Published :: The Knot Magazine Boston, Spring/Summer 2012

Around this time of year all of the new wedding magazines are published to be snapped up by newly engaged couples. I remember being newly engaged and being so excited to buy a bunch of these magazines. Actually I bought them all in Logan airport before a 6 hour plane ride to LA for a conference. Paul had offered to drive me to the airport and had proposed on the way :)

Depending on the magazine there can be the occasional rogue article (you do NOT need a list of 500 pictures to give your photographer, - well, unless you have an inexperienced photographer who doesn't have a clue and you want them to miss all of the real moments) but for the most part there are usually lots of helpful hints and tips, good suggestions about planning and my favorite - the real weddings - I always loved reading about how couples met and seeing how they came up with the inspiration for their wedding.

So it was a lovely surprise to be contacted by The Knot Magazine to ask if I'd submit Arianne & Roger's beautiful wedding at Hamilton Hall in Salem, MA. Umm - OK :) This wedding was planned amazingly by Christina of CMD Event Design and was visually stunning!

The Knot Magazine team were kind enough to send over PDFs of the pages - you can check them out here but why not pick up a copy of the magazine youself? Fun fact - more of my images appear in an ad for a venue on P178 (yes Kristin & Zach, that's your wedding at the Essex Room!)





If you want to see more of Arianne & Roger's wedding you can check out my full blog post **here**

Hamilton Hall Wedding :: Salem, MA :: Arianne + Rogelio (Part III)

OK people, this will be a bit of an epic post so go get yourself a coffee or a glass of wine and get ready...

Were you on vacation? If you missed the getting ready fun you can catch up **here** and if you missed the first look and the ceremony it's **here**

We're back at Hamilton Hall in Salem, MA for the wedding reception of Arianne and Roger and there were so amazing details, surprises and thoughtful touches throughout the day. You may look at this image and wonder why the bottom left window is filled with pink light?


Well, that's because of the uplighting backdrop for the Mariachi band of course:


After enjoying a cocktail and all sorts of delicious little canapes, guests picked up their escort cards (designed by the amazing Christina of CMD Event Design):


Also displayed on the table were pictures of Arianne's wedding dress with a handwritten note by the dress designer James Clifford:


What? Your dress designer didn't handwrite a note to you?


As I walked up the stairs in Hamilton Hall I noticed the light falling on the amazing wedding cake:


This was the set up as the guests walked into the main ballroom of Hamilton Hall for the wedding reception. Kudos to the Hamilton Hall crew and the team from Pepperberry's Flowers for turning the room around from the ceremony set up in maybe 45 minutes....


I don't think I've ever seen centerpieces quite like this:


Pastor Greg did the blessing before dinner. Arianne and Roger met whilst volunteering and their faith is such an integral part of their lives so I just love this picture of them praying together:


Most excellent toasts from Eve and Juan followed by cutting of the cake:



Amazing details everywhere, this display of flowers was in the room with the bar:


After dinner, the guests were invited to enjoy dessert and Arianne changed into a surprise second dress. Her make up was touched-up by a bare lightbulb in the bridal dressing room:


If you have a second wedding dress it seems only polite to have a second pair of wedding shoes. Blue! Satin! Heels! With Peacock Feathers!


Arianne and Roger danced their first dance as a married couple:


These two can move:


Parent dances doesn't really cover it. Arianne danced with her father, then her brother and grandfather. Roger danced with his Mom and then his sisters. So much emotion:


Did I mention the "nightclub" room on the third floor? White leather furniture and blue uplighting galore!


I'll leave you with this one last picture which kind of sums up the whole day for me:


Here are just some of my favorite vendors from the day:

Getting ready hotel: Salem Waterfront Hotel, Salem, MA
Hair & Makeup: Special Event Beauty, Bridgewater, MA (617)488-3080 specialeventbeauty@comcast.net
Officiant: Pastor Greg Bishop (possibly my favorite officiant ever! So happy for Arianne and Roger)
Wedding Planner (extraordinaire - there are no words - run don't walk to your phone and just hire Christina please): Christina Doucette CMD Event Design
(789)789-5742 christina@cmdeventdesign.com (and Michele & Beth were amazing too!)
Salem, MA Wedding Venue: Hamilton Hall (978)744-0805 info@hamiltonhall.org
Wedding Photography: Leah Haydock Photography (603)571-5324 leah@leahhaydock.com
Flowers (crazy good flowers!!!): Pepperberries Flowers, Byfield, MA
Donna Fucalaro (978)499-8202 pepperberriesflowers@comcast.net

Catering: Capers Catering
Cake (possibly the most beautiful cake EVER): Montilio’s Bakery, Brockton, MA
Letterpress bilingual Invitations: Blush Design Studio, Elizabeth Bardwell, (910)367-7014 , blushdesignstudio@gmail.com
Wedding Day Paper (stunning programs, escort cards, drink stirrers and much more!): CMD Event Design

Next up we have a wedding at Tupper Manor, the Aquarium, the Four Seasons interspersed with all sorts of spectacular engagement shoots! Say hello in the comments if you like what you see :)

Hamilton Hall Wedding :: Salem, MA :: Arianne + Rogelio (Part I)

I've been working on getting my wedding posts down from like 5 posts per wedding to maybe 1 or 2 and I'm having issues. I mean - seriously - there are photographers who post just 5 or 6 images from each wedding - so what's wrong with me? Henceforth I'm thinking 2 posts per wedding and maybe 3 if the couple decide to do a first look/have extended time for pictures (smart people!). Of course, it's my blog and I reserve the right to break the rules....

One of most fun parts about my job is the sheer variety in weddings that I get to photograph. From a teeny tiny wedding with just 2 guests (the bride and the groom eloping to Maine) to a 350 guest wedding in a big Boston ballroom - it's all good and I love seeing how each couple makes their wedding really personal.

Arianne and Rogelio's wedding was something I've never seen before (in a good way!) they chose the historic venue of Hamilton Hall and then commissioned the super awesome Christina from CMD Event Design to go to town with everything from stunning wedding papers, custom drinks, a mariachi band at cocktail hour, the most opulent flowers ever and all sorts of other surprises for their guests. Christina also found all sorts of wonderful vendors (I am counting myself in this list ;) and a full vendor list will be coming with the final blog post). In the meantime if you're looking for wedding planning or day of coordination you would be CRAZY not to get in touch with Christina, she was just amazing along with Beth & Michelle at keeping everything wonderfully calm and running to plan :)

Without further ado let's get started:

Loving the heavy letterpress invitations that were done in both English and Spanish. You'll see the Amor (Love) theme carried through the wedding - just wait until you see the wedding cake!


This intricate gold leaf was actually the backing of a little box holding all sorts of wedding jewelry and I though it would make a dramatic backdrop for the rings:


Adored Arianne's earrings:


It was a day full of surprises and thoughtful gifts (more on that later) and the night before the wedding Roger had given Arianne this bottle of Dom Perignon (2002 is a very good year - the year that I moved to the US!) and the wedding rings sat just so:


A quiet moment during make up. My mom was visiting during Arianne & Roger's wedding (Mr H was away so I like to make my mom fly from the UK to watch our dogs ;) and as I was downloading the images she was just wowed by how beautiful Arianne looked. I concur):

So you know those cute little hangers with your new married name on etsy? The ones that have like a 3 month lead time? Well phooey to you etsy wedding hangers. Roger made one for Arianne :)


Here's Arianne's wedding gown - a little surprise coming later in the form of a letter from the dress designer!!!


Time for another surprise. Roger had his best man Juan deliver a bouquet of roses to Arianne with a heartfelt card:


Over in the guys room it was the usual ties and cufflinks and jackets!

Another surprise! Arianne had a watch for Roger and he was most happy!


Time to get dressed:


The picture on the right might be one of my favorites of Arianne. It's like happy and nervous anticipation all in one:


Both sets of parents were just wonderful - so happy for their children - and I had gotten to know Arianne's mom Maria at our first engagement shoot **here** and it was lovely to see her reaction to seeing Arianne as a bride:


No words.


Coming up shortly is the first look and ceremony followed by the wedding reception - let's just say there were blue peacock feather shoes, surprise guests singing and all sorts of other delights. If you're on facebook and you haven't liked my official Leah Haydock Photography page you're missing out - I post all sorts of little previews before the blog posts....

You can also just like this post in particular