Published :: Editorial Shoot for Seacoast Weddings at Rivermill at Dover Landing :: NH Wedding Photographer

Last August I was invited to take part in my first editorial photoshoot for Seacoast Weddings. The article is entitled "A Celebration of Color" and seven different wedding colors were to be photographed. I was assigned to Team Lilac (or Team Purple as we called ourselves!) and it was delightful to work with new and old wedding vendor friends:

The shoot took place at Rivermill at Dover Landing. Kate Parker worked with Seacoast Weddings (thanks to Crystal for her tireless work scheduling everyone and answering all kinds of logistic questions) to put together the day and Be Our Guest of Boston, MA provided the furniture, china, glassware and linen rentals. Donna Fulcaloro and Danielle Maccini of Pepperberry's Flowers of Byfield, MA came up with the table setting design and the beautiful purple and pink flowers. The wedding stationery was designed and beautifully printed by Albertine Press, Somerville, MA and the cake and wedding cupcakes were lovingly baked by Wild Orchid Baking Company.

I put a shout out on facebook to see if any of my previous brides would like to model for the day and was delighted with Bridget & Katy volunteered to play dress up :) They were beautifully outfitted by Flair Bridesmaid Boutique, Boston, MA (extra thanks to Stacey for driving up on her day off with an amazing selection of purple dresses). They were made even more beautiful with make up by Kathy of Beleza Spa and the ridiculously talented Lena of Hair That Moves came up with the chic updo and...what's the opposite of an updo? A downdo?

Initially the plan was that only five of the seven colors would be selected for the magazine and so the pressure was on. It was lovely to hear that each team did so well that all seven colors would be featured, and even better to hear that Team Purple would be getting an additional page ;) Go pick up a copy now and check out all of the pictures!

Here's the magazine and the two pages for Team Lilac:




As you can imagine after a full morning of photographing my "bride and bridesmaid" and then spending the afternoon photographing the table and all of the details there were a TON of pictures so I'll share some additional/larger versions here for you to enjoy. Katy is wearing the Lotus dress by Siri in the color Iris, I loved the pleating on the top:


I had way too much fun with Bridget and Katy. It kind of makes me want to put together an end of year party and invite all my couples so I can see everyone again and they can meet each other - is that weird?


Who says that bridesmaids have to carry bouquets? This is the Rose Tulip Mini dress by Lynn Lugo from Flair (side note I interviewed the Flair team last year and you can read more **here**)


We did both traditional flower centerpieces and elegant candle arrangements:


I'd totally photograph Anna and Andrew's wedding if they were real people"


I am sure that Bridget will not mind that pretty much every picture of her involved a martini glass. Alas, it was filled with only water but Bridget is an excellent fake martini drinker :)


Letterpress menus inside and out:


[You have to sing the next part of my blog out loud to the tune of "These are a few of my favorite things" please]
Cupcakes and tulips,
Purple and lilac.
Letterpress ca-rds,
Chargers and glassware.
Professional airbrushed make up and hair.....
...these are a few of my favorite things!


And if you missed yesterday's blog post about Erin & Jeffrey's robot-themed real wedding that was featured in Seacoast Wedding you can catch up **here** or see Arianne & Roger's real wedding published in The Knot Boston magazine **here**.

Thank you to Seacoast Weddings for allowing me to take part in the shoot and for publishing the pictures! Thank you to Team Purple :) and thank you to Katy & Bridget!!!

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Henderson House Wedding :: Weston, MA :: Caitlin + Peter

Brangelina. Bennifer. Robsten. TomKat. Couple names. All the cool people have them. So today I give you the wedding of Bowstracane which is what you get when a Castracane marries a Bowring ;)


The wedding took place at Henderson House in Weston, MA and it's SUCH a beautiful wedding venue. The historic house has so many great locations for wedding photography, the grand staircase, marble fireplaces, open rooms and lovely gardens. The Henderson House team are also super helpful and friendly!


I think it's safe to say that Peter is kind of fanatic about cycling, at one point I heard his bicycle would be present at the wedding, and so the wedding stationery was personalized with the cute little couple on a bicycle:




Caitlin's beautiful purple Badgley Mischka shoes took a little spin on the dancefloor:


Henderson House has a great set up for weddings, up the grand staircase the building is kind of split in two so the each half of the couple can get ready without the other seeing them. I went over to the guys side. Dan Paul and Adam were just chillin' as Peter got ready for the first look with Caitlin:




Jennifer, Robyn and Jaime helped Caitlin into her gown and with her jewelry:



Then it was time for the first look (a beautiful and private time for the couple to see each other prior to the ceremony - I have a blog post coming up on this - in fact, if you did a first look AND I was your wedding photographer, feel free to hop on over to my survey to give your first look feedback!) - so many cute little moments and Peter pulled out all the stops with a beautiful necklace for Caitlin:


How adorable are Caitlin and Peter together?


Your wedding day will fly by in a flash so it can be really nice and relaxing to have extra time together to just "be" together (plus you get TONS of extra lovely images if you give me more time...)


Hilarious wedding party. Like I was really laughing too for most of these pictures:


Relaxed family pictures:


More time for pictures = More pictures. Like these:



I was planning on making this a 2-part blog post but it looks like we're going for 2.5 because there are too many pictures I want to share with you. The best part is that part 1.5 is ready now!!! So say hello/leave a comment below and I'll put it up very soon! More comments = Faster blogging from Leah :)

Renaissance Boston Waterfront Hotel Wedding :: South Boston, MA :: Renee + Kevin (Part II)

Yesterday I left you on the edge of your seats as Renee and Kevin were about to see each other for the first time on their wedding day at the Renaissance Hotel on the Waterfront in Boston.

The decision on whether to do a first look is always up to each couple - I'm happy to explain the advantages/disadvantages and what the impact is on the timeline. Renee & Kevin wanted relaxed family pictures before the ceremony so they could enjoy cocktail hour with their friends and family and so a first look was in order.

Kevin is a happy groom:


And this picture is so perfectly Renee. She was all "Look at my shoes and check out my short dress hiding underneath this skirt!"


One of my 2010 brides recently told me that she regrets not doing a first look as the wedding day flew by so quickly and she felt like she barely had a second alone with her new husband. When you're planning your wedding day timeline I highly recommend blocking a good 30-60 minutes throughout the day for the two of you - be it a first look, couples portraits after the ceremony, sneaking outside after your entrees...


This was totally unprompted by me. I turned to change lenses and as I looked back Renee and Kevin were taking a moment to practice their (very impressive) first dance:


Renee was awesomely laid back to work with through the whole wedding planning process. She had only 3 "must have" pictures. Here's #1


After the first look everyone hopped onto the trolley (yes - doing a first look means that the entire wedding party can then travel together - more fun and might even save you $$$ on separate limos and trolleys)


With the chilly foggy weather and the threat if impending rain we decided to head to the Waterfront to get some relaxed family pictures. Remember the ideal location for family pictures - relatively quiet, nice shade, nothing too windy/exposed:


I always recommend keeping family groups and combinations as simple as possible otherwise your family pictures can spiral from a most manageable 30 minutes to well over an hour:


And then it was time for Kevin's family:


Loved Kevin's nieces on the left:


Hello ladies! Second from the left is the lovely Katie who will be starring in my wedding this Sunday as sister of the groom :)


Wedding party pictures in motion:


Wedding party pictures stationary:


And of course I couldn't forget a picture of Kevin and his groomsmen. Some more excited than others ;)


This kind of behavior wouldn't normally be tolerated on this family blog but they're almost married so I think we're OK:


For the image above we'd climbed some steep stairs and Renee slipped off her shoes. Hence she's not wearing any on the climb down but I really like this picture:


Did I mention Renee's dress had pockets? Pockets in wedding dresses are just so awesome. Henceforth I decree that any bride with pockets in her wedding dress will be granted 2 complimentary pages in the wedding album!


We had a little time and headed down to the waterfront:


Time to get back on the trolley and go get married:


This was image #2 of the "3 must-have picture list" so I thought I'd share it with you biggie-sized:


And that's all for today. Coming up next is the wedding ceremony, a brief stop at the Boston Carousel for more wedding pictures and the wedding reception. Hoorah!