Snow was falling outside the windows of Hotel Du Pont as Becky got ready on the morning of her wedding. Inside, there was warmth. The quiet anticipation of the morning: a timeless Rita Vinieris gown waiting to be worn, friends and family beginning to gather. And somewhere in the middle of it all, Becky and Jesse were preparing for a day they had planned with one intention above nearly everything else: they wanted to live in the moment.
It was a sentiment they shared with us from the very beginning, and one that ultimately shaped their entire wedding day.
Becky and Jesse met through their best friends while living in Hoboken, New Jersey, where they had both moved for work and have since built a home together. There is an ease to the way they are together—a quiet, steady kind of connection that became one of our favorite things to photograph.
They are both naturally calm, but together, it almost feels as though time slows down around them. Throughout their wedding day, we watched them continually find their way back to one another: reaching for a hand, exchanging a look across a room, or simply taking a quiet moment together while the celebration carried on around them.
That sense of presence extended far beyond the two of them. Becky and Jesse wanted their guests to feel deeply cared for, and hospitality was woven into every part of their celebration. Their wedding was elegant and beautifully designed, but never at the expense of warmth. The people in the room were always at the center of it.
Becky and Jesse were married in a beautiful church ceremony surrounded by the people closest to them. As photographers, we are always watching for the moments happening just beyond the obvious ones—and this ceremony was filled with them.
Afterward, the celebration returned to the historic Hotel Du Pont in downtown Wilmington, where its iconic Gold Ballroom had been completely transformed. Calling the florals spectacular somehow doesn’t quite capture them. Jesse’s father, a lead florist for Fleurish NYC, designed an immersive floral installation that transformed the Gold Ballroom into an enchanted winter forest. Cherry blossom trees rose throughout the space while ivy and white florals cascaded from the ballroom’s ornate light fixtures. Candlelight glowed throughout the room, and flowers spilled dramatically down Hotel Du Pont’s grand staircase. Against the gilded architecture of the ballroom, the organic abundance of the florals felt almost otherworldly.
One of the most meaningful moments of the day happened before guests ever entered the room. Becky and Jesse brought Jesse’s father into the finished ballroom for a private room reveal, giving him the chance to experience what he had created before the celebration began. It was one of those moments that reminded us that wedding details can be so much more than beautiful. When they carry someone’s hands, history, and love within them, they become part of the story too.
Becky’s bridal look felt perfectly at home within the timeless elegance of Hotel Du Pont. She wore a sculptural Rita Vinieris gown paired with understated, Sofia Richie-inspired beauty by JKo Beauty and Amanda D’Andrea Hair. The result was polished and modern without feeling beholden to a particular moment in time.
Jesse’s tuxedo carried a story of its own.He wore a vintage Valentino tuxedo that had belonged to his late uncle—a beautiful piece of family history made present again for one of the most significant days of his life.
These are the details we find ourselves drawn to again and again: not simply because they photograph beautifully, but because there is something underneath them worth remembering.
For all of the quiet and tenderness woven throughout the day, the reception was anything but subdued. Becky and Jesse began the evening with an energetic first dance, surrounded and enthusiastically cheered on by their wedding party. From there, Barcelona Band for EBE Talent filled the dance floor, and it stayed exuberant throughout the night.
The contrast felt perfect. Outside, January snow had covered Wilmington in winter. Inside the Gold Ballroom, hundreds of candles glowed beneath cascading greenery and cherry blossoms while the people Becky and Jesse loved most danced around them.
And in the middle of it all were the two of them—still reaching for each other’s hands.
When Becky and Jesse first told us they wanted to live in the moment on their wedding day, we understood exactly what they meant. They didn’t want their photographs to pull them away from the experience of their wedding. They wanted to be inside of it—to celebrate, to feel, to notice, to be with their people and with each other.
So that is what they did. And we had the privilege of quietly preserving it.
For us, that is always the goal: photographs with an editorial eye and a documentary heart, created with enough intention to be beautiful and enough space for a wedding day to be fully lived. Becky and Jesse’s Hotel Du Pont wedding was breathtaking to photograph. But more than its florals, fashion, candlelight, or snow, we will remember the warmth with which they moved through the day—and the way the world seemed to become just a little quieter whenever they found each other.
Venue: Hotel Du Pont | Hair: Amanda D’Andrea | Makeup: JKo Beauty | Gown: Rita Vinieris | Florals: Fleurish NYC | Entertainment: Barcelona Band EBE Talent | Cake Artist: Spark’d Creative Pastry
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