The Hershberger & Schwartz Wedding

This past Saturday, we had the wonderful opportunity to travel to Manheim, Lancaster County. Our wedding site was The Booking House; a former cigar factory converted into a wedding venue. The space was stunning and had a wide array of different photographic opportunities. Our wedding couple, Rachael Hershberger and Drew Schwartz, were excited to get their wedding festivities started. We were very delighted to help capture their beautiful day.

We arrived at The Booking House at 11AM. Rachael and her bridesmaids were getting ready in the bridal suite. This early arrival gave us time to photograph many things including the dress, the rings, the shoes, and the girls getting their hair and makeup done. The dress was positively stunning and photographed quite well. The Booking House had some exquisite backgrounds to use as well; the entire interior is beautiful!

Rachael was in her dress just before 2PM. I took this time to photograph her in front of this window overlooking the traintracks next to the building. The light coming in from the window was perfect and helped add a soft glow to her face. It was a great contrast of light and dark.

The couple’s first look took place on the stairs connecting the first floor of the booking house to the second floor. Drew turned around to find his beautiful bride and was speechless at first, but later expressed to us that his bride was “stunning”.

We took a walk outside after the first look and did some formals with the bride and groom. Rachael and Drew looked at each other with so much love making them extremely easy to photograph (I LOVE IT WHEN MY JOB IS THIS EASY). While walking on the tracks, we told them to stop and kiss; capturing this great moment.

The Booking House may have an amazing interior look, but you can not overlook its facade and exterior backgrounds. The traintracks add a different look that isn’t seen very often and the buildings have a wonderful rustic appeal. This combination is awesome and made for a fun location to one of my favorite images from the entire day.

The Booking House logo on the front of the site is really cool. It is great for formals and was used as the background for the images of the wedding party.

The ceremony began a little after 5PM. Drew’s father Peter married the two in a short yet sweet ceremony. Their first kiss as husband and wife was cute and distinctly showed off their love for one another. Their happiness truly filled the room with joy.

After the first kiss, the couple engaged in the Jewish glass breaking tradition known as “Breaking the Glass”. Peter explained that this glass represents love, beautiful and exquisite. It can be shattered though at a moments notice completely unfixable. This moment warns us that love, like glass, is fragile and must be protected.

At the reception, the festivities were handled very quickly with the toasts, first dances, and cake cutting all being done within the first hour of the celebration. Rachael and Drew wanted to get all of these out of the way so that they could just relax and enjoy the rest of their night. It was a smart move in my opinion. Sometimes, stretching out all of your reception festivities throughout the night can cut into times of fun and partying. This should be your time to relax enjoying the moment with your family and friends.

After the parent dances were finished, the couple invited their guests to the dance floor to dance the night away. For the rest of the night, the dance floor was full of people having a wonderful time. The DJ from B&B Light and Sound did an exceptional job of keeping people dancing!

Late in the night, Rachael and Drew were apart of another Jewish wedding tradition “The Hora”. Some of the couple’s brave and strong guests hoisted two chairs up into the air. The song “Hava Nagila” played in the background. This energetic dance continued for well over 10 minutes with different family and friends getting their turn on the chairs. It was a true blast to photograph this in person.

This was our first opportunity at the Booking House which is a very beautiful venue. If you’re looking for something rustic with an “older” interior look, look no further. There are plenty of wonderful setting and backgrounds that make this place worth it!

A huge thank you to Rachael and Drew for giving us the opportunity to photograph their big day! They were a blast to work with, and I can’t wait to work with them more in the future.