Rose Garden, Lynch Park :: Beverly, MA :: Meg + Dave (Part I)

As you know I've been playing catch up on the blog with the gazillion amazing weddings and engagement shoots (well, five amazing weddings and maybe seven engagement shoots) I photographed in June. Meg & Dave have been so wonderfully patient that I've decided to put them out of the suspense and do two mammoth posts - today we have the getting ready and ceremony and the next one will be the reception.

But first, I have to take a minute to tell you how awesome Meg & Dave really are. I'm super lucky because pretty much all of my couples are amazing but some take it to a whole other level. On the morning of their wedding I arrived at Meg's hotel room to find Meg completely relaxed and calm and waiting with a gift. For me.

And it's only the best gift ever - a coffee travel mug in the shape of a camera lens. And not just any camera lens. A Nikon lens. And Nikon is what I shoot. Nikon vs. Cannon is kind of like Team Edward vs. Team Jacob - so it's important to get these things right people! And Meg did because she's the kind of person who gets everything right, which is a good thing when you're responsible for stuff like NASA proposals ;)

Anyhoo, I know you've had enough of my coffee cup story and you want to see some pictures so here we go...

Adorable little ring dish:


The dish was resting in a little nest and I thought it might make a good home for the wedding rings:


A bracelet for Ada, Dave's daughter, more on this later:


Meg called Dave to tell him a surprise gift was on the way. I often play mailman at weddings ;)


Dave was puzzled to open a rather large parcel and then completely blown away when he saw the custom comic depicting him and Meg along with Ada. I think the commentary went something like "Wow...but how?....just wow....I don't know how she.....wow" and then he called Meg to tell her how amazing she is :)


Back to Meg's room where her sister Katy was helping with jewelry:


There was much hilarity as Meg slipped on her beautiful j.crew wedding dress with Katy's help. I adore the picture on the bottom left. If I were to name it I think it would be called "Meg in Joyful Anticipation"


Then it was time for the ceremony at the always beautiful Rose Garden in Lynch Park in Beverly, MA. It's the perfect North Shore wedding venue location for an outdoor ceremony on the ocean yet within a garden. I did wedding pictures at the Rose Garden last year for Kristin + Zach and I was so happy we got amazing weather again.

Flower Girl Extraordinaire.......Ada!


As Meg walks down the "aisle"


Dave is waiting patiently:


And then he sees her:


Happy happy ceremony - ooooh - nearly forgot to mention that the ever-wonderful Kristin of Local Color Flowers was the florist - beautiful!


Dear Blue Sky. Thank you for showing up again. I'm always happy to see you. Kind Regards. Leah xx


Vows and rings:


And special words for Ada from both Meg and Dave and a beautiful bracelet:


Even though the sun was out it was remarkably windy and therefore kind of chilly out so jackets were loaned to the ladies :)

By the power vested in me by the state of my blog, I pronounce you husband and wife, you may kiss the bride...but wait!...Meg realises she wants a non-jacketed kiss picture and off it comes :)


Time to head off to Gould Barn for the lovely DIY decorated barn. I often mention what a difference uplighting or little twinkly lights can make to your wedding pictures. Meg doesn't do things by half so 700 twinkly lights later the barn looked AMAZING...coming up VERY soon :)

And that's it for today! Meg & Dave are married! Hoorah! I'm hopefully in Maine closing on a little lake house (don't worry, we're staying in Southern NH! But I might have a little extra interest in Maine weddings if it comes off...more on that soon). Say hello in the comments if you're happy that it's Friday!