Wedding at Andover Country Club :: Meredith + Brian

When you pick a date in October for your wedding, you're thinking the leaves will be changing and you'll have beautiful fall colors. You're prepared for a little chill in the air and you hope there won't be rain but you probably don't even think about snow...

...remember that crazy Sunday back in October when it snowed and hailed? Well, that was the day that Meredith & Brian were married at the Immaculate Conception Church in Lowell, MA and then celebrated their wedding with a reception at the Andover Country Club, Andover, MA:

Meredith had bought three mini pumpkins to get some fun ring shots:


The flowers were done by Gerry Chabot, a super talented cousin of the groom. The wedding colors were deep browns and pale blue - my favorite. Meredith's late father's wedding ring was tied to her bouquet:


Loving the dress, thick and heavy silk perfectly encrusted with delicate beading:


How clever! Meredith's blue sparkly eye's also matched her wedding colors:


Mom helping with the necklace:


The ceremony was at the stunning Immaculate Conception Church in Lowell, MA. Here's Brian and his groomsmen looking dapper. Derek Morin of Morin Photography was my second shooter for this wedding and he got this one of the guys:



The ring bearer started to struggle with the length of the full mass and decided to remove his shoes for entertainment


By the power invested in me by the state of my blog, I now pronounce you Mr & Mrs Hession. You may now kiss the bride:


Of course it's always nice to get pictures outside but when you have rain and wind and snow and hail it's wise to stay inside, plus altar pictures don't need to be all stiff and formal:


I first met these two when I shot their engagement pictures at Salisbury Beach and they are just so good together. Brian is seriously funny and he makes Meredith smile and laugh all the tim:


When the sun shines, we'll shine together, told you I'll be here forever, said I'll always be your friend, took an oath gonna stick it out to the end, now that it's raining more than ever, know that we'll still have each other, you can stand under my umbrella, ella, ella eh eh eh:


And then we arrived at the fabulous Andover Country Club for the reception. If you don't look too hard at the snow and sleet falling in the background you'd think it was August right?


I've seen an increase in Sweetheart tables at receptions in 2009 and I think it's a super cute idea. In between talking to your guests you can return to your little table together and have some alone time to take it all in:


Do you remember trying to catch the snow on your tongue as a child?


I grabbed a few minutes outside with Brian & Meredith - Brian was especially glad of the cooler air as he was busting some crazy moves on the dance floor - love the way they're looking at each other and how Brian is holding Meredith's hand ever so gently:


Meredith & Brian - it was so much fun working with you. I know your life together will be filled with laughter and love and I wish you both so much happiness.



Vendor list
Church: Immaculate Conception Church, Lowell, MA
Reception: Andover Country Club, Andover, MA (can I just mention that this may have been the best vendor meal I ate all year, amazing fillet and super tasty twice baked potato, they really know how to cater for large groups without any compromise of quality)
Flowers: Gerry Chabot
Hair & Make Up: Martha Romano
Wedding Cake (I'll add a picture later as it was beautiful): Sweet Spot Bakery, Melrose, MA
Video: Russell Smithe www.mavidproductions.com
DJ: David Solimine www.goodtimesunlimited.net This is the second time I've worked with one of the Good Times Unlimited DJs (the other event was with Matt Forde from the same company) - they are extremely professional, well dressed and presentable, have up to date equipment and most importantly they play excellent music and keep the dance floor full without resorting to cheesy games.

Happy Thanksgiving to you & Happy Anniversary to us

I'll keep this brief as I'm sure you'd rather see wedding pictures rather than turkey pictures...

We had a phenomenal Thanksgiving on Thursday at our extended non-family. Non-family is my new phrase for a group of people that are closer and better than just friends but you're not actually related to them.

I took a picture of Paul and then he took one of me from across the table, and I figured you couldn't have a Thanksgiving post without a turkey:

Thursday was also our two year wedding anniversary. We belatedly celebrated yesterday with some great BBQ from Goody Coles and a bottle of La Reve champagne we brought back from one of our Napa trips.

And then because I love our wedding pictures so much (almost as much as I love my husband) - thanks to www.wynnlasvegas.com - I figured I'd share:

Wedding in Rockport, MA - Caitlin & Matt (Reception at Rockport Art Association)

We're back at Rockport Art Association for the wedding reception. If you need a reminder, click HERE for the most stunning wedding stationery designed by Caitlin, and HERE for some beautiful details and HERE for the ceremony and pictures of the super cool wedding party.

Hello delicious and lovely cake:


Announcing the new Mr & Mrs Annunziata:


Yay! We just got married:


First dance (don't worry, more dancing pictures coming up, but I like this one):


And then the toasts, first Caitlin's brothers:


Then the matron of honor, Ashley spoke beautifully about her long friendship with Caitlin:

Matt's twin brother and best man talked about how close they'd been growing up, how they'd become the Three Musketeers when he married his wife Renee and now that Matt has Caitlin they're the Fantastic Four:

Laughter (and maybe a few tears) during the toasts:


Caitlin's father spoke of how proud he felt just before he walked her down the aisle, and also of a sense of loss that she was no longer the little girl in the photo he's carried since she was tiny:


And the tissues came out:


Why eat cake off a plate when you can eat it off your wife's nose?

Ah ha, you see the picture below and you assume the DJ is perhaps playing Sweet Caroline? But you'd be wrong - how about Neil Diamond is actually singing it!

See - Neil Diamond* came over for a couple of songs and even posed for a picture with the bride and groom:

Much fun and hilarity followed at the reception. Matt & Caitlin met playing soccer (click HERE for their engagement pictures and the wonderful story of how they met), and their soccer team came to the wedding to celebrate. I felt a little guilty for being responsible for the willful destruction of such a lovely little bouquet....

I'll leave you with the dancing at the end of the night. Huge thanks to Matt & Caitlin's families for being so welcoming and lovely. Major appreciation to the amazing wedding party for rocking it out in 40 degree temperatures. Much love to Matt & Caitlin for being so in love (and so photogenic), for trusting me to do my thing and being thoroughly brilliant to work with, please call me to photograph any little Annunziata babies that may happen as I know they'll be stunning :-)

And keep holding onto each other like this:


Note to all brides currently planning: check out the amazingness (is that a word?) of the lighting in this location. Nice white ceilings always a great choice for bouncing flash. Anything you can do to add extra lighting interest is so great. Uplights are phenomenal (more on that coming soon), as are little tealight candles and twinkly lights. Matt spent hours at the top of a ladder wrapping vine wrapped lengths of twinkly lights around the exposed wooden beams - love it!

So many great vendor shoutouts at this wedding:

Loved the clean and simple lines of the cake: Lyndell's Bakery

Flowers were extremely elegant (sorry about the destruction of the soccer bouquet): Kristin Blackwell of Local Color Flowers

The piano was just perfect during cocktail hour: James Woolwine (jameswoolwine@hotmail.com)

Makeup was beautiful, beautiful, beautiful! MAC & Smashbox by Natalie Lelless(nlelless@msn.com 813 404 2090)

A team of two super-stylists did hair for 12 if I counted correctly! Lauren Vears (laurenvears@hotmail.com 617 309 0150) and Alice Johnson (617 350 7868)

*Neil Diamond Singer: Paul Grassia, Song Stylist "Diamond is Forever" (978 663 9903)

And saving the best until last: Videography by Mayer Video I've been thinking about a post on the pros and cons of videography. When it's bad it's horrible - video guy in all your pictures, huge video light in your face. When it's Mayer Video it's perfect - I cannot recommend Justin highly enough, here's his mini video of this fabulous wedding, easily the best videographer I have worked with in the last 2 years.

Engagement pictures in Lowell :: Megan & Mat

I interrupt this schedule of wedding blogging to bring you an engagement shoot.

14% of people meet at school but statistics can be somewhat little boring so here's a nice story to back them up.

Once upon a time there was a girl named Megan. Whilst at U Mass Lowell she met a guy called Mat. They got to talking and then to hanging out. Just a few years later they were on vacation with Megan's family. One day Mat was acting a bit nervously. As they walked along the beach after dinner he dropped to one knee and asked Megan to be his wife. Megan said yes. So we took engagement pictures in Lowell, MA. When Mat looks at Megan he smiles with his eyes. When Megan looks at Mat her eyes sparkle. Megan and Mat will get married in July next year and then they'll live happily ever after.

Aren't you glad I'm a photographer and not a writer?



Note: Megan & Mat like Country music. Remember that I grew up in the UK where Country music doesn't really exist. So I've picked a song I like from Juno (the whole high-school sweethearts (even if they met at university) thing seemed to work (minus the age 15 and pregnant part). Mat & Megan I'll totally remix this if you hate the song :-)

Wedding in Rockport, MA - Caitlin & Matthew (time for the ceremony)

Beautiful details posted earlier HERE and now we're at St Joachim's church in Rockport, MA for the wedding of Caitlin and Matt.

Caitlin walked down the aisle on the arm of her proud father; she didn't look to her left or her right, just straight ahead at Matthew:

Feeling the significance of the moment, Matt looked straight back at Caitlin:

As they met at the altar, Matt kissed Caitlin once, twice, three times and everything was good:

Monseigneur (who had officiated at many important events in the lives of Caitlin's family) started to tell the story of how Caitlin and Matt met each other and fell in love and Matt lost it again:

Caitlin squeezed his hand, they looked at each other and smiled, and everything was good again:

After they were pronounced husband and wife, Matt kissed Caitlin and everything was really good:

I know, I know, you thought I was done with the shoes. But just before joining everyone in the sign of peace, Caitlin grinned and I got this shot:

After the ceremony and some relaxed family portraits, I had two hours in the beautiful town of Rockport with the wedding party:

Earlier this year, I photographed Caitlin & Matt in Beacon Hill in the most often photographed street in Boston. And so it seemed only fitting that we took pictures at Motif #1, the most often painted building in America:


You know you have really good friends and chose your wedding party wisely when they smile and laugh for photographs despite it being a bracing 42 degrees. Matt's brother and brother-in-law bonded beneath a black furry coat and the bridesmaids sheltered in alleyways between shots. We bumped into Caitlin & Matt's soccer teammates and their hats, gloves and scarves should give you some idea of the frigid temperatures:

We sent the rest of the wedding party to go get warmed up and I caught a couple more shots of Caitlin & Matt:




I didn't want to keep them from enjoying cocktail hour and said "we'll head back as soon as you like!", we got a few more pictures on the rocks and then I realised...

- Matt looked frozen

- Caitlin's veil was nearly lost to the wind (moment of detachment below)

- I couldn't feel my fingers anymore:

so we walked back to the Rockport Art Association pausing to get a picture with this man made from grass:

Are you excited to see pictures of the reception? I am!

Wedding in Rockport, MA - Caitlin & Matthew (mostly shoes in this post)

At a wedding a couple of weeks ago I lay on the ground to get a picture of the shoes peaking out from under the bride's dress. The father of the bride looked very puzzled and asked me "what's with you and pictures of shoes?"

I like to think it's not so much about the shoes (well, maybe just a little bit) but more about the attention to detail. At each wedding I'm photographing I'm capturing the feelings and emotions and expressions but I'm also making sure I capture all the little details that you've spent months planning and working on.

I already posted on the exquisite wedding stationery that Caitlin had designed and although I know you want to see pictures of the wedding and the beautiful reception it would be remiss of me not to show you some more details first (and maybe some shoes):

Caitlin & Matt's wedding rings:


Details, details:


Still life shoes:


Once in a while I tear myself away from the shoes. You can sometimes find me in the kitchen playing with fridge magnets:


The organic and rustic feel of the flowers worked perfectly in the little town of Rockport, MA. Beautiful beautiful beautiful arrangements by Kristin of www.localcolorflowers.com of Kittery, ME:


Baskets for the flower girls:


Speaking of the flower girls:


Caitlin and the girls giving me "fierce" feet:

What's that? You're done with the shoe pictures and want to see the stunning bride wearing them? Seeing as you asked so nicely, here's Caitlin:

And whilst the girls are walking down the hill to the church, Matt and his twin brother get the ring bearer ready for his big moment:


And with that, it's time for the ceremony **HERE**