Real Weddings · Intimate & Tented
An Intimate Tented Garden Wedding in Closter, New Jersey
After their Central Park ceremony, Camila & Marco came home to a white-tented backyard in Bergen County — and let us capture every heartfelt hour of the celebration.
Some of the most beautiful weddings I get to photograph are also the smallest. After a ceremony in Central Park, Camila and Marco crossed the river home to New Jersey, where a white tent waited in a manicured garden in Closter and sixty of their favorite people were ready to celebrate. Mario and the team were there to capture the part of the day the couple most wanted to relive — the toasts, the first dance, and the golden light through the tent.
A celebration made for sixty
Not every couple wants a three-hundred-person ballroom, and Camila and Marco are proof that you don’t need one to have a wedding people remember. After their Central Park ceremony, they kept the reception intentionally intimate — sixty guests — so the celebration could unfold like a long, unhurried garden party among family.
It’s a format I’m asked about more and more, and it photographs beautifully: fewer moving parts, more room to breathe, and every guest close enough to be part of the story. A smaller wedding gives you back something a big one can’t — time, and the feeling that everyone in the tent actually knows you.
Under the white tent
The setting did a lot of the work. A large white peaked tent, draped and lit softly from within, anchored a private backyard framed by a sculpted juniper, a stone fountain, and a tidy picket fence. White paper parasols leaned in the grass for the portraits — a soft, timeless prop that suited Camila’s satin ball gown and Marco’s cream linen suit and brown knit tie.
Inside, long tables dressed in crisp white, garden florals in peach and cream, and a polished parquet dance floor turned a family’s backyard into something quietly editorial. This is the magic of a tented wedding at home: the space is already personal, and a few thoughtful details are all it takes to make it feel like a venue built just for the day.
The heart of the day
After a cocktail hour and a photo booth that ran most of the afternoon, Camila and Marco walked into their reception and went straight into their first dance — a spin under the draped ceiling that had the whole tent on its feet and phones in the air. Parent dances followed, then dinner, speeches, and cake.
We kept our coverage close and candid through all of it: the forehead kiss between portraits, the bouquet swinging as they dipped, the cheer as they came back down the line. These are the frames couples come back for years later — not the posed ones, the real ones.
A smaller wedding isn’t a smaller day. It’s the same love, told at a closer range.
Do smaller weddings need a professional photographer? Absolutely.
Couples planning intimate weddings sometimes wonder whether it’s worth hiring a full photo-and-film team for sixty guests or a backyard reception. My honest answer, after twenty-plus years and hundreds of New Jersey weddings: the smaller the wedding, the more each moment counts. There’s no second ballroom and no filler — just the people who matter most, and a few hours you’ll want to relive.
Whether you’re hosting a tented reception at home, an at-home garden party, or a New York ceremony with a New Jersey celebration to follow, we tailor our coverage to the day you’re actually having.
Planning an intimate or tented wedding in New Jersey
Do you photograph small and intimate weddings?
Yes — some of our favorite work is intimate weddings, backyard receptions, and micro-weddings across New Jersey. We scale our coverage to your day, whether it’s twenty guests or two hundred.
Can you cover just the reception?
Of course. Camila and Marco held their ceremony in Central Park and brought us in for the reception in New Jersey. Reception-only and partial-day coverage are simple to arrange.
Do you travel to backyard and at-home weddings?
We do. We regularly photograph tented and at-home weddings throughout Bergen County and all of northern New Jersey. A backyard is a venue too — and often a more personal one.
How much coverage does a small wedding need?
It depends on your timeline, but intimate weddings often need fewer hours than a large ballroom event. We’ll help you map the day and recommend the right amount of coverage so nothing important is missed.
Do you offer both photography and film?
Yes — we’re a photo and video studio, and booking both means your day is captured from two angles at once. Ask about our album, screen album, and video book keepsakes
Planning something intimate?
If you’re dreaming up a tented backyard reception, an at-home celebration, or a small wedding somewhere in New Jersey, I’d love to hear about it. Tell me your date and your vision, and let’s make sure the day is captured the way you’ll want to remember it.