Merion Wedding | Cinnaminson, NJ | Kristina & River

September 17, 2021

Last weekend, I photographed Kristina and River’s Merion Wedding in Cinnaminson, NJ. I have photographed countless high schol and college sweethearts, but Kristina and River are my first MIDDLE school sweethearts! Kristina and River first met in 7th grade through a mutual friend. Kristina had spotted River on Myspace and thought he was the cutest guy she had ever seen. River went to a different middle school than her so she figured she would never meet him. Little did she know, they had a mutual friend who would introduce them. A year later, River moved and had the choice of transferring middle schools in 8th grade to her middle school, he chose to transfer schools to be with her.

Their first date was at their town carnival in June of 2010. They went with a group of friends but eventually ventured off by themselves to get some ice cream at Halo Pub where they spent the entire night joking around and getting to know one another.

Engaged on 10/05/2019, the proposal from Kristina: “I always wanted to go to the sunflower field and one weekend River surprised me and said we were going and both of our families were going too. At first, I didn’t think much of it because our families hangout all the time together so I just figured it was going to be a nice day spent with everyone. Little did I know, River planned on proposing! He, his mom, and my mom had been planning it for days. Secretly hiding their phones, text messages, and the RING of course. It couldn’t have been more perfect the way he did it. It was the most beautiful day and I couldn’t have asked for anything more!” Last Fall, I was lucky enough to capture their Princeton University engagement session.

Their elegant Merion Wedding had a color palette of evergreen, gold, ivory and black and it began at Salon HUE for Kristina and a nearby hotel for River. Kristina and River have been together so long that they decided to see one another for the first time while walking down the aisle. I loved the emotion these two had and I also loved that they extended their cocktail hour so that we had plenty of time for beautiful portraits on the grounds of the Merion. The lighting for their portraits was some of the best we had all year and capturing these two was a breath of fresh air! Once their lively reception began, these two had a romantic first dance on the clouds and once the dance floor officially opened, this group had a wild time and I loved photographing every second of their day!

Kristina and River were most looking forward to finally being able to say “I do” to one another after 11 years of being together. Not many people can say at 12 years old they found the loves of their life, but they could not imagine marrying any other person then one another.

Now married, their dreams as a married couple include traveling the world, getting to expand their family with 2-3 children, growing old together, and living life to the fullest with lots of laughter in between! Kristina and River are currently on a honeymoon in Florida!

Thank you so much for choosing me to photograph your beautiful and elegant Merion Wedding!