and now…a little after midnight, i’ve staved off my last meltdown of the day…if i hit another roadblock, i’ll probably start sobbing in rage or rip all my hair out (kind of like jimmy on raising hope. do you watch raising hope? you should. it’s HI-larious.)

i decided i needed an escape. and since an ACTUAL trip isn’t very practical (and i just got back from one, like, a week and a half ago…), i decided to relive my 48 hours in fiji in march 2009. want to come along?

i arrived just a little bit before sunset…i’d booked a bed in a hostel on the beach. i (wrongly) assumed that all beaches in fiji are 100% magic. it was crowded and dirty, and i was warned not to walk alone after dark. except…for a little while each day, even this beach was magic. then i laid in that hammock and looked up at the royal blue of the freshly fallen night sky, the twinkling stars, the green palm fronds sheltering me…though the night was mild and balmy with a whispering breeze…and it was more magic. until i couldn’t deny the fact that i’d gotten about 34 bug bites in the 5 minutes i laid there breathing in the magic. and dashed inside to watch the full season of scrubs i put on my laptop in preparation for travel.

the next morning, i dined on the patio. i had a big stack of pancakes and a bottle of fiji water…(when in rome? er…fiji?) which, mystery of mysteries…was imported. it’s bottled at the source, shipped off to some plant in australia or asia, and then returned to the tropical island paradise. i don’t understand either. after breakfast it was time to lounge by the pool. i lounged just a SMIDGE too long, though…and as a result, i’m pretty sure i had those “tan” lines for the better part of 2009. the other result was that sitting was fairly excruciating…here’s some free advice: DON’T LET YOUR ASS GET SUNBURNED 36 HOURS BEFORE YOU HAVE TO GET ON A 10 HOUR FLIGHT. it isn’t fun. as though God were agreeing and commiserating with me, after lunch it began to rain and rained the rest of the day. i had a legitimate excuse to stay in my room and try not to let anything touch the back of my legs.

morning two dawned bright and sunny for the one excursion i had time to take. this wasn’t a real visit to fiji…it was just me taking advantage of a free stopover. stopovers are genius. next time you fly internationally, ask if there are any free stopovers available…24-48 hours in a random country along the way? ok! i was picked up by an indian man driving a minibus taxi…i’m pretty sure he proposed. i thanked him and declined. we picked up people from many other hostels and resorts and finally reached a dock on a river. this was all happening in fijian time…which, i’m pretty sure, is even slower than hawai’ian time. but everyone smiles HUGELY while they wait. why wouldn’t they? we made it onto the boat…a rag tag, decidedly non-homogenized group of tourists off to play castaway for a day. i spent most of the boat ride trying to figure out how to sit in such a way that i didn’t want to die. i never quite managed it. we arrived at the island and were encouraged to relax, take out a kayak, go for a swim, visit some sea turtles (which weren’t actually there. it was just a joke those crazy fijians play on the whiteys. which was actually hilarious, so…fair play to the crazy fijians! if you want to hear the story, shoot me an email, i’m already writing too much!) they climbed coconut palms and chopped down a green coconut for anyone interested…i tried the milk. do not want. they also showed us how to scrape the meat out…and then, THOSE CRAZY FIJIANS! they walked on fire. like…barefoot across burning coals. and then they dug up the roasting pig underneath and fed us. and then they danced. oh they danced. with swords/clubs, without weapons…with fire, without fire. lots of dancing and lots of smiles.

some of my favorite pictures from that day are the ones of the island as we said farewell. it doesn’t even quite look real. and yet…i spent a day there, so i know it is. i might go back to fiji someday…or maybe i’ll go to rarotonga or samoa or tokelau. either way, I’M TOTALLY BRINGING MY SUNSCREEN, YOU GUYS!

bye fiji…thanks for helping me kick these winter doldrums tonight.

this lovely and happy woman is the generous soul on whose property the wedding took place. her son is next to her…and he rang a bell after the ceremony (see below!) which i LOVED.

can i just say…i LOVE jewish weddings…the horah is AWESOME. also…i go to a lot of weddings…and most weddings are full of people who love to dance. but…NOT LIKE THESE PEOPLE. right after the horah, they played “i gotta feeling” by the black eyed peas…i have honestly never seen anything like it.mmmm, refreshing!

jess + matt…thanks for the adventures last year! from crashing movie sets in NYC to seeing osprey nests in maryland, i had a great time being part of your celebration and documenting your love.

i was in TX…

NYC…

boston (chinatown!)…

connecticut…and then again…

maine’s central coast…twice!

pennsylvania…

new hampshire…

key west…

northern mass…

southern maine…

and i ended up my season in nh…close to home. (no seriously portsmouth, dover, kittery brides…call me! i’m totally ok with the 20 minute drive!)

it was a great year…with lots of miles racked up…in the air and in the car. i’m so grateful to do what i do and to get to see so much of the world doing it. lucky lucky girl am i!

first up in september, january and i flew to PA to be with lindsey & brian.

the next weekend i was up in maine at sebasco harbor resort with ben & debbie.

had a weekend off to prepare for the NEXT weekend…

friday i was surrogate shooter for christa who couldn’t shoot her best friend’s wedding because of being matron of honor…i know…weak excuse.  :-P

saturday morning i was up bright and early to photograph leah’s bat mitzvah…the party was at the portsmouth pearl, which is a super cool venue i’d never even heard of!

first wedding of october was my beloved jess & pete.  oh how i love them.  and we had some lovely light there by the three chimneys inn in durham…

didn’t even have to wait a full week for the next fabulous fall wedding…jess & seth got married on friday at the willowdale estate…another amazing venue i’d never worked at previously…(but fully intend to again!)

saturday morning up bright and early…earlier than i would have liked for sure…to catch a flight to key west for alanna & bobby’s wedding part 1.

i feel like the only way this could be more key west…is if i’d found her some drag queens to pose with.  :-D  the parrot is a little more photogenic, though…

had a rather more…adventuresome…trip home than i’d have liked…(upshot to getting stuck in miami overnight:  friend you haven’t seen in over a decade…and yardhouse happy hour.  but then this past saturday was sarah & zach’s big day…i was so excited for this one…me love them long time…and sarah, well, she is so ridiculously stunning.  i told her if i didn’t love her so much, i’d hate her.  (her other friends totally agree.  :-D)

so…today’s another crazy busy day, so i’d better quit blogging and get back to work!

they chose an amazingly breathtakingly gorgeous venue for their party.  they got married at the point lookout resort in northport, maine…and let me tell you…it was AWESOME.  the food was GREAT, and all of the resort staff could NOT have been more helpful.  there are lots of rustic and charming cabins on site for guests to stay in…if you’re looking for a mid-coast maine venue…this place kicks ass.

the views yesterday were obscured by some CRAZY fog…which meant we couldn’t see the spectacular ocean views, but the fog added mystery and whimsy to the day.

waiting to see greg for the first time in her wedding finery.

anticipation!

after they saw each other and took a few minutes to breathe and say, “this is really happening!” it was time to take a few portraits.

isn’t she gorgeous? and isn’t their love lovely?

good lookin’ bridal party, huh?!

dani had her heart set on peonies for her bouquet…problem is…peonies aren’t a july flower. but her mother-in-law discovered that if you pick peony buds and leave them in the fridge (for up to 3 months!) they’ll keep…you just take them out of the fridge 3 days or so before you want to use them so they’ll open up. her bouquet turned out SOOO pretty! (and, i’m sorry, but i have to brag a little…i went up early on thursday and my awesome 2nd shooter and i (thanks allison!) stripped the flowers and made all those pretty bridesmaid bouquets during the rehearsal dinner. seriously proud of them. )

what’s that? you want a closer-up view? ok. i can accommodate that.

sometimes…brides want to take their veils off after the ceremony. and sometimes…i go ahead and hang onto them for them. and sometimes…this is what i look like.

(i’m not sure if i’m proud or chagrined that this is NOT the only picture of me that i have like this.)

when there are guests at a wedding that i know from previous weddings i’ve shot…i always try to make it a point to take an updated picture for them. amanda & matt were previous clients, and kristen now has herself a rob…and she was one of amanda’s bridesmaids.

dani’s mom made all the table runners (and the ring bearer’s pillow. and the FOUR flower girl dresses. and the ribbon cuffs for all of the bouquets), her bridesmaids (and a groomsman) helped with boutonnieres and table arrangements, and a bunch of us worked on the centerpieces for the guest tables. i told you dani’s SPECIAL…the way everyone came together to help her achieve her vision is proof ten times over of how loved she is.

there’s a lot more that i could show you, but i feel a bit like a runaway train already.
dani & greg…you two are marvelous, and i love you bunches! thanks SO much for inviting me to be a part of your day, and thanks for INSISTING we join the party. have an AMAZING time on your cruise & make sure i see you before you leave for PA!
(and thanks again to the awesome allison who flew up from savannah to help rock this wedding.)

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!

i love all my clients, but houston + christy are special. i was introduced to them by one of my besties…and they welcomed me into their little community down in montrose. i joined them for their new year’s eve celebration…i saw houston practice his mad bar tending skillz…(let’s be honest…i drank the fruits of said practice.) i’ve met their kitty…slept in their spare bedroom…i did christy’s hair for their engagement session…was there the morning she had to go see the seamstress about getting her dress altered. when i say they invited me to join in their celebration, i mean, i really became a part of it…i become friends with most of my clients, but some become friends for life. houston + christy fall into that category.

they chose to see one another before the ceremony, and it was beautiful. tensions run high on a wedding day, and these two’s cares visibly melted away when they saw each other. “oh, it’s you.”

we then had time to do portraits of the smokin’ hot (hobbit) couple…as all their friends call them. (hey! i can say it b/c christy and i are the same height!)

anyone who knows houston will laugh, because this is just SO HIM. and christy is just…stunning.

christy and her best friends watching all the guests arrive.

christy’s father was ill and unable to be there, so houston went and met her halfway, and they continued to the altar together.

they took communion as part of their ceremony, and christy forgot that she was doing this in front of a hundred plus people and pulled a nice healthy bite of bread from the loaf. the assembled guests then waited very patiently while she chewed. and chewed. and chewed. (and giggled quite a lot in between.) moments like this…the unscripted “mistakes” are often the parts of the wedding day that people hold most dear in their memories.

i like to remind grooms…”when you kiss her, make it count! a quick little peck doesn’t work for photos!” houston’s response? “don’t worry; i’ve done this before. kissing! that is.”

this couple got married just a couple weeks after christy + houston, and they said this is their favorite picture of them ever. i’m hoping that’s not true anymore, now that they’ve got wedding pictures! capturing moments of connection between friends and family at the party contributes to telling the story of the entire day.

houston’s grandpa. don’t you kind of want him to be your grandpa, too?

(thanks to the guys who decorated their car for setting me up for this one!)

yesterday’s wedding was uh-mazing. no…that’s not extreme enough. it was AMAZING.

here’s one of my favorite shots from the day…but there are LOTS of other incredible photos.

today i met up with jess & matt who’re getting married in a couple months in maryland. we wandered around and enjoyed spring in NYC.

i’ve gotta give props to both these fantastic couples…jen hiked over some rather sizable boulders…in her wedding dress! (she agrees the photos are SO worth it, though) and jess & matt didn’t blink when i suggested we ignore fences…and hop up on a vintage truck that was waiting around to be on a movie set. YOU ALL ROCK.

and now. i think i will go to sleep.

they’re getting married in (less than 2 weeks! jen–3 more days till your wedding day is on the 10 day forecast!) in DUMBO, and i could not be more excited and inspired to capture their wedding day… the original plan was to do their engagement session the day before the wedding…revisiting the tulip garden in central park-where alex proposed! but they got to thinking and realized, “oh, hey, the day before our wedding might be just a LITTLE insane.”

so i made a whirlwind trip to the city that never sleeps and spent some time getting to know these two…and their delightful mountaineering cats, penny and portia.

i love both of these next two…the first one was shot with a long lens (100mm @ 2.8) and the second was shot closer with a wider angle, faster aperture lens (35 1.8). i love how different they are…when all i did was switch lenses and take a couple steps forward. i think the 2nd one is my favorite from the whole session…and that’s saying something! it is just MAGICAL to me.

it felt great to get out there and be shooting people in love…and to be blessed with such adorableness in such an inspiring city…it was well worth the whirlwind trip! see you again soon, guys!

(this one might be my favorite from our time at the museum…)
houston used to volunteer at the lone star flight museum, so the location was extra meaningful to him. unfortunately, “his” plane…WHICH HE HAS ACTUALLY FLOWN! was in an area which was off-limits to us, so we were unable to utilize it for any photos.

after the museum, we headed toward downtown galveston for a few more images. christy was SUCH a trouper…she was in intense pain and was scheduled for a root canal the next day, but she persisted and smiled through her agony!

aaaannnndd….roll credits.

they started day 1 of their “happily ever after” last saturday, so their wedding will be up here before too long! it was a glorious day full of love and joy and community.

but that switch has been flipped, and after this trip, europe seems like the most wonderful and intoxicating place on the planet. (well, maybe not MOST…but it’s my current geographical craving.) i fully intend to return to europe for longer than 5 days and let the history and cobblestones seep through my shoes and into my soul.

day 5 started off on top of the alp with that crystal clear view i’d been hoping for.

from inside the room.

then had to grab one last pain au chocolat for breakfast before descending the alp.

i won’t tell you how many shots i took or how long i stood there waiting for the flag to unfurl JUST RIGHT.

i went to 3 h&m’s looking for a particular jacket…which, i could have gotten for less in the US, but i bought in switzerland on principle. i needed to have SOMETHING from my whirlwind trip to europe. i did find it, though! (mine’s red.)

after my shopping was completed…i set about exploring geneva. i only had about 4 hours until i needed to catch the train back to the airport for my flight out, but i managed to cover quite a bit of ground.

(this one MIGHT be my favorite from the day…and the water really is crazy blue.)

i love this one and the next one a whole lot as well.

these two totally don’t go together. the first one is all, “yay, pretty europe,” and the second…well, it is wrong on about 100 different levels.

JP suggested swinging by strassbourg on my way back to switzerland…in theory, this was good advice…which i intended to take. however, google maps decided that i should go through strassbourg on the way to germany…and enjoy their rush hour traffic…but it sent me back south through germany. so, on a whim, i got off at an exit. and followed signs i couldn’t read, hoping i’d find something delightful to see. i was most definitely successful…and not having ANY IDEA where i was or the name of the town added a bit of spice to my adventure.

the church on the left is in the town i came to first on my detour…it had a map just next to it…there was a castle icon, so i decided to see if i could meander my way there…i’m still not sure if i wound up there or somewhere else. ? the one on the right is in neuleiningen, the town where i finally wound up. (i figured this out by taking a picture of every sign i saw and googling when i got home.)

picture perfect german town.

wouldn’t you eat germany countryside flavored ice cream if ben and jerry’s invented that variety?

i was very happy to be standing in front of a german castle.

if these two images don’t make you want to explore, i don’t know if we could be friends.

godzilla’s practice run before he took on tokyo.

i like to think this was a prison pit. i mean, any self-respecting german castle would need one, right? on the right is the view through the bars looking up.

i am a giant dork of a wedding photographer, and i can’t help looking at this and thinking that it would be a super cool spot for a ceremony.

postcard! (seriously, fall colors…tile roofs…there is even a freaking river wending its way through the valley.)

i think this is the first hint of blue sky i saw the entire trip!

got a LITTLE too into driving european style and failed to notice that i was very nearly out of gas. don’t worry…this was taken at the gas station when i turned the car back on to show the dangerously empty tank.

every day i was there, i prayed that i’d get to see a clear view from the balcony. the night before i was due to leave…God said, “ok.” and it was still clear in the morning when i woke up! stay tuned for those images. they’re pretty freaking spectacular.

(and i bought an underwater point and shoot to play with while i’m there…i’m sure i’ll have a few vacation snapshots to share!)

i woke up to a view of the mountains still obscured by clouds.

headed to bern to have lunch with…wait for it…a girl i met in new zealand feb 2009…when i was visiting the YWAM base outside christchurch from my 2009 nz hq in auckland. thanks to fb…we were still in contact and managed to connect for a homemade lunch of spaghetti. i got lost in bern, too. google maps were not terribly helpful…my almost-dead cell phone was, though…and worth the $1.50/minute i paid to get talked in to my destination. in my driving around the city, i saw the best. thing. ever.

that right there is a dog…carrying his master’s basket full of…whatever. i would really quite enjoy having a dog follow me around carrying stuff for me.

i finally made it to my destination in germany after…you guessed it…getting lost. did i mention it’s worth bringing a GPS if you’re gonna drive around europe? it is.
my friend JP suggested dinner at the nearby castle. because when you’re in europe…”we’re up to here in effing castles. sometimes we just long for a bungalow.” (the language might be offensive to some. but it is very very funny.)
anyway…we went to kusel castle…which is, of course, quite spectacular.

i had steak and pommes frites. which were delectable.

on the right is…um, i can’t remember the name. but it is a beer + sprite mix…which is actually much better than you’d expect. it’s named for bicycle riders…refreshing to drink in the summer without leading to intoxication and bike-falling-off-of.

and then…oh then…THEN i had the best dessert i think i’ve ever put in my face.

fresh, warm, crispy apfel strudel. omg. just…go to germany. eat some. as soon as you possibly can. the ticket over there is worth it.

then we went back and drank booze and watched eddie izzard. which is never a wasted evening.

the pictures from day 4 are a little more exciting and visually appealing. but not as mouthwatering.

shortly after taking the image on the left…i fell right on my butt…and missed landing in the stream by a matter of inches. i still had a nice snowy mud mixture on my bum for the rest of the day.

it was crazy foggy on top of the mountain which made everything seem quiet and sacred.

i saw a tiny little trail branching off the road and…decided to take it. the forest felt peaceful and serene…or like it SHOULD feel peaceful and serene…but the sound of jackhammers down the mountain a ways marred the experience a bit.

i call this “a picture of quiet”

after an evening outing to get a crepe (when in europe…), went for a walk in the snowy night.

don’t the snowflakes make this look like queen anne’s lace?

i arrived in geneva sunday morning…driving on the a1 toward the alp on top of which i would be staying…i felt exhilarating satisfaction. i highly recommend it…being somewhere halfway across the globe but self-sufficient and independent…the entire world at your fingertips. it’s one of the best things i’ve ever felt…(and i’m lucky to have felt it more than once!) (also…major props to europe…i don’t think you can even get an automatic rental. as opposed to the USA where you can’t get a manual if you ask for one.)

anyway, i arrived on top of the alp and said, “let’s drive to france!” so we did…my traveling companion said, “you know, if we do a 100km loop, we can stop in italy for dinner.” so we did. it was a 4 country day…(UK, switzerland, france, italy and back.)

a random bridge and river we encountered on our search for the motorway. signs in europe are not terribly intuitive…it took me awhile to figure them out…and hitting a new country (w/ different signs) every few hours on my drives certainly didn’t help. i spent a fair amount of time being lost. if i were going to do it again, i would DEFINITELY spring for the european maps for my GPS. on the plus side…i did see stuff i wouldn’t have seen on purpose. )

view of an alp from a tiny little french village…pulled off into a parking lot because the allure of this steeple proved to be too much for me.

another view i would not have experienced without misadventure. driving along we saw a cable car and decided spontaneously…let’s find it and go for a ride! (we did not find it…) we pulled over to take photos of the cable cars and the mountain which they climbed. my friend tapped on the window and advised me to turn around. my jaw literally dropped…if you look at the upper right corner, you can see a glimpse of what i think is mont blanc…which we later drove through on our way to italy. also…tolls in europe are a beyotch!

one of my favorite things about europe is that pretty much everyone drinks fizzy water instead of flat. they ask you, “with gas, or without?”

i’m pretty sure they weren’t actually open yet, but this delightful gentleman ushered us in and served us some delicious pizza…and smiled the whole way through our comedy of errors (think laurel & hardy) conversation wherein i was asking for crushed red pepper. i felt like it would be rude to ask him in spanish…so i tried english and hand gestures…until i finally asked in spanish…which totally worked. (but before it did…i was offered regular pepper, spicy oil, and my favorite…ketchup.)

i’m pretty sure this man’s name is luigi…what else could it be, right?

pizza oven!

i was pretty exhausted at this point…3 hrs sleep in the pre-security area of heathrow’s terminal 5 doesn’t go very far…but much more excited than i look about real italian gelato!

day 2 shall be coming soon!

Also, I highly recommend Zach as expedition-master. He does things most people wouldn’t…but it makes it a way, way good time. (For instance, during low tide in NS, the morning after the wedding, we were walking on the tidal flats…getting attacked by crabs, digging up oysters…the usual. He found a shrimp…and because he was “in character” as the crocodile hunter, he ate it. I believe his exact quote was, “The regret I feel from that decision is intense and ongoing.” or something like that. PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT: Do not eat raw, unpeeled, living shrimp.

Some of these pictures are theirs nicked from facebook, so please forgive the aesthetically inferior formatting.

My foot being attacked by a crab. He was really going after me…unfortunately for him, those boots of Sarah’s were, like…kevlar or something. A wimpy little crab wasn’t going to make much of a dent.

Then we hopped a ferry to PEI. AWESOMETASTIC fact about PEI…you only have to pay to leave there. We took a car ferry…4 people + vehicle…for FREEEE! (It costs about $45 to drive back across the bridge to New Brunswick…but I liked our ferry + bridge circuit.)

(I was having a crazy good hair day. so flat. so not frizzy. Amazing.)

Stella was totally into the ferry.

There’s a winery on PEI that shares Sarah’s last name…so that was our first top. They had a friendly winery dog that was…seriously…the cutest dog I have ever seen in my life. Also, he won points because he TACKLED zach. SRSLY. Was a takedown. It was wicked awesome. (Unfortunately, I do not have photographic evidence.)

Stella totally agreed that he was super awesome.

Zach & Sarah convinced me to take a 24 hour hiatus from my no-sugar-October-plan because when in PEI…you MUST eat Cows.

in the corner…that’s gooey mooey. There’s some crazy high ratio of caramel to ice cream.

I’m going to need to go back sometime…I was racing to beat the clock so I could still eat my ice cream within my 24 hour time limit…so, I was eating that ice cream at about 10:30 in the morning…TOO EARLY. (I KNOW! I wouldn’t have thought that was possible either.) I…I can’t believe this is even true, but…I didn’t even finish my ice cream! I threw more than half of it away!

Then it was time to head to Green Gables!

Anne’s room. It’s not at all how I pictured it!

After that we had to indulge Zach’s manly expeditionary heart…headed over to the coast for some adventuring.

Zach running down the sand dunes near Cavendish.

me preparing to run down the dunes near Cavendish.

me being awesome-but out of focus-after running the dunes.

me running out on a cliff near Cavendish. All the roads/dirt on PEI are this red color. It’s kind of awesome. Especially when it turns the ocean that color. Surreal to wake up to! O NOES! It’s a plague! Oh. Wait. JUST KIDDING.

and then we stopped in the middle of the road because a fox wanted to come say hello. (That shadow is the shadow of our car.)

This post is already out of control, so I’ll stop here, but stay tuned for the portraits of the super cute Zach+Sarah+Stella family!

last weekend i went up to the maritimes to photograph the amazing and wonderful sean & sarah.  perhaps you remember amanda & matt?  well, amanda’s maid of honor was sarah.  i stayed in touch with her and her boyfriend zach through facebook (wooo, facebook!)  zach works with sean…who happened to be engaged to a different sarah.  zach sent me a message asking if i was available 10/10…and the rest is history.

i’ve got a LOT of favorites from this wedding.  so, please bear with me. 

i started the day off with sean, and his brother/best man sandy.

i know. sandy SHOULD be a male model. i already told him so.

sean really wanted a picture of the two of them…in wellies, of course…down in this boggy marsh area. of course i said, “sure! let’s go for it!”

when you’re in the middle of rural nova scotia…you can walk up the middle of the road, and it’s no big deal.

then we headed back to the family farm (where the wedding was taking place) for one of my favorite parts of the day: the first time the groom sees his bride. when i was going through the images, i had to keep every single one from the series. i don’t know if i’ve ever seen a more emotional first look.

the moms and sarah’s sister and friends looked on. i don’t think any of them had dry eyes!

next up was bride & groom portrait time. my other favorite part of the day! (shut up. i have a lot of favorites.)

(yes, this does look beautiful and romantic…but it was also sort of practical. it POURED the day before the wedding and drizzled off and on the day of, so sean was protecting poor sarah’s dress. very gallant, no?)

we headed over to sarah’s family’s cottage…they lived in halifax, but the essence of their family resides at this cottage. her dad was there, so i made him turn around before he could look at her.

then sarah got carried around the yard for some more photo ops. in keeping with his forebears, sean scrapped the romantic threshhold carry and went for the village raiding method.

sarah doesn’t look like she minds much, does she?

sean works for the canadian version of REI…most of his friends are of the intrepid, wilderness-junkie types. there was a whole village of TENT-CAMPERS. in the muddy, wet, wet, wet fields. and yet, they look so happy! amazing.

k-ris and megan–you guys are my heroes.

the fam has a vintage, mint jag that was slotted for the getaway vehicle. and sarah looks totally fierce, right?

continuing in the transportation theme…i actually flagged sean down as he was whizzing around the property on this old scooter…photo op time!

sean’s dad showed up in military bagpiper regalia…which, of course, was AWESOME.

i thought this image of sean’s mom, carol, perfectly encapsulated the feel of the day. no one let the elements win. everything was still graceful and beautiful and elegant…but the boots were never far from reach.

i could, of course, keep going, but since i think there are already 30 something photos in this post, i’ll stop. it was an amazing day, and everyone made me feel so welcome and included. their families were simply amazing…no one let the rain or changed plans get them down.  ugh.  i’m leaving so much out…basically, i love canada & sean & sarah (& zach & sarah for the introduction!)

next up:  my adventures with zach & sarah & baby stella around the maritimes.  (yeah, i went to green gables.)

look at the legs on that one!  whoooooohee!  she promised me she could do anything in those shoes that i could possibly ask her to do…(i tested her on that a little later in the evening.)

and now…my favourite from the session…

ashlee & jesse…you two are wonderful, and i can’t wait to laugh laugh laugh some more with you in just a couple months.  aah!  this year is flying by!