Taking place in the beautiful Ascension Roman Catholic Church on the Upper West Side, Michael and his wife participated in a special type of marriage ceremony (called “convalidation”) witnessed by their close friends and family. I will admit that I had not heard of this specific ritual before being booked for this shoot, and I love how I get to learn something new about the cultures and people around me almost every time I cover a religious event. In this case, the happy couple were already married to each other, but their wedding had not originally been officially acknowledged by the Catholic Church at the time that it took place. This ceremony is performed by a priest that both blesses their union, and validates their marriage in the eyes of the church.

Here are some of my favorite images from this shoot (click/tap to view full size and un-cropped):

To see more examples of this style of photography, visit my religious ceremonies and weddings gallery >>

All images in this blog post were shot on a Nikon D850, using Nikkor 24-85mm f/3.5-4.5 zoom and 50mm f/1.8 prime lenses, all individually post-processed in Adobe Lightroom using custom-built presets.

Jinnifer Douglass is a full-time freelance photographer based in NYC, shooting for both individuals and brands such as Google, Sotheby’s, Uber, Make Up For Ever, Squarespace, and more! Specializing in portraits, food, and special events, she works to make every piece of your social and website content ‘Insta-worthy’ with high resolution, full-frame DSLR photography and expert Lightroom editing. Interested in chatting? Leave a comment below, or send an email to hello@jinyc-photo.com!