Marina & Julia’s

Beautifully Industrial Pier Wedding

Philadephia, PA

The Couple

Marina and Julia wanted their wedding in Philadelphia to be a “fun, beautiful, and true to us” experience, and they thought through every detail of their wedding locations and activities with tremendous care. All of that planning paid off! Their wedding was utterly unique and one of the most heartfelt celebrations Kyo has photographed.

They started the day at Washington Avenue Pier, an exquisite sliver of a park jutting out into the Delaware River. Washington Avenue Pier is a peaceful oasis in the midst of the industrial waterfront. It was a stunning location for wedding portraits — especially the “Land Buoy”, an art installation by Jody Pinto. Visitors can climb the spiral staircase on it to get a 360 degree view of the river and city.

The Details

During the ceremony, we loved the sign they posted for guests entering the ceremony area.

We absolutely love the adorable little potted succulents that adorned the tables. 

I also asked Marina about the significance of the tiny gold dinosaurs adorning the tables. She laughed.

“It’s a bit of a funny story. When we first got engaged, people kept asking me what our “wedding colors” were going to be. This was before we had a venue or even a date, and so I had no idea and wasn’t particularly worried about it, so I joked that our wedding colors were “tiny gold dinosaurs.” And somehow, what started as a joke became a real thing. They felt like a way of making sure we remembered to be goofy in the face of all this wedding planning.”

The Next Wedding Day

If this wedding day wasn’t enough creativity and joy for you, guess what — Marina and Julia couldn’t squeeze everything they wanted to do into one day, so they decided to make it a two day celebration!

Basically, they have a lot of friends. They invited their closest friends and family to the Race Street Pier celebration on Saturday… and then they invited all their favorite neighbors, co-workers, and buddies to join them on Sunday for another celebration: a wedding block party.

The wedding block party was a more casual affair, with a ceremony on their front porch with everyone seated on folding chairs in the street. And then… it was dancing in the streets.

Their band, the West Philadelphia Dance Orchestra, is one of the greatest party bands we’ve ever heard, specializing in East European, Balkan, Gypsy, and Ashkenazi Jewish music. It was literally impossible not to start dancing. The whole street was filled with people linking arms, kicking up their legs, laughing uproariously, and getting down. From babies to grandparents, everyone danced.

Food was takeout from some of their favorite local ethnic restaurants, served under simple white tents filled with picnic tables.

And since there were lots of kids on the scene, they had lots of playful activities: sidewalk chalk, a bouncy house, and a piñata. (Although, as you can see from the pictures, the adults partook of the activities as much as the kids did!)

The Photography

For Marina & Julia’s photos…

It actually started to rain just as portraits began, but Marina and Julia didn’t let that faze them in the least. In fact, the rain gave their pictures a dreamy quality that was perfect for the quiet, intimate beginning of their day.

Marina and Julia’s portrait session is a perfect example of Kyo’s photography style, and how he seamlessly blends posed portraits with candid, documentary-style shots. In fact, some of his “candid” shots are actually posed, and some of his posed shots look utterly candid. Sometimes it’s impossible to tell which is which.

Kyo has a subtle style of directing people, just gently nudging them “why don’t you stand over there? Look up at her and smile!”… and then click, the photo is taken.

As he often explains it, “I tell people where to stand, and then use them almost like props in the landscape. I’m helping them relax, just saying a thing or two to make them laugh, and seeing how to make them look their best in whatever setting we’re in, and using the light we have.”

The result is natural photography full of smiles and laughter, with a feeling of genuine warmth.