Katie & Chris had their wedding ceremony in Trenton, NJ and their wedding reception at the River House at Odette’s in New Hope, PA.

Getting to tell Katie & Chris’s love story was really amazing! Chris was preparing to deploy with the Army, so they decided rather than wait until after he came back, that they wanted to get married, moving their wedding date up just under a year.

However, there was nothing hasty about this decision. Katie & Chris orbited around each other growing up, knowing of each other & their families, both being very involved in tennis in Princeton, NJ, until the point that they both ended up teaching at the same tennis camp.

From there, their relationship grew from friendship to more, and early on in their relationship they began writing notes and letters to each other. This could have been a little note left for the other, or a letter sent along with Chris to a tennis tournament, to letters being their main form of communication while Chris went to basic training during the pandemic.

Talking with Katie & Chris, it was clear how important these letters were to them. Chris brought some along with him on their wedding day for me to get some shots of, and then we got together to talk about some of their favorite letters and some of the deeper moments the letters led to. I also got to go around Princeton with them, seeing their favorite places and learning more about how connected they are and how deep their relationship is.

That love and commitment extended to their friends & family on their wedding day. You could hear the emotion during the toasts, about how much their closest family members cared about them. There’s also a specific shot as Katie & Chris walk back down the aisle at the end of their ceremony, where we saw Katie’s dad watching them that just shows everything.

I love how these letters are a connective tissue to their past, present, and most importantly, future.

Film | PGP Wedding Films

Venue | River House at Odette’s

Photo | Desiree Hoelzele Photography

Bridal Boutique | Van Cleve Bridal