From the moment I met Matt, I knew I liked him. We bonded over our love for many of the same books (The Hunger Games and Percy Jackson series, to name a few) and had an in-depth conversation about how to properly eat an oreo. His family is as fun and warm as he is and I was eagerly looking forward to working with them and photographing my first Mitzvah!
A little over a week ago we met at Oseh Shalom synagogue in Laurel, MD for his Bar Mitzvah portraits. I also did a mini-family session for him and his family at a nearby park! I love this whole session.
Such a good looking family!
Matt is such a handsome dude, he’s going to be a major heartbreaker. On the right he’s doing his patented “Deep Thought” pose. You’ll see a lot more of that as we go along.
See? More Deep Thought. And this isn’t even the half of it!
Such a lovely family!
I was so excited about the colors and the light when we got to the park. It made for some amazing images!
Matt and his mom Robyn have an awesome relationship! I hope that if I have a son one day, we’ll be as close as these two.
Love these!
LOVE these more!
Fast forward to this weekend. It was time for the actual party! I had no idea what to expect other than what I’d seen on other photographer’s blogs. I have never been to a Mitzvah before this and wasn’t exactly sure how things would go. I figured in terms of photography coverage, it would be very similar to weddings — and with that I was right. However, there was nothing that could have prepared me for just how much FUN I would have and how high the energy would be throughout the day! It was seriously an absolute blast and I couldn’t be more excited about how the images turned out!
Matt’s Bar Mitzvah was entitled “Matthew’s Wild Ride” and was theme park themed! Place cards for adults were tickets for the ride that their table was named after. Kids got VIP all access passes. The centerpieces were so much fun and everything was set up perfectly. Just by walking into the room and seeing this amazing set up, I knew I was in for a treat. Each centerpiece had cut outs of Matt, Zack, Robyn and John in little roller coaster cars. The photos were hilarious!
Here are the place cards for the adults. So cool!
And the kids!
How fun is this?
Matt’s sign in board was a life-sized cardboard cut-out of himself!
While the adults were enjoying cocktail hour, the kids were in the main room with MC Dave from Limelight Event Group for some games. It was a great way to break the ice and set the tone for the amazing evening we were about to have!
After cocktail hour, everyone gathered in the room to celebrate Matthew and get the party started before dinner!
Just when I thought I’d seen the fun max out, we took things back a bit for the candle lighting.
and the Hora!
After dinner I got the kids together for a couple of group photos. We did a serious one…
… a less than serious one…
… and of course, I couldn’t let them go without doing Matt’s signature “Deep Thought” pose.
Matt’s dad, John, put together a very lovely montage video that we watched before the dance floor opened up. It was adorable and hilarious!
As I mentioned before, this was my first Mitzvah so I really had no idea what I was getting myself into. I thought the energy level from earlier in the day was as good as it gets. I couldn’t have been more wrong.
These are some of my favorite party photos EVER!
Matt, I hope you had an amazing time celebrating with your friends and family. I know I had a blast! I hope you and your family keep in touch and feel free to email me any time that you have a good book recommendation! Congratulations!!
This is so cool!! I wish I had a party like that growing up!!
This is absolutely amazing! You truly captured his personality and this special time so well!
These are all awesome!! I am loving his unique tallit! Gorgeous family shots and the party looked like it was pretty awesome!
I have always wanted to do a bar mitzvah! They seem SO FUN!! And I’m also really jealous that I am not Jewish and never had one hahaha :)
Those little roller coasters with the photos are amazing! It looks like it was such a fun day!
The dancing images just get more and more fun as you scroll down!
Love everything about this! Looks like you really captured his personality! Love all of the party dancing photos!
Mazel tov!!
This looks like so much fun!!
Bar/Bat Mitzvahs are CRAZY fun!!!!! I’ve only been to one as a sort of guest (I kind of crashed it but it was totally okay) and this looks like it was SO FREAKING FUN!! LOVE LOVE LOVE these dance party shots, they’re some of your best!
Also, the family portraits in the park are just perfect. I did a few sessions with a family for a USNA graduate a few years ago and I love getting to know him on his own, doing family portraits with everyone then partying with them all after I got to know them. It was so much fun!
Bar and Bat Mitzvah’s are the best! They pretty much took over every single weekend of my life in middle school. I can tell you, they’re just as much fun as an adult!
Ahhh seriously Brea!! You captured this sooo perfectly:) makes me want to shoot one:)
These are great! What an awesome looking party. Love all the details and just how much fun everyone is having!
Brea-thanks for capturing the memories of the fun that we had! It was over in the blink of an eye and I so enjoy reliving the evening through these photos!