.  I think maybe I might scare them away.    

Two, I wanted to tell them what an amazing daughter they had and what she had done for me those four months.   

I normally don't deal with the parents to often at the wedding.  I do for family photos and things like that but Sarah's parents treated me like I was a guest and a friend of the family.  They would come up and talk to me while the wedding was going on.  Shane's parents as well.  

I know I drove them all crazy during the family photos but I think by the end of the night they understood why I did them right away.

I always try and shoot family photos right after the ceremony.  This way they aren't pulled out during the reception and miss their son or daughters wedding.   Also so the bride and groom aren't missing their wedding as well.   It's tough when everything is in one location because cocktail hour starts right away.  

I got some fun shots of the happy couple.  They even had some goofy shots they wanted to do which I thought were just so funny.  Just some of Sarah's reactions to what was going on were priceless.  I hope they are happy with the photos we took.  

This was one of those weddings that was special to me and it meant a lot to me that I was able to take the pictures.  I have to thank Sarah and Shane for letting me do this.

I could never thank Sarah(and all the other nurses) enough for what they did for me those four months.  

Thank you for letting me be part of your very special day.  Thank you for being my parents nurse, thank you for putting up with me all those months, and thank you for being a friend.

What can I say about this couple?  The first thing I notice with them is that Jake makes Suzanne laugh.  No matter what they are doing, he makes her laugh.  I have photos of them walking, she is laughing at something he is saying.  I have photos of them being serious and two seconds later, she is cracking up again at something he said or a face he made.  You have to love that in a couple.  Keep them laughing and keep them happy.  I took about 130 photos and as I went though them I thought to myself.  i wonder what Suzanne looks like when she isn't smiling.  I don't think she ever stops smiling.  

We decided to do this session at a place they really wanted to have their wedding at.  Well they couldn't. The place wasn't big enough.  So we did the next best thing.  We did their engagement photos there.  So at least they will have photos from the area.  

The Tappan Zee Bridge off in the background and the hudson smashing against the rocks and one crazy bird sitting on top of a lamp post chirping away, what more could you ask for?  Ok so I wanted to throw a rock at the bird he was getting a bit annoying. Only kidding.  Just a little joke.  I did tell him to shut up a few times though.  

I can't wait for this wedding day.  If Suzanne was this happy just doing engagement photos, she is going to be one happy happy bride.  

Keep her laughing Jake.  

Stacy & Scott from Patrick Sweeney Photography on Vimeo.

Denise & Al from Patrick Sweeney Photography on Vimeo.

I have to start this post off by saying Stacy is one of very few people that actually post on my blog, and she has since I started.  I can't thank her enough.  I told her in a post awhile back that I was going to do something nice for them since she is my blog stalker.  That is my nickname for her now.  Just because she is on it and posts.  I hope she does continue now that her wedding is over.

Well I told them I would do something nice for them and I did.  At least I hope they thought it was nice and enjoyed it.  I made an album out of their engagement photos that we took in the same place as some of their wedding photos as well.  Laurel Hill Park was a park that they grew up near.  Scott grew up hanging out near there and it was a special place for them.

It wasn't the greatest of days since it rained a bit and it was very gray out.  At least no shadows which the sun is really a photographers enemy.  Either way we had fun with the bridal party and the couple once we got there.  I wont go on about how the bus driver that was driving everyone there took a detour.  A very long detour. I asked him if he knew where he was going and he said he had his GPS.  I hope he is reading this. Buy a map and get off your cell phone!  I hope Stacy and Scott can laugh about this now.  

It was an early wedding and it really didn't matter.  Everyone was in the party mood and the DJ had everyone on the dance floor all afternoon.  

Thanks for letting me be part of your special day.  It is hard to believe that it is here and gone already.