Hi gang! Welcome back to my blog.
I always enjoy photographing weddings. There’s so much love in the air and The Mendoncas spent so much time carefully planning all the details. Their wedding day was truly noteworthy. It was small but intimate, yet perfect and incredibly sweet!
The pandemic had completely altered the original wedding plans that my couple had had for their big day. Yet that didn’t stop these two lovebirds from tying the knot!
Here’s how they met:
We met the modern way – via a dating app! When I was a newly graduated physician in Philadelphia, I was super busy with very little time (or patience) for dating. I used OkCupid, a dating app that suggests match via compatibility to over 1000 questions. The app had in-depth questions ranging from religion to politics to finances. Andrew and I had a 98% match rate! We had our first date at a cute manga-themed Japanese restaurant.
As for the proposal,
Andrew popped the question during a week-long vacation where we traveled to see his family in Florida and then to a resort in Arizona. The entire week he had been teasing me with ring pops and calling me Mrs. Mendonca (to which I replied “you haven’t put a ring on it!”). Obviously, I was suspicious of a proposal. In Florida, we went to Disney World and saw like 3 proposals. When we visited his mom, Andrew made the same joke again with the ring pops, and his mom adamantly said while frowning “Well I would know if he was gonna put a ring on it.” At that point, I was sure it was NOT going to happen since he hadn’t even talked to his mom about it!
Well when we made it to the resort in Arizona, we started getting ready to go to an Iron Chef special dinner. Andrew was acting very nervous and sporadic, but I didn’t think anything of it since I thought he was just excited for dinner (Andrew is a HUGE foodie). He started taking out these crystal champagne glasses that were his grandmother’s and I started snapping at him to put them away or else he’ll break them.
Andrew then made the same Mrs. Mendonca joke which at this time I was really annoyed, especially since I thought his mother didn’t give approval to a proposal. I replied “you gotta put a ring on it,” and he said “About that…” BAM! He gets on one knee and opens the ring box and I’m blinded by the shine. I literally freak out, screaming “OMG OMG IS THIS LIFE? IF THIS REAL? IS THIS LIFE IS THIS REAL?” I ran around the room screaming, rolling on the ground, not able to process this. Andrew finally gets a hold of me and asks, “Is that a yes??” I scream “YESSS!!!” and in my excitement, I put the ring on the wrong hand haha!
The wedding was at The St. Louis Wedding Chapel, and the ceremony was live-streamed so that their loved ones could all attend! Some of their loved ones even dressed up for their big day!
When I asked Lynn what her favorite part of the wedding was, she said:
The vows by far. Andrew is usually a loud and energetic person, but when he said his vows, he had the softest, shy, and sincerest voice. That’s the voice that always gives me strength and comforts me.
As for me, one of my personal favorite moments of the wedding was when Mr Mendonca kept cracking jokes during their, “getting ready,” shots. But my absolute favorite thing was seeing how they looked at each other throughout the day. Each smile and each laugh that they shared together just… It held such love and true companionship. They are truly each other’s best friends. And that was such a beautiful thing to witness and capture!
Okay, let’s get to the pictures! Lynn & Andrew were such a delight to work with and I wish them many wonderful years to come.
Please wish The Mendoncas a lifetime of happiness and love while enjoying this small sneak peek of photos!
Beautiful!!! love it. 🥰