“Even a Global Pandemic Could Not Stop Love” – Celebrating Heather & Thomas
From their engagement session to newborn photos of their beautiful daughter, Juliette, we have been so lucky to photograph the Gallaher family throughout the past few years. Check out their story to get a glimpse of what it was like to plan a Philadelphia wedding in the middle of a pandemic and see how honored we were to be able to photograph so many important moments for this family.
Heather & Thomas met through a mutual friend at a local bar 9 years ago. From time to time, they would see each other and always make time to chat and catch up. One night out at the bar, Heather finally said to Thomas, “are you ever going to ask for my number?” Shortly after that night, they went on their first date, and I guess you can say the rest is history. The first time the PGP team met Heather and Thomas was not quite as romantic, but definitely a memorable experience for both the couple and our photographer, Gabe Fredericks! Check out what Heather and Thomas had to say about their engagement session at the Philadelphia Museum of Art:
“…That was our first time meeting Gabe Fredericks, and right from the beginning, it was like we’d known him for many years. He was very professional with this extraordinary personality that you couldn’t help but enjoy being around. We had a vision for what we wanted for our save the date and shared with Gabe how we envisioned the Philadelphia skyline to be a part of it. Gabe immediately started throwing out ideas for capturing it and bringing it to life.“
When the date finally rolled around for their wedding day in October, COVID had other plans in store. Heather & Thomas had to make the difficult decision to postpone their wedding, but they were able to choose January 30th for their date, which would actually mark their 6 year anniversary of dating. While this new date was extra special for them, they dealt with even more challenges and disappointment as city restrictions continued to prevent them from celebrating their special day as they had originally planned. The couple decided to proceed with their wedding ceremony on January 30th, but moved the reception date to August 14th at the Cescaphe Ballroom.
They shared, “Not a moment later, Gabe was there, with his upbeat energy and excitement about shooting our marriage. He started breaking down in detail all the different photos he’ll be able to capture at the locations selected for January. You could feel his passion for photography, reassuring us that January 30th would still be an exciting and memorable day. So on an ice-cold, freezing day, with only 70 people allowed at church, we became husband and wife in front of our family and close friends. The team at Philip Gabriel was there to capture every moment along the way. From the getting ready photos at Sofitel Philadelphia at Rittenhouse Square to Heather’s father smiling from ear to ear when he first saw her in her wedding dress and Thomas wiping his tears away as she walked down the aisle. Every part, every expression, every happy tear was captured.”
A moment that remains poignant for both our team and Heather & Thomas is a photograph that Gabe captured of the bride and groom during the trolley ride back to Sofitel Philadelphia at Rittenhouse Square sitting with their masks on. The couple said it best: This photo was proof that even a global pandemic could not stop love. After their wedding ceremony in January, Heather and Thomas continued to have their reception in August.
“The August 14th plan wasn’t like the traditional wedding day photography. There weren’t any getting ready photos; there wasn’t even a ceremony to photograph. We decided to only have the wedding reception, which left a lot of time for Gabe Cariola, aka G2 and the team to photograph many different Philadelphia locations. The Philip Gabriel team was coming up with photo ideas everywhere we turned.”
It was such a pleasure to be able to photograph their engagement session, wedding ceremony and finally their reception. You can imagine how honored we were when they reached out about photographing their brand new baby girl, Juliette.
Heather & Thomas shared: “With the arrival of our first child, it was a no-brainer who we wanted to have capture her newborn photos. Monica Picciau from Philip Gabriel was fantastic on every level and did an unbelievable job. We were truly blessed to have been able to work with Philip Gabriel Photography and will have so many great memories, stories, and photos for years to come.”
We truly value the Gallaher’s trust in us to photograph some of life’s most important moments! We can’t wait to capture more memories!
