Lindsey and Bryan’s welcome party at Arrow Park

The path down from Arrow Park’s mansion to the lake cuts through a stretch of woods where, about halfway down, the string lights around the picnic tables start flickering through the trees before the water itself comes into view. Lindsey led Bryan down the path, the sashes of her dress trailing behind her, turning back to look at him. She had told me weeks earlier that she would regret not having this photo, and it happened almost exactly the way she’d described it in our planning call. It represented what she had told me about their relationship and why they chose this venue for their wedding.

Photo by Matthew Rigby Photography

Why hire a photographer for the welcome party

She’d originally decided against hiring a photographer for their welcome party, until enough friends told her how much they valued having their own night-before events documented. Hosting a welcome party or rehearsal dinner is a great way to start the weekend where no one feels scheduled or rushed. Documenting it means you can relive the memories of old friends and family meeting for the first time, reconnecting, sharing stories and laughs.

Photos by Matthew Rigby Photography

Lindsey and Bryan

Lindsey and Bryan met three years ago and it immediately felt right. Their first date (which happened to fall on his birthday) extended long past the initial meet up and ended at a dive bar in town. Six months later they had moved in together. In the months that followed they built a lot of memories around Bryan’s boat: he proposed on the Long Island Sound during a small craft advisory, wind kicking up hard enough that the message he’d written and tried to toss into the water in a bottle nearly didn’t make it, while family and friends waited on the dock with a local band.

Photos by Matthew Rigby Photography

Before the guests arrived

I arrived at Arrow Park early to set up and carry my equipment down to the lakeside site. Lindsey and Bryan had just started their rehearsal, so I explored the lakeside and took some photos of the foliage and landscape, thinking ahead to Lindsey’s collage art. On the way back I caught Lindsey and Bryan walking out of the rehearsal and introduced myself. From there, the coordinator ran them through the plan for the next day. I used the time to get a few family photos in with Lindsey’s parents and her sister Lauren, who’d specifically asked for photos together.

Photos by Matthew Rigby Photography

Couples portraits in the woods and on the lake

A golf cart took us down to the lake, where Lindsey and Bryan started with a few photos on the dock. Bryan planned to fish with his groomsmen and dad before getting ready for the wedding the next morning, so he was already scoping out the water. From the dock we walked up past the beach to the wooded path, where Lindsey got the photos she’d requested, and from there we went to the lakeshore to spend a few quiet minutes before the guests arrived.

Down at the rock overlooking the water, the light was bright enough that Lindsey and Bryan were struggling to keep from squinting. I gave them direction and created a wider angle photo that embraced the light and set the scene so that they weren’t fighting the sun.

Family photos before the party

We circled back through the blueberry bushes along the shore then found a quieter, shaded spot for the family photo list we’d worked out together in the weeks before. The formal versions came first, then something looser, with everyone showing off their best wedding day dance moves.

Photos by Matthew Rigby Photography

The welcome party

Nearly every group that stepped off the golf cart said some version of the same thing as they arrived: that the setting, the lights, the whole scene down by the water, was amazing. Their awe settled quickly into the joy of seeing friends and family they hadn’t seen in a while. I spent most of the night working through the crowd documenting the reunions, stories, hugs, and small moments that happen in the no pressure setting that a welcome party creates.

Forno Rosso, the wood-fired pizza vendor, kept people going back for seconds and thirds all night. The guests sat at the picnic tables around the fire pit, laughing and mingling. Lauren asked for a few photos with her sister down on the sandy part of the beach. The two of them ended up having a real mini portrait session of their own, finishing at the dock with the sunset reflected on the water behind them.

Photos by Matthew Rigby Photography

A few things worth documenting beyond the obvious

Beyond the couple and their guests, I kept photographing bits of the scenery throughout the night for Lindsey’s collage art: the light on the water, the geese paddling past, a rowboat’s reflection, alongside the framed welcome sign her uncle put together at his frame shop in Rye, New York.

Should you hire a photographer for your welcome party?

If you’re planning a wedding weekend and uncertain whether a welcome party or rehearsal dinner is worth documenting on its own, consider the moments you will share with your guests in this setting. In my opinion, there are emotions and moments that will not be repeated, and you can be more present than you can even on your wedding day, which makes it an easy decision in my opinion, especially when it’s somewhere scenic like Arrow Park’s lakeside grounds. If you want the fuller case for documenting your whole wedding weekend, not just Arrow Park specifically, I wrote about that here. If you’re still deciding on Arrow Park itself, I put together a full breakdown of the venue’s cost and logistics here.

“We are so grateful to have had Matthew photograph our welcome party,” Lindsey and Bryan wrote afterward. “He did such an amazing job documenting the excitement and emotion of the night before our wedding, from every embrace and laugh to all of the little candid moments we may have otherwise forgotten… We truly couldn’t have asked for anyone better to capture such a special part of our wedding weekend.”

Photos by Matthew Rigby Photography

Vendor credits

Photos by Matthew Rigby Photography

Let’s talk

If you’re planning a wedding weekend of your own and want to talk about what coverage could look like for you, reach out.