Montanna’s Senior Pictures 08.16.09

My first class of 2010 senior this past sum­mer was Mon­tanna. She and I met up on a hot August day at Pres­cott Park in Ports­mouth to rock out some fabu­lous shots. She was up for anything and so sweet but dri­ven all at the same time.

And my favo­rite from the shoot -

She’s such a pho­to­ge­nic girl! We could have shot all day but it was HOT so we hug­ged goodbye… now she’s almost gra­dua­ted! At least I got her on the blog before she hea­ded off to college ;) Con­gra­tu­la­tions Mon­tanna — You’re almost there!!

~Melis­sa­Ko­ren

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Colleen & Howie 08.14.09

Colleen & Howie con­tac­ted me in August ’08 when their wed­ding was just about a year away. They were refe­rred by Kate & Mar­cus and I was so exci­ted to be a part of their day!

I arri­ved at St. John the Evan­ge­list in Con­cord, NH to find last minute touches going on before Howie & Colleen had their first look.

Then the girls arri­ved and Colleen made her first walk of the day down the aisle to meet her groom. She was so overwhel­med with emo­tion — as we all were watching her approach the bea­ming Howie.

I love her Dad kee­ping watch from the back.

I think Howie was plea­sed — and right­fully so!

It was time for the cere­mony to begin. Howie wal­ked his mother down to her seat and took his place at the front of the church.

Even though they had had their first look, Howie was still full of anti­ci­pa­tion watching Colleen come down the aisle on the way to offi­cially beco­ming his wife.

Dad was still kee­ping watch — I could tell that his rela­tionship with his little girl was very special.

Two of their good friends per­for­med a beau­ti­ful duet in the middle of their ceremony.

Finally married! I think the photo on the right is one of my favo­ri­tes EVER. They got to the end of the aisle and tur­ned to watch their bri­dal party come down after them. They were SO HAPPY!

After the cere­mony we hea­ded to the Gra­nite Rose for por­traits and the reception!

It was a hot August day and the bri­des­maids were doing their best to keep their thirst qunched ;)

Hoo­ray!

It’s like the Gra­nite Rose plan­ted these flo­wers to go per­fectly with their wed­ding! :)

After por­traits we went to the bri­dal suite to cool down and pop the cham­pagne. It star­ted to flow and Colleen didn’t want to waste a drop!

The recep­tion got under­way and the guests took their seats

The speeches were great, every one was laughing and crying.

After cut­ting their slice of cake they took pre­cau­tions to pro­tect each others lovely outfits.

They’re so cute together — I love the way they make each other smile!

After their for­ma­li­ties it was time to PARTY and this crowd had that under con­trol! I love all the crazy moves!

Check out the faces on the crowd on the left — I love it!

The college friends wan­ted to pose for a photo. I wasn’t expec­ting this and bus­ted out laughing when they did it.

My night wrap­ped up but their party kept going!

Colleen & Howie — thank you so much for having me at your wed­ding! I loved mee­ting your friends and family — with sup­port like that I’m sure you’ll go far!

Melissa, thank you so much for our beau­ti­ful pic­tu­res!! We so greatly appre­ciate all of your hard work and please know we will defi­ni­tely recom­mend you to friends who are get­ting married! Thanks again for everything, Colleen and Howie

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Traci & Scott 08.09.09

I met Traci & Scott at one of our favo­rite pla­ces ‘The Tavern’ in Exe­ter, NH. Great food, great drinks, great bar­ten­ders, great locals — it’s like Cheers; only with out Ted Danson’s hair.

They are good friends of the owner, Jeff and when they finally deci­ded to get married — The Tavern was the place!

First I met Traci & her family at the home she sha­res with Scott and their 3 tee­nage daugh­ters. I found her & her mom and dads get­ting ready.

Then it was off to Swa­sey Park­way for a great out­door cere­mony, com­plete with bag­pi­per! I’m a suc­ker for a bag­pi­per… it’s so for­mal and fun at the same time. Traci bea­med as she was escor­ted down the aisle by her two dads.

I love the rus­tic gar­den feel — I think Traci said the flo­wers were from her gar­den — either way they were lovely and the rib­bon han­gers were awesome!

In the middle of the cere­mony — Scott broke out in song and sere­na­ded his almost wife. It was priceless!

The cere­mony was offi­cia­ted by the ama­zing Rev. Thomp­son who sang Ama­zing Grace a acca­pe­lla at the end of the cere­mony. I’ve seen him before — something that went on when I was in high school but I have no idea what… he’s an cap­ti­va­ting spea­ker and his bari­tone voice just lea­ves me speechless.

Finally! They’re married and — - the kiss!!

We carried that kiss over to the Exe­ter backdrop

And made it even more sassy with a lift from the sty­lish shoes!

Back at the Tavern there was candy & cup­cake buf­fet and the wild­flo­wer theme was continued.

We had to coax them into a first dance, but once they got going — they had a great time!

They were deli­cious, right Dave?

The enter­tain­ment was pro­vi­ded by Truf­fle — fre­quen­ters of the Tavern and the rea­son we even went there in the first place.

After their set, Scott got up and said a few, gra­cious, loving words — then -

He sang again — and it was fabulous — again.

Then Jeff got in on the action… you shake those mara­cas. Shake’em like a pola­roid pic­ture. (ok, clearly it’s time for bed…)

And a final kiss of the night to cap off a fan­tas­tic “Very Tavern Wedding”.

Shoo­ting a wed­ding at my favo­rite wate­ring hole was somewhat surreal — all the regu­lars and the warm cozy fee­ling of fami­lia­rity. It’s not something I come across all that fre­quently and BOY was it fun! Thank you Traci & Scott for asking me to be a part of it all!!

Your pic­tu­res are beau­ti­ful! Thank you so much. I love the last one– it is so cool and exactly what I wan­ted to see! I also love the one where our hand are clas­ped and you crop­ped it to have the Reve­rends collar be the frame. I can’t wait to make my wed­ding album! ~ Traci

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Danica! 6 Months Old 08.08.09

Well, actually, yes­ter­day was Danica’s 1st Birth­day. And today, I’m going to pho­to­graph her birth­day party! I’m so loo­king for­ward to it and I thought what bet­ter time to blog her 6 month shoot. (bad pho­to­blog­ger, bad)

The first time she made her appea­rance on the blog, we were still wai­ting to see what she loo­ked like! Well, now we know she’s gorgeous!

May I intro­duce you to the many faces of Dani:

Ange­lic, Monkey

Happy, Sur­pri­sed

I hate you for put­ting me on my belly, I love nakie time!

Oh those sweet little nib­bla­ble cheeks! And that cute but­ton nose! I love it!!

We took her inside for a war­drobe change and after we had her redres­sed, she posed just like this. We were laughing so hard!

baby feeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet!

She was so fas­ci­na­ted with this ball — I love the concentration!

Mama loves!

Daddy’s Girl!

Sweet baby happiness!

I can’t wait to see Dani & her parents today! I’ve seen some pho­tos of her on face­book and she’s get­ting so big! Hope­fully I’ll be able to share them with you much soo­ner than later!

~Melis­sa­Ko­ren

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Andrea & Toto Part I 08.08.09

After their awe­some enga­ge­ment ses­sion, I was more than a little exci­ted for their wed­ding cere­mo­nies. Part I hap­pe­ned on the most beau­ti­ful of August mor­nings. I arri­ved at their house and was gree­ted by sweet­ness everywhere I loo­ked. Andrea was giving and recei­ving finishing touches, meanwhile her youn­gest daugther Eva was all ready to go!

In the other room the bri­des­maids were hel­ping each other tie their sashes on. I love the blue/​cream combo.

After her hair was done she went up stairs and put on her *stun­ning* gown. 

We all drove over to Great Island Com­mon in New Castle, NH for the cere­mony. The guys had got­ten up very early in the mor­ning to get to the gates and reserve a prime spot, they were 5th in line and could not have had a bet­ter location!

There was no real pri­vacy though so wal­king from the car to the site the girls were trying to hide Andrea — a bys­tan­der offe­red up their pic­nic quilt and it made things much easier (and more amu­sing) :)

I love these — Eva was being kept com­pany by one of the bri­des­maids daugthers — they were ado­ra­ble. Deja was chec­king on her mom, trying to help calm her nerves. 

Andrea was wai­ting in the tent they’d cons­truc­ted for her. I grab­bed this quick shot of Toto and his girls and I LOVE it! 

A few more shots while we wai­ted for the last of the guests to arrive.

There was a lot of last minute cram­ming of their vows in the last moments before the ceremony.

Then it was time to begin! 

Toto had a lot of to smile about. The girls, his bride, and his father-​in-​law follo­wing clo­sely behind carr­ying the little one.

Did I men­tion that Toto found the BEST spot? I may have unders­ta­ted. It was lite­really pic­ture perfect.

That’s the wha­le­back lighthouse so nicely deco­ra­ting the backdrop.

And the kiss! They’re married! For these high school sweethearts it had been a long time coming! They were ecstatic.

We took some group shots — and we had fun with it.

Then we wan­de­red around the park to take some newly-​wedded pho­tos! There are so many great loca­tions on that island!

As we were wal­king back from our shoot another family stop­ped us and wan­ted to have their pho­tos taken with bride and groom. It was super sweet and Andrea & Toto hap­pily obliged.

The mor­ning was pretty much over at that point — Eva had chan­ged into her tra­di­tio­nal thai out­fit, prac­ti­cing for Part II — and they had this yummy cup­cake tower out with their home made bufett.

Just before I was set to leave they remem­be­red they wan­ted to toast! Well Toto got a little over zea­lous with the sha­king and neither Andrea nor I were expec­ting it when it “went off!” Unex­pec­ted but fully delighted!

 

I can’t wait to share Part II with you — a tra­di­tio­nal Thai cere­mony and then a roc­king recep­tion for nearly 400 people! 

~Melis­sa­Ko­ren

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Mike, Jen & Sarah — Family! 07.30.09

The rainy sum­mer struck again — but ever dili­gent it didn’t foil our plans (just shor­te­ned them a bit).

Sarah and I have known each other since 7th grade. She married her high school sweet heart, a mili­tary man, and he has been deplo­yed more times than I can count. She tries to get home with her two beau­ti­ful chil­dren every year and this time while she was home, she wan­ted a photo with her siblings and I was happy to oblige. The rain, was not. We moved up our sche­du­led time and had about 15 minu­tes to work it out!

I think we did a pretty good job.

Sarah and her sis­ter Jen look so much alike now — but when we were kids, Sarah loo­ked just like Punky Brews­ter and that’s how I always think of her (with love! <3)

Ah Exe­ter — even with over­cast skies you never let me down!

Shortly after that; it down pou­red. A lot.

But we had fun!

~Melis­sa­Ko­ren

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Leah & Noah L.O.V.E. 07.17.09

I have known Leah for a few years now and she never cea­ses to amaze me. Noah was lucky enough to cross paths with Leah and l.o.v.e. was born.

It just hap­pens that Leah crea­tes. She does it here leahc​rea​tes​.com and she also was inva­lua­ble in crea­ting my new site here! In return I offe­red to take some pho­tos of her and Noah for a their appea­rance in Melly Hocking’s “Love & Photo” Series. We met up at Brea­king New Grounds in Mar­ket Square-​Portsmouth and took off for a walk around the great downtown.

We mean­de­red through Straw­bery Banke first — there are so many great hou­ses and door fra­mes down there.

I am envious of Leah’s abi­lity to rock the sunglasses!

The dres­sed for the earth with their brown & green. Perfect!

I love the jux­ta­po­si­tion of these next two :)

Then we hea­ded towards the gar­den and Leah went to climb up into the tree and then there was a …rrrrrr­rrip. Poor Leah! Her favo­rite jeans!! She momen­ta­rily lost the spar­kle in her eye and then there was a big pout. Then I asked her if I could blog about this and she said yes and star­ted laughing again. Phew!

Or maybe it was just the com­fort she finds in Noah’s arms that made her feel bet­ter — it looks like a lovely place to be!

Those eyes they do spar­kle though — woah.

One of my favo­rite pla­ces in down­town. I love the little pie­ces of urban chaos in other­wise serene New Engalnd towns.

And this photo here? It just encap­su­la­tes the peo­ple and the moment per­fectly. I love it!

We had a grand time, well — except for Leah’s pants, I don’t think they had the best of times!

And if you’re even in need of any design help — I highly recom­mend her ser­vi­ces!

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