Rainy Days and Mondays Always Get Me Down

It has been raining here for weeks and it's driving us all insane. Shoots have to be cancelled and rescheduled. Outdoor parties have to move indoors. I am still wearing shoes with socks! I hate socks. I want to wear sandals. In the midst of all this rain, my ever-graceful mother fell and fractured a few bones. That has kept me busy, too. If you're wondering where your photos are, you can blame my mom. I'm sure she'll love this post. Shelly & Tyler, your wedding is #1 on my priority list, I swear! In the meantime, everyone try to enjoy their rainy summer! Maybe we'll see the sun in July?

Picks Up The Rice In The Church Where A Wedding Has Been

Erica and Tim are awesome! I met Erica when I was in 9th grade. We actually had Biology together (among other classes - I'm pretty sure she helped me avoid physical activity in gym a few times) and I do have photos of her dissecting a frog. See, even then I carried a camera everywhere! It is always so exciting for me to be a part of my friends' wedding days. I love getting the chance to spend additional time with them and I just love documenting everything. The love, the little touches, the funny looks, and all the moments in between. Now, Tim, Erica, and I are all from the same hometown so that's where we ended up shooting their engagement session. I love that this is my backyard!

Erica claimed she was most comfortable in photos where she could do stunts, like climbing in a tree or swinging from scaffolding. We'll see how she feels when she's in a wedding dress, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed!






These last two photos are great examples of why every couple should take advantage of scheduling an engagement session. You get used to the camera and I get to capture real moments between two people. You go from being nervous in front of the lens to almost forgetting it's there (or at least relaxing in front of it).




Erica & Tim, congratulations! I can't wait for your wedding on Saturday - we are going to have so much fun!

I'll Walk You In The Sunshine

Anne and I met, by phone, the summer before our freshman year in college. We had a few random things in common - we both had dogs named Penny and we had both gone to Disney World for spring vacation our senior years of high school. She liked Phish and the Grateful Dead. I liked Jimmy Buffett. In the end, it was a match made in heaven! Flash-forward 14 years (cough, cough) and I had the amazing opportunity to photograph her wedding! Anne and Tim got married at the gorgeous Mountain Top Inn and Resort in Vermont. They had a total of 6 guests at the wedding, including Doug and I. That meant lots of fun quality time and lots of time for creative photos! These are a smattering of photos we took, and of course, the slideshow...

Anne worked so hard on all of the details. She made these little knit birds and their little knit nest for the wedding rings. Adorable, right?


She also made the string of shapes hanging across this photo to help decorate their chalet. She wore this wedding dress which was her aunt's high school graduation dress. So many wonderful little traditions and heirlooms were woven into the day. It was a photographer's dream!


The groom with the two "attendants."








And a lovely distorted fisheye portrait of all of us.


To see more of the wedding, click here to watch the slideshow.

I'm Gonna Watch You Shine

Thank you Dad for always being strong enough to pick me up. Thank you for the pancakes, for the Creature Double Features, for the softball games, for the popcorn at the Ground Round, for Jimmy Buffett, for Peter Pan, for Disney World. Thank you for giving me your sense of humor. And your calves (even though I didn't get your height). Thank you for letting me take the pH readings in the pool. For building me a sandbox. For letting me drive the golf cart. Thank you for your love of ice cream. I love ice cream. Thank you for dancing, all the time. Thank you for being Cowboy Bill and for chaperoning camp in the 5th grade. You and mom are the BEST parents Andy, Tess, and I could ever ask for (even if we didn't always act that way, we always knew it). I love you. Happy Father's Day!

If You Want Me To, I Will

I am so lucky that all my clients are so much fun to worth with! I love hanging out with them and engagement sessions are the perfect way to spend some pre-wedding quality time together. Jenn and Josh are getting married in the fall and we had our session last weekend. Thankfully, it was a nice day, one of the only nice days we've had recently. Oh, New England, how you taunt us so! One of the best things about the engagement sessions is watching my clients get more comfortable in front of the camera. People start off a little nervous and fidgety and within a couple of hours, everyone is smiling with their eyes, Tyra-style. Jenn and Josh were no different. Once they get used to having me (and Doug) around, they just get to enjoy hanging out together! Here are some of my favorites from the day...









Things have been quite busy around here - I've got two weddings, a maternity shoot, a family session, and more queued up for blogging! But I'm loving every minute of it. And I want to give a special shout-out to Eleanor, who sent me a wonderful little note - in the real mail! It's always nice when you discover who's reading the blog! Hope you all had wonderful weekends!

Never Need A Reason, Never Need A Rhyme

This weekend, I created my very first photo booth. If you read a lot of photography or wedding blogs, like I do, you know that these are the new big things to have at events. Frankly, they are tons of fun. Who doesn't want to wear a wacky hat and a boa and make silly faces at the camera? Anyway, I thought I would post one of my favorite photos from the night. Love it.

In other local news, Doug and I bumped into this guy on our way to CVS:


So, for a little more explanation, as we were walking down the street, I notice a guy dancing in front of Starbucks and singing (loudly) the words from "Step In Time," one of the Mary Poppins songs. He's got like three toddlers dancing with him and they're all going in a circle like a little mini-parade. I'm thinking, "Man, this dad is shameless! How awesome is that?!" As we get closer, something strikes me, like, hey, I think I recognize that guy. That's not necessarily an out-of-place feeling in my town, especially since I grew up here. But, no. It wasn't anyone I knew personally. It just happened to be Tom Cavanaugh from tv shows like Ed, Scrubs, Love Monkey, Eli Stone, and Trust Me. And yes, I have a total crush on him. And yes, I was slightly starstruck. It's not every day I get to see someone from television singing "Kick your knees up, step in time, kick your knees up, step in time" while leading a small band of children around in a circle in front of my local Starbucks. It was as if he was put there just to buoy my energy. It was phenomenal. I have no idea why he was in town and I don't care. If only everyone could have a Sunday morning like that!

Then You And I Would Simply Fly Away

Another day, another slideshow! It doesn't seem to be embedding onto the blog correctly, so I'm just going to link to it!
Doug and I had the honor of photographing Rebecca and Jeff's wedding back in May. I can't even tell you how beautiful their day was - the ceremony nearly had both of us in tears. Rebecca and Jeff have a wonderful love story that starts back when they were in high school. They even went to the prom together! I know their wedding day was just another beginning in their story, though. Thank you, Rebecca and Jeff, for letting us be a part of your day!

This slideshow is set to the song "If" by Bread, which was the song they danced to on their wedding day, but Rebecca also told me it was "their song" in high school!

In other news around here, we are gearing up for a wedding in Newport tomorrow, which is going to be awesome! I am saying a prayer to the rain gods and hoping we get to take advantage of the locations we have picked out. Also exciting - Doug is a semi-finalist in a photography contest at his company! I am so happy for him. He entered three photos from our trip to Buenos Aires and one of them made it - the blue one of the bride wearing the big hat. I posted it here when we first got back from our trip. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that he wins his category (people). I don't think there's a big prize or anything, but it would make both of us VERY happy.

That's all, folks!

Everybody Here Is Out of Sight

A couple of weeks ago, I had the pleasure of photographing Missy & Vinny's wedding. By the end of the night, I was so in love with them and their families, I would have married them! Emily and I had so much fun! I have to say, I have never seen children rule the dance floor like at this wedding. They were out there the whole night, and they had some pretty crazy moves to boot! Music was provided by DJ Rick Freni and he kept people moving the whole night. And the food? Delicious! The reception was held at the Crestview Plaza in Woburn and the staff there was great! And did I mention the food? Here's a slideshow of some of my favorites of the wedding day! Enjoy!

You Know She's the Only One

This past weekend, Doug and I were in Vermont photographing Anne & Timmy's wedding. It was awesome! We had perfect weather and these guys were pretty much game to do anything. They didn't even bat an eyelash when I asked them to get into the canoe! That's what I'm talking about! Of course, it helps that Anne used to canoe for her job. This morning I felt like posting a little sneak peek for them!

At This Moment, You Mean Everything

Last week, I photographed Lily for her first birthday. Even though her older brother decidedly did not want his photo taken, he couldn't seem to resist the background.




We also had an itty bitty birthday session with Lily. I will post those photos later. For now, I am posting these for mom so she has a little something to look at while she's waiting for the rest!

This weekend I am in Vermont (I'm writing this post from my very own chalet) for a very special wedding that I am so excited to photograph! Thanks to the relatively relaxed schedule, maybe I'll even get a chance to post something while I'm here.

Can You Imagine How Much I Love You?

Doug and I spent a really lovely morning last weekend hanging out with Blossom and Farid, photographing their engagement session. Lucky for us, one of their favorite places is one of ours! We had a lot of fun. I worked the camera, they worked in front of it, and Doug carried all our stuff. I would say that the three of them were great sports. And I don't know about them, but I definitely ended up with a sunburn by the end!

These are some of my favorites from the shoot. Look at that water!


This was an experiment in sass. Hopefully Blossom won't kill me for posting it. I just love the natural laughter in it.


Fun with shadows!


This one is so quiet and intimate. It's definitely one of my top picks for the day. I think it says a lot about Blossom and Farid's relationship - just look at the quiet comfort of people in love.


A little voyeurism.


And at the end, there were fancy hot dogs. I don't have photos of those, mind you, but they were yummy and they had silly names. I love my job!

Just A Small Town Girl

I grew up attending weddings. Since I was the 21st of 23 grandchildren (on just my mom's side), a lot of my cousins were getting married when I was a teenager. But, no matter whose wedding I went to, they all had something in common. Every single one of them, in my memory, played songs like "We Are Family" and "Celebration." Those seemed to be the most popular cheesy wedding songs. The ones that got everyone, including your aunts, out on the dance floor. Now, as an adult, when I go to weddings, those songs land on the "Do Not Play" list. In my estimation, they have been replaced. By what? "Don't Stop Believin'" by Journey, and to some extent (especially in the Boston area), "Sweet Caroline" by Neil Diamond. As soon as these songs start, everyone is up and singing at the top of their lungs. There's also some definite fist pumping - you know, hands in the air and everything. I'm curious, has anyone noticed this trend? What are the songs that get all the wedding guests onto the dance floor?

And, since I don't want to post without a photo, this is from a shoot I did a few weeks ago.


I've been extremely busy lately, which is great for business, but as you can see, not great for blogging. I will try to be better since it's now wedding season and I need to stay on top of everything. Doug and I are actually taking off for Vermont this weekend to photograph the wedding of my freshman year roommate. It is going to be so awesome! It just happens to be the same weekend as my college reunion, so although I won't be in Maine, I will be having my own reunion of sorts. And, as I'm typing this, Doug said, "Are you going to write about how I saw Duff?" Apparently, Charm City Cakes (of Ace of Cakes on the Food Network) was in Boston for an event. They were in the same building as Doug's office and he saw Duff assembling the cake. I was pretty jealous when I heard, but Doug managed to grab some photos and video on his cell phone.

Until next time, don't stop believing.

**Update: I received an email from my mom this morning reminding me that I am the 21st out of 24 grandchildren, not 23. I had forgotten to count my little sister. Oops. Sorry, Tess.**