Newburyport + Plum Island Engagement Pictures :: Aly + Keven

Good morning! A quick disclaimer is needed here. I'll usually share 4 or 5 pictures from an engagement session but not only did we squeeze in three locations for this extended engagement session but Aly and Keven also brought along the Gunner the dog so I'm going all out with more images that usual. Plus it's Tuesday and who want to work when you can look at lots of lovely pictures of these two (three)?

Just in case you're wondering what a guilty chocolate lab looks like when you tell him to stop eating all the grass:


So let's start at the beginning....once upon a time there was a girl named Aly going to a wedding in New Jersey. Aly knew she'd be one of the few single ladies at the wedding so she'd subtly inquired if there would be any cute guys there. The outlook wasn't great...

There was a guy named Keven who was also going to the same New Jersey wedding. He didn't have a date so decided to bring his good friend Adam as his wingman/plus one.


Aly says she noticed Keven but seeing him with Adam as his plus one made some incorrect assumptions ;)

Later on, Aly noticed a good girlfriend chatting with Keven and started to think maybe she'd been wrong. Although her friend was on crutches Aly couldn't help herself and she marched over to introduce herself all but body-checking her friend out the way [don't worry - the friend is all mended and getting married herself very soon!]. Keven reports that he'd noticed Aly too and was super happy when she came over to talk as she was just his type! 

For the rest of the wedding Aly and Keven were inseparable. They talked and danced and talked some more late into the evening. They then sat up all night talking until they realized the sun was coming up and time for Aly to drive the loooong way home.

It sounds almost Cinderella-ish right? Except instead of a glass slipper there was a pair of sunglasses! Once she was home, Aly realized she had Keven's sunglasses and wondered (hoped?) if he might get in touch to arrange to get them back. 

A quick time out from the story of Aly & Keven to say look at this sky! We totally lucked out with the weather!

Back to the story, Keven did one better than calling or texting, driving all the way up to Aly's home on the North Shore from his home in Connecticut. Somehow I suspect it was about more than getting his sunglasses back ;) 

From then on Aly and Keven were pretty much inseparable:

Fast forward and Keven was figuring out his plans to propose to Aly. He planned a weekend away at a beautiful old house on the beach in Maine but didn't want Aly to get too nervous or excited so he told her not to have any expectations, it was just a weekend away...

Keven suggested a walk on the beach with Gunner, Aly was all "I'm in my comfy sweats but sure!", they walked down to the beach and Keven decided the moment was right. Gunner didn't quite agree and decided to jump all over the two of them causing all sorts of delays and interruptions but it couldn't stop Keven. And Aly said yes! 

They'll be married next winter in the beautiful state of Vermont and I can't wait to be their wedding photographer! Aly & Keven - thanks for the awesome afternoon, January can't come soon enough!

Spring Engagement Pictures in Newburyport :: Ashley + Peter

I really wanted to title this post Winter Engagement Pictures because the April night I met Ashley and Peter was freezing cold with a driving drizzly rain and it had snowed the day before. Ashley and Peter were troopers in the icy conditions shrugging in and out of their coats and doing their best not to look chilled to the bone!


I loved this series of pictures, I think it gives you a little insight into Ashley and Peter's relationship  - laughing and enjoying each other's company despite terrible weather conditions! 

Anyways, enough about the weather. Ashley and Peter met at a fundraising event. They were both early to arrive and they both noticed each other. Ashley also noticed (in her words) the "hot blonde" with Peter and was kind of sad that he was with someone. 

As the first people to arrive they all started talking in a small group and Ashley asked the blonde how long she'd been dating Peter. Much hilarity ensued when it was revealed that Peter was accompanied by his sister! Ashley admits to being happy this out. 

By the end of the evening Peter made sure he had Ashley's email and phone information AND the promise of a date the following week. 

Ashley went into work on Monday morning to find multiple emails and messages from Peter and there was all sorts of conversation before the date. The date started with drinks and then turned into dinner and the arrangement of date #2 the following night. Date #2 led to date #3 on the next night and now Ashley and Peter will have their wedding at the Harvard Club in Boston later this year. And I'm all kind of excited about being their Harvard Club Wedding Photographer. 

Newburyport Engagement Pictures :: Laura + Jay

Laura and Jay both grew up in the same town in New Hampshire where they attended different high schools. Over the years their paths crossed once or twice, at the gym and another time at a Christmas party…

After graduation, Laura went to school in Washington, DC and Jay in Maine. They crossed paths again during their first summer home from school and somehow got to talking about the kind of movies they liked.

Jay challenged Laura to sit through one of his favorite scary horror movies and Laura agreed as long as Jay sat though Stomp the Room :) They made it through their film marathon and this led to dating and then a long distance relationship. 

Fast forward to Jay deciding he wanted to propose to Laura. Jay was named after his grandfather who proposed to Jay's grandmother with an engagement ring that belonged to his grandmother (Jay's great, great, grandmother!). When Laura saw Jay's grandmother handing over a ring to Jay at a family gathering she had an inkling of what might happen next!


It seems that Jay isn't a big planner and so his sudden interest in making dinner plans only made Laura even more suspicious! Jay confirmed these suspicions when he not only proposed over dinner with his grandmother's ring but wowed Laura with a surprise party of their closest friends and family! 

I met up with Laura and Jay in Newburyport and it was one of those weird days where the weather forecast was perfect all week and then suddenly there were storm and rain alerts popping up. We crossed our finger and got lucky as the rain didn't come until just before sunset. So we stopped for a glass of wine and oysters :)

It seemed rude not to take advantage of the twinkle lights of the harbor

Laura and Jay - that was a lot of fun! I hope you like these few favorites of mine! Lots more uploading in your gallery as I write this blog post!!! I can't wait for your July 2015 wedding at the Boston Harbor Hotel! 

Newburyport Engagement Pictures :: Nicole + Matt

Meet Matt and Nicole....

Nicole and Matt were both interning for the Manchester Monarchs hockey team. They were just friends and would often hang out together with a bunch of other interns. 

One time, Matt called Nicole and asked her to go out for dinner. Just the two of them. Nicole said yeas and that was it. They were dating!

Having spent a couple of hours with the two of them I can attest to what a great couple they make - there's a lot of laughing.

We were joined by Cooper - Nicole & Matt's black lab/great dane mix who lolloped all over Newburyport. I LOVE it when couples bring their dogs for pictures - it's always essential to have a "dog handler" to take the dog away after a half hour of pictures - thanks to Matt's Mom for taking Cooper home! 

Family picture:

Fast forward to last Christmas Eve when Matt asked Nicole to marry him and Nicole said yes! 

They'll be married next July and will celebrate with friends and family at Abenaqui Country Club in Rye, NH. It's a beautiful location and especially meaningful as Nicole's grandfather was a member there.  

Gotta love all of the interesting little places in Newburyport to take pictures: 

Nicole and Matt - thank you for being such amazing company and being so easy to photograph! I hope you like these preview pictures, there's a whole gallery uploading right now with lots more! Can't wait for July 2015!

Winter Engagement Pictures in Newburyport :: Mary + Mark

The week after I photographed a wedding in the official blizzard of 2013 (coming up next on the blog), I had a mini engagement session scheduled with Mary and Mark in Newburyport. The weather forecast said snow and Mary and Mark were cool with it. It was "just"a storm - no blizzard classification - but the wind was ridiculous! Flying snow, icy cold temperatures and Mary and Mark were troopers. We'll be doing more pictures once it warms up but just a few for now.

Maya the dog joined us for part of the shoot: 

Maya the dog says "You people are crazy taking pictures in this weather. I'm going to hang in the warm car with my blanket!"

Six years ago Mary and Mark were both studying at UMass Amherst. Mary had a good friend named Nicole. Mark had a good friend named Joel. Joel and Nicole were dating. Joel and Nicole throught it would be good if Mary and Mark met one another. One day Mary was out with Nicole when they happened to "bump" into Mark and Joel at lunch...


Mary remembers talking to Mark and being distracted by how blue his eyes were:

After that initial accidental lunch date it wasn't long before Mary and Mark found themselves regularly eating lunch together:

Lunch turned into a dinner out, then a Red Sox game then a relationship and now Mary and Mark will be getting married at Tewksbury Country Club in November:

Maya the dog says, "What? You're still taking pictures?

Just one more as the twinkly old fashioned gas lamps of Newburyport came on:

Thanks Mary & Mark & Maya! I'm looking forward to part II at UMass Amherst in the spring!

A mini engagement session in Newburyport on a very rainy day :: Jessica + Scott

Am I the only one who's sick of this indecisive weather right now? One minute it's 80 degrees and sunny and then we're back to 60 and cloudy. And the rain! Oh the rain! It's never ending. I feel like May was one giant rescheduling exercise...but not to worry...it just means the rest of the summer will be dry!

A couple of weeks ago I met up with Jessica and Scott in Newburyport for some engagement pictures. The weather forecast had a 30% chance of rain but wouldn't you know it? Just as we started to shoot a relentless drizzle started up. I took just a few pictures and we're planning our next session (although it looks like it'll rain again....ugh) but I thought you might like to see just a couple of my favorites.

I could tell you the story of how Jessica and Scott first met (let's just say it involves a nightclub and pizza) but I think I'll save that for their main engagement shoot post so right now you can just swoon over Jessica's yellow diamond engagement ring. Of course, working at Tiffany & Co. you would expect nothing less....

Despite the rain there was much giggling and laughing:

I'm not one of those photographer who posts stuff like "Rawr!" about images but I'm kind of at a loss for words on this one. If these two manage to look this hot on a cold drizzly rainy day imagine what'll happen when we have decent weather?

I think around this point we even gave up on the umbrellas:

This is probably my favorite :)

Thank you both for being so willing to try to make it work in the rain. Think of these few pictures as a little amuse bouche, to be followed by your main engagement session and then I personally cannot WAIT for your wedding at the Boston Public Library this fall :)

See you soon!