I originally had this event on my older site that was for weddings, family and newborn portraits. However now that I’ve been back to commercial photography for some time, I didn’t put it back up as events are not my main focus.
However this is one of my many favorites.
Colleen approached me online about her mother, Dell’s, upcoming surprise 80th birthday and it was to be at the Mercer Oaks Country Club. She and I went to Notre Dame High School, Class of 1991, and hired me to photograph this beautiful event for them. It was such a lovely time filled with Irish music, dancing, food, laughter and memories.
The reason for this is that I just heard that Colleen’s father has passed away this week. You see him in these photos, dancing with her and her mother. Dell and John were married for many years and loved each other so very much. Back in Ireland, he was known as Jackie.
This is a post about the celebration of life, so I don’t want to talk about how he passed, my job is to document that and more. If you would like, you can read his obituary at the end of this post by scrolling down. Please enjoy these images from her big day with their family and friends. Thank you to everyone for giving me the opportunity to know you all and preserve this day.
I loved high school for a bunch of reasons, but for me it was a fresh start. Yes I struggled with certain subjects, math being the main one, and today I still have a difficult time with it. But Notre Dame High School in Lawrenceville, NJ was my mother’s and her brother’s school. She was the Class of 1967, he was the Class of 1969, and I was the Class of 1991. I made new friends, I worked hard, and had a lot of fun.
So my mother was on the decorating committee for her Golden Year Reunion, of our Notre Dame Family. Then the next day they escorted the Class of 2017 as they graduated from NDHS. The committee looked at other photographers and then I was hired to photograph their once in a lifetime event at the Mercer Oaks Country Club. I’ve shot a quite a few events there before, so I’m very familiar with this venue. A bonus that evening was the woman supervising, was in the wedding party one of my last weddings I photographed last year. I got their early with my mom, who had to help set everything up. You couldn’t have asked for more perfect weather. I already knew where I wanted to shoot this large and very important group picture of all the alumni. The flowers were done by Petal Pushers, the owner is also a NDHS Alumni and also my neighbor. The live band was The Meg Hanson Group, with Billy Hill.
Here is the Class of 1967, those that could make it to this event. The evening sky was just beautiful! They presented a check of $1,000 our school. The ladies of the committee. After the large group photo and presentation of the check, we came inside for a few guest speakers, and a prayer before eating. They honored their Vets and those no longer here. The Class of 1967 has the most student who have passed away from either the Vietnam War, accident, sickness or cancer in our high school’s history to this date still. My mother’s yearbook has so many notes next to classmates pictures that say died or passed away, a fifty-something kids… The band started to play and hardly anyone stayed in their seats. Remember, this class had the year of incredible music.
And then suddenly all of the Catholic grade school classmates wanted group photos. These schools aren’t around anymore so I waited around for everyone to come to where I was so that the photos could be taken.
The band was rocking and awesome! I actually know the lead singer, he actually knows my good friend Phil, a fellow photographer and musician.
Here at last is the Notre Dame High School Class of 1967 Alumni Committee, they put on a fabulous night for everyone. Thank you for letting me a part of this evening, I had a blast!
https://www.deirdreryanphotography.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/180_IMG_9019-1_NDHS1967.jpg602900Deirdre Ryanhttp://deirdreryanphotography.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Logo.pngDeirdre Ryan2017-07-16 16:55:132019-10-17 17:49:46Notre Dame High School's Class of 1967 50th Reunion-NJ Event Photography
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Here is the Class of 1967, those that could make it to this event. The evening sky was just beautiful!
They presented a check of $1,000 our school.
The ladies of the committee.
After the large group photo and presentation of the check, we came inside for a few guest speakers, and a prayer before eating.
They honored their Vets and those no longer here.
The Class of 1967 has the most student who have passed away from either the Vietnam War, accident, sickness or cancer in our high school’s history to this date still. My mother’s yearbook has so many notes next to classmates pictures that say died or passed away, a fifty-something kids…
The band started to play and hardly anyone stayed in their seats. Remember, this class had the year of incredible music.
Yes, that’s me dancing with my mom LOL I’m so glad that she had a great time.
The band was rocking and awesome! I actually know the lead singer, he actually knows my good friend Phil, a fellow photographer and musician.
You can’t have a party like this without a conga line 🙂
