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Lehigh Valley Wedding Photographers: Joanna & Ethan

Millions of sunflowers, an incredible view, farmers market, band and plenty of turkey for all… you won’t want to miss this gorgeous Lehigh Valley Wedding
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Joanna shared, “My brother and sister-in-law hired Lisa Rhinehart Photography for their engagement photos and we were so impressed! We love Lisa’s unique way of capturing special moments. During our engagement shoot – she made us feel so comfortable and was down for any ideas we threw at her. Having Rhinehart Photography a part of our big day made it so much more special. Everything was so effortless and we are so grateful for that. We’re hoping to see a great mix of moments while looking at our photos– group portraits, getting-ready highlights, the ceremony, reception entrance, dancing and of course… all of the details throughout!”
Aw thanks so much!  It was such a pleasure to work with the Jaindl family again and great to see so many people there that I had photographed in the past–  Allison & RobMarissa and Thomas & Ashley & Jake (Joanna’s brother & sister-in-law), just to mention a few.  Yes, we definitely captured all of those moments, and then some!
I knew how much thought and care went into planning all of the details of the day, and made sure to capture Joanna & Ethan’s details in a unique way.  Sunflowers have always been Joanna’s favorite, so I knew heading into the day that incorporating them somehow was a must for me…
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Joanna shared, “Am I not the luckiest lady in the world to have such beautiful and amazing friends? I could not ask for a better group of girls.”
Joanna’s friends led a few champagne toasts– such pretty robes:
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Joanna shared, “I really wanted to incorporate a lot of our market theme into the invitations and also make it very personalized. I thought that including a map of the Valley and our favorite places would be fun! Once I started jotting down ideas, my wedding planner Heather introduced me to Kelley from Pinkie Out. She understood my vision completely and together we brought that vision to life.”
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Joanna smiled, “My Mom is my very best friend. She’s my go-to for everything and my biggest role model. My Mom and Dad’s relationship is like no other and so genuine. I’ve always dreamt to have a relationship like theirs.”
She continued, “The blue butterfly on my bouquet was a gift from my mom’s best friend, Joanne, to remind me that my late Aunt Judie would be with me throughout the day. I was very close to her and made sure to clip it to my bouquet as I walked down the aisle.”
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Joanna’s bouquet was so unique with a variety of shapes and colors!
She explained, “I was going for woodsy, wildflower florals.  Firewalk sunflowers were featured as well as: peach Juliette garden roses, dahlias, black pearl roses, astilbe, thistle, amaranthus, burgundy hypericum berry, blue thistle, and mixed foliage. I’m a huge fan of eucalyptus so that was included too!”
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Joanna shared, “I told myself that I wouldn’t cry while reading Ethan’s letter but I failed, haha! I just wanted to hug and kiss him right at that moment.”
Joanna wipes a tear from her cheek as she reads Ethan’s hand-written letter…
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Here Joanna stands in her childhood bedroom as she reaches for her wedding gown– a big moment…
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It was sunning on the hanger, but much more so, on Joanna– wow!
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Joanna shared, “When I was a little girl, at the end of each night when my Dad came home from work he would grab a cup for water and drum it on the counter. I’d come running and start twirling around and dancing. He’d call me his Dancing Bear and it’s one of my favorite childhood memories.”
How sweet is this?
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I love to get creative and play with reflections and other elements on a wedding day.  Here Joanna’s maid of honor adjusts her veil as two love birds from the painting on her wall seem to watch…
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Joanna smiled, “Our flower girl Lorraine is my cousin Liz’s daughter but she’s more like a niece. We are honored that they flew all the way from Florida to help make our day even better. Little Lo was the cutest flower girl ever!”
Here they compare shoes as Lo points out that they match, both having beautiful dresses and sparkly shoes…
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Joanna explained, “My Maid of Honor is my cousin and my best of friends. She’s been by my side throughout my entire life. I couldn’t have imagined anyone else to be my side throughout the most important day of my life too!”
She continued, “My Mom thought of this great idea, to recreate a photo of us from our First Holy Communion. Lisa was totally game to find a great way to capture it– what a fun moment!”
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Joanna shared, “My family has owned and operated a turkey farm since the 1930s and it’s been a major part of our lives. Ethan and I both work for the family farm too!  I love that you took the time to capture and incorporate different elements of that for us.”
Here I photographed their wedding rings stacked on a turkey feather…
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The vibrant blue sky and yellow fields of sunflowers were beautiful together… I took a moment to capture this silhouette of Joanna and her bridesmaids in the shade, framed by trees before capturing their traditional portraits…
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Joanna smiled, “I think the biggest hit of all was the fields of sunflowers surrounding our reception. My dad knows how much I have always loved sunflowers and found the latest blooming sunflowers possible (since October is usually a little late) and planted them in several different fields. They bloomed just in time for the wedding!”
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How cute is she?lehigh-valley-wedding-photographers-creative-best-16
If I were to describe Ethan, I’d say he’s an all-American guy– his socks definitely agreed 🙂
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Joanna shared, “Ethan has this capability of putting a smile on anyone’s face without even trying. I love his positivity, the care and attention he gives and his determination. I think what made me fall for him most is seeing how he is with children. He was born to be a Dad! He’s always there for me in no matter what. He’s my rock.”
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The blue sky though!!!  My  second photographer for this wedding, was my husband, Kris, and I gotta say, he knocked these photos out of the park!
I’ve always liked the contrast between blue and yellow and this really shows off the land, the sunglasses only add to the effect…
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So handsome.  And the flag in the back, blowing in the breeze… such a good capture…
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Ethan shared, “Joanna’s cousin, Johnny, was plowing in the field next to Jake and Ashley’s house as the groomsmen and I were getting ready. (Shout out to Jake and Ash for letting us take over your home for the morning!!). I work with Johnny full time as a farmer planting and harvesting crops, getting a pic with the tractor was pretty awesome and I really appreciate it.”
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Joanna shared, “Our ceremony was held on our family property outside a former seminary. It sits on top of a high hill with an incredible view of where we call home, the Lehigh Valley. Where we’re from means so much to us and where we will raise our children one day.”
She smiled, “We said I do in front of a large, old Copperbeech tree that we carved our initials into on our 3rd date!”
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Joanna shared, “We chose to have an unplugged ceremony because being present at the moment with our guests was so important for us. There were no distractions and I was able to focus on Ethan while walking down the aisle. Plus, we’ve seen wedding photos get ruined time and time again because of cellphones, so we didn’t want to risk it!   We knew we could trust you and your assistants to capture plenty of photos at our ceremony.”
I have to say, this is a huge trend in weddings right now, and one of my favorites.  It definitely helps with the photos, but even more, people are present for the moment rather than looking through their phones to record it.  I might capture a parent or grandparent tearing up or holding their partner’s hand as opposed to holding up their iPad or phone in attempts to capture a photo or video.  I can only imagine that their experience is a lot better too, and, in the case of working with me, they will have access to the professional quality photos of the ceremony on-line.”
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As Joanna’s proud father walks her down the aisle, sunlight beams through her veil and if you look *very closely* you can see a ladybug on it!  They were landing on her *all day long*, how’s that for good luck?
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Ethan shared, “It felt magical when I saw her walk down the aisle. I couldn’t believe how lucky I am that she will be by my side forever.  Making her my partner in life is definitely the best decision I’ve ever made.”
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Exchanging vows under the tree they carved their initials on during their third date…
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Sincere prayers and vows alongside Monsignor Wargo, their priest who has led Joanna in all of the sacraments…
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Evan’s parents and family members watch as the bride and groom exchange their vows.  If you look very closely you can see that lady luck is still perched on Joanna’s veil!
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Husband and wife…
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Such a joyful response…
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Kiss the bride…
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Ethan shared, “I felt like the luckiest man in the world walking back down the aisle hand in hand with Joanna. She took my breath away.”
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Such an amazing view of the Lehigh Valley!
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Visiting their initials, his time wearing wedding bands:
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The happy couple…
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Joanna shared, “I’m so proud to be Jace and Grayson’s Aunt! They were the best ring security and made the day extra fun. I’m so proud of Jace for leading the way for the younger ones.”
Boys will be boys, haha…
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Ethan shared, “My parents have always been my biggest fans. They’ve shown me how important it is to give it your 100%, to always say I love you and what true love is. I’m so blessed to have them in my life.”
Proud parents of the bride and groom and a lovely view of the Lehigh Valley
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From the ceremony space, we headed to a hayfield with the bridal party…
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I placed them on the haybale, Vogue/Vanity Fair style.  I captured a few different shots, but this is my favorite.  Country Chic:
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Ethan smiled, “I felt an almost immediate connection with Joanna after our first date, she is just a fun person to be with and I couldn’t get over how cute her nose is!”
He picked a sunflower for her from the field…
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While I spend most of the day capturing candid moments, I capture traditional portraits, too.
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That field– amazing that her father was able to find sunflowers that would bloom into late October!
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Ethan continued, “My favorite quality of Joanna and our relationship is always knowing that I can count on her to be there for me.”
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I’m a huge fan of sunset, so I keep track of when the sun will set on any given wedding day.  As part of my planning process with the bride and groom, we fit it in for any interested couple.  Joanna was definitely game, and wow, the sky really showed all of its colors…
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Joanna shared, “Having personal touches throughout the day was very important to us.  Ethan’s Pappy Snyder ran a produce stand for years and Joanna’s family has owned an Orchard for many years as well. Including a produce stand was something we were most excited about!”
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They even made little re-usable bags as favors for guests and had guests fill each with fresh produce from the stands!
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She continued, “Ethan and his Mom built it from scratch and all the fruit and veggies displayed for guests to take home in were from our family orchard.”
A huge shout out to my third photographer, Priscilla, she grabbed this photo and several others as Kris set up the reception lighting, and I photographed the bridal party, couple and reception details, allowing the Rhinehart Photography team to be multiple places at once!
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Joanna & Ethan shared, “Our signature drinks consisted of Blue Moon (because that’s our favorite) and our brother Josh’s famous Apple Pie Moonshine.”
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Joanna shared, “From the start of planning, we knew we wanted more of a rustic theme and wanted it to take place during Autumn since it’s our absolute favorite time of year. We ran with the Autumn feel and incorporated jewel tones in the attire and florals.”
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The table settings were so pretty!
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Joanna laughed, “It’s not every day that you see so many turkey details throughout a wedding haha!”
Turkey butter molds!  So fitting for this turkey farming family…
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Their first dance– I used a tilt-shift technique to bring the focus on their emotion primarily and also show their guests expressions and softly show their surroundings…
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Turkey dinners, of course!
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Daddy’s little girl…
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Joanna shared, “After my dance with my Dad – all four of my brothers surprised me with a quick dance with each of them to My Girl. I was in complete shock! I had no idea! I’m so grateful for all four of them.”
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Joanna smiled, “Ethan’s all-time favorite snack is milk and cookies. we had to include milk and cookie shooters!!”
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Boquet toss…
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Haaaa, I love the expressions here…
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Ethan shared, “Our band, Go Go Gadjet, blew us all away! They really put on an amazing show for us and our guests.” lehigh-valley-wedding-photographers-creative-best-58
They created such a fun concert vibe…
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Awesome seeing two of my past brides, sisters, Allison & Ashley!  Here Ashely sings & dances with her son, while Allison laughs, their dad watches and their mom sings along:
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Ethan takes the stage 😉 …
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Smiles and singing all around…
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The dance floor was packed!  Here Joanna’s mom dances with her grandson…
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Ethan explained, “We had no idea that the band had a big finale planned. Once they started drumming on the water – the crowd went absolutely nuts!”
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Joanna shared, “While standing on the bridge at the very end of the night, Ethan and I just kept saying to each other “you’re my husband”and “you’re my wife.”  I’ve known from the beginning that I’d end up with him but it was finally official. I couldn’t imagine spending the rest of my life with anyone else.
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1 thought on “Lehigh Valley Wedding Photographers: Joanna & Ethan”

  1. So very beautiful…..I must print some of these to update photos <3 Thank you Ethan and Joanna–love you both.

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