Seaport Hotel, Boston :: Wedding Pictures :: Danielle + Kevin (Part II)

Danielle & Kevin had their wedding ceremony at the historic and beautiful Gate of Heaven Church in South Boston but before we get to the ceremony I thought I'd share with you some of their "first look" pictures in the Winter Garden at the Seaport Hotel.

What is a first look? Should we do a first look?
A first look is a relaxed and private moment for just the two of you to see each other prior to your wedding ceremony. I'm there to take pictures but definitely from a distance!
1. You get to spend more time together on your wedding day rather than hiding away from each other.
2. Any nerves are quieted down and you'll feel much calmer, and believe me, you'll still both get "that feeling" during the ceremony. Brides will often comment that they feel much more "in the moment" as they walk down the aisle and can really take it all in instead of everything just being a blur!
3. Hair and make up is perfect and fresh, especially important if you have an outdoor ceremony on a hot humid day
4. After the first look you can meet up with your friends and family, we'll take some relaxed pictures - and then you can enjoy cocktail hour
5. Ah yes, cocktail hour - a glass of chilled champagne and delicious appetizers whilst mingling with your guests - it's one of the best parts of the day so why miss it for pictures

And for those who worry that "it's not tradition!"...it's also tradition not to live together, tradition for a husband who has captured an unwilling bride to carry her over the threshold, tradition to wear a veil to hide the bride from evil demons, tradition for the bride to wear white to symbolize...well....you get the idea! I'd say about half of my clients chose to do a first look and the others chose to schedule extended time between their ceremony and reception so they can get the awesome pictures they want and still enjoy cocktail hour.

OK - educational part over! And now onto Danielle & Kevin's first look - just the two of them and me with a very very long lens. I walked over from the Seaport with Danielle and she was SO excited to see Kevin:


Danielle and Kevin explained that they wanted their wedding to be a huge celebration with their friends and family and they wanted to keep formal pictures to an absolute minimum. Doing a first look meant that we only had a small number of family pictures to do after the ceremony - perfect!


The Winter Garden is a beautiful location with lots of light:


Over the last 8 months or so I've got to know Danielle and Kevin and they are incredibly fun and incredibly right together. In the run up to the wedding, they were both planning all sorts of surprises for each other.

The funniest part was that I had a number of phone calls and emails from each of them letting me know about the various surprises that would take place at the wedding but telling me not to tell the other one.

So if Danielle's watch for Kevin a few days before the wedding was surprise #1 then surprise #2 would be the stunning diamond earrings that Kevin gave to Danielle.


And then it was time for Danielle's daughter Kaitlyn to join them. Kaitlyn had obviously been getting ready with her Mom and was almost as excited as Danielle to see Kevin:


Whilst I took some pictures of Danielle, Kaitlyn and Kevin caught up on the events of the morning and laughed some more:


Kevin calls Kaitlyn Danielle's stunt double or mini-me:


We were then joined by Freddy, Kevin's brother and best man & Steph, Danielle's friend and Maid of Honor:


Enjoying the cornflower blue colors, I've seen lots of navy recently and the lighter blue was perfect for the sunny August day:


And then it was time to head over to the Gate of Heaven church. I always get to the church about 15-30 minutes ahead of the bride so I can introduce myself to the officiant and figure out locations/lighting etc. I rode with Kevin and Freddy in their limo and it was time for Surprise #3.

Danielle told me that Kevin has always joked that once he's old and married he plans on wearing silly pants. So she asked me to give him this gift of silly pant in the limo. Kevin was most excited and wondered if he could perhaps wear them with his tuxedo jacket during the reception:


Check back tomorrow for the ceremony. I was about to say no surprises there but actually there was one and then on Thursday we'll have the ultimate surprise guest at the wedding reception...

1 comment

  1. absolutely stunning pictures and the church is ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS!!!! Small world...I think I went to school with bride! She looked stunning!

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