Karissa & Ridge: The Beginning of a Lifetime of Adventures

When Karissa and Ridge first asked me to shoot their wedding, I was elated to find out we’d be going up north to Alexandria Bay, NY, right at the Canadian Border. What excited me most were the locations Ridge had shown me that he wanted to capture photos and videos at. 

One of such locations was Singer Castle, on one of the Thousand Islands. Singer Castle is over 100 years old and was constructed by Mr. Frederick Gilbert Bourne, a self-made millionaire, in 1903. The castle features a massive medieval entranceway, marble stairways, and even secret passageways. What an incredibly cinematic location to take photos and videos. 

I knew I couldn’t do both photo and video on my own so I reached out to my buddy Liam Fitzsimmons to accompany me and he was happy to do so once he learned that the location was only 40 minutes from his family’s vacation home. 

We arrived on a Friday night with plans to do some sunset shooting the night before the wedding, but those plans were quickly abolished once we realized that the weather wasn’t clearing up. We decided to just head to our hotel and hope things would look better in the morning. 

When we got up, the weather was not looking promising at all. It was cloudy and rainy, with not a hint of blue sky in sight. The excitement I had for the shoot was quickly diminishing. The show must go on, however. As I ate my buttered bagel from our continental breakfast, I prayed that the sun would come out for this special day. 

The ceremony began around 11 am inside of a small church sanctuary and, besides the weather, things were going well. A few minutes into the ceremony, an incredible thing happened. I noticed it started getting brighter inside, and as I looked towards the stained glass window, light was pouring in from outside. Our prayers had been answered.

After the ceremony, we headed outside to do some group photos in front of the church. The weather had indeed subsided, and the sun was shining bright as ever. 

After the group photos, we headed onto a boat to get to Singer Castle, the first location on our shot list. It was truly a unique location that I think complimented Karissa and Ridge’s film very well. 

We didn’t plan to stay the whole day there, but that’s kind of what ended up happening. I think everyone was okay with that though, once we realized how much potential we had at this location. The photos speak for themselves. 

Karissa and Ridge were a joy to work with. They were ecstatic about the photos and video that Liam and I captured, and they never let anything get them down. Not the weather, not the COVID-19 restrictions, nothing. God really answered our prayers that day by bringing out the sunshine. It was truly an adventure to remember, their first adventure as husband and wife, the beginning of a lifetime of adventures.