It always takes me a minute to come up for air after a wedding season. By the time all the final galleries are delivered, the last round of albums is designed, and my calendar isn’t bleeding red anymore, it’s already spring and we’re about to do the whole thing over again. So before 2026 wedding season swallows me whole, I wanted to sit down with a very large coffee, open a folder of about forty thousand images, and finally say a proper thank you to 2025!
This one had layers. New states on the schedule, a bigger team, a baby on my hip between sessions, and more sand in my camera bag than any sane person should tolerate. So instead of a tidy recap, here’s the real behind-the-scenes of what 2025 actually looked like from my end of the lens. The venues, the vendors, the team, the weather, and the milestones!
Three States, One Team, a Lot of Miles
We photographed weddings across New York, Connecticut, and New Jersey this year, and honestly? I love that for us. The Tri-State is its own ecosystem. A Manhattan rooftop on Saturday, a Fairfield County barn on Sunday, a Monmouth County ballroom the Friday after. Every state has its own light, its own pace, its own idea of what “cocktail hour” means (looking at you, NY, with your full raw bar before anyone has even found their seat).
The Associate Team Grew This Year!
If you’ve been following along, you know the Ash Mac Team is the thing I am the most proud of. In 2025 we expanded coverage, expanded calendars, and expanded the number of weddings we could take on without me ever compromising on quality.
Here is what I want couples to understand, because this is the part that other studios won’t tell you straight: an Associate photographer, when they’re trained right, is not a backup plan. They are a photographer I would trust with my own wedding. My associates shoot my brand, with my gear standards, using the posing and lighting I’ve spent over a decade refining. They get to know you the same way I would. The only difference is the calendar. We can now be in more places on the same Saturday without cloning me (which, for the record, science has not yet delivered on).
A Lot of Jersey Shore. I Mean, A LOT.
Listen. I am a Jersey girl. I will defend the Shore until my last breath. And this year the Jersey Shore absolutely owned our calendar. We photographed tented backyard weddings on the bay, ballroom weddings with ocean views out every window, first looks on weathered boardwalks, and more “golden hour on the beach” portraits than I can count.
A Season of Firsts: Postpartum With Three Kids
Here is the personal one, because a year recap without it wouldn’t be honest. I photographed most of my sessions and wedding freshly postpartum with 3 kids at home! A new challenge that I wouldn’t trade for anything in the world. It’s such a blessing to be able to be a mom AND get to do what I love!!
New Venues, New Bands, New Vendors and the Old Friends Who Make the Whole Thing Work
One of my favorite parts of doing this for over a decade is the vendor circle. In 2025 we shot at a handful of new venues for the first time and we added a handful of new bands to our “would gladly shoot again” list. We also worked with planners, florists, and stationers we’d never met before and a bunch of longtime collaborators who feel less like vendors and more like best friends at this point. The ones who text me when they spot my car in the parking lot. The ones who hand me a glass of water at hour eleven without being asked. Those people are the reason weddings run beautifully, and they deserve every ounce of credit.
To new friends and old friends…2025 reminded me the vendor community in the Tri-State is genuinely one of the best in the country!
Moments I’ll Remember Forever
The entire wedding party riding golf carts to the waterside for portraits in Manasquan.
Matching jean jackets on the dance floor to “Pink Pony Club.”
A bride and groom sharing their last dance with no one else in the reception room.
A bride and groom crowd-surfing at Park Loft.
A couple who hid their wedding rings under the pews before the ceremony for guests to find. They announced it as everyone walked in: “somewhere under a pew, there’s a small surprise”.
An ice cream cart instead of a cake. 10 out of 10. Recommend.
These are the moments that remind me why I still get excited to show up to a wedding!
One More Thing: We Now Offer Content Creation!
If you’ve been on wedding IG in the past year, you already know: content creation has become one of the most requested vendors on a wedding day. After watching couples scramble to hand their phones to whoever looked available, we officially added content creation to what Ashley Mac Photographs offers in 2025.
A content creator isn’t a second shooter or a videographer. Think: your own personal Reel machine, capturing candid vertical video and quick-turn edits all day so you walk out of the wedding with content to post that night. It’s a different job, and it deserves a specialist. If this is something you’ve been eyeing, ask about it when you inquire about your date!
Check out some 2025 examples below:
The Wedding Party of a LifeTime
Behind the Scenes of First Looks
Manasquan River Golf Club Wedding
Behind the Scenes of Mary & Tucker’s Wedding
Looking Ahead
2025 gave me more than I expected. More territory, more team, more milestones, more tenderness, and a running list of moments I genuinely could not have written on a call sheet. 2026 (and 2027!) are already filling in fast, and I’m watching the calendar with “we’ve got this” anticipation!
To the 2025 couples: thank you for trusting us with the biggest day of your life.
To our 2025 vendors: thank you for making us look good.
To my 2025 team: you are the entire reason this business scales without losing its soul.
