gwyneth colleen photography » portsmouth, nh wedding photographer

last week i went up to maine to hang out with meghan + leo at his family’s beach house. harpswell is…gosh, it’s magic. i’m kind of easy, though; i think basically all of coastal new england is magic in the summer. most of the year, actually. i like living in a normal rockwell painting, what can i say?

look at the birds!!!

this is leo’s THERE’S THE SUN! exultation. we went off in search of a sunkissed sea of golden wheat grass. and we found a field which SHOULD have matched that description, but the shy little sun was hiding behind a cloud.

this may be my favorite session this summer. i’m sorry to everyone who isn’t meghan and leo, but…! harpswell! walking to the beach! they’re SOOOO in love and happy and adorable. they made me DINNER! AND…when meghan said that they cooked, i was a bit trepidatious. see…confession: i am a picky eater. i’m not proud of it, not at all, but i am. and i get a sinking feeling when someone says they’ve cooked for me, because i know how much care *i* put into it when i cook for someone! i want them to feel loved and taken care of…and to think it’s DELICIOUS! WELL. i needn’t have feared. when meghan and i met to discuss their plans, we met for lunch. and she remembered that i’m picky. and she remembered that i ordered grilled chicken and sweet potato fries. so do you know what these lovely, lovely people made for dinner? grilled chicken (WITH A ROSEMARY SPRIG GARNISH…are you kidding?) and sweet potato fries. this is love.

cindy + bert had me meet them at the moffatt-ladd house…the site of their upcoming october wedding.  it’s SO beautiful…and it was awesome to be able to take advantage of the peak summer bloom…with the place all to ourselves!

that tree has been there since the moffatt-ladd house was built…in 1763!

(this is one of my favorites.)

this is another of my favorites…it’s so…them! they’re silly and just have lots of FUN together. cindy laughs easily and often…and bert knows just what to do or say to make that happen.

these are also favorites…i really love that it shows the moffatt-ladd house in the background and some of the riotous color from the gardens that are on the harbor side of the street in front of the house. and yay for portsmouth and old-timey lampposts!

another shout out to portsmouth! yay tugboats!

this is the last one, i promise. i love portsmouth…it’s magical in the summer, and this view is so…portsmouth. that drawbridge in the background makes me happy (and not just because it leads to kittery, where my dear, blessed loco coco’s is located.)

c + b, thanks for making the LENGTHY trek down from york beach…on your VACATION…to hang out with me. it was lots of fun, and i hope you got those mojitos you were after!

dani was a bridesmaid at amanda & matt’s wedding almost 2 years ago…we bonded and have stayed in touch, and she assures me i was one of the first calls she made after greg proposed.  they’re getting married this july, so we met up this past weekend.  gail werner was in town to help me shoot naomi & paul’s wedding on saturday, so she came along, too…and we enjoyed how utterly magical new england is in the summer.

our first stop was plum island. we found a gross stingray…thing… i told grego as a man it was his job to turn it over so we could see it.

(this one might be my favorite from the entire session.)

this is one of gail’s that i quite like.

after we left the beach, it was time for a flatbread refueling visit before doing some more shooting around amesbury.

grego’s pizza was a little bit sad and decrepit…but it still tasted good (well, i am gathering it tasted good based on how quickly he downed it. being fabulous for the camera is hard work!)

aren’t they the cutest ever? and isn’t amesbury beautiful?

last but not least…i told dani i wanted to trade legs with her, but she didn’t seem open to the idea. i tried to talk to her about being flexible and willing to experience new things, but she just looked at me like i’d grown a 3rd head.

my very FAVORITE moment from our time together doesn’t have a picture, though…when i met dani, greg was deployed to iraq w/ the national guard…with my soft spot for the military and having some first hand experience with the sacrifices those serving and those at home make…i offered to team up with her and make an EXTRA SPECIAL surprise for greg…so, when he asked me at dinner if i do other types of photography other than weddings, i looked at him and said, “YOU should know. ”

dani & greg…can’t WAIT for the party next month!

jess & matt are getting married in maryland this june…but they live in NYC.  i was already going to be in town for alex & jen’s wedding, so we decided to make my trip count!

they were very patient with me as i was totally late.  most new yorkers know and love (and rely on) hopstop.com…which totally and completely let me down.  to the tune of walking 10+ minutes in the wrong direction to the WEST version of the street they live on…not EAST.  (which, incidentally, was a not-even-two minute walk from the subway.)  hop stop fail.  but, after crossing over all those famous streets…park avenue, madison avenue, the streets that seem like they don’t REALLY exist…they’re just for movies and books…yeah, i crossed over them TWICE…and finally made it to their place.

we set off to explore their little neighborhood (a friend who lives in NYC tried to tell me NY is just a bunch of small towns.  i did NOT believe her.  dover…dover, nh is a small town.  it is a delightful and small town.  there is nothing small about NYC.  but i digress.)  jess is one of those people who pays attention, and i love that.  she remembered a certain fence that had hearts in it, so of course we made that one of our stops.

we also checked out madison square park, which is just RIDICULOUSLY beautiful this time of year. (also, the line at the shake shack was pretty ridiculous.)

aren’t they smokin?! i basically want all of jess’s clothes. she works in the fashion industry, and the coat she changed into for the 2nd part of our session…well, i won’t tell you how many hours i’ve spent googling, hoping i can find a rift in the space-time continuum and buy it before it’s sold out.

matt made me PROMISE i would tell you guys that it was HIS idea that they stand in the middle of the road and get the view behind them. i would have given him his props anyway, but let me tell you something else…we grabbed dinner in the middle of our session, and i had an ordering FAIL, and was kind of pushing my food around on my plate, and that SAINT OF A MAN volunteered to give me his tasty food and eat what i didn’t want. for picky-eater-gwyn, that is like…i don’t even have words. he’s in my good book for FOREVER. also…duly noted, i don’t like pesto.

jess & matt, i had a great time hanging out with you…thanks for trespassing on the park lawn for me and my harebrained schemes…i can’t wait for your wedding in just a couple months!