how cute is she?!  (answer:  so cute.)

dan is an aspiring filmmaker trapped in a soul-sucking 9-5…so dover’s own strand theatre seemed like a fitting backdrop for these two…especially with their ensembles…

i told them to be moviestars posing for the papparazzi before the premiere of their new film…dan promises me he’s going to photoshop the name of his movie into the marquee above them…

if you looked at their facebooks, you’d see them with jumping pictures…everywhere.  they travel a lot…and mel’s working on a jumping with dan & mel around the world (or something like that.  her title is better.)  so i HAD to get at least one jumping shot.

i didn’t really tell them what to do here…but i love it…

(yes, i know.  i am the luckiest girl ever to live in new england, in such a charming, magical town.)

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?

jess & peter live in sunny-ish LA these days, but peter is from durham…so they are planning from afar for a fall nh wedding. they were in town for christmas, so i twisted their arms to come play in the snow with me.

doesn’t this make you want to PLAY?

ok, so…there are a few things to note about this picture.
1) they are adorable.
2) when i said, “um, will you maybe lay in the snow?” there was NO hesitation. love.
3) her ring is still on her finger.
4) snow makes fingers shrink.
5) her ring did not STAY on her finger.
6) i found it, though! in the snow! and it is a darn good thing, too…because otherwise i probably would have lived with eternal guilt.
7) did i already mention the cuteness?

jess and peter were champs on a really, really, really freaking COLD day…i’m looking forward to getting them in front of my camera again when it’s not a single digit temperature! can’t wait, guys! also…if i weren’t headed somewhere sunny and warm in less than a week, i’d be way more jealous of you guys living in sunny california right now.

*guilt, guilt, guilt*

a lot has happened this month.  i had tomme hilton and january newbanks fly in to shoot weddings with me…and oh, monday was my birthday.  my best friend came up (with her baby and almost-3-year-old-who-likes-to-sleep-in-boxes-when-she-visits)

she gave me the most beautiful fascinator for my birthday.  (please excuse the mobile upload picture.)

(brides looking for something special for your wedding day hair-do…check out that link.  lo boheme’s etsy store has some GORGEOUS bridal fascinators.  i covet…most of them.)

today i had a shoot on a garlic farm!  the wonderful allison and jon gave me some of their (very own, handmade) garlic powder and some of the largest non-elephant garlic you’ll ever see.  (pictured behind the garlic are some of the apples i picked for my day-after-my-birthday traditional apple-picking outing.  if you live in the northeast and have never tried macouns…hurry up and rectify that!  best apples EVAR.)

and, for allison, my loyal blog-reader and guilt-inducer…here are a couple teasers from today!

sarah went on ahead of us…she has no idea what’s about to happen! (she DID say later that we were walking along talking very chummily. )

sarah & jeff are really good friends of mine. the circumstances around their wedding/engagement are pretty funny…jeff’s finishing up his PhD and just got offered a job teaching at his alma mater…so they decided in the space of about 3 weeks to get married in 2 months…the week before they move! so…they’re planning their wedding, they’ve made deposits (secured the photographer!)…and jeff still hadn’t proposed. sarah and i eat lunch every thursday, and i’ve taken to asking her every time we speak, “are you engaged yet?!” when i asked her yesterday, she said, “no. i really think he’s going to do it the night before!” i giggled in my head because *i* knew when he was gonna pop the question!

we planned to go ahead and do the engagement session anyway…which proved to be perfect timing for jeff. (and extra ironic for me! sarah and i actually discussed whether i should offer to hide in the bushes when jeff proposed…but she said she didn’t think jeff would go for it. so when i got his email a couple weeks ago suggesting that very thing, i was bemused and excited.)

she’s been wearing the ring anyway, so even though he asked for it back before kneeling…she was still surprised!

a gleeful post-engagement twirl…first it was sarah’s turn…then jeff’s!

stay tuned for a post with photos from the rest of their session!

oh oh!  additional fun trivia…like i said, they’re really close friends of mine, so when i was talking to jeff about possible locations, i said, “which beach was it where you first said, ‘i…’  wait.  am i supposed to know that?”  so, this is the beach where they first told each other, “i love you.”  even though it was a horrible, gross, grey, cloudy and cold day, it was worth it to go somewhere that had so much meaning to them together.

this was possibly the most rewarding session i have ever photographed!

2. they are getting married on the beach and having their reception on a steamboat. in rye and portsmouth! all of those things also make me extremely happy. i love it when i only have a 20 minute drive home after a long day of work! and the beach…and a boat? AWESOME.

3. they hadn’t even signed a contract yet, but i said, “y’know…if we’re getting together anyway, let’s just do your engagement photos…” they’re getting married in less than 2 months, and i figured it would be easier to do it now than schedule another time to get together to do it. the sky started rumbling ominously and turning greyer and greyer. by the time i arrived, it was downpouring. guess prescott park was out as a photo location…no matter! they fulfilled 3 dreams for me…

exhibit a: starbucks window seat (which is not actually so much a seat as much as a large ledge where they put out free area maps)

exhibit b: where do you go when it’s raining? a parking garage…duh. there’s really interesting colour/texture/lighting in parking garages…promise.

i love this one in both b&w and colour…it’s just so peaceful, intimate, and all around delicious, don’t you think?

exhibit c: getting a couple to dance in the rain

this was, hands down, the fastest session i’ve ever done…but it was like the stars aligned and everything just WORKED. in every session, i usually reach a point where i just know i’ve got enough to work with…it’s just NEVER happened so quickly before!

amanda & matt…i can’t wait for your wedding…i’m so excited about EVERYTHING you’ve got planned! (and amanda…thanks for dancing in the rain for me. i hope you think the photos are worth the wet!)

we met this past monday to do some engagement photos in manchester, nh.

joshua & julia…i can’t wait for your portsmouth wedding in…omigosh…8 days! i love that you’re eloping in the catholic church…i love that you’re having a panera picnic in the park (not the least because it’s so alliterative)…see you soooooon!

(oh, and thanks for making out in the red phone box for me. )

shane recently came back from a deployment…and they had to move, like…immediately. they’re now stationed in “balmy” (haha!) corpus christi, tx…so they were THRILLED that they had a trip scheduled to new england to meet with all their vendors. portsmouth is right on the way up to maine where most of their appointments were, so we got together and had a BLAST (culminating with a delicious dinner at the friendly toast…)

there’s also the fact that…there are some couples that make my job so easy. i don’t even have to direct them…i’m still working out my settings, and then i look up and what i wanted them to do…they’re already doing. i remarked on their lovey-doveyness to nicki, and she said shane’s gone so much for work they don’t ever get sick of each other. one of the perks of military life…hey–there’ve gotta be SOME, right?

without further ado, the unbelievably photogenic, nicki & shane:

sharing the last dregs of shane’s mango smoothie at the toast…with picturesque portsmouth in the reflection.

this first photo…is one of my ALL TIME favourites. we saw the sax player playing at the end of the pier, and i remarked that we’d have to incorporate him somehow…as i said it, he packed up and started leaving. but nicki…bless her, piped up, “sir, if you stay and play for us, i will tip you greatly!” it was much better with him knowing he was in the shot…

see? no direction whatsoever…i just let them do their thing. (also, you can’t see it because the background is blurred out, but this angle looks onto the portsmouth naval shipyard. there’s a watertower with a big NAVY sign. i thought i would be SUPER FUNNY and have that in the frame…because marines LOOOOOVE to be reminded that they are ACTUALLY…just navy boys. (my dad was navy, so i take particular pleasure in reminding marines of this.)

by nicki’s request…this is the ring shot she wanted. heh.

that bridge goes right over to maine…she’d just told me how much she liked it, so i’m glad we got a few shots that incorporate it. it’s kind of iconic in portsmouth, even if it is awkward and green and rusty.

playing with texture a little bit (on the right…just in case that wasn’t clear. )

nicki and shane…i can’t wait for your wedding…and the SABER ARCH!!!

!!

!

anyway, they drove up to portsmouth yesterday, and we had a FANTASTIC time. i couldn’t get over how different kris was on the phone vs how he was in person. on the phone, he was very academic and proper sounding…in person…well, let’s just say i have almost as many outtakes where was making some ridiculous face or pretending to eat kristen’s head as i do keepers. his explanation/excuse? “i’m a gemini.” (he had to explain the whole “twin…2 people in one body…? nothing?” to me. for the record, i’m not much into astrology, but he definitely did have…variety…in his personas. )

also, these two are TALL! i am 5’3″. that, in case you didn’t know, is NOT tall. also…i have a sprained ankle, so i was hobbling about. put a definite cramp in my “climb on stuff!” style of shooting. but we got some great shots, and i got to explore new parts of portsmouth i hadn’t shot in before (in the name of gwyn-not-walking-too-much.) all in all, i’d say it was a resounding success!

without further ado:

also, i think this was a record for me…shoot one day, DONE the next? wow. go me.

anyway, they just got married on 1/19 at the bedford village inn in bedford, nh. and it was a FANTASTIC party! their family made me feel SOOOO welcome and included in the festivities; they were absolutely lovely. i mean…jess’s (jess’…? how do apostrophes work for words ending in s? i feel like there shouldn’t be one there, but it doesn’t look right w/o the extra s. ANYWAY.) brother-in-law stopped me on the stairs before i’d even gotten to her room, introduced himself, and told me how much he enjoyed their engagement photos. knowing my work is appreciated makes me feel GREAT and totally free to “do my THANG” at the wedding. (not to mention that jill at the inn was professional and so accommodating to my strange questions.)

when i meet with new brides, i get a range of responses to, “would you like me to capture the getting ready process?” some people don’t care about it at all…but i really enjoy getting to catalog the transformation into “bride”. something happens when a woman has been pampered all day, is wearing the prettiest dress she has probably owned to date, and most importantly…knows that the man waiting at the end of that aisle is waiting to tell her he’s going to love her wholeheartedly until his last breath. there’s a reason women are always told, “you’re glowing!” on their wedding day.

(and may i just say…guys have it much easier! i mean…seriously:)

aaaaandddd…he’s ready!

her two gorgeous sisters watching brian wait for his bride at the end of the aisle.

(side note: did you see “27 dresses”? i don’t consider myself a terribly discriminating movie goer…and, admittedly, i quite like cheesy romantic comedies…this one was rather painful, though…anyway, as a member of the “wedding industry”…i can confirm that one of the best parts of a wedding is watching the groom watch his bride come to meet him. the look on brian’s face here says it all. i can’t wait till it’s my turn to see that look on someone’s face as i walk toward him. but this isn’t about me, is it…)

it was very much a family affair. jess’s aunt performed the ceremony. brian’s sister and her husband held the huppa (which was lovingly crafted by jess’s younger sister), many family members lit candles during the ceremony, and all four parents walked out elbows entwined.

i can’t tell you what my secrets are–but i do have them!–for getting such FUN family photos…but if you hire me, i’ll make sure your family looks like it was having this much fun at your wedding, too. the group shots don’t have to be painful and stiff! i promise!

**i should just tell you right now, that instead of putting way too many photos in this post, i’ll add a few extra words, and then give you a slideshow link. so that you don’t have to scroll for 100 years to see everything.**

i was GOING to post photos of guest candids, because i got some of my all time favourites at this wedding…instead…i’ll suggest you watch the slideshow.

also…i was GOING to tell you about how i had 15 minutes with the bride and groom…outside…in the snow…after it was dark…and how we managed to get some awesome and moody images anyway (which involved me laying on the salt-covered ground and stone-cold (yeah, there’s a REASON for that phrase) stone benches…but instead…i’m just going to point you to the slideshow.

i could also tell you how they had their entire (HUGE) extended family come into one little fireside room for a group photo and that i got one (yes, ONE!) shot where i managed to fit everyone in the frame…and that was lucky because i was holding my camera over my head), but instead…yes, you guessed it…watch the slideshow!

and lastly, i might have mentioned how much i enjoy jewish weddings because they have the hora…and come on now…a big group of people doing the grapevine around other people who are being lifted on chairs and held together by a napkin and there’s always that suspenseful collective held-breath—are they going to make it back to solid ground before they tip over? but, i hope you’ll see that enjoyment in…the slideshow.

without further ado: