Deb and Bill || Hawthorne Hotel || Salem, MA

I hope everyone is enjoying this holiday season and is ready to get pounded with snow this weekend! Luckily, the snow held off for Deb and Bill's wedding a few weeks ago.






This is one of my new favorite pictures....





The ceremony was at Holy Armenian Apostolic Church the same church where Bill's parents got married, it was really beautiful, even in on a cold day with no leaves on the trees!



Married!!






We did a few pictures on the common, even though it was cold & dark!  I love the giant stone gazebo there.





Heading back into the hotel - isn't this just a classic picture?  I feel like it could be from 100 years ago.  Although, maybe there weren't tiny string lights 100 years ago, but you get the idea.

Christine Turner from The Hawthorne Hotel made sure everything looked perfect.


Cake from Montillio's.








I decided to hang out with Deb & Bill while they were waiting to be introduced since they were being so cute. Did I mention how smitten with each other they are? It's adorable, and also makes it really easy to take great pictures. Here they are practicing their first dance moves.

























I know it's hard to imagine what with the pretty chandelier and high ceilings....but the song playing here was The Search is Over by Survivor.  Apparently it got vetoed as their first dance song, but I think it's adorable and they clearly enjoyed dancing to it at the end of the night.


I would also like to give a big shout out to Lynne Valeri from Video Design. I don't have any pictures of her here because she is super-stealth and totally respectful when I'm shooting. Love that.

Welcome back from Hawaii Deb & Bill, can't wait to show you the rest!!!

Anna and Matt || Peabody Essex Museum || Salem, Massachusetts

Hello everyone! I'm so excited to finally share some images from Anna & Matt's very elegant, but supremely fun at the same time wedding day in Salem. The ceremony and reception were at the Peabody Essex Museum. We started at the hotel as everyone was getting final touches....
I was having total hair envy....her hair looked amazing...





We did all of their pictures before hand in the courtyard behind the museum, so pretty. Flowers by Fino Fresh.

I just love all the old buildings in the background.

Anna and Matt didn't want any distractions during the ceremony, so we kept a super low-profile.  They said they didn't notice us once!  

Apparently, Anna is obsessed with dessert (girl after my own heart).  On the menu, it said "Cake!".   Here it is, before slicing looking lovely, compliments of Icing on the Cake. Yummy food by Vinwood Caterers.

I hope Matt isn't mad at me for posting this, but I absolutely LOVE this picture!  Dancing is hard....








Found this book in the museum...get it?  Anna and Matt?

I am loving the twirly dresses this year.







Paul Natale kept the dance floor hopping, even played Sea Legs by the Shins during cocktail hour, sweet! (and theme appropriate in the East Marine Hall)

OK, so these folks asked if I would take their picture.  They called it the "time of your life" picture.  You face away from the camera, and then at the last second turn around and hey!  you're having the time of your life!  Now, my dad did the same thing at a cookout this summer, he said someone had heard about it in California.  Could someone please tell me where this originated?  I'm dying to know.  $10 itunes gift card to the first person who can tell me.

And the bride got Rick Roll'd! I TOLD you this wedding was supremely fun!




Congratulations you two! I hope your honeymoon was awesome!


**update**

I'm STILL waiting to hear about the "time of your life" picture!!!

fabulous/not-so fabulous - #13

Next up are some tips from Cara, a 2005 bride. One of my favorite memories from their wedding was that they played "The Rainbow Connection" for Jon's dance with his mom - how cute is that? I totally teared up....

"There really isn’t a lot that I would do differently. Looking back (almost 3 years later) I still remember a fabulous day that was filled with all of our family and friends. What’s better than that?!

There are a few things that stand out in my mind that I’m glad I did do:

Sweat the small things well before your wedding day approaches. You always here people say “don’t sweat the small things” you won’t enjoy your wedding. Well I spent a lot of time and effort on every last detail but I got all of it done well before the 2 week mark and I’m glad I did. Details make a wedding, in my opinion, and I wanted people to appreciate all the work that went into the day. But I’m glad that I had the last few weeks to just enjoy what was to come – once I got to the actual day I didn’t have much to worry about. So while in an ideal world it would be nice to not worry about every last detail I just don’ think its practical advice for a bride…just get it all done early!

Relax as much as possible before the ceremony – take the time to spend the last few hours with your family and wedding party. You’ll actually remember this part in more detail because it was before all the chaos occurs.

Eat before the ceremony – it was one of the best pieces of advice I got and it was a life saver. Can you imagine not being able to eat until 8 at night after a long day of smiling and greeting people, especially in the summer months?

Savor your time with your new husband taking pictures. It will probably be the only time you’re alone (with the exception of Nancy being with you and she’s not intrusive at all!).


Take the time to talk and greet your guests at your own pace. We planned it so our picture taking would be done and we could enjoy the cocktails and food with our guests…while we did have a quick receiving line at the church being able to mingle with our guests during cocktail hour really was one of the more memorable moments from the reception for me.


I really wanted to have Nancy capture our guests at the reception – being the bride you get caught up in your own moments and I wanted to be able to look at the pictures and see what I missed and see our guests enjoying the night. Nancy did a fabulous job with this one request!!!!

Back to eating…eat at your reception. You spend all this time picking out the perfect menu….you should be able to enjoy it too!!

Entertainment is key to a fun wedding. Our number one priority was making the reception feel like one big party. We wanted our guests to have a blast and picking the right entertainment is the key to having this be a success. We chose a band and they were the talk of the wedding!



Lastly – try and take some moments with your spouse….the day will inevitably fly by but if you take the time to step back and look at what is going on you’ll have those memories forever!!

Oh and hire Nancy as your photographer…once the day is done and over you’ll only have the pictures and video to look back on and she does such a fabulous job capturing all the special moments! "

Thanks for the plug, Cara! :)
And she wasn't kidding about the entertainment. They had Felix Brown, and even the groom was doing the worm!!

fabulous/not-so fabulous - #9

Next up are some tips from Meredith and Chris who definitely had a relaxed, fun day. I absolutely loved her nephew who had a green lollypop in his hand coming down the aisle. He didn't wear his fancy shoes, but in the end, it doesn't really matter!!

"There honestly isn’t much we would have changed about our wedding day! Fortunately, we both had a “whatever” attitude about the small things that did go wrong (note to future bride and grooms – things will go wrong – so just plan to go with it!)

Here are some of our favorite moments:

We were so glad my sister carried our not so thrilled ring bearer down the aisle. It was so important to us to have him be a part of the day. Now we have funny memories of him not wanting to put on the shiny shoes he was so excited about the day before… and of course him munching on a bag of marshmallows during the ceremony. What else would you expect from a 2 ½ year old!!


We absolutely LOVE the photo of all of our wedding guests that was taken at the end of our processional. It was a fun way to ensure that we have a photo of all of our guests, even the camera shy ones!


We wanted to do something slightly different for our centerpieces – and since I really don’t like the table numbers that you so often see popping out of the vases – we decided to have words to identify the tables. Each word was related to love and marriage - for example our table was “amore”, others were honesty, patience, devotion. And the simple arrangement the florist (A Whole Bunch in Burlington) put together went perfectly with the idea!


We were very happy with all of our vendors… from Nancy and her assistant (of course!!), to our DJ Shannon (Red Hot Entertainment), as well as, Lucille and the caterers from Vinwoods. Our goal was to have a fun, relaxed reception and these people helped to make that happen! We loved the beautiful ceremony given to us by Reverend Elizabeth King. We were very fortunate to have found her. The tone was perfect for us – everything was very personal and relaxed.

My favorite moment of the day was during our first dance. Feeling everyone’s love and happiness for us in the room was really amazing. We were just looking at all of the smiling faces looking back at us – it was a really beautiful moment. All of the planning and bits of stress along the way were well worth it for that feeling!


Our advice to future brides and grooms is to try to relax and to take a step back – a moment at some point during the day to stop and look around to take it all in. Chris and I keep saying we wish we could have another wedding because not only does the day go by so quickly (like everyone warned us it would), but it was also so much fun! I mean really, really fun!

-Meredith and Chris"

Thanks Meredith and Chris!

fabulous/not-so fabulous - #7

Next entry is from Sarah - they had such a fun day last June up at the Gloucester Elks at Bass Rocks........ (I love her comment about Pringles and M&M's......what could be bad about those? I am also guilty of paying about $8 for 10 Pringles from a mini-bar and loving each and every one....)

"After months of planning and jittery nerves for weeks, when the doors opened to the church and I saw my soon to be husband everything fell into place. Standing up there and promising our lives to one another was thrilling, we kept just smiling and giggling at each other.


The dance lessons were the best investment we ever made! We took dance lessons on Saturdays for a few months before the wedding. We had so much fun spending time together before the wedding learning our dance---laughing, practicing and thinking about the big day. I never thought our guests would love the dance so much or that it would be one of the highlights of our reception. I'll always remember the huge smile on my husbands face while showing off his moves on the dance floor.


The caterers forgot to give us our prepared food plates so when we arrived at hotel at 1AM we were starving. I ate here and there at the reception but the hunger hit us both when we took our shoes off to relax. We wanted a nice sampler of all the wonderful food our guests ate. Instead we ate the entire mini-bar at the hotel! I would have enjoyed the mini-crab cakes or sirloin but Pringles and M&M’s did the trick!

The early bird catches the worm and this applies on the absolute best day of your life. Start getting ready early for the wedding. Make any hair or make-up appointments earlier than you think. I never felt rushed and really enjoyed spending quality time with the bridesmaids before the wedding. Once the flowers arrive the day takes off and never slows down. If you get ready early you have more time for pictures, nobody is stressed and then the rest of the day runs smoothly. Nobody wants to feel rushed on their wedding day or not have time to take a few extra pictures with their husband because they are needed someplace else.


I didn't know much about what I wanted for my wedding, but I knew I wanted a chocolate cake! Each tier of the periwinkle and brown confection featured a different flavor: chocolate raspberry, mint chocolate chip, chocolate chip, and (for nonchocoholics), yellow cake. I’m so glad I went with chocolate icing on my cake. I received so many compliments on how incredibly beautiful it was. If you don’t like white icing don’t put it on your wedding cake because the bridal magazines tell you it looks prettier. I walked by the news stand the other day and on the cover was a huge wedding cake, with chocolate icing---apparently chocolate icing is now “in” because it’s different. It’s always been my favorite!


I wish I had not spent so much money on my veil. I wore it for the ceremony, a few pictures and it was off. It was beautiful but kind of a pain and I wore it for maybe a total of 45 minutes. I could have done something cheaper. Perhaps I’ll open up a used veil shop!

For some reason I thought ALL DJ’s were cheesy or bad – mainly just because all the ones growing up were! We listened to all sorts of CD’s and DVD’s from popular bands. We went through all of their play-lists. We made lists of pros and cons of each band; it started to get real complicated. We didn’t really have time to start scheduling appointments to see different bands and my fiancé was insisting that most bands (that cost thousands of dollars) sounded like, “cheesy garage cover-bands” and I was fed up. I almost forgot I was planning a wedding since in my free time I had become a band consultant. After a few months and my fiancé saying, “That doesn’t sound like the original song” I realized maybe DJ’s were popular for a reason. I can look back and laugh because our DJ did a great job the night of and the dance floor was packed the entire night. Even before the dance floor “opened” people were up there dancing, he was awesome. And he just really wanted to make us happy. A good thing I learned, just because you don’t get the most talked about/recommended vendor doesn’t mean that you won’t get a fantastic one anyway. Trust your instincts; not getting a band was the right decision for us!


I am in the television industry so having the perfect videographer was important to me. I’m really happy with the results, but I have watched the video 5 times. I look at our beautiful wedding pictures around our apartment every day! They are truly works of art. It was the best investment we could have made in our wedding. Sometimes I got consumed with the wedding details—bands, linens, place cards, programs...the list could go on forever. At the end of the night the details are all gone and the pictures last forever. "

Ok - please don't feel like you have to say how much you love your pictures in these stories, but I'm so glad you do!!!!!

Also, Katrina Hess, her make-up artist is running a spring makeover special right now! Now through the end of May you can get a consultation and application in her Newbury Street studio for $50! I'm tempted to do it myself! :)

fabulous/not-so fabulous - #4

So, the next tip is from Karen & Todd who had their wedding at the Emerson Inn by the Sea in Rockport. Karen & Todd had a more non-traditional day and they paid for everything themselves, so they could pretty much do whatever they wanted!


"I'm so glad that we had the cocktail hour before our ceremony. Obviously, the wedding was a bit non-traditional (but, I like to think, still tastefully done). This unusual element helped foster a relaxed atmosphere. It took the edge off everyone - from the bride and groom to the guests. It allowed those who travelled a distance to have a cocktail & hors d'oeuvres immediately upon arriving and to relax during our ceremony with no hunger pangs! People still rave to us, almost three years later, how much they liked our wedding and how fun it was."





Todd & Karen's event was definitely fun & relaxed from beginning to end..........

Thanks Karen!

the other side of the lens

So, when Meredith told me that she was a photographer herself, of course I was extremely flattered that she chose me as her photographer! She and Chris were so excited for this day, they just oozed enthusiasm all day long.



Her nephew Luke made it down the aisle with a little help from his mom, a mouthful of marshmallow, and a green lollypop.

Meredith and her mom waiting to come down the aisle...

The ceremony and reception were at The Hellenic Center in Ipswich. The sunshine was amazing.





Meredith named all the tables, and made these fantastic little signs for each centerpiece.



So, apparently Meredith is a frequent visitor to my blog, and stole this idea from Matt and Melissa's wedding. I love that people are using this as a wedding resource!


I'm not sure they needed me for the cake cutting......

Meredith danced with her mom to "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" - adorable.


Meet Luke, my new second shooter!


Congratulations Meredith and Chris! See you when you return from your fabulous honeymoon in the Galapagos Islands!!!

abudant sunshine, winds 15-25 mph

That was the forecast for Abby & Pete's wedding at Castle Hill on the Crane Estate in Ipswich. Abby was was such a good sport about the wind, considering she was wearing most of her hair down!



This picture is SO abby.......


I love this quote on the side of the Boston Chauffeur van - When being late is not an option. That truly is the case for weddings!


Their ceremony was at the beautiful First Parish Church in Manchester by the Sea. I shot Sarah & John's wedding there in June.









I loved the overlays they had on the tables, the theme was pink and green.


Abby & her mom!




In addition to the cake, they had passed mini ice cream sandwiches and cheesecake pops rolled in Heath bar crunch. How can you possibly resist that?

rock climbing, bell ringing and axl rose........

so, sarah and john had an absolutely gorgeous day for their wedding a few weeks ago on the north shore. they were so relaxed but fun at the same time! they had some neat things throughout their day that i hadn't seen before.....



Jess Wrobel did a gorgeous job on the flowers, no surprise there. I love her work.














Sarah and John each dressed up in their wedding clothes before the wedding and sent a picture to the person that made this cake topper for them customized down to their hairstyles and hem detail on the dress.




The groom's grandfather was my favorite guy on the dance floor!!!


And, without a doubt, the first time I was witness to a father-son Axl Rose impression.

allison and matt

We had a great start to the season on Saturday with Allison and Matt. They had a beautiful day, it was a relaxed but very fun wedding. The church was in Swampscott, so after the ceremony we stopped off at a little park right on the water with just the two of them for a few pictures. I loved Allison's flowers, she had peonies which are one of my faves! Paul Natale from Murray Hill was the DJ, and he is so fun to work with. He has been the DJ for a few other weddings that I've shot, and he is great at reading the crowd.