St Ann's Episcopal Church, Kennebunkport, ME :: Erin + Nate

Last month I photographed the sweetest elopement of Erin & Nate surrounded by just their immediate families at St Ann's Episcopal Church in Kennebunkport, Maine. Things couldn't have been more relaxed with Erin and Nate spending most of the day at the beach, coming back mid-afternoon to brush the sand off their feet and put on their wedding clothes. 

Erin's nephew was most impressed with her wedding dress (that was actually her "something borrowed" from her sister):

Before we made our way to St Ann's there was time for a quick picture with Erin's family dog Jack:  

The history of St Ann's dates back to 1883 and it's a beautiful historic chapel overlooking the coast of Maine.

Both Erin & Nate's families are incredibly musical and the whole ceremony was filled with music and singing, Audrey captured these pictures of everyone practicing!


With members of both families living all over the world it was really special for Erin & Nate to have everyone gathered in one place to celebrate with them.  Nate's father is a minister and so he was the obvious choice to marry them - both dads gave the "thumbs-up" which meant it was time for the ceremony to get underway:

As Erin's sister started singing, Erin's parents walked her across the lawn towards Nate: 

It was one of those perfect Maine summer days - not too hot, not too cool. It can be a little windy at St Ann's - something to think about if you're considering a veil! 

With Nate's father officiating, it was an incredibly meaningful ceremony with gifts signifying the challenges they'll face in their marriage, reading by their family members, tears and laughter, advice from both sets of parents and of course, more music! 

Married and sealed with a kiss!

Now this is the point where most couples hold hands and walk back down down the aisle together. Not Erin and Nate. This was the BEST alternate recessional EVER.

When I photographed Erin & Nate's engagement pictures they told me that they planned to walk down the aisle to "Higher Love". That didn't really explain the wonders that would happen!  If you can, I'd suggest you turn up your speakers and hit the little triangle to play the Steve Winwood song because then you'll almost feel like you were there:

Each family member had their own percussion instrument - woodblocks, clappers, shakers, maracas and the familiar taps and just like in the video above the familiar intro started up before Nate's brother belted out an AMAZING version of this song accompanied by Erin's dad on the drums. Everyone was dancing and singing and playing their instruments and it was so incredibly joyful and fabulous to witness. I had the song in my head for days afterwards! 

Musical fabulousness over, things just kept getting better when a bottle of Nate's homebrew cider was produced for a toast to the newlyweds:

Family pictures were up next, when you're accompanied by just your immediate families it's totally feasible to get a picture of everyone together: 

We then spent a little time taking pictures of Erin & Nate in the grounds of St Ann's as the sun started to set over the ocean:

Erin and Nate then met up with their families for a lovely relaxed dinner to celebrate their marriage:

Erin & Nate - thank you so much for choosing me as your Kennebunkport wedding photographer. It was absolutely lovely getting to know you both and such a joy documenting your wonderfully intimate wedding! Congratulations! 

If you'd like to see other weddings I've photographed at St Ann's, check out:
Anna & Justin's morning wedding ceremony at St Ann's Episcopal Church
Rachel & Neil's St Ann's Kennebunkport Wedding Pictures

Goose Rocks Beach + Kennebunkport Engagement Pictures :: Anna + Justin

If you're looking at Anna and Justin and thinking "Hmmm, they look familiar..." that's because a few weeks ago I took pictures of them in their home town of Austin, TX (check them out if you want the story of how they met and the proposal!). While I was there we also planned to take pictures while they were on their annual Maine vacation. I met them at their vacation place and we walked the few steps to Goose Rocks Beach:

Anna has been coming to Maine every year since she was little (and Anna's Mom Kathleen before that) and Justin has also embraced Maine: 

After hanging out on the beach for a little while we made our way to Kennebunkport stopping on the way whenever we saw any interesting light or locations: 

This was actually just a big rock on the side of the road:

And we couldn't help but stop by this little farm type setting:

It will be during next year's Maine vacation that Anna and Justin will be married at St Ann's Episcopal Church - which is just stunning - the only outdoor chapel in the Kennebunks overlooking the ocean:

Anna & Justin - I'll see you in eleven months and two days. Can't wait!

Kennebunkport, ME Engagement Pictures :: Maine Wedding Photographer :: Mallory + Matt

Other than burning the last two pieces of bread this morning and therefore having to eat oatmeal made with chocolate milk for breakfast today's been quite a lovely day. Speakers were announced for the Inspire Photo Seminars in 2012 and I'm beyond excited to be on the list. I'll be talking about how I used the lessons learned during my 10 years of corporate America to run a successful photography business (I can't believe that next year will be my 5th year of photographing weddings!). The theme is "Turning Personal Creativity into Financial Profit" and Inspire usually sells out so photographer blog readers should register asap **here**, there are even a few earlybird registrations left. Shameless self-promotion over (although I'll be doing a more specific blog on this in the future!) let's see some remarkable engagement pictures of happy people!

Meet Mallory and Matt:


Mallory & Matt are getting married next year at the Popponesset Inn on the Cape and so although we're planning to do their engagement session in Charlestown, MA they needed a few pictures for their save the date. If a couple has a full engagement session included in their wedding collection I am more than happy to do a quick mini engagement shoot (10 pictures in 10 minutes!) as long as they're flexible with location/timing (a mini shoot isn't mini if it involves a 3 hour drive for me...) so Mallory & Matt happily came up to Maine and we shot in Kennebunkport.

This is Mallory and Matt telling me how they met as freshmen in high school and acting out their awkward prom picture pose (you didn't think I made them stand like that right?!). Matt had transferred and the school was abuzz with news of the hunky new guy from Canada. Matt and Mallory were initially really good friends although Matt told me he'd always thought Mallory was beautiful :) and then Mallory's Mom said something very smart, "Mallory - you should date Matt Quinn."

Although I have a strict no-drinking rule at weddings it's sometimes nice to start an engagement shoot by sitting and chatting with a drink. However we started at 9am so didn't think a drink was in the plans until the very nice man at Tia's let us sit by the outdoor fireplace and happily brought us some bloody marys. Matt wanted us to know he was putting a lot of effort into drinking his:


We then wandered around the quaint little town of Kennebunkport where Mallory used to come as a child, so many options for cute engagement pictures:


You would think we'd have found some fall foliage but no, every last leaf was still green:


I found this rather lovely blue wall and frankly could have just hung out here for the whole shoot. When you have a couple as hilarious and relaxed as Mallory and Matt (LOVE Mallory's expressions) you don't really need all sorts of different locations (and if the nice man from Tia's had delivered...well, I might not have come home)



Driving home I was thinking "Hmmm, my invisaligns must be working" and then I realized my face was just aching from laughing so much:


One last one at a little sculpture park we stumbled upon:

How awesome will Matt & Mallory's wedding be? How amazing is Mallory going to look in her wedding dress? How excited are you for next September? How much do you feel like making a bloody mary right now?