One Love Photo

Larchmont NY - jen & brian

i am so excited to share this wedding, it's been a dream working on these images the past couple weeks. we enjoyed every moment of jen and brian's wedding this summer in new york. their wedding was just stunning and the day was lighthearted and fun. one of our favorite moments of the day was right after their ceremony when we took their portraits at the church. the two of them skipped around full of joy. and just melted into each other. today their wedding was featured over on style me pretty. we love how abby described their wedding over on the post...

"this wedding, in westchester new york, just might be the prettiest wedding ever…with the prettiest dress, the prettiest bride, the prettiest pictures. and a dream boat of a groom!"

no messing around for this wedding, jen pulled up to the church with her granddad and and headed straight down the aisle. since jen is from australia she has the cutest accent imaginable. minutes before before she walked into the church she stopped and said "one minute, i think i'll pop on some lippy." we fell even more in love with her at that moment, so cute!

popping on some lippy!

(my new favorite thing to say when i put on chapstick)

jen and brian brought so much joy and love to their wedding that you could feel the energy. we felt so grateful to be there with them and to capture all their love on this gorgeous day. we are thrilled with how their slideshow turned out! you can check it here!

below is a great write up on the details straight from jennifer the beautiful bride....

"Our ceremony was at the beautiful St Augustine’s Church, just minutes away from the Yacht Club, so after the ceremony guests wandered through the beautiful leafy streets of Larchmont down to the water where the party was being held. Cocktails and Jazz on the lawns was followed by sit down dinner and dancing. Many of the trinkets and smaller details like the hanging lanterns, the photo frames filled with out families weddings, the beautiful bird cage candle holders and the vintage like drink dispensers I found at Anthropology and Home Good. My favorite detail was a coffee table book of New York hot spots – bars, restaurants’, shops and hotels that make up the New York that Brian and I will always remember as the New York of when we were dating. We asked our guests to sign it as our guest book.

 *wedding gown by maggie sottero the "keeley" dress. reception at larchmont yacht club.

Kissing in the Kitchen

ginger + adam equals two foodies in love. this is just the appetizer.

Slowing Down

as the ground freezes up here and the wind kicks in, we are settling into our "post" wedding mode and are slowing down a bit. we've had a couple weeks off from travel and shooting and have been on our computers editing like two little wedding elves. it's so cool to reflect on all the wonderful moments that we have had the pleasure to witness (and capture). the photograph above is from the wedding we've been working on the past couple days. we love the photos "in between" the photos. the quiet pauses at weddings when the couple just stands side by side and takes a deep breath or sneaks a kiss in the back seat on the way to the party. those are always the unexpected tender moments that you can only find when everyone just slows down a bit and takes it all in.

 meg over at "a practical wedding" just wrote the most thoughtful and insightful post on wedding planning, you must go read it! she also posted a pair of my favorite hasselblad shots from her wedding along with the wonderful post titled in praise of the slow wedding (and a slow life).

Kids at Heart - alma & david

alma and david are two big kids at heart. i think they went about planning their chicago wedding at the blackstone hotel as if it was their dream kid birthday party. because isn't that what it feels like at times when you are planning your wedding, like a giant crazy birthday party? these two decided to pick one of the craziest weekends in august to marry in chicago. there were bands playing in every park, planes zooming overhead for the air and water show, baseball fans in the streets and jimmy buffet (with all his groupies) in town. and this is exactly how they wanted it, fun and crazy. at some point during their planning process they said "we hope our guests have an exciting weekend in chicago and just stop into our wedding for a nice dinner and cake and then continue on exploring the city." i know we had a great time that weekend; with lots of awesome people watching at millenium park, an evening visit to the art institute and catching up with our friends noellen & jackson over dinner. you may remember their colorful mexican wedding from this winter. we were so happy to discover that they are already expecting their first little nugget, so exciting!

back to alma and david- these two don't dance so instead of a typical dancing reception they focused on other things that they really enjoy. they set up a media room full of flat screens and video games (and of course guitar hero was the biggest hit). they also provided entertainment for their guests with a little "quiz show" after dinner. so many other thoughtful and fun details...a photo-booth, chicago snow globes, silly buttons, kits for kids, a wedding cake with a model airplane as the topper, mini cheeseburgers for late night snacks and left over cake packaged and ready to take home. for these two, having fun and treating their guests was their top priority (mission accomplished)!

 





















congratulations alma and david!

Snow Globe

we've been up in beautiful alaska this week shooting our first wedding in the snow, it was quite magical. i would like to share an excerpt from the poem "the paper weight" by gjertrud schnackenberg, which seems quite fitting with this photograph. 

we look at them just as the winter night
with its vast empty spaces bends to see
Our isolated little world of light,

covered with snow, and snow in clouds above it,
and drifts and swirls too deep to understand.
still, I must try to think a little of it,
with so much winter in my head and hand.

*please listen to this lovely poem in it's entirety below....

The paperweight

Steamboat Island - megan & jeff

megan and jeff were married at megan's parent's house in olympia, washington. they wed under a pair of big leafy trees with the stunning puget sound as their backdrop. the details were made by local artisans from the flowers, jewelry and even the beer. some of our favorite images of the day were shot with them cruising around the island in jeff's 67 chevelle, which he has had since he was fifteen years old. megan's dad built a little row boat which they snuck out on after dinner, just as the sun was starting to fall. it was a wondrous day and we felt very lucky to be there to witness it. megan and jeff welcomed us with open arms and made us feel like old friends. they were incredibly sweet, kind, charming, genuine and very fun. this day was only the start for these two. together they will have countless more drives in the chevelle and many more quiet evenings out on the bay.

 

 




 

if you haven't seen quite enough from this happy day, please take a peek at their sunny slideshow. 

congratulations megan and jeff!

A Literary Wedding - linda & cameron

"there's no money in poetry, but then there's no poetry in money either."

-robert graves

(one of linda's favorite quotes)...because it has sass.

"reading is a means of thinking with another person's mind, it forces you to stretch your own"

-lionel trilling

(one of cameron's favorites)....because it's the truth.

when these two english teachers tied the knot in chicago it was all about great quotes, classic jazz, piles of beautiful books and some unexpected fireworks.

 








 
  

 

 

 


i love teachers. my mom is a retired first grade teacher. i also taught high school photography for a few years before my "early retirement". i never understood the energy, dedication and love it took to be an influential teacher, until i tried it. it made me love teachers that much more. i realized i couldn't follow my own photography dreams and teach at the same time (at least not the way i wanted to teach). linda and cameron are two tremendous english teachers. they help open minds daily and push their students to achieve their goals. they are lucky enough to teach at the same high school and to have each other to lean on. i can't imagine how many young people will learn from these two in the future. they will set a positive example way beyond proper spelling and punctuation.

it suited linda and cameron perfectly to be married at one of the oldest churches in chicago, the beautiful old st. pat's church. in between the ceremony and reception we made a stop at "old printers row" to take a few shots in a very charming shop called "chicago rare books". The owner was so nice, he actually stayed  late so we could shoot. he even handed out mugs and bookmarks to the whole wedding party while they waited for us in the limo. we fell into a photo trance with miles davis playing overhead and antiques hiding around each bookshelf. after the book store we headed over to the library and shot some fun photographs up on the "L" platform and then it was time to go inside and celebrate.

their reception was at the harold library up on the top floor in the winter garden atrium. the space was surrounded in books, their details matched perfectly with a card catalog for seating assignments, bookmarks as gifts, piles of antique books as centerpieces and sweet little pots of ivy scattered about. during their first dance fireworks started to explode outside the large windows. a perfect coincidence, it happened to also be venetian night. crowds of people were lined up along lake michigan to take in this lighted boat parade and firework show. the sparks started to fly just as linda and cameron embraced for their first dance. i am convinced that these two have some amazing karma ( it was pretty magical). to see more from this wedding, please check out their jazzy little slideshow.

Sunny Delight - cara & james

on this icky rainy dark day, i took a tiny break and watched the slideshow from james and cara's wedding and it made me feel happy and sad all at once. mostly really happy, as i remembered all the sweet details and happy moments from this cheerful wedding (and a little sad because i really miss the sun).

if you need a dose of yellow, then check out their little slideshow or read all about it over on this post.

April & Thomas

 

for sweet, sweet april and thomas, who are clearly meant to be! their wedding was a celebration of friendship, a fantastic reunion of friends and family. april has been a long time blog follower and often writes the most sweet and supportive messages to us. she always makes me feel really special. after commenting on so many other people's weddings it was finally her big day. i was so excited to give back and create some beautiful images on her wedding day! we enjoyed getting to know these two better and capturing all the love that thomas and april share. these are a few of my favorite film frames from their big day, many more to come (of course). xoxoxo.

(ceremony and reception were at hyatt mission spa in san diego.)

How could i forget.....

to include these gems in the earlier posts on whitney and dan's wedding?

just finished this wedding and have been enjoying watching their slideshow over and over again. i love the day that we finish a wedding and i get to call our sweet clients and let them know that all their photos are ready to enjoy! sometimes i wish we could spy on them with a web cam and watch their faces and reactions as they watch the slideshow for the first time. if you would like, take a little peek at whitney and dan's show over here. it makes me happy.

One Sweet Love Song - from meg

this is a bit delayed, but a little late is better than never. we just wanted to thank meg for her amazingly sweet post that she wrote about us over on a practical wedding. we woke up at the crack of dawn to photograph meg and david's wedding this august up in the beautiful hills of berkeley california. it was a wonderful day full of quiet tender moments and a few loud boisterous ones too. never in a million years did we ever expect meg to write such a thoughtful, kind and just plain awesome ballad to us. i've read it so many times, it just makes me feel so darn good. we are so thrilled with the post and moved beyond words. you can read the whole sweet thing yourself over here.

meg is a wonderful and witty writer and i enjoy reading her perspective on things. you can read more about her sunny brunchy wedding over on her blog  "a practical wedding". if you are a bride in the middle of planning, i highly recommend frequent visits to meg's blog, for your daily dose of sass and sanity.

Snoqualmie Ridge - Whitney & Dan (the second half)

let the fun and love continue with the lovely wedding of whitney and dan. congratulations you two!