When couple David and Blythe decided to keep their original wedding date of May 23, 2020, they turned the event into a small backyard wedding because of the COVID-19 pandemic. They had customized masks made to wear part of the time and had their guests—mostly just their immediate family of parents and siblings—socially distance as much as possible.

Photographer Jay Cassario says he wore a mask the entire time he was working the wedding, held in the bride’s parents’ backyard in Vineland, New Jersey.

“It was in the mid-90’s that day and very sunny out, so I did have a lot of trouble breathing at times,” Cassario admits. “I had to turn my back and walk about 15 feet away during the ceremony to drop my mask and take a few deep breaths of fresh air. It was just hot air blowing back in my face. Luckily for me, I shoot almost exclusively in Liveview so at least I didn’t have to deal with a viewfinder fogging up.”

Cassario says that the family members that were quarantining together kept a good 5 to 6 feet between them and the other family members during the ceremony. “The bride had a sister who flew in from Chicago and she wore a mask for the ceremony and most of the two hours that I was there.”

Cassario, a Leica Ambassador, photographed the wedding with the Leica SL2 + 50/90mm combo, and the Leica Q2 which is their full-frame compact camera with a 28mm f/1.7 lens. All of the photos besides the last two rain shots were taken with natural light. The two rain shots (below) were taken with the SL2 + 50mm Summilux plus the GoDox AD200 with a warming gel set behind the couple to light the rain. 

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