A friend of mine reached out with a last minute request…what are you doing on New Year’s Day? (This request was made two days eariler on December 30th.). Her son and his fiancee are in the military but they were home for the holidays and wanted to get married asap. So of course I agreed to photographing this last minute ceremony. They chose Historic Old New Castle, Delaware, which as a native Delawarean, is a favorite place of mine locally. The location is great for the dead of winter because it is on the water plus there are many beautiful old homes and historic buildings to use as backdrops and compensates for the lack of leaves on the trees. The only problem was that not only was it the dead of winter but the winds were whipping something fierce and it was brutally cold. The bride and groom were not dressed for these temperatures but thankfully they are very young and naturally more cold tolerant. That plus the fact that they were head over heels in love, so that high kept them going. Ahhhhh…young love.

I eased them into the cold by starting with a holly tree that blocked the wind. When it is the dead of winter, evergreens and holly trees are one of the few ways to incorporate greenery during the bleak landscape of winter.

My favorite backgrounds in Old New Castle incorporate the beautiful historic architecture. This beautiful home below still had their Christmas decorations up so that added to the festivity.

The pop of red from the rose added just enough color with the creamy colors of their outfits and the sleeves of the bride’s dress.

How sweet are these two?

Walking away from the protective buildings and towards the water’s edge made things significantly colder but we moved quickly and they were married quickly. The groom’s mom, and my friend, Christina, was the officiant. She did an excellent job, way to go Mom.

These pictures probably best illustrate just how cold it was at this moment. Since I was not in the picture I was able to layer up with so many clothes that I looked like the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man. I did not care, it kept me “warm”.

The bride’s family did not live nearby so she had to Facetime her family into the ceremony.

The happy couple, newly married and ready to start on a brand new chapter in their life.

We grabbed a few group shots afterwards but I would’ve liked to spend more time getting various combinations of group shots. However, it was just too cold to be outside for too long. Still, we were able to capture the moments and the love. I wish this young couple a wonderful life together.