Meredith & James – Trump National Golf Course Wedding
I met Meredith at Lauren and Rich’s wedding a few years ago. Meredith and James are an amazing couple. He is a fireman and she has her own makeup company called Meredith Lane Makeup Design. I’ve never seen her makeup not look flawless! Their GTKY session last fall was so fun and I couldn’t wait for her wedding day to arrive. She wore a beautiful dress from La Bella Moda Bridal in Conshohoken, PA. Their ceremony and reception were held at Trump National Golf Club of Philadelphia. It is technically in NJ, but I am not going to argue with Mr. Trump. I do love photographing a Trump National wedding event! Meredith had her first meet with James overlooking the view from Philadelphia and the entire golf course. We had an incredible time together creating and capturing their day. The bridal party was amazing to work with and super fun. It was a pleasure to be around the bride, groom and all their family and friends. I wish them the best!
About Trump National Golf Club Philadelphia
Trump National Golf Club Philadelphia is the rare wedding venue where the same in-house team handles ceremony, cocktail hour, dinner, and last call without ever passing the day off to an outside vendor. The reception room sits on the upper level of the clubhouse with windows on three sides, a long mahogany bar at the back, and floor space that comfortably seats 200 for plated dinner. Couples can also use the wraparound veranda for cocktail hour, which is the move on a clear evening because the Philadelphia skyline lines up across the western horizon. The clubhouse itself was renovated in 2010, the year after the Trump Organization acquired the property.
The “technically in NJ” thing
Meredith and I joke about this every time her wedding comes up. Trump National Philadelphia is technically in Pine Hill, New Jersey, fourteen miles east of Center City, but the venue calls itself Philadelphia and so does everybody else. The reason is the skyline. The course sits on the highest ridge in southern New Jersey and looks straight at downtown Philly across the river. From the ceremony lawn it does not feel like Jersey. It feels like a private terrace pointed at the city. Meredith and James went all in on that view, with their first look on the overlook, their ceremony pointed west, and their sunset session up on the 18th green right before sunset.
Dog poop removal is essential to creating beautiful photographs ;)
Lauren, the blond bridesmaid to the far right, could not get her footing in the rough. She’s awesome though and I photographed her wedding in 2008.
Per the brides request, we had this photograph on the back of their custom designed holiday cards.
Meredith and her dad gave me a stache shout out at the end of the father/bride dance.
Some Holga B/W Film goodies!
And more Holga B/W Film goodies!
What the reception flow looked like
The reception layout at Trump National runs cocktail hour on the veranda, dinner in the main ballroom, and the late-night dance floor in the same room with the tables pulled back. Meredith and James kept it traditional, which is what works in this space. The Holga black and white frames at the bottom of this gallery came from the last hour of the night, when the lighting drops and the film grain takes over. Their custom holiday card photo is in here too, the one Meredith asked me to plan for at the start of the day. We grabbed it during a five minute window in the bridal portraits when the light hit the fairway in front of the clubhouse.
Vendor recap, Meredith and James at Trump National
Bride: Meredith of Meredith Lane Makeup Design, who handled her own bridal makeup and her bridesmaids. Dress: La Bella Moda Bridal in Conshohocken, PA. Ceremony and reception: Trump National Golf Club Philadelphia in Pine Hill, NJ. The Trump National in-house catering and event team handled food, beverage, cake service, and floor management end to end.