ali & rob found me through the wpja…i always know when someone’s looking there for a photographer…they’re serious about wanting beautiful, artistic images to document their celebration.  and when i heard a bit more about them, i wasn’t surprised at all to find that they value art and love like they do.

rob is a singer/songwriter (with a side job in marketing), and ali is a nurse…she spends her days helping new life to enter the world uneventfully.  (if babies being born can be referred to as “uneventful”.)  they put so much thought and care into making their wedding a true reflection of them, their love, their values, and the people who made them who they are today.  everything was perfect, down to the last detail.  their invitations were wooden boxes…about 8×6…full of faux grass.  impeccably designed paper goods (mmmm…paper), proclaimed the date, time, location.  but what really struck me (they sent me one), was the obvious care that went into crafting them.  ali spent her dozens of olympics-watching hours hand-stitching pine branches onto their forest themed invites.  there were pinecones.  the box was carefully confetti-ed with tiny brass dragonfiles and rough stone arrowheads…a theme they carried through their entire day.  the envelopes were gocco-ed with arrowheads and dragonflies.  they were perfect.  (i photographed the invitations to share with you here, and…i cannot find those files anywhere.  FAIL.)

and that was just the invitations!

the night before they were going to head up to maine from boston, rob spent the evening hand-delivering a mix-cd he’d made for each guest.  (the out of town ones were fed-exed).  he wanted everyone to enjoy the journey and be in the right “place” upon arrival.  they thought of everything.  (not the least of which was…me!  my birthday was the day after their wedding, and the VERY FIRST THING ali did when i arrived was hand me a very thoughtful birthday gift.  and they had a special birthday cupcake for me and another guest whose birthday was their actual wedding day.  how can you not love people like this?)

the drive up to the campground they selected-kingsley pines-was beautiful!  it was a grey day, so the colours of all the changing foliage really stood out.  when i arrived, they day was still grey and misty, but everyone’s spirits were bright and celebratory (that was a terrible metaphor, wasn’t it?  i’m sorry.)

rob & ali have a “thing” for bigfoot and hello kitty respectively.

(this is one of my all-time favourite ring shots.)

nothing like getting ready in a rustic camp bathroom…ali’s two sisters watch her work the available 1.5cm end-of-lipstick-tube mirror.

the ceremony was originally supposed to be in a semi-circle underneath a giant oak tree (think party tree from lord of the rings) at sunset.  there were going to be candles marking their path and lanterns hanging from the branches.  as you can see…the weather did not cooperate.

(please forgive my poor attempt at a long exposure.  i was resting my camera on a log railing.)

i figured if the weather wasn’t going to cooperate…at least we’d USE it!

ali’s french aunt made her a special french phrasebook for newlyweds in honour of (and in preparation for) their honeymoon to france.

ali enjoys her phrasebook and rob & his brother hug after his toast.

because of the weather (have i mentioned the weather yet?  ha.) we didn’t have time to do bride & groom portraits…so ali & rob got brave and scheduled a day after (really, more like month after) session.  we met in picturesque amesbury, mass and got some AMAZING images.  (and finished it off w/ delectable flatbread.  one can never go wrong with flatbread.  NEVER.)

they wanted a chance to get to re-use their special wedding-day umbrellas…i was happy to oblige.  😀

rob & ali…thank you for everything.  i feel like my life is better for having met you.  😀