paul had been waiting for this day for a very long time. i loved seeing the emotion on their faces as they prepared to promise each other everything.

one of the best parts about having 2 photographers, especially in a church ceremony, is the ability to get multiple perspectives without moving around and being distracting. for this ceremony, gail hung out in the balcony, and i sat up front to get a more intimate perspective.the grandma. i LOVE this picture.this one was all gail; she was practically hanging out the car window to get it while i navigated the chinatown traffic.

chinese weddings often have a lengthy break between the ceremony and the reception. in our case, this worked out wonderfully, as there was PLENTY of time to explore boston and get some killer portraits. naomi and paul did their homework; they knew EXACTLY where they wanted to go. we started off at the boston public library. the security guard told us we couldn’t go in, but deigned to allow us a few minutes in the outer lobby.

but naomi was NOT having that. when we were done using that space, she said, “let’s walk around and try the other side.” which, of course, made me want to hug her.

i was kind of afraid of the security guard, i’m not gonna lie, but we had absolutely zero trouble getting in through another entrance…and i am so glad we persevered! the image on top is gail’s, i believe, and the one below is my perspective.

after making good use of the stunning boston public library, we had time to grab a few shots in chinatown that showed off the interesting architectural details. then it was time to head back to the reception.

shooting the rings is one of my favorite things to do at every wedding…it’s such a fun challenge to find interesting colors and textures in what is available in the immediate area. the above picture makes use of one of their bamboo centerpieces. in the bottom picture, the sparklies in the back are from naomi’s bracelet, and i set them all on some stainless steel catering equipment in an area of the restaurant that wasn’t being used…i love the reflection!

at asian weddings, it is customary for the bride and groom to go to each table to greet their guests. each table chooses a representative who presents the couple with gifts and reads words of support and wisdom.

another interesting practice i’ve never seen before was…games! this is the tail end of an epic musical chairs battle. they had (pretty awesome) prizes for the winners.

vendor information
church:  sacred heart parish in quincy, ma
reception venue + catering:  empire garden in boston, ma
DJ:  rob ferraz, five star entertainment
cake: ivy’s fine cakes and pastries
wedding emcee:  athena phan
photographer:  gwyneth colleen photography
2nd shooter:  gail werner

marie with her dad preparing to walk down the aisle.

doesn’t marie look stunning?!

their bridal party was a good time.  :-D

and…what could be more fun than a saber arch entrance into your reception?

a LIGHT SABER arch entrance!

i LOVED the floor in the bar at the salem waterfront hotel.

due to time constraints and weather, we didn’t get to take many portraits of just the bride and groom prior to the ceremony, so we went out and had some fun with the nighttime light in salem.

wedding days that were rainy at the start but clear up for evening…are lots of fun to play with.  i love how light bounces off of wet sidewalks and streets and creates a magical and romantic atmosphere.

marie + rob…sorry i’m such a delinquent blogger!  i had lots of fun at your wedding…and i hope married life is (still) treating you well!



naomi and paul are getting married down near boston, but they came up my way for their engagement session. we hit fort mcclary, which has become one of my favorite places to shoot…there is SO much variety.

you’ll see more of these two after their wedding in may! looking forward to seeing you guys, again!

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!

i just read this discussion trying to educate brides on what is kosher for them to do with photos of themselves after their weddings.  i’ve seen photographers new to the industry not really understand what is common practice or what the laws are, so it makes total sense to me that it could be confusing for a bride (or groom.)

so, here are a few bullet points to hopefully help anyone who’s wondering.  (unnecessary disclaimer:  except where i say “this is the law” i am, of course, referring to how *i* do things.  if you’re looking at other photographers, you should ask candid questions during your communication.)

*copyright:  © rests with whoever took the photo.  as the discussion above points out…it doesn’t matter if it was on your camera and is of you, if someone else pressed the shutter, they created the work, and the copyright belongs to that person.  this is not a grey area; it’s black and white, and misusing an image (especially for personal gain) CAN be cause for legal action.

*usage:  well, generally, the term is pretty obvious.    what gets tricky is when you start considering the various ways to use images that you may be in possession of.  more on this in a bit.

*printing release:  clients of mine who purchase the disc of images from their wedding also receive a limited printing release.  it allows them to make an unlimited number of prints for personal use.  they can make 400 copies of their ceremony kiss and send them to anyone and everyone they know…they can make scrapbooks full of images and give them as gifts to their grandparents, they can make proof prints and give a set to their mothers…as long as they are the only ones using the images for print, and they are not profiting…it’s pretty much all good.  (one sticky area other photographers i know have encountered is if someone requests them to design an album with images taken by another photographer, or if clients ask someone else to design an album using images that one of my friends holds the copyright to.  because it’s a “derivative work” and they’re paying for someone else’s services, that’s not cool.)  i think i’m starting to get sort of weird and technical, so a good philosophy to have is:  if it seems weird, ask!  i will not mind at all answering an honest question, and if it’s not something i’m comfortable with, i will try to come up with a solution that works for everyone involved!
some photographers DO offer a full rights release…this entitles clients to edit, make derivative works, use the images for a billboard…whatever.  if your photographer does not offer this, it’s NOT cool to do any editing or use the images in any way that is not allowed in your release paperwork.

back to usage:  one thing that many of the women in that discussion seemed to wonder about was using images online.  i can totally understand this, and for this reason, i include low-res, watermarked images on every disc that anyone purchases.  the copyright release states that if images are going to be used online, the client MUST use these low-res, watermarked versions.  there are a few reasons for this:

1.  it helps me out!  your friends see them, (hopefully) love them, and think of me next time they need a photographer
2. those images are already optimised for use on the web.  (without getting too technical and boring you–just trust me.  these smaller files will not only upload wayyyyy faster, they will also look waaaayyyy better than any of the larger, unwatermarked files.)
3. we artistic types get a little funny over how our creations are displayed; we put a lot of work into making sure those images look fantastic, and if they’re stretched or scrunched or compressed wrong…they look bad.  and if our names are attached to them, WE look bad.

hopefully this makes sense.  please feel free to leave a question in the comments if you’ve got one (or just email me!)

(don’t you want a mojito now?)

i love albums.  i think they’re fantastic, and i have an album company whose materials make me drool.  i’ve got a few samples that i show to every couple i meet with…and they drool, too.

but that’s as far as i go with trying to sell albums.  why?  because they are a LOT of work.  i have been designing every single layout from a blank page in photoshop.  and that takes a loooooong time.  and even though i want people to have these beautiful albums, the dozens of hours it takes me to create them never quite leaves my mind, and i can’t bring myself to be as enthused as i think i should.

i think that is all about to change.

i just purchased software called photojunction…it is album design software, and i think it’s going to change my life.  i prefer really clean, geometric album layouts.  i’ve seen people use flourishes and overlays…i’ve seen it done well, and i’ve seen it done REALLY POORLY.  the great thing about PJ is that i can create layouts that i love, and i can SAVE them…so next time i have a group of photos that i think will fit together in a similar fashion…half the work is already done for me!

today i finished sara & rob’s amazing gloucester wedding, and i immediately started designing their album.  what used to take me, oh, about 3 months of morning till night slaving (shhhh, i know that’s hyperbole), only took me a few hours.

do you hear that?  oh, it’s just a choir of angels singing the hallelujah chorus…don’t mind them.

check out these first few layouts:

there were a couple things that weren’t immediately intuitive (you know, because ALL software USUALLY is…), and it was frustrating that i couldn’t import ONE file at a time…(though it did say that i could…it just didn’t work.)

anyway, a new day has dawned, and i am very excited!

they got married at tower hill botanical gardens in boylston, ma–which is pretty much the most awesome and beautiful venue i think i’ve ever been to. (i know i am prone to hyperbole, but…all my superlatives in this post are warranted. i promise.) the weather was PERFECT…not too hot, not too cold…the sun shined its golden light down on the ceremony…there was a lovely mountain vista for the cocktail hour backdrop…and the orangerie, where the dinner and dancing were held, is just freaking rad.

the flowers were really beautiful. claire liked monochromatic bouquets, but she loved lots of colours…so they compromised and made several differently coloured monochromatic bouquets. the bridesmaids even had jewelry to match their respective bouquets.

(please note chandler in the background…)

when i suggested that claire plop on the bed for some fun portraits…in her GIANT POUFFY white dress…she didn’t blink. and for that, i love her.

the requisite father-daughter moment before he walked her down the aisle…

that lady in the green dress is bobby’s mom going, “yesssss!” as she walked up the aisle and for that…i love her, too.

i love the look on bobby’s face as he watches his bride approach him.

this picture doesn’t show it…but during the ceremony…claire was cracking up…trying not to lose it. you see, the lovely lady in the photo above…the one in the grey dress…? her name is christine…she’s a friend of claire’s, and she was the officiant. claire & bobby were not content to do things the “regular” way (in case the 29 year old male flowergirl did not tip you off…) they asked christine to use the ceremony from the princess bride. so she did. in a perfectly normal voice she proclaimed that “marriage. marriage is what brings us together today. marriage…that blessed event…that dream within a dream…” everyone laughed and laughed before the ceremony took a more serious turn and they vowed to love each other always. (also, they had a secret vow…they said, “i vow our secret vow.” i, for one, was very curious. not that, y’know, it’s any of my business.

right after the kiss

as i said above…i had to shoot this one w/ a sprained ankle. i gave them strict instructions, “after they say you may kiss the bride and pronounce you wife and husband (again…no “normal” verbiage for these two), you have to walk REALLY slow so i have time to get back and catch you guys coming up the aisle!” i also instructed them to stand for what felt like an uncomfortably long time after being pronounced married before starting. they followed my instructions to a t.

like mother, like son…bobby showing off his new ring.

which, by the way, is awesome. (nb: those are tiny oranges…their fingers aren’t THAT big!)

bobby is, by trade, an improv comedian. he is also a puppetmaster (that might not be the right term, but i like it better than puppeteer. it sounds more sinister and awesome.); he made personalised puppets for every single member of the wedding party and requested a representative group photo.

this hottie is mel accompanied by puppet mel. (recognise the glasses?)

these girls got some AIR! check out catherine (katherine? kathryn?) on the end…white girls CAN jump.

so, for that matter, can 29 year old male flowergirls.

this is what happens when, because you have a sprained ankle and are slightly less mobile, you ask one of the groomsmen to hold your 2nd camera…fortuitously enough, the one groomsman who is a bit into photography and was not intimidated by the big lens. i would like you to know that neither the bride or me had any idea this had happened…it was like unwrapping a very…special…present when i got home. is “unwrapping” too unfortunate a term to use?

first dance

bobby’s “salad” (those are meatballs w/ pretzel stick handles.)

(i had to take advantage of the dramatic lighting and incredible foliage…claire and bobby didn’t seem to mind when i asked them to leave their party for a few minutes and come make out in the back hallway.)

these girls were crazy nuts awesome on the dance floor!

claire & bobby…i love you. i love everything about how you approached your wedding planning…you made it beautiful, funny, and personal. i love that you combined last names so that you were forging a new family in every way. (though, i still think i would have voted for hacksmith or smackney…) thank you for including me in the festivities and for making sure i was ok…and asking if i was having fun! i think you are the first couple who has worried whether i was having a good time doing my job!

lots of love,

gimpy gwyn

to view more photos from their wedding, please click here.