Colonnade Hotel Wedding :: Boston Wedding Photographer :: Alison + Matthew (Part V)

Why hello there...it's just about time for cocktail hour at the wedding of Alison & Matt in the Colonnade Hotel in Boston, MA.

Spectacular, spectacular.

No words in the vernacular

Can describe this great event.

You'll be dumb with wonderment.

[Sorry - watching Moulin Rouge again]

Why not enjoy a baby cheeseburger whilst you sip a glass of champagne?


As the guests started to arrive for the wedding reception, I took what might just be my all-time favorite wedding picture:


The Colonnade is such an incredibly elegant venue for a Boston wedding. I really can't speak highly enough of the wonderful team, the impeccable service, the beautiful location and lighting, the great places in and around the hotel for pictures and of course...edible food art of the highest degree:

Miniature stawberry lollipop anyone?


The roof top pool deck was officially closed for the season but was opened up for us to sneak in a few minutes of pictures above the Boston skyline. Wouldn't this made the best location for cocktail hour with a view of Boston?


I'm feeling old Hollywood in this image:


We came back down to join cocktail hour with plenty of time to spare. Alison made a beeline for her grandmother:


Everyone appeared to be having a most excellent time:

And finally tomorrow we'll have the first dance! the toasts! the cake cutting! the dancing!

Griffin Photography Museum Wedding, Winchester, MA :: Erin + Jeffrey (Part V)

Hola! Both computers are running at top speed processing the plethora of amazing wedding and engagement shoots I've been photographing recently so it's time for a little blog post. I think we were just up to the end of cocktail hour when we snuck outside for a few twilight pictures. I think I'll show you a few more before we head back inside for Erin & Jeffrey's pretty spectacular wedding reception at the Griffin Museum of Photography in Winchester, MA.

Like this one:


Love these two:


Here's Jeffrey and his Grandfather. It can be sometimes challenging to do outdoor portraits in the dark but not when you have a D3s camera :) so I shot this one at ISO 4000 f/2.8 1/60. A pop of video light illuminated my subjects and the slow shutter speed gave me the night glow of the ambient light from the museum:


Of course there are lots more spectacular details for you to feast your eyes on...Erin had beautiful little votive holders with the little robot logo on them:


When I first heard about the robot centerpieces I struggled to visualise them and then I saw them in all their glory and was in awe of Erin's mad robot-making skills:


Speaking of robots, here's the cake topper:


DIY ribbon escort card board:


A most excellent first dance:


Jeffrey's Best Man Frank toasted the newlyweds:


Erin's sister and Maid of Honor brought tears to everyone's eyes and rounded off her toast with laughter:


Erin danced with her Dad and Jeffrey danced with his Mom:


Cake cutting. Actually Julia, my second shooter, got this angle on the cake cutting and I thought I'd post it as she has a fondness for cake:


Erin & Jeffrey's last dance. I couldn't help but giggle when I noticed Susan and Colleen dancing like crazy in the background:


And that's it for the most amazing robot-theme wedding I think I will ever have the honor and pleasure to photograph. Erin & Jeffrey - you have been so wonderful to work with and I wish you so much love, laughter, health and happiness in your life together. Thank you for choosing me to be your wedding photographer.

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My website: http://www.leahhaydock.com/
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Email is good too: leah@leahhaydock.com

Griffin Photography Museum Wedding, Winchester, MA :: Erin + Jeffrey (Part III)

OK where were we? Ah yes, taking some beautiful relaxed pictures at Sanborn House. More reasons why Erin & Jeffrey's wedding was awesome:

1. Instead of crossing their fingers against rain stopping outdoor portraits they found an old historic house in Winchester, MA and rented it for 2 hours a very reasonable fee. It didn't rain but it was such a great location that we took pictures there anyway.

2. We had plenty of time for family and wedding party pictures before the ceremony and even enough time for me to hop in the limo with the almost-weds for some more pictures.

3. Everyone got to enjoy cocktail hour. What's not to love about delicious little appetizers and champagne?

Loving this one of Erin and her bridesmaids:

And for those of you new to this blog I should mention I have a thing for shoes. Is it wrong that I just got an email from one of my favorite 2011 brides with no text and just a picture of her kick-a** purple Kate Spade wedding shoes? Would you deny me of the excitement I have knowing that Caitlin will be wearing silver Jimmy Choos at her wedding to Micky this weekend? So how could I resist this little bit of fierce foot posing by Erin? And then Jeffrey joined in too...

Erin's shoes were perfectly dyed to match the bridesmaids dresses by Shoes to Dye For in Natick, MA and she spoke very highly of the experience there.

So here we are in the limo off to take a few more pictures by the water in Winchester. Jeffrey is goofing off but I like this one anyway:


On arrival we found another wedding party on the bridge. So we patiently waited for the photographer with 5 cameras around his neck (?More cameras = More Better?) to finish. I think Erin was getting a little nervous around this point so I tried to give them a little time. Actually I may have been sort of behind a tree here:


And I've posted about timelines before but Erin & Jeffrey's wedding was virtually perfect from a timeline point of view. My ideal timeline would probably go something like this (let's assume it's September and will get dark around 6pm - adjust accordingly for other months):
1:00pm Leah arrives for detail and getting ready pictures
3:00pm First look for bride and groom
3:15pm Wedding party pictures
4:00pm Bride and groom pictures in nice soft light
4:30pm Get to church to set up
4:00pm Ceremony is planned to start
4:15pm Ceremony actually starts
4:45pm Ceremony ends
5pm Family pictures
5:30 - 6:30pm Everyone enjoys cocktail hour (sneak bride and groom outside for 5 minutes for some twilight pictures)
6:30pm Reception starts

And would you look at that - some nice soft light:


So we headed back to the Griffin Photography Museum and as Erin & Jeffrey took a minute to compose themselves before the wedding ceremony I took some more pictures of all of the incredibly thoughtful details including the beautiful flowers by The Celebrated Flower of Somerville, MA at (617) 661-0400 :


And flags for guests to wave:


The Intermezzo Chamber Players (who I was very happy to see again, they also played at Kristin & Zach's wedding at the Rose Garden in Lynch Park), started up their beautiful music and it was time for the wedding ceremony:

The ceremony was officiated by John Millspaugh of The Winchester Unitarian Society and it was one of my all-time favorite ceremonies. Am I allowed to have all-time favorite ceremonies? Why not. It was SO personal and touching and emotional all at the same time:


See, I wasn't the only one thinking it was emotional, this is Jeffrey's sister Leigha:


And by the power vested in me by the state of my blog, I now pronounce you husband and wife and you may kiss your bride

After the ceremony there were more happy tears and hugs:


And now it's time for cocktail hour. And remember when I was talking about finding 5 minutes for those twilight pictures...

More very soon...comments make me smile...

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My website: http://www.leahhaydock.com/
I'm on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/leahhaydock
Sometimes I tweet: http://twitter.com/leahhaydock
Email is good too: leah@leahhaydock.com

Groveland Fairways :: Groveland, MA Wedding Photographer :: Lori + Kris (Part I)

I'm somewhat of a stickler for my one-wedding-each weekend rule but once a year I'll break the rules and this Labor Day weekend was just that weekend for me...so I have SO much great stuff to share with you starting right now!

Saturday started out with the wedding of Lori & Kris at St Monica's Church in Methuen, MA followed by their wedding reception at the lovely venue of Groveland Fairways, Groveland, MA (if you're planning your wedding here you HAVE to contact me, it's maybe 10 minutes from my house).

Anyway, the day started at Lori's parents home with honorary flower girl Lola the dog looking a little glum that she wouldn't be allowed to attend the wedding ceremony. However Lola couldn't resist my dog whispering skills as I encouraged her to "work it Lola, work it!"


My child whispering skills are a little mixed :) here's Rylee the real flower girl:


Love love loved Lori's beautifully beaded dress:


Lori's bouquet was an elegant arrangement of roses, peonies and delicately fragrant white freesia (by the super talented Michele Bernard, bridesmaids bouquets and STUNNING centerpieces to follow over the next few days)


And this peony seemed like the perfect home for the wedding rings:


Useful wedding information: Brides! - if your dress has a corset to be laced up you MUST allow AT LEAST 20-30 minutes to get dressed. I have lost count of the number of weddings where we've run short on family picture time due to the fastening of the dress!!! It was fine at Lori & Kris's wedding as we had planned for pictures after the ceremony but if you'd like pictures with your family or bridesmaids you don't want to try to get dressed with 5 minutes to go...

The best kind of friend will happily hold you up in your wedding dress and Lori was surrounded by friends and family holding up her dress, lacing up the back and even holding it off the floor:


Here is Nana. I would almost like to do a whole blog post just featuring Nana as she was so wonderful and kind of reminded me of my own amazing grandmother. Nana watched happily as Lori stepped into her wedding dress and then the emotion of her granddaughter getting married hit:



Final tightening of the dress (count how many hands are helping!) and a super happy bride:

Excellent hair by Carrie from John Michaels in Salem, NH (603 890 6000) & Lindsay Berry of Monte Carlo Salon and flawless make up Andrea M Samra, licensed esthetician and make up artist www.andreasskincare.com (978 749 3161)

Time to head over to St Monica's Church in Methuen, MA to get ready for the wedding ceremony:


Here's Kris and his best man just minutes before he marries Lori and his nephew who also served as an altar boy for the ceremony:


And on that cliffhanger I will leave you. I have a beach engagement shoot this afternoon so the ceremony pictures will be up late on Friday or even Saturday...

Lori & Kris - I hope you're having an AMAZING honeymoon in Italy! Feel free to leave Lori & Kris your well-wishes in the comments..

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