gwyneth colleen photography » portsmouth, nh wedding photographer

amy & ben (of the super hot newport, ri engagement session last summer) were married last november (that’s right…november 2008. i told you…i am the world’s worst blogger.) at the glen manor house in portsmouth, ri. their incredible floral arrangements were done by the wildly talented sayles livingston. and amy makes the best sweet treats in the universe…she provided the favors/candy bar.

then it was time for amy & ben’s first look. i super duper love having a time set aside to capture this moment.
the ever fantastic doug levy was shooting with me, so we’ve got this moment from multiple angles. (which is always awesome.)

the grounds were so amazing…i could have shot there all day (well…i DID shoot there all day, but you know what I mean, right?) unfortunately, the weather didn’t let us do much exploring…i’d love to go back and shoot there again on a non-rainy day!

isn’t she so amazingly beautiful? (i think this shot is doug’s.)

bustling is complicated.

i loved how fanciful their cake arrangement was.

anyone who knows ben would probably agree that this shot encapsulates him pretty well. anywhere ben is, a good time is sure to find him.

i’m not sure, but i’d be willing to put money down that this is “sweet caroline.”

see that tall girl with her arm in the air? that’s joanna. she’s my friend matthew’s little sister. i met matthew in august of 98 when we were both doing a year long internship program in texas. we’ve stayed in touch…(his wife is now my best friend.) anyway, joanna works for amy at her delectable treat construction business…when amy got engaged and started looking for a photographer, joanna passed my name along. and now, to thank her, i will put these pictures of her on the internet. thanks joanna!

(ps: this blurry image on the right only made the cut b/c it is joanna…)

hey amy & ben…i know i’m late with this, but thanks so much for rocking my world and buying me mocha martinis (or whatever those were), and introducing me to pad thai at salvation cafe, and loie fullers in providence. you guys know all the best spots!

1. amanda found me by GOOGLING. you have NO idea how happy that makes me. granted, it’s not like i was the first name up, but STILL…
(i have a major thing for google. i used to say “he” was my boyfriend…like, to the point that friends would say stuff like, “oh, i asked gwyn’s boyfriend how to fix the microwave…” true story.)

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!)

so…i’m not sure if i should admit this, because i don’t want anyone else to feel unloved, but i think nicki and shane are my favourite clients of all time. and you all know how i love my clients. but i think i love them so because…they’re just like me! heh. nicki’s from new england, but they were living in south carolina, because shane is…wait for it…a marine fighter-pilot. when we were working out the details of their package, nicki and i talked for almost an hour…a few times. it was strange how much we had in common. (oh, and she is a photographer, too.)

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!!!

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confession: whenever i am hired by photographers, i am both hugely flattered and enormously intimidated. kris & kristen are both photographers, like…went to college and got photography degrees photographers. with FILM. (film is scary, man.) kris works in a still life studio and kristen works for CARL ZEISS. holy crap.

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.