There’s a version of this job where I show up, I do my work, I go home. And then there’s a Willow Creek Winery wedding like Alesha and Zachary’s — where I met the bride and groom for the very first time on their actual wedding day, and by the time the band packed up, it felt like I’d known them for years.
No engagement session. No coffee date to break the ice. Just me, my camera, and two people I was meeting fresh on one of the biggest days of their lives. I’ll be honest — that could have felt like a risk. Instead, it became one of the most meaningful days I’ve ever photographed.
Meeting the Bride
I got to Alesha early, while she was getting ready, and within minutes we were talking like old friends. Somewhere in that conversation, we landed on the fact that her father had passed away — and she wasn’t going to have him there to walk her down the aisle. I won’t share the details of what we talked about, because that part belongs to her. But I will tell you what she said to me, because I think about it all the time: “I know my dad sent you here for my wedding day.”
I teared up right there in the room with her. That’s not something I say lightly — I’ve been doing this since 2010, and there are a handful of moments in fifteen-plus years of weddings that I carry with me. This is one of them. It set the tone for the entire day. We weren’t photographer and client anymore. We were just two people who understood each other.
Willow Creek Winery Wedding Jewish Tradition Edit
This was my first Jewish wedding, and I want to be honest about that instead of pretending I’d seen it all before. I hadn’t. And I loved every second of learning it in real time.
The bedeken — the veiling ceremony, where the groom sees the bride and confirms it’s really her before the vows — happened under a birch-branch chuppah dripping in white roses and greenery, with both families gathered close around them. There’s something about watching a tradition like that unfold for the first time through my lens that keeps this job from ever feeling routine. I wasn’t just documenting a wedding. I was witnessing centuries of meaning, right there in a New Jersey vineyard.
The ceremony itself took place right in the rows of Willow Creek Winery’s vines — that same chuppah, now backlit by an overcast Cape May sky that somehow made the whole scene feel even softer. And when Zachary broke the glass and everyone erupted, I got to catch that first kiss as husband and wife with the whole wedding party clapping them on.
If You Think Jewish Weddings Know How to Party — You’re Right
Here’s something I’ll say to any couple nervous about their reception feeling flat: go to a Jewish wedding and take notes. I have never — and I mean never — captured a party like this one.
The grand entrance alone was chaos in the best way. The bridal party came through a tunnel formed by the guests, Super Bowl-entrance style, and by the time Alesha and Zachary walked in, every single person in that room was already on their feet. Not eventually. Immediately. The live band never let the energy dip, the disco ball caught every bit of it, and I spent the whole night chasing genuine, sweaty, unposed joy across that dance floor. Suspenders came off. Ties came loose. Nobody sat down.
That’s the kind of reception I want every one of my couples to have — not a room full of guests politely swaying, but a room that forgets to check the time.
Before the Party: A Few Quiet Moments
Between the ceremony and the reception, we snuck off into the vineyard rows for portraits — Alesha and Zachary foreheads pressed together, her bouquet of ivory garden roses catching the light, and then, because I always ask, one champagne bottle popped and sprayed straight into the vines. That mix of quiet tenderness and pure giddy energy is honestly the whole day in miniature.
By cocktail hour, guests were spread out on the lawn under the venue’s signature tents, and by the time toasts rolled around, Alesha and Zachary were the kind of relaxed, in-on-the-joke couple you’d think had been together for a decade, not two people who’d just stood under a chuppah a few hours earlier.
What I Want Couples to Take From This
If you’re planning a Willow Creek Winery wedding, or any wedding with traditions that matter deeply to your family, don’t shrink them down to fit someone else’s idea of what a wedding “should” look like. The moments that made this day unforgettable weren’t the ones that followed a script — they were the veiling ceremony, the tunnel entrance, the tearful confession in a getting-ready suite. Let your day be specifically, unapologetically yours. That’s where the real magic — and the real photographs — live.
Ready to see your own day come to life this way? I’d love to hear what traditions matter most to you and your families — reach out (below or on Instagram @brookebakken) and let’s start planning.
