gwyneth colleen photography » portsmouth, nh wedding photographer

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 visiting my sister and brother-in-law (and neffypoo!) in Columbus, MS for Thanksgiving.  Today, we frantically got ourselves ready and out the door to beat the fading daylight so I could get take some family portraits.  I am the WORST-AUNT-EVER, and I didn’t take one single non-camera-phone picture of neffypoo when he and my sister visited me in August.  So…I HAD to take pictures this time.

We headed to the historical downtown area for our mini-shoot.

first we have Bek-the-sister being adorable…

but josh & neffypoo wouldn’t be outdone.

And of course, I had to take the opportunity to get a few cute shots of just the happy parents.

Isn’t her headband CUTE? It’s her early Christmas present…and, uh, I definitely have the same one in my etsy cart right now.

My family is awesome…you want proof? My sister is going to make me an almond pound cake tomorrow, JUST BECAUSE she knows how much I love almond flavored desserts.

billi is in the army.  she’s been in iraq for the last several months, but in july she had r&r scheduled.  the army gives certain people scheduling priority.  i would say billi was one of those lucky few, but it’s not really lucky that she’s missed half of lauren’s first year.  but that’s not what they were thinking about when i spent time with them.  they were rejoicing that they could be together for lauren’s first birthday.

i met billi & lauren (and billi’s best friend and her son seth, who flew up from fort bragg for lauren’s birthday soiree) in kittery on a HOT july day.

i’m not a mom, but if i were, i couldn’t imagine how difficult it would be being separated from my baby for a year. billi, thank you so much for the enormous sacrifices you’ve made (and are still making) to serve this country. i appreciate your service, and it was an HONOR to capture this time in lauren’s life. i hope the pictures can in some small way make the rest of your separation easier.

(if you’re a photographer or military family interested in documenting the unique struggles and rewards of family life and military service, check out www.oplove.org)

back in june, i traveled down to charleston, sc to shoot with the fantastic tomme hilton. (yeah, um, i still need to blog about her…because this post isn’t about that.)
i went to charleston via fort bragg, nc (apparently kids these days call fayetteville “fayette-nam.” i’m not sure what connotation it’s supposed to carry, but i’m pretty sure it’s negative, and i’m CERTAIN it’s earned it. it’s not what anyone would call a “garden spot.” anyway…) my good friends roger & gina live there. you’ve seen gina and their blue-eyed daughters before, but now the fam is all together (!!), so we took the opportunity to do a photo session celebrating that.

gina and i did some scouting earlier in the day…and then, in the way these things go…didn’t use ANY OF THEM. but it’s ok! that’s one of the things i really like about this job. learning to let go of the ideas i had and take the situational lemons and make some ROCKIN’ lemonade. or lemon sorbet, or italian ice…or LEMON BARS. mmmmm. (and if it’s morning, i wouldn’t say no to a batch of lemon poppy seed muffins.)

(can you tell it’s almost 1am, and i am…distractable?)

r & g…you know i love you guys, and your little childrens…and i’d even let you set me up again. (but roger, let gina get to know him first next time. )