gwyneth colleen photography » portsmouth, nh wedding photographer

alex + jen’s wedding was just…cool. there’s really no other word for it. it was COOL.  their ceremony was at brooklyn bridge park…and i loved loved LOVED shooting there.  for the reception, we walked a few hundred feet to the galapagos art space.  again…it’s just…COOL.

(and the coolness was definitely upped by having one of the COOLEST photographers i know come shoot with me. thanks again, mike!  also, disclaimer:  where i remember, i have noted which shots are his, but there are probably some that are his that i’m just not sure about.)

she bought her (cool) dress off etsy.  they had vegetarian asian food with disposable bamboo dishes.  and chopsticks!  pretty chopsticks.  i dunno, it was just…cool.  see?

site of the ceremony…ridiculous, no?

(i think this one might be mike’s…)

so…i have to give jen some MAJOR props…kudos…accolades…whatever vocab word you want to use, she deserves them all.  the part of the park i wanted to shoot in?  yeah…it wasn’t so much “open” as it was “gated and chained with a padlock.”  HOWEVER!  no problem!  just climb through these bushes, and down these enormous boulders, onto a beach, and then back up some more boulders and voila!  we’re there!  and jen was totally up for it.  and…the resulting images are SO worth all of our clambering around.

(this is DEFINITELY one of mike’s…i love it!)

i couldn’t get enough of those bridges or the skyline!  so amazing.

(i think this is another one of mike’s…so beautiful.)

ok…i will try to tear myself away from the gorgeousness that is alex + jen, and move on to the gorgeousness of the location they chose.

i love father-daughter dances.  :-D

i’m about 98% sure alex is playing air guitar, here.

as our time was wrapping up, we took the bridal party outside for a couple more fun shots w/ the ny skyline behind us.  and the result is…HELLO CAST OF LOST!  (well, *i* think it looks like that, anyway.)

this might be a record: blogging a wedding the same week i sent the images to the clients! (ok, no…i HAVE done this before, but i’m a delinquent blogger, so i haven’t done it ENOUGH.)

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!)

i’m sitting in my hotel room in brooklyn (not sleeping when i SHOULD be; i have a long drive home tomorrow.)

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.

erin & tom got married last august (yes, i’m still working on catching up) in littleton, nh and had their reception at the AMAZING sunset hill house in sugar hill, nh. i was drooling over the grounds and views…every direction i turned was amazingly beautiful. and then, of course, there were erin & tom and their incredibly good-looking friends and family. all in all, it was a pretty much perfect day.

when i got there, erin was pretty much ready. i didn’t mind, as it gave us time to get some amazing photos before we headed off to the church.

can you believe this amazingness? no? me neither.

i love this image of erin’s parents/grandparents singing during the ceremony.

man and wife, say man and wife! (sorry, i just recently read “the princess bride”…and then followed it up by watching the movie. btw…the book is highly recommended!)

this may be one of my favorite bridal party pictures EVER. however…let me just tell you what i was doing to GET this image. 1. i was straddling the other side of the bride. i think most of those guys were on the balls of their feet ready to dash across the bride to grab me in case i looked like i was going over. (they were being overly cautious. benefit to being short: awesome center of gravity/balance!) 2. holding the camera OVER my head to get enough space between the subjects and the lens to fit them all in there. this was one lucky snap. it’s hard to frame something when you can’t SEE it! anyway, i think it was all worth it, don’t you agree?

another behind the scenes look: (which will not be surprising to anyone i have photographed before) i was laying on the ground to get this shot. my hs volleyball coach used to yell at me for diving for the ball instead of moving my feet, but…it’s working for me NOW, isn’t it miss strain!

how much do you love the seersucker suits? (correct answer: SO MUCH!)

one of the problems with being a delinquent blogger is you sometimes forget the story behind the photo…like, there’s a reason they’re drinking beer (i want to say it’s because…they really like beer. and they were thirsty, but it MIGHT be more meaningful…but i am a delinquent blogger, so i can’t remember.) also, the 2004 sign on the bridge is perfect, because that is the year they met. or got together. something important. (see: delinquent blogger.)

isn’t she beautiful? erin, you’re beautiful. (and tom, you’re very dapper!)

i’m just gonna say…there’s a reason why certain songs are always played at weddings.

and last but not least…the ring shot.

does this really need a caption?