Fairmount Water Works Wedding | Angelique & Mike

June 2, 2023

Last weekend, I photographed Angelique and Mike’s Fairmount Water Works Wedding in Philadelphia, PA. They had a beautiful Spring day for their modern and classic wedding. My happy couple had an action packed morning getting ready at the Lowes Hotel, followed by a traditional ceremony at Annunciation BVM Church, gorgeous portraits in Olde City and a LIVELY reception at Fairmount Water Works. This group never left the dance floor except to take some gorgeous sunset portraits! Their day was filled with tons of personal touches – they read their own vows, we photographed Mike and Ang at the Merchant Exchange Building, where they were engaged, they included their dogs in portraits at both the hotel and venue and Mike even had a custom jacket that had a portrait of their dogs on the inside! Angelique also wore her late father’s necklace to honor him.

Angelique and Mike met at a public skating night on a Friday in April of 2008 at Hollydell Ice Arena when Mike was 15 and Ang was 14.

Ang knew Mike was the one at the age of 16. Her father passed away in June of 2010, and Mike was there for her throughout that time period and they started dating shortly after. Coincidentally, Mike says he knew at the same exact time that Ang was the one. In the years before her father’s passing, they were just friends who had crushes on each other, but something changed that summer and he knew he couldn’t live without Ang!

Engaged on 10/09/2021, the proposal from Mike: “I started planning the proposal in August of 2021. I went over to her parent’s house with pizza and cheesesteaks from Angelo’s in South Philly (a little bribery never hurt) to ask for permission and to talk about how to best surprise Ang with a great proposal. After talking with her family for 30 minutes, I had the idea of proposing in early October and after the proposal, I was going to surprise her with a trip to Italy to look at wedding venues and, a second surprise, an engagement party with all of our friends there (this is something Ang really wanted). With the help of her sister and her best friend Brooke, we came up with a plan for me to propose to Ang in front of the Merchant Exchange Building. We came up with an elaborate story that we were meeting Brooke and a friend for drinks at Positano Coast followed by dinner at Zahav. On the 9th, Mike and Ang left in an uber headed toward Positano Coast, but Mike detoured the uber to stop at Menagerie Coffee so that our best friend, Pat Curiale (best man in our wedding), could run to our house and pick up both of our dogs so they could be at the Merchant Exchange for the proposal. After delaying sufficiently at the coffee shop, we headed down 3rd street toward the Merchant Exchange building, and just as we were ~ 25 yards away, our photographer messaged us saying a wedding party just showed up and to delay, but I couldn’t without giving away that something was weird. So we kept walking and I proposed along the red brick wall adjacent to the Merchant Exchange Building to our friends jumping out from behind the wall and our dogs sprinting from across the street! We took a bunch of pictures with our friends and then I pulled out the note card saying we are going to Italy in 3 days! After the proposal finished, I said we should go grab a drink at Paddywack’s Pub on South Street, and as soon as we got there and walked upstairs, all of our friends were waiting for us to congratulate us! We had a great night with our family and friends and then had a lovely trip in Italy!”

When these two weren’t planning their Fairmount Water Works wedding, they love to eat at great restaurants, travel anywhere, cook awesome meals together, dance and play with their dogs!

Now married, their dreams include living a long and happy life together, to have a family with kids and to give them better lives than they had (which will be a very tough thing to do). Their advice for couple’s currently planning is to start planning early, and try your best to make wedding planning as fun as possible. There are days planning will drag on and on, but remember why you are marrying the person in the first place and always do your best to keep a smile on your face!

For their Water Works wedding, Ang couldn’t wait to be together with all their friends and family in one place, and to celebrate their 13 years together. Mike couldn’t wait to see Ang walk down the aisle!

Angelique and Mike have an epic honeymoon planned for mid-June in South Africa and Mauritius. They are doing a few days in Cape Town, a few days at wineries, a safari in Kruger National Park, and then relaxing on the beaches in Mauritius! Thank you to Mike and Angelique for choosing me to photograph your beautiful Fairmount Water Works wedding!