July Wedding at Renault Winery | Egg Harbor City, NJ | Haley & Jay

July 19, 2024

On July 12th, 2024, I photographed Haley and Jay’s July Wedding at Renault Winery in Egg Harbor City, NJ! They planned a classic and chic wedding in the Champagne Ballroom of Renault Winery with a color palette of champagne, black & white, and dark greenery. Their wedding day began with thunderstorms and rain, but that did not damper Haley and Jay’s day! The details were my favorite part – Haley and Jay had beautiful signage by Oak + Sparrow, a gorgeous invitation suite, a stunning indoor ceremony with the most perfect florals by Betina’s. Once it was time for their first look and portraits, we captured so much variety with their portraits using my favorite backdrops at Renault. Once portraits were complete, it was time for them to say I do. Once they were married, the reception was filled with guests who loved to dance, a surprise dress change for Haley and Churn House dessert. I adored capturing Haley and Jay’s July wedding at Renault Winery!

Haley and Jay have always known of each other, but they officially met at a local bar. She went right up to him and was not shy, they hit it off and started hanging out immediately. Their first date was planned as a surprise by Jay! He took her to a drive-in movie theatre to see Grease. She says it was such a cool date and that is when she discovered Jay’s love for movies.

Haley knew Jay was the one when they spent their first New Year’s Eve together at her parent’s cabin in the Poconos. They talked all night, made homemade pizza, and really got to know one another. They had so much fun that they decided to make it a tradition to spend every NYE at the cabin!

Engaged on 1/1/23, the proposal from Haley: “Jay planned the best surprise ever! Per tradition, we planned on spending NYE at my parent’s cabin in the Poconos. I had absolutely no idea all weekend as Jay had always given me a timeline so I was not expecting him to propose. We spent the day hiking, watching football, playing card games, and enjoying wine. When it was time to countdown to New Year’s, Jay decided to film us for memories and the next thing you know he was down on one knee!”

Haley says that she loves how incredibly thoughtful Jay is. He is always putting others first and making them feel special. He also has a great sense of humor! Jay loves Haley’s kindness. She is nice to everyone she meets. She is so friendly and can adapt into any situation and make everyone feel comfortable.

When these two weren’t wedding planning, they love spending their weekends trying new coffee shops and spending their weeknights watching a good movie. But their favorite thing to do together is spend their summer’s traveling on a trip.

Haley said she was most looking forward to seeing Jay’s reaction to her walking down the aisle! She also couldn’t wait to have all of their family and friends in one place to celebrate them and their love. Jays said he couldn’t wait to have friends and family all together to celebrate. He was most excited to dance the night away with his new bride! Now married, their dream is to continue traveling, some of the places they’d like to visit are Africa, Spain, and Iceland. Then eventually they would love to start a family.

Their advice for couple’s currently planning is to get the big stuff booked and planned first and out of the way. Also, make lists! Write down everything you need to do, buy, make, etc. to stay organized.

Thank you to Haley and Jay for choosing me to photograph your July wedding at Renault Winery! I hope you are having a blast on your South African honeymoon!