Church Landing Wedding :: Inn at Mill Falls, Meredith NH Photographer :: Catherine + Rob (Part II)

What better way to spend a Sunday afternoon than with a big mug of hot chocolate (maybe add some Baileys?) and part II of Catherine and Rob's wedding at Church Landing at the Inn at Mill Falls in Meredith, NH. This was such an epic wedding that it actually transcended the seasons - we had fall in the early afternoon and winter in the early evening.

Did you miss the getting ready and first look pictures? If so click **here** to catch up and then hurry on back to see the wedding photographs at St Joseph Catholic Church in the Lakes Region of NH, a most beautiful venue for a wedding ceremony.


I'm going to let the wedding ceremony pictures speak for themselves:











If you hadn't already guessed Rob is in the military, a Naval Office no less and so after the wedding ceremony there was a traditional Arch of Swords

Here's the background on this fine tradition if you haven't seen one before...the arch of swords for weddings is authorized for commissioned, warrant, staff noncommissioned officers, and noncommissioned officers only. The arch of swords ceremony is an old English and American custom, which gives a symbolic pledge of loyalty to the newly married couple from their military family. Only the newly married couple is allowed to pass under the arch.

The ushers normally form the sword detail, however other may be designated as needed. Customarily, six or eight officers, warrant or staff noncommissioned officers take part in the ceremony. They form the arch at the bottom of the chapel steps, in two equal ranks, at normal interval, facing each other, with sufficient room between ranks (3 to 4 paces) for the bride and groom to pass. Commands are issued, starting with "CENTER FACE," the signal to form two facing lines. When the order "ARCH SABERS" (or "BRIDGE SWORDS") is given, each member of the arch raises his saber, cutting edge up, to form the arch. Officers have been known to detour from tradition, lowering the sabers to block the couple's way and demand that they kiss :)
A popular tradition is for the last saber bearer to "tap" the bride with his saber and say, "Welcome to the Navy, Ma'am.


Marine sword ceremony over we had a few minutes for pictures before getting on the party limo bus back to the Inn at Mill Falls. A shout out to Grace Limousine, they're always awesome (polite, organized, on time, super accommodating if we want to stop for pictures).


I had the fabulous Laura from Ruby Shoes Photography along with me for the day and I'll just say that Laura possesses some mad throwing skillz:


Back at Church Landing there was time for some set up shots and more couples pictures out on the shores of the lake before the impending snow storm. Which reminds me, it was around this time that Catherine asked if we could attempt to recreate the Bridesmaids movie poster -click **here** if you want to see the final result.






Catherine and Rob had mentioned that they've love to get a group picture of all of their guests. I'm always happy to oblige as long as we have a way of announcing this (DJ or Band), a team to usher everyone into position (fabulous wedding party) and a way for me to actually get the shot (I usually need a balcony or in this case the keys to a guest room overlooking the lawn). Those little blurry spots are the first of many snowflakes.....


I knew that Catherine and Rob had something up their sleeves for their entrance and first dance:




Blessings and toasts, with a lot of emotion and tissues dabbing at eyes :)



A tiny bit of cake smashing and then Rob was the perfect gentleman wiping the cake off his wife's face ;)


Parent dances. Loved how Catherine and Dr. V truly declared the dancefloor open and got everyone up out of their seats:


If you like it then you should have put a ring on it:


The snow was REALLY coming down now:


Catherine had Chinese lanterns for everyone to send off. This was the first time I've seen this at a wedding. They're fairly difficult to light and launch into the sky especially when it's pitch black and snowing heavily! My future tips for lanterns at weddings would be:
- plan on doing this around 30 minutes after sunset, there should be just enough twilight night sky to see what you're doing
- bring at least 2-4 of those gas ignitor things, matches won't work
- you need at least two people to hold the lantern
- ideally have a couple of people igniting all of the lanterns
- consider your location and the possible risk of fire
- I wouldn't recommend having children anywhere near this kind of event



With soggy feet and snow in hair it was time to get back into the warmth and the incredible music of Clockwork. AMAZING!!!! I'm adding them to the (short) list of bands I recommend.


It was by now fairly late in the evening and I had all sorts of dance pictures so I packed up my equipment to head out into the snowy evening to drive home. I came back to get my last case (wearing pink polka dot wellington boots due to the snow) and found Catherine and the bridesmaids singing an impromptu rendition of "Hold On". For a second I wavered, should I get back on the dancefloor to take the picture? But I'm wearing pink wellington boots that don't really go with my black dress and jacket. In the end the need to get the picture won out and I figured it was so late that maybe no one would even notice my rainboots! However, should anyone at the wedding happened to get a picture of me in my boots, I'd love you to email it to me at leah@leahhaydock,com and an 8x10 print will be yours as a thankyou!


All good things must come to an end. However this is only the beginning for Catherine and Rob. Thank you SO much for trusting me to document your wedding day. It was an honor and a pleasure, not to mention a delight to see the whole Vachon crew again. Wishing you a lifetime of love, laughter, crazy dancing, road races and ice cream.