Your wedding photographs are something you’ll cherish for ‘as long as you both shall live.’ And if conventional wedding photography just doesn’t cut it for you, then try taking your wedding day portraits to new heights – quite literally – by posing on a ledge on the side of a cliff! It doesn’t get unconventional than this!

Jay Philbrick and his wife Vicki, run Philbrick Photography in North Conway, New Hampshire, and their specialty is portraits taken perched 350 feet above the Mount Washington Valley floor! And it’s an experience that couples won’t forget anytime soon either.

Image source: Philbrick Photography/Ross Parry/SWNS

Philbrick was a full-time climbing guide for over a decade, from 1994 to 2004, and a US Air Force pilot before that for 14 years. He’s a native of New Hampshire, and has set up extreme photography shoots on ice cliffs, steep snow slopes, and even underwater.

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Suggested read: This wedding photographer’s ‘eyescape’ photography are simply awesome!

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Talking to HuffPost, Philbrick said,

“Let’s just say I have a healthy respect for heights. I don’t run around a cliff without a fear in the world and I still get little butterflies for sure.”

Image source: Philbrick Photography/Ross Parry/SWNS

He said,

“In my photography, I had always been attracted to the contrast of a beautiful subject in a stark or unlikely location. And the cliff ledges I had in mind [from guiding] seemed perfect for this.”

Image source: Philbrick Photography/Ross Parry/SWNS

He basically asks the newlyweds to put their lives in each other’s hands and suspend from a cliff sheer drop, although he vouches that the shoots he sets up are absolutely safe.

Talking to SWNS news agency, he said,

“The ledge is about 30 feet below the top and 350 feet above the valley floor. We lower the bride and groom down to the ledge on one rope while they are belayed [secured] with another.”

Image source: Philbrick Photography/Ross Parry/SWNS

Further, talking about how safe the whole shoot is, he said,

“The systems and backups are quite advanced. In fact, we are all probably at greater risk driving to and from the session than we are when cliff side.”

“The bride and groom are lowered one at a time and tied into a hidden anchor on the ledge. Depending on the bride’s gown, she may wear it down, or put it on while on the ledge.”

Image source: Philbrick Photography/Ross Parry/SWNS

Here’s bride Christie Sulkoski getting ready to get lowered to the ledge for the shoot.

Image source: Philbrick Photography/Ross Parry/SWNS

Image source: Philbrick Photography/Ross Parry/SWNS

A cliff side photoshoot lasts around 90 minutes, and Philbrick is accompanied and helped by his wife, Vicki. Since beginning in 2008, they have photographed five couples on the White Mountains cliff face, and only one bride got cold feet and backed out.

Talking about the incident, Jay Philbrick said,

“The model was very excited about the session and seemed okay with the whole thing, until we got her right on the edge where she had to go over. She said, ‘no way.’ We talked about it a bit and tried a couple of things to reassure her, but she wasn’t comfortable with it, so we moved on.”

Image source: Philbrick Photography/Ross Parry/SWNS

Philbrick has photographed other models on the ledge as well, and not just newlyweds. Such as this ballerina.

Image source: Philbrick Photography/Ross Parry/SWNS

Image source: Philbrick Photography/Ross Parry/SWNS

Image source: Philbrick Photography/Ross Parry/SWNS

Image source: Philbrick Photography/Ross Parry/SWNS

And this tattooed model.

Image source: Philbrick Photography/Ross Parry/SWNS

Image source: Philbrick Photography/Ross Parry/SWNS

The pictures sure take your breath away, don’t they?

Philbrick says that he hardly retouches the photographs from these extreme photo shoots.

“There is no Photoshop whenever possible,” he said. “Sometimes, something sticks out a little due to an oversight and I remove it in post, but I try really hard to just have all the safety gear hidden.”

Check out some more of these breathtaking photographs here:

Image source: Philbrick Photography/Ross Parry/SWNS

Image source: Philbrick Photography/Ross Parry/SWNS

Image source: Philbrick Photography/Ross Parry/SWNS

Image source: Philbrick Photography/Ross Parry/SWNS

Featured image source: Philbrick Photography/Ross Parry/SWNS