Category weddings

Kate & Matt: Married 09.17.2011 | Gloucester, MA Elks at Bass Rocks Wedding Photography

Kate boo­ked me at a red light. I was in the car and ans­we­red the phone thin­king the num­ber that came up was the call I was wai­ting for and on the other end was Kate. She asked me a few ques­tions, (like, are you avai­la­ble on my date) and then said great! We’re mai­ling out the depo­sit tonight! Um, OK! I love a woman who makes good deci­sions ;) . And it most cer­tainly was the call I was wai­ting for after all!

I arri­ved late after­noon to the Elks at Bass Rocks, Glou­ces­ter, MA and found a room full of beau­ti­ful women, sis­ters & nie­ces, all get­ting ready.

And one extre­mely proud mama/​grandmother over­seeing everyone.

There are some stun­ning genes in this family I tell you!

Kate loo­ked radiant, their daugh­ter Lore­lei is too cute for words.

The cere­mony was outside on the main lawn.

The little ones anxiously wai­ting to ful­fill their flo­wer girl duty.

Pic­ture perfect!

s.w.a.k.!

Hurrah! We’re married!

Family pho­tos.

AYKM? I’m so in love with both of these!

Check out those heels. And Matt’s steely blue eyes.

Party time.

Another show stop­ping beauty!

There was much to speak about at the kids’ table!

And those cup­ca­kes were DELICIOUS.

Loving parent dances

And way more dan­cing pho­tos than I usually post — but this crew were such a hoot on the dance floor!

um, not sure what bar­bie was doing that eve­ning, but it looks like she had a good time, and someone caught it on film.…

Mr & Mrs!

From the outside loo­king in. The night was per­fect from every aspect.

Kate & Matt — Thank you so much for fin­ding me and being so sure I was the pho­to­grapher for you. I loved being apart of your event and mee­ting your ama­zing families.

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Michelle & Tim: Married 09.16.2011 | Dover, NH Wedding Photography

After our ado­ra­ble enga­ge­ment ses­sion, I was quite sure Miche­lle & Tim were going to rock out all night long at their wed­ding. And did they ever!

The after­noon star­ted at the Sil­ver Foun­tain Inn in Dover. A beau­ti­ful inn that was per­fect for all the pre-​wedding action. I arri­ved to the incom­pa­ra­ble Joanne McDo­nough of Joya Beauty put­ting the finishing touches on her per­fect can­vas– Michelle.

I pop­ped ups­tairs for a few shots of the guys get­ting ready too. This sweet little boy was a little ner­vous about his role, but he did wonderfully!

AYKM!? Abso­lu­tely STUNNING!!

With ever­yone ready, it was time for the first look. It was like a fun sli­ding puzzle get­ting Tim downs­tairs and hid­den so Miche­lle could sneak ups­tairs and we could get Tim in place. She came down the stairs and up behind him — he’s so exci­ted and she left him speechless!

We got some great wed­ding party shots taken care of before it was off to the ceremony!

Miche­lle arri­ved at St. Mary Church in Dover in swanky style it added per­fectly to the vin­tage feel of her look!

Married and off to the geta­way car!

The car brought them right over to The Oaks in Somers­worth, NH just in time for a few sun­set ‘just married’ pho­tos before the recep­tion that was full of so many great details, fire­works, spar­klers & just good old fashio­ned fun and celebration!

High Fives for a job well done!

And a grand exit! Off they go: Mr & Mrs!

You might notice the video­grapher in the last shot, Andrew at Pixel Per­fec­tion was a BLAST to work with. To be honest, some­ti­mes video­graphers get in the way and don’t try and work with the pho­to­grapher but Andrew was great from start to finish. You can See their high­light video here and I would abso­lu­tely give him a call if you’re won­de­ring about video cove­rage of your event too.

Thank you Miche­lle & Tim for having such a fan­tas­tic event and let­ting me be a part of it!

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Nicole & Haven: Married 09.10.2011 | Driftwood Inn Wedding, Bailey Island ME

Per­fec­tion.

There’s no other way to desc­ribe Nicole & Haven’s wed­ding day. The loca­tion, the weather, the peo­ple, the ambiance, the everything. It was simply an affair to remember.

I found my way back over to the Drift­wood early after­noon and met up with the girls get­ting ready. They glos­sed and spra­yed and laughed and cried. From the next cabin over, Haven sent the most per­fect gift and swee­test card ever. Nicole’s hair was ama­zingly intri­cate, yet sim­ple and and com­ple­tely com­pli­men­ted her already natu­ral beauty. She saw her dad. Ever­yone took their turns being overwhel­med and speechless.

The cere­mony began and folks gathe­red around. Each and every one of them impar­ted hap­pi­ness and lon­ge­vity into their wed­ding bands before they said i.do. And did they ever!

Ring bea­rer!

We took a ride to the spot where they wan­ted to do for­mals, only to find there was another wed­ding lite­rally about to hap­pen in the EXACT spot! There are a lot of ‘rules’ I’ll break, and pla­ces I’ll tread, but step­ping on another bride’s day was NOT in the recipe for per­fec­tion. Bai­ley Island, howe­ver, is full of per­fect spots so we drove to the Land’s End and had our way with the edge of the world.

The boys and girls came in sepa­rate cars. The boys snuck beers into their car, and didn’t bring enough for the whole class. So while I was ‘tor­tu­ring’ them with their pic­tu­res, the girls were snea­king sips of the beer!

Nicole had one request — a fun pic­ture of each of her girls’ per­so­na­li­ties. mis­sion accomplished!

Love love love these nautical boutonnieres!

The recep­tion was spec­ta­cu­lar. Full of class and whimsy, and oppor­tu­ni­ties for the guests to leave more than just their name in a guest book. The wishing bott­les hold sec­rets and whis­pers for Nicole & Haven to expe­rience on anni­ver­sa­ries for years to come. What a bri­lliant idea!

Nicole’s wor­king towards her dream is to be a wed­ding plan­ner. She’s hel­ped out here and there before and effort­lessly did all the plan­ning for her own event. It loo­ked like something straight from a maga­zine! She’s star­ted her own busi­ness and if you’re loo­king for a little extra help on, or before your wed­ding day, you should abso­lu­tely check her out at Nicole Mower Events! Not to be outdone, Haven’s mom & family crea­ted ALLL the sweet treats, except the cake, which Haven had sta­yed up baking and deco­ra­ting the night before as a sur­prise for Nicole!

DETAILS!

Puppy kept a watch­ful eye on everything.

BBQ in a wed­ding dress? Of course — when you have a cus­tom bedazz­led apron!

Every time you catch a glimpse of them, even when they don’t know they’re being watched, they’re in love with each other. they’re that genuine. its phenomenal.

Des­serts with a view!

Fan­tas­tic sce­nery and grounds for the guests to min­gle and enjoy the amazingness.

Of all the pla­ces for the bou­quet to land — it chose the lan­tern. Crys­tal found a ride though and grab­bed it down. I think it might be chea­ting because she’s already enga­ged, and had already boo­ked me to shoot her wed­ding before Nicole’s wed­ding day, but it can’t hurt to have rein­for­ce­ments ;)

The eve­ning went splen­didly. I was so SO hono­red to be a part of it.

These two sweet folks took a few minu­tes to write some kind words about me on wed­ding­wire:

Melissa is so fan­tas­tic! Not only is she an ama­zing per­son with a great per­so­na­lity and sense of humor but she’s an inc­re­di­ble pho­to­grapher. She became a fast friend to my hus­band and I and we feel very lucky! When I first met Melissa and saw her work it was obvious how pas­sio­nate she is about this job and I was con­fi­dent she would cap­ture every spe­cial moment of my wedding. 

Melissa went out of her way to help me with everything! She hel­ped my wed­ding party correctly tigh­ten the cor­set in my dress (thank you), she hel­ped me keep the event time­line run­ning smoothly (pho­tos, speeches, etc) since I did not have a DJ or a wed­ding coör­di­na­tor. She also hel­ped my hus­band and I by giving us ins­truc­tions on how to begin the cake cut­ting! 
Also, I can’t remem­ber what it was because the day FLEW by but I reme­me­ber while we were get­ting ready she whip­ped out at least three magi­cal items from her bag of tricks to help me and my wed­ding party. 
It has only been two weeks since my wed­ding so I can NOT wait to see the pho­tos. I’ve only seen a cou­ple of sneak peak pho­tos and I’m dying for the rest! =)
I already have a cou­sin and an old high school class­mate using Melissa for their upco­ming wed­dings and I won’t stop rec­co­men­ding her so book fast if you have an upco­ming event! ?

I’m so exci­ted to work with her friends and family and can’t wait til our paths cross again!

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Sarah & Rich: Married! 08.27.11 | Cape Cod Wedding Photographer

Sarah & Rich are per­fect for each other. Two warm, gene­rous peo­ple with humon­gous smi­les and fan­tas­tic hugs. We had a blast at the enga­ge­ment ses­sion in New Castle, NH and I knew their wed­ding day would be equally as fantastic.

The day star­ted like any other late August day. With the threat of a hurri­cane. Irene was not exactly on the guest list! There was fear of bridge clo­su­res, power outa­ges, and oh yeah — heavy wind and rain. But that didn’t stop this hardy New England crew. They bat­te­ned down the hatches and got all gus­sied up for the big day! Luc­kily, we timed the breaks of rain well and they had a good plan B for the cere­mony. The wed­ding party was full of color and per­so­na­lity and Bally­meade Country Club is gor­geous inside and out!

From Sarah get­ting ready at her parents’ house, to the first look, to the Ferrari pins in place of bou­ton­nie­res, this wed­ding was full of touching details and dan­ces resul­ting in a com­ple­tely won­de­rous day that, as I pre­dic­ted at their e.session, was over­flo­wing with love.

And with that, some of my favo­ri­tes! (I can’t tell you how hard it was to pick favorites!!)

Rich & his son Jake — GQ and GQ Jr.

The great can­vas guest book they had made from one of their enga­ge­ment photos!

Hey — who’s that catching the bou­quet? None other than Becca; Sarah’s sis­ter, who’s now the next one engaged!!

We finished off the night with a little sere­nade on the piano.

And we all made it home safe, with no bridge clo­su­res :)

I’ve already seen this family once since the wed­ding and I hope to see them again and again over the years. They’re abso­lu­tely spec­ta­cu­lar people!

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Sara & Scott: Married! 08.13.11 | NH Wedding Photography

It’s always nice to start off the new year with an inquiry, and Sara’s was in my inbox before the sun even rose on January 1st. Sadly for her, her inquiry stem­med from a mishap with her ori­gi­nally boo­ked pho­to­grapher no lon­ger avai­la­ble. Thank­fully — I was! After some fun over­seas emails, I was thri­lled she and her fiancé Scott, chose me.

Their wed­ding was held at the Mas­sa­be­sic Audu­bon Cen­ter in Auburn, NH. It was like a big gar­den party — and squi­rrels were most cer­tainly welcome.

The cen­ter is full of great stuff to see and was the per­fect place for this family wedding!

Another first look! Yahoo!! Scott was SO ner­vous, it was adorable.

And was left fully speech­less when he saw his gor­geous bride who was com­ple­tely over­come with emotion.

He’s so ten­der with her beautiful spirit.

I wasn’t kid­ding when I said it was a gar­den wed­ding. Only the gar­den is run by loads of pro­fes­sio­nal and volun­teer gardeners!

smokin’!

Never a dull moment with this troupe ;)

I love how fully Sara expe­rien­ces everything. Just as we finished up the first look and wed­ding party, her father arri­ved, and the emo­tions floo­ded back. (one of my favo­ri­tes from the day!)

Meti­cu­lously dainty flo­wer girls and a bea­ming groom. I can’t rei­te­rate enough how the first look doesn’t take away from that spe­cial moment of seeing your betrothed walk down the aisle. They’d just seen each other not 5 minu­tes before and he’s still bow­led over by her beauty and the rea­lity of ‘this is it, we’re going to be married!’

s.w.a.k! and a rose for their loving parents.

they did it! p.s. — the bot­tom photo is another favo­rite — the way he looks at her melts my heart!

We made the most of the grounds for pho­tos throughout the day. It was all so lush in it’s August splendor!

love it!

After a quick cos­tume change while ever­yone sett­led into their seats, it was time for kind, love filled words, from who­me­ver might like to speak.

and perhaps a few emba­rras­sing tales from those who know ;)

And they dan­ced like no one was watching.

do you SEE this cake top­per? Cus­tom made — orange tie and all?! SO GOOD!

It all star­ted out inno­cently enough, then she smashed him, and laughed about it. So he grab­bed her face to lay one on her, and ins­tead, smea­red his face ALL over hers.

And it was GREEN.

Willing to run for it, the flo­wer girl lan­ded the bou­quet — and then sweetly pas­sed out a flo­wer to all the guests.

A birth­day piñata!

And our last walk around the pro­perty. Where this totally happened.

ok, we might have had to use our magic ima­gi­na­tion wand a little bit — but wha­te­ver, it’s HILARIOUS.

And right back to roman­tic. These two give love a good name.

*swoon*

What a magi­cal way to spend a sum­mer after­noon. Thank you Sara & Scott for fin­ding me, and to your other pho­to­grapher for losing you (haha). I hope you’re still being sho­we­red with love and hap­pi­ness daily!

Sara took a moment to review me on Wed­ding­Wire and for that I am eter­nally grateful.

Well, let me begin by saying you will not find a bet­ter pho­to­grapher in this price range in the whole New Hampshire area. Believe me, I loo­ked. I was plan­ning this wed­ding from over­seas, so I spent hours goo­gling pho­to­graphers, loo­king at web­si­tes, rea­ding reviews, etc. Well, let me tell you, if you are con­si­de­ring using Melissa, just stop! Stop loo­king for other pho­to­graphers, I mean. Because, you found her. She was so much more than a pho­to­grapher. She hel­ped me get into my dress (who knew you were sup­po­sed to lace it from the top?) had food on hand in case I had for­got­ten to eat (which I did) and was just gene­rally so sup­por­tive and kind. She was friendly, but also very effi­cient. She was so so nice, but knew how to get peo­ple around for the group pho­tos without soun­ding over­bea­ring or bossy. She was so unob­tru­sive, I barely even noti­ced she was there for the whole wed­ding! After get­ting through the group shots in much less time than I thought it would take, she mel­ted into the back­ground. But, loo­king through my ama­zing gallery of 600 pic­tu­res, she did not miss a THING. Loo­king through my pic­tu­res was like reli­ving the won­der­ment and beauty of the day, and seeing some bonus mate­rials! You will be ama­zed at how many little moments she cap­tu­red that you mis­sed. So, please, stop loo­king. What you will get here is so much more than a pho­to­grapher who takes great pic­tu­res. You will get someone who genui­nely cares about you, and making your day won­der­ful. Melissa’s love of pho­to­graphy is clear to anyone who meets her. I never even once got the fee­ling that she was just doing this for the paycheck, and I have never been hap­pier to pay someone for their ser­vi­ces than I was with Melissa. I could pro­bably go on lon­ger, but I’ll stop it here. Seriously! Hire her! You will NOT regret it!

Thank you friends!

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Liz & BK: Married! 08.12.11 | Portsmouth Harbor Events Wedding Photographer

Have I men­tio­ned recently how much I love my job? If not, I’ve been remiss. I get to meet the most ama­zingly won­der­ful, kind hear­ted, hila­rious peo­ple. Some­ti­mes, I get to pho­to­graph wed­dings for ama­zingly won­der­ful, kind hear­ted, hila­rious peo­ple I already know. Enter: Liz & Brian. I was SO exci­ted when Brian called me to tell me that he and Liz were plan­ning their wed­ding, and even more exci­ted when the day finally came. The rain clea­red, the tem­pe­ra­ture was per­fect (a miracle for mid-​august in new england) and Liz was STUNNING!

With the recep­tion plan­ned for the newly built Ports­mouth Har­bor Events Cen­ter, it only made sense to get ready at the chic new Resi­dence Inn that’s right next door! And how nice of them to have cur­tains that coör­di­na­ted with Liz’s spec­ta­cu­lar! spec­ta­cu­lar! shoes.

And the gor­geous details of the dress!

One of my favo­rite get­ting ready moments was when the little flo­wer girls came in and saw Liz in her gown. I was in a few wed­dings as a little girl and it’s such a won­drous thing to see this woman you’ve known in the every­day gla­mo­rous and in love.

This is pro­bably one of my favo­rite shots from the whole day.

While Liz was get­ting help with her shoes and final touches, Brian was downs­tairs teaching the grooms­men how to tie their new adi­das snea­kers. SO much bet­ter than uncom­for­ta­ble tux shoes!

After everyone’s foot­wear was secure, it was time for the first look. Brian and I hea­ded out to find “the spot” and then he called Liz and told her where to meet us. While we wai­ted I made him work on his GQ model action. He did a pretty good job, though that’s easy for someone so dapper.

Then it was time. Liz’s MOH hel­ped her to the path and then retrea­ted back indoors.

I love this part. I can feel the anti­ci­pa­tion in the air. I told Brian to look at me, but didn’t inc­lude that he could turn around when she arri­ved, so she just put her arms around him and hug­ged him from the back, all the while he’s trying to follow my ins­truc­tion and sneak a peek at the same time.

I finally rea­li­zed he was wai­ting for my com­mand and told him he could turn around and fully take her in. I think he was pleased.

very very pleased.

After they loo­ked and saw, it was time to board the tro­lley and head off to Great Island Com­mon to get the ‘for­mals’ knoc­ked out and off the list before the cere­mony (and oh yeah, THE PARTY!)

I love the bright blue and the ocean and sky. And oh, remem­ber when the grass was green and the trees were lush? (soon it will return!)

We still had some time before the cere­mony so we drop­ped the troops off at the hotel and zip­ped over to Pres­cott Park to take advan­tage of a change of sce­nery. Those gar­dens are such a sight to behold!

If I had a stu­dio, this would be a big can­vas on the wall.

What? Marr­ying time!? Let’s get it done. This was an extra spe­cial cere­mony for me. It was held at the North Church in Ports­mouth, which is not only my emplo­yer for the past 9 years, but also, where we had OUR wed­ding ceremony.

Tra­di­tio­nally, most New England churches are not equip­ped with a ‘cen­ter aisle’ so you have to get crea­tive when you want head on pho­tos ;)

Ah! SO CUTE! I love the bub­ble hem­li­nes on the flo­wer girl dresses.

S.W.A.K!

What now? I don’t even know what’s going on here, but it’s com­ple­tely and utterly the epi­tome of the two of them. ado­ra­ble, fan­ta­blous, and silly as all get out.

Brian and Liz saved plenty of time for pho­tos together. After the cere­mony we took our time wal­king back to the the recep­tion hall and duc­king in and out of a few pla­ces for shots along the way.

Pro­bably one of my favo­rite ring shots to date.

And then the time had come. The time to get down and cele­brate at the afo­re­men­tio­ned newly built, com­ple­tely swanky, Har­bor Events Cen­ter in Ports­mouth.

It was a beau­ti­ful cake, but the little blond hea­ded beau­ties com­ple­tely, and right­fully, ups­ta­ged it ;)

All of Liz’s friends crow­ded around her to see the bling and con­gra­tuate her. While Brian, did this.

But then he did this too. They make ele­gant look easy.

I loved that before the speeches and din­ner began, they took a moment to whole-​heartedly thank their friends, and family, for sup­por­ting them and cele­bra­ting with them.

Then they were toas­ted. Or in Brian’s case, roasted.

Both of them come from ama­zing families.

Shake it like a pola­roid picture!

Or, wha­te­ver this is…

I would have dan­ced all night with this crew, but with another wed­ding the next day I bid them fare­well and slip­ped off into the night.

Thank you, my friends, for such a high honor.

Til we cavort again!

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Julia & Steve: Married! 08.06.11 | York, ME Wedding Photographer

Abso­lu­tely Giddy.

That’s what comes to mind when I think of Julia & Steve on their wed­ding day.

On a beau­ti­ful Satur­day, smack dab in the middle of the dog days of sum­mer, these two tied the knot. After 20 + years of sha­ring their lives, it was time to ‘make it official’.

Steve was a ner­vous wreck when I got to the church, but the second he saw Julia wal­king down the aisle, he became entran­ced and you could tell that at that moment, nothing else mattered.

And Julia, loo­king BEAUTIFUL, met his gaze with a life­time full of kno­wing and loving, and her own dose of nervousness.

He put a ring on it!

And then — it was time to kiss his BRIDE. Talk about a build up of anti­ci­pa­tion! Some­ti­mes the moments surroun­ding the kiss tell the grea­ter story than the kiss every could.

Married at last!

Then it was on to the party! When I arri­ved at the Ramsdell-​Rogers Func­tion Faci­lity in York, ME I was gree­ted with this fan­tas­tic cake. On a stand that Steve made him­self. It was such a per­fect addi­tion to their cele­bra­tion. And the cake topper…

HA! That about sums it up I think! ;)

I love the use of the hydran­geas in the cake and in the bou­quet. And the little details of the loc­ket and handkerchief.

These two are so in love. While giddy and jovial and lighthear­ted, there were some moments of truly overwhel­ming emo­tion that left us all a little cho­ked up.

Who bet­ter to toast you than your own son, who has of course, known you his whole life! Not to be out­done Julia’s best friend Sue sho­we­red the newly­weds with kind words and affection.

Pro­bably my favo­rite shot of the day.

the fros­ted kiss

Still Crazy, After all these years <3

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