North Shore Beach Engagement Pictures :: Stacy + John

Stacy was a bridesmaid at Stephanie & Tim's wedding in 2010 and when John asked her to marry him, she emailed me as soon as they had their venue booked to check on my availability. I usually meet with all of my couples but it was August 2011 and I was in Maine/vacation and so we chatted on the phone and Stacy was like "Right, I just want to book you. What do I need to do?" which was just awesome :)

Once everything was confirmed I got this email which made my heart melt, "Leah! Oh my gosh! I am so excited! I cannot wait, I know every bride is excited, but I love John so much, and I cannot wait to be his wife and have a big party!" at their engagement shoot I was so excited to see Stacy again and to meet John!

And where to start, well, frosty beverages seemed like a good idea, so we met up in Newburyport for a glass of wine. And I was reminded how awesome my "job" is. I get to meet the most interesting couples and they let me inside of their lives and I get to document it all. After lots of chatting, a sneak peek of Stacy's dress on her iPAD (gorgeous!!!) we drove a few miles to Salisbury Beach State Reservation to take some engagement photographs:


Stacy and John both work in the restaurant industry and the fact they actually met was the perfect storm of relocations, restaurant closings, temporary transfers and new staff trainings ...Stacy and John saw each other for the first time...and then Stacy told John he should be wearing solid black pants, no pinstripes allowed. OK, so things didn't get off to the most romantic of starts, and over the next few months Stacy and John rarely had shifts together :(


Then John was offered a bar manager opportunity at a bar in Boston and announced he would be leaving. Stacy said she had a sudden realization, "Oh, John's leaving, what if I never see him again?!" and suggested a night out. Stacy may have had a few frosty beverages that night and John was the perfect gentleman, saw her back safely and left. That evening swiftly led to another date and then, in Stacy's words "I pretty much showed up at his house with my stuff and a toothbrush and we've been together ever since."


I found a nice shady spot and snuck off behind a fence:





Having spent a few hours with Stacy and John, it's so easy to see how good they are together. They have all sorts of interests in common, they're very considerate and affectionate with each other and you can see how much they enjoy being together. They told me about how they went to Vegas recently, John was planning on playing some poker and Stacy sitting out by the pool but they ended up just spending all their time together instead.



And as if I wasn't excited enough already to be photographing their wedding this fall, Stacy then told me about her Nan who she's extremely close to as the eldest grandchild (me too!) and how she can't wait for her Nan to be at her wedding (me too! I was so excited for my Nan to be there when I married Paul) and how her Nan makes the BEST red sauce in the world, so good that she can't eat red sauce in any restaurant ever and how her Nan's lasagne is legendary (me too! well, my Nan is English so I'm not sure she's ever made red sauce but she makes the best scouse, a type of stew, ever). Stacy's Nan - if you're reading this - I can't wait to meet you!!! And my Nan - if you're reading this - I can't wait to see you next week :)

One last picture:

Stacy & John - can't wait for September!!! I hope you enjoy these preview pictures, lots more to follow :)

Northshore Engagement PIctures on the beach :: Liz + Tim

A week from Saturday Liz & Tim will get be getting married at Tower Hill Botanic Garden which is one of my favorite wedding venues. Make sure to like my official photography facebook page to see some early preview pictures after the wedding! We perviously did a little mini shoot in Boston for some save the date images and then a week or so ago we met up at the beach for more!

Liz and Tim are true high school sweethearts, their last names both begin with S so they used to sit next to one another in French class. Tres jolie!


Tim and Liz may have been practicing for their first dance, I now have high expectations :)


This was one of my favorites from the afternoon:


Of course the best thing about an afternoon on the beach is sandy feet:


It was remarkably cold when we got to the beach and so we were fooling around with a blanket for some cozy pictures. I totally made Liz and Tim stand like this, I think it's cute...


Lots of laughing:


And an occasional quiet moment:


In the midst of all of the fall weddings I'm trying to squeeze in some engagement sessions for my 2012 couples and choosing a location can have some couples worried. If there's a certain place that has meaning to you both then I'm all for shooting there but I can make pretty pictures anywhere as long as I have some nice light. Some of my favorite engagement pictures have been in garage entrances, rundown alleyways or like this one below in a parking lot :)

Liz & Tim - 9 days!!!! Can't wait!!!!

Trash the Dress Photographer in Boston :: Neeta + Rich

Trash the Dress...Rock the Frock...Post-Wedding portraits...Fearless Bride..A Day-After Shoot

All words to describe the experience of putting on your wedding outfits again and having additional pictures taken.

There are so many great reasons to schedule one of these kind of shoots:

- maybe it rained on your wedding day and you were unable to get any pictures outdoors

- maybe you had a crazy schedule and ran out of time for romantic portraits of the two of you alone

- maybe you're not happy with your wedding pictures - hopefully I'm not your wedding photographer in this case ;)

- maybe you wish you'd had your hair and makeup done differently

- maybe you simply can't bear to put away your wedding dress and you want one last excuse to wear it

Then, and this is my opinion only so take it for what you like, I think there's a slightly bizarre trend to take slightly weird irreverent pictures where the dress is literally "trashed". Or sometimes new photographers will set up a trash the dress shoot to get pictures for their wedding portfolio even though this controlled environment is completely different to the unpredictable nature of a real life wedding. I've even seen some rather bizarre images of brides in trash-filled, graffiti-covered alleyways. I guess I can see the appeal if you just didn't like your dress in the first place...

When I do a post-wedding shoot, I prefer to see it as an extension of your wedding day. I still want you to look as amazing as possible, to get the little moments between you and create some epic pictures. For sure, we can be a little less careful and tentative about keeping your gown spotless, but I have no plans for photographing brides in dumpsters any time soon ;)

And with that little ramble over, I'd like to share with you some post-wedding pictures of Neeta & Rich.

Neeta & Rich had the most fabulous wedding back in August (click **here** if you missed it) with a thoughtful schedule with lots of time for pictures of the two of them alone in the city but as they'd originally thought about having their wedding on a beach they wanted some pictures by the ocean.

I think this is my absolute favorite of the afternoon:


I love the pop of Neeta's fuchsia pink bouquet against the soft blue of the ocean:


Neeta and Rich met at Ballroom Dancing classes while they were at school (you must! must! must! check out the spectacular first dance at their wedding **here**) and it seemed only appropriate that they dance on the beach.

Am I the only one who's thinking of Johnny in Dirty Dancing saying "This is my dance space. This is your dance space. I don't go into yours, you don't go into mine."


Through the whole wedding planning process including two wonderful engagement shoots I got to really know Neeta and Rich as a couple. They are just a hoot. And two incredibly lovely, kind, thoughtful and fun people. They're perfectly suited to one another. Rich takes care of Neeta so well. And Neeta takes care of Rich. It's hard to even describe but I think you can see it in this picture:


It was pretty much freezing on the day of the shoot and Neeta wore Rich's tuxedo jacket for a lot of the time in between pictures. I had grabbed a little pink faux fur stole from my closet just in case:


I like the framing from the wooden beams on the image on the left. I am inspired to work on my posture when I see the image on the right :) must be a dancing thing!


After the beach we drove into Newburyport. Neeta and Rich were following behind me and so they were a little confused when I suddenly pulled over to the side of the road but I had spotted this tree and nothing comes between me and a good black and white portrait:


After the emergency stop, we made it to Newburyport:


This is probably as irreverent as I get, note that I carefully laid my aforementioned pink stole on the ground for Neeta to lie on to keep her dress clean:


It was starting to get dark in Newburyport and this thick thick fog came rolling in - it was seriously spooky but it made for a fun silhouette with the fishing boat lights in the background:

Neeta and Rich - thank you for trusting me with your wedding photography and for giving me another excuse to meet up with you both again and get even more lovely pictures! Your full gallery is uploading as we speak and the link will follow shortly. Now I'll have to find more reasons to photograph you both again. Is it too early to start thinking of your 2011 holiday cards?

Want to see more? Check out my website www.LeahHaydock.com or shoot me an email so we can start talking about your wedding at leah@leahhaydock.com