The day started at the hotel where Marie and her bridesmaids were getting ready. I like to get there extra early so I don’t miss anything so I had a few minutes just to chat with her and to make a few impromptu portraits. As were were talking she told me that she loved her blue shoes even though her mom hated them and wanted her to wear something more traditional. We’re never too old to rebel I guess!

During our meeting to work on her album, so told me that she loved the pictures of her helping her dad get ready. I love capturing these special moments.

Once we were ready to go, it was a short ride over to the church. Marie and Alex were married in a traditional Lebanese wedding mass at the beautiful Our Lady of the Annunciation church in West Roxbury.

After the ceremony, we headed over with friends, family, and the bridal party to Larz Anderson park for pictures.

And from there we headed over to the Apollo in Norwood for the reception where it was a great mix of traditional Lebanese dancing and music with today’s traditional reception. It was a great time and I consider myself extremely lucky to have been part of it.

Congratulations to you both and best of luck!

Have a look at their engagement photos at the North End. They’re a fun loving couple and I’ve had a great time getting to know them since taking these pictures.

Shortly after getting ready, they did their first look upstairs followed by a few quick bridal portraits of Helen.

Then it was downstairs to the ceremony where everyone was waiting.

The details for the wedding were were absolutely stunning. And the cake was pretty tasty too.

We did the formal pictures outdoors in a small courtyard of the Prudential Center shopping center. It was the perfect place for pictures because it was a great mix of greenery, shade, and open space. And very close to the reception.

After the short ceremony, it was time to get to the business of partying and having a good time after a moving toast by Helen’s sister.

Congratulations guys and best of luck to you!

But I certainly wanted to share Lynn and Mike’s wedding at the Pembroke Country Club from a few weeks ago. I first met Lynn and Mike close to two years ago to chat about their wedding while they were at the very beginning of the planning process. They’ve come a long way since then!

Their wedding was on a bright and beautiful summer day with close friends and family. After an outdoor ceremony with one of the cutest flower girls I’ve ever seen, the reception was indoors in the big ballroom. The highlight for me, being a hockey fan, was that Lynn and Mike were introduced to the foghorn and techno music that plans in the Garden after the Bruins score a goal. Hockey and weddings together – I love it! After the first dances, speeches, and cake cutting it was time to party!

Congratulations to you guys and best of luck!

–Erik

After chatting for a few minutes near the Navy Yard Bistro (love that restaurant, btw!) we wandered down towards the water looking for interesting spots that would make for some good backgrounds. We managed to get the feel of the navy yard mixed in with some greenery at a nearby park for some variety.

Here are a few of my faves that I showed them at their viewing appointment. Congrats guys!

–Erik

While engulfing ourselves with the ins and outs of weddings, we have come across this trend: DIY. More and more people are saving money and having fun crafting the elements to their big day themselves. These ceremonies are not only cost efficient and beautiful, but unique, creative, and personal.

For these reasons, we are  instilling “DIY Friday” to the blog! Every Friday, we will go nuts for DIY and post information, tips, wedding features, and more each week. Don’t think you can do it? We’ll show you things we promise you can do, and you will love! Don’t have the time? DIY always at least provides great ideas. Get excited…and get crafty!

For today, we leave you with Emily and Scott’s inspired wedding, filled with DIY projects!

http://www.diywedding.org/summer-weddings/emily-and-scott

A sneak peek from Lynn and Mike’s wedding this past weekend. More to come.

After the event we kept in touch and not too long after that she and her fiance JR booked me to photograph their wedding down in Orlando. I hadn’t been down there since I was a kid and it seemed like a great excuse for getting out of a frosty March New England.

Below is one of my favorite photographs from their portrait session. We had some amazingly beautiful late afternoon sunlight.

Erin and JR were married at a church in downtown Orlando. Most people who come down here land at the airport and head straight to Disney, but there’s really a hidden gem in Orlando’s downtown area.

She chose to finish up her getting ready at the church. With her sister and best friends she had lots of help.

After she and JR were all ready to go, we did their first look in the courtyard of the church. I think JR felt a little silly standing there all by himself, but that quickly turned to tears once he saw Erin in her wedding dress. It was pretty emotional for both of them. There was no doubting they were deeply in love and looking forward to their new lives together.

After a few impromptu pictures outside the church, it was time to get down to business.

Erin’s dad owns this cool old Model A car that they used to head over to the reception. He even let them write all over it.

Once we arrived at the reception site, it was time for Erin and JR to spend a few minutes alone together to catch their breath and make some portraits. Using that beautiful light we did a combination of more conceptual portraits as well as more traditional ones. The sun was just setting so the sky was this brilliant pink.

Then it was time to head inside for the reception. Toasts, dinner, cake and then dancing the night away.

Erin’s sister gave a beautiful speech that resulting in more tears of joy.

Erin and her dad danced to a medley of different songs for their father daughter dance, complete with choreographed moves!

All in all it was a great wedding and I’m glad to have been part of it. Congrats to Erin and JR as they begin their new lives together.

Venue and Catering: Dubsdread Historic Ballroom
Wedding Coordinator: Ashlie Hampton, Weddings in the City
Cake: Allison Watson, OMG Pastries
Flowers: Daisy’s Flower Market
DJ: DJ London Undergraound
Harpist: Christine MacPhail

More on them, their wedding, and images coming soon!

In the image above, Amanda willingly sat on the ground for me for her bridal portrait. I bring a white sheet with me to help prevent the dress from getting dirty. Being willing to try something a bit out of your comfort zone can really create some unique images.

Both of these two pictures were little more than quick snapshots. For the image on the left of Rachna, we had been shooting outside of the reception location in and around this little white gazebo with her freshly minted husband Rohan. I wanted to show the beautiful henna artistry she had done on her left hand while also showing the detail in the dress. A slight tilt of the head and voila!

Julia’s shot was also a quick grab shot. I had her squat down so that she was putting all of her weight on the front of her feet. It does require a bit of balance, but is great for minimizing distracting backgrounds and showing off the bouquet.

These two images were both taken indoors. Madeline’s shot on the left was done with simple window light. I asked her to simply look out the window. Bridal portraits don’t require looking at the camera or even smiling!

For the image on the right, we took a few minutes to try some different poses. I particularly like this one because I think it’s kind of statuesque and fits with the architectural details of the stone fireplace and window.

These last two were also taken outdoors. For the image on the left, I simply had her stand in front of a pretty stone wall, turn just a bit and hold her flowers at about her waist. Brides be sure you hold the flowers lower to show off the dress.

And for the shot of Jill I had her do the exact same pose I had Julia doing by squatting down into the balls of her feet. The only difference here is that I had her turn the other direction.

Bridals can also be done as their own individual shoot. In fact, it used to be that the bridal photo session was done in the studio and was quite a big production. These seem to have gone by the wayside a bit as more couples now prefer to do environmental engagement sessions. A recent twist on the bridal session is the so-called “trash the dress” session where the bride and groom have some fun with the dress after the wedding, rather than before.

Regardless of how or when you have your bridal portrait done, I think it’s important to spend at least a couple of minutes on it. You’ve worked hard to find the perfect dress and look amazing on your wedding day, so be sure to get the best photo from it that you can.

–Erik

I lived in Germany quite a long time myself growing up as a military brat and later after college, so it was great being able to get back for a visit. Great wine, beautiful landscapes and new friends made it hardly seem like work. Putting their album together was great because it reminded me of such a great trip. It’s always fun to go back through the images of past weddings because I always have such a great time.

The album is 12 inches by 12 inches on each page, so each spread below will be 12″x24″ when printed. That’s the largest size album I offer and is impressive when you look at it. It also has an additional eight spreads in it beyond the default ten to accomodate additional pictures. You can put more images on a page to reduce the number of spreads, but I think pictures look best when they can be viewed nice and large. That’s why I try to limit each page to a maximum of just four or five.

Thanks for taking a peek!

–Erik

Tania completed veterinary medical school at Tufts University in Grafton a few years ago when she then moved to the central valley of California to begin her work as an equine veterinarian. While there, she met her future husband Patrick who lives outside of the Sacramento metropolitan area. For their honeymoon they spent two weeks in South Africa, for which I’m very jealous.

Here are a few of my favorite images from the day.

I wish them both the very best of luck as they now begin a new chapter. They’re off to Texas where Brendon has another year of service. Here are a few of my favorites.

More soon.

Thanks to Lisa Tilley for having me come out to help. Lisa is a friend of mine from back in my photo school days, so it was great being able to catch up with her.

Here are a few of my favorites. Enjoy!

I enjoyed getting to know Heather and Rick on their wedding day. We had some great light after the ceremony to do some quick artsy shots. Heather mentioned they were somewhat camera shy, but they did great just being themselves and enjoying the moment. The key to getting really good wedding pictures is to focus on each other rather than the camera and they did just that.

Congrats guys and best of luck!

We started with a few pictures in their hotel suite. They stayed at the magnificent Taj Hotel in Boston.

It was a short walk across the street into the Public Garden where they had their ceremony under the trees next to the pond. The weather was perfect.

Woo hoo!

After the ceremony we wandered around the park taking lots of portraits.

Best of luck!

Thanks again to Heather Fuller for having me come and shoot with her. Below are some my favorite images that I captured during the day. Check out Heather’s Blog for some of her favorites.

I had a great time at the reception with lots of fun music and really tasty Indian food. Below are a selection of my favorite images of the evening.

Here are a few of my favorites from the day. Enjoy!

Below are a few of my favorite images from the day. Congratulations guys!

As many of you know, when I was younger I used to live in Germany. I was there as a military brat with my family and I also did my freshman year of college. And after graduate school, I went back to Germany for several years before returning to the US permanently in 2000. I still have many friends there and consider it to be just as much my home as I do Boston.

Julia moved from Neustadt to study in Boston a few years ago. Although they now live in Cambridge, Mike and Julia first met in Germany while she was back for a visit. Mike had been working for an amusement park in Germany as a professional water skiier not far from her hometown. Eventually they decided which country they wanted to settle in and headed back to Boston.

So when Julia was considering a wedding photographer for her wedding in Germany, it seemed like a pretty good match that she would find some one who had also lived in both Boston and Germany. I flew over a couple of days before the wedding to get adjusted to the time difference which also gave me the opportunity to meet her family.

I had a great time at the wedding capturing both the old world charm of the region as well as the events of the day. Along the way I also made some great new friends.

First we got started with getting hair and makeup done. The Germans aren’t at all familiar with the concept of a wedding photographer doing “getting ready” shots, so the people at the salon thought we were a little nuts…..

This vineyard and fantastic view of the countryside are just below the family house. Her father Norbert told me that they built the house over 30 years ago.

After doing the bridal session, it was off to the church. The ceremony was a protestant service, but very different from a typical American ceremony. There was no final kiss, but rather an impromptu one in the middle. Rings and vows were exchanged, but Julia and Mike were seated for most of it.

After the ceremony, we headed outside for a champagne toast with some of the local bubbly. It was quite tasty.

Right across the street was the local “palace”. It made for a great backdrop for some more fun pictures with the new bride and groom.

Now it was time for dinner. Where else but a restaurant overlooking a vineyard. Nett’s Landhaus opened just a few months ago after some serious renovation to the property. Initially we were to all sit outside, but the rain didn’t cooperate, so we moved indoors to a cozy dining room.

Yummm….wedding cake.

German weddings are very participatory events. Here one of the guests brought a blank canvas for guests to recreate a well known painting from individual postcard pieces.

As the evening wound down Julia and Mike enjoyed a little quite time to themselves…

I can’t thank Julia and Mike enough for allowing me to share in their wedding day. Best of luck to you both!

While Danny was in the bathroom getting ready for his wedding day, his best man thought it would be amusing to go through his chest of drawers to see what embarrassing things he could find. He pulled out this T-Shirt from Disney. Not exactly embarrassing, but probably not the most manly thing either…

While Vic was working with the girls, I hung out with Danny and his groomsmen while they were getting ready. After about ten attempts, they finally managed to get the tie just the way they wanted it.

After getting ready, it was off to the church. They were married at the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Northhampton. This was a new experience for me, as I’d never been to this kind of service. It was also all in Spanish! My high school Spanish from twenty years ago didn’t get me very far, unfortunately.

After the service, we headed over to Look Park for family formals. We found an old stone building in the park and used the front steps.

After the friends and family were done with their pictures, then it was time to do just some portraits of Kim and Danny.

The reception was held at the Polish American Club in Northhampton where the party went late into the evening. Their “cake” was actually four or five different sized cakes of various sizes.

Keep a watch out for more pictures this week.

I had the pleasure of working with Heather Fuller. She rocks!

Mike is in the US Navy and was married in his formal uniform.

He had to “be reminded” how to tie a regular tie by his best man Joe. You would think they teach you these things in basic training! Just as a side note, Joe is also serving our country in the US Army. He is actually shipping out to Afghanistan this weekend. We wish him a safe return home.

Mike was remarkably calm right before the ceremony – or at least it looked that way on the outside. Here he’s giving his officiant some last minute instructions for the ceremony.

Catie is from just outside of Sturbridge, but she and Mike now make their home in Washington DC where he is stationed.

Once the ceremony was over, it was time to have some fun with the formal pictures before dinner. Mike stood there and held Catie for probably a good five minutes while everybody snapped away. He kept promising he wouldn’t drop her and he was true to his word.

Here’s a quiet moment after the formal pictures. I love taking bridal portraits. There’s just something about a bride on her wedding day.

Another couple of “awwww” moment with Mike dancing with one of the flower girls and showing off his military awards.

Thanks again to Heather for letting me join in the fun. And best wishes to Catie and Mike as they begin their new lives together.

She writes:

I am so thankful for you to include this in your blog, as it is something very important to me not just because I work here, but because it is a way that I will be honoring my grandmother at our wedding, who passed away from leukemia 3 years ago. I feel like it will be a wonderful way to remember her and also a little sad because she will be so missed during this time.

Part of the promotional efforts of the ACS that Jill is working on are wedding favors for reception tables. By having them at her own wedding, she’s showing her commitment to fighting cancer in a very personal way. Here is the official description of the favors from the American Cancer Society.

The American Cancer Society offers couples a unique opportunity to make a lasting impression on their wedding or shower guests: unique, custom printed charitable favors that express meaningful messages in lieu of traditional wedding favors. Messages are often in memory of a loved one, and allow the couple the chance to celebrate their happiness by giving back to an organization that is deeply committed to helping cancer patients stay well, get well, find cures and fight back. By choosing charitable donations as their favors, couples are making a statement to their close family and friends that shows their commitment, not only to each other, but to a world with less cancer and more birthdays.

I’m looking forward to her wedding in October and am happy to support both her and the American Cancer Society.

Below are the “spreads” that together make up the album. Each image is actually two facing pages, but you design it as one giant page. I use an awesome album company called KISS Wedding Books that specializes in flush mount magazine style albums. I offer both their leather hard cover books as well as the less expensive linen soft cover. Their albums are the real deal: photographic printing, lay flat pages and manual binding. In terms of value for the money, they’re about the best around.

Have a peek inside their album and let me know what you think!

-Erik

The great thing about being a second is that I get lots of creative freedom to try new things. For this wedding, I wanted to shoot some black and white images to complement my mostly color wedding work. I’ve been working with black and white on some personal projects, some of which I’ll hopefully get posted in a couple of weeks. Here’s some black and white from earlier this fall from workshop in Boston.

I was given the job of shooting the guys before the ceremony while Heather was working with the girls. The Shattuck golf club sits near the base of Mount Monadnock in southern part of the state and gorgeous. It has a unique stone stage area where I grabbed a few frames of Eli with the mountain in the background. Even though it was quite cold outside, we got some nice pictures like this portrait. He seemed pretty calm and relaxed on the exterior, but admitted to me on the way back that he was nervous.

As the ceremony started, Eli’s bride Hope came down the aisle with her older brother and mother. Here’s a tender moment helping her up a small set of stairs.

Hope’s mother said a few words during the ceremony and began to cry as she was overcome by the moment. It was contagious. As I looked around the room, other guests were also tearing up.

The reception area was just down from the site of the ceremony. Their wedding cake had a beautiful porcelain heart topper. I had some later in the evening and it was quite tasty.

I’ve photographed a number of weddings and this is the first one where the bride and groom really had fun with the cake. Most couples are kind and gently feed each other small pieces without trying to make too big a mess. Not Eli and Hope. After a moment of hesitation, they both smeared wedding cake all over each others’ face. It was fantastic. The entire room erupted in laughter as they then shared a frosting covered kiss.

After cleaning up, the DJ got the party started by playing a series of games that included a fun version of musical chairs combined with a scavenger hunt. Here a guest becomes the “captain” of the table by obtaining a set of car keys.

The nighted ended with everybody dancing the night away. It was a great wedding and I wish the newlyweds the best of luck!

I had been looking forward to photographing their wedding since doing an engagement session with them earlier this summer along the boardwalk just down the street in Hull, MA. I had a blast at the wedding getting to know them a little better as well as their friends and family. It was a great day.

Here are a few selected images.

Here is a sampling of their day.

Again I had the pleasure of shooting for Melissa Reid of Reid photography.

Please enjoy my favorites from the day.

Although I live just outside of Boston, I enjoy getting out of the city to explore all the pretty places in New England. The setting for Kayla and Matt could not have been more picturesque. I thoroughly enjoyed working with them and wish them both the best of luck.

Once again I had the pleasure of working with lead photographer Melissa Reid. She’s great to work with and I look forward to next weekend when we’ll be outside of New York City.

Here are a few from the day. Please enjoy.

I had the pleasure of photographing Julie and Joel’s wedding for lead photographer Heather Fuller. She was great and I hope to work with her again soon.

Here are a few images that I captured from the day. Enjoy.

The reception was just a few minutes away at the historic Brandon Inn in Brandon, Vermont. The reception was a great mix of friends and family. Both Keri and Jason were great to work with and I wish them both the best.

I had the pleasure of working again for photographer Melissa Reid of Reid Photography. For more images from the day, have a look at her website.

This past week-end was a “Trash the Dress” session with three lovely young ladies modeling wedding dresses in fun and creative ways. For real brides, a trash the dress session is a chance to get some extra usage out of their dress while having some fun and rebelling a bit against the formality of weddings.

Not every bride wants to actually ruin her dress and this was the case with our shoot. Rather than destroy perfectly good dresses for the purposes of creating art, we used the dresses as a prop for some fun shooting at the Borderland State Park in southern MA.

Thanks to Shannon, Grace and Katy for their hard work posing in those heavy dresses on a quite warm, muggy day.
 

As I wasn’t the primary photographer, I had the creative freedom to capture pretty much anything that caught my eye during the day. After getting a few images in the entry way right before the ceremony, I wandered up to the balcony to get some images of the ceremony from above while Jamie roamed the floor. After helping with formals and a few portraits of Laurie and Josh, I took some images of the reception at the Hillview Country Club in Redding using some new tricks that Jamie had showed me.

Below are my selections for the best images of the day. Please enjoy.

-Erik

I had the pleasure of working for Melissa Reid of Reid Photography as an assistant where I got the chance to do some shooting. Here are a few, mostly from the reception.

Here are some from the day.