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Sarah & Rich: Engaged! — 05.14.11 | Portsmouth, NH Engagement Photography

If you look up smit­ten in the dic­tio­nary, you’ll find Sarah & Rich. These two are abso­lu­tely and com­ple­tely ena­mo­red with each other and I was hono­red to spend a little time with them wit­nes­sing such fantabulousness.

We met up at Great Island Com­mon in New Castle for our wild rum­pus. I wan­ted to entitle the one on the left “taking the plunge” but jum­ping didn’t seem as good of an idea as come back up towards me and being in love.

Yay ado­ra­ble­ness! Sarah — you’re so pretty! Thanks for the bright colors and killer smile!

I don’t give tons of direc­tion, but some­ti­mes I sug­gest crazy ideas — mostly to get you laughing. They had me laughing har­der trying to figure out what the other was doing in res­ponse to what I was saying.

I told Rich to walk up to her and try and hit on her — he’s got some smooth moves!

They’re really really good at snug­gling, I think it comes with the smit­ten­ness. My favorites.

I can­not wait to see the over­flow of love from these two at their wed­ding in August.

Keep being so fantabulous!

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Bethany W: Class of 2011 | Newcastle, NH Senior Photos

Bethany is a beau­ti­ful girl full of great cha­risma and enthu­siasm! I met up with her, her father & sis­ter at Great Island Com­mon in New Castle on a Satur­day mor­ning in Sep­tem­ber to get those ‘pesky’ year­book pho­tos out of the way. The weather was per­fect and we had a great time wan­de­ring around the island and using some ANTM poses :)

Fierce!

I’m sooooo funny some­ti­mes ;)

Thanks Bethany for allo­wing me the pri­vi­lege of taking your pho­tos! I hope senior year is trea­ting you well!

~melis­sa­ko­ren

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Mac & Family 07.17.2010

Cara & Brian were one of my very very first wed­dings — Cara and I share a birth­day and we were inter­net friends before their wed­ding. I’ve loved kee­ping in touch with them and was over­jo­yed when they wel­co­med their son Mac. We got together just after his first birth­day for some family pho­tos at Great Island Com­mon in Newcastle.

AYKM with the hat?! So cute!

Abso­lu­tely loved.

They brought some of Mac’s toys and he sho­wed us how to use them :)

Tena­cious little bug­ger was much more focu­sed on clim­bing back­wards up the slide. And so proud of him­self for doing so!

It was so great to meet Mac and see Cara & Brian again. I love watching my client’s fami­lies expanding!

~melis­sa­ko­ren

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Sarah & Jason 05.08.10

Sarah & Jason’s wed­ding was everything a wed­ding should be. Filled with love, sup­port, emo­tion and well.. pretty things!

The after­noon star­ted at her parent’s beau­ti­ful home in New Castle, NH for a few final touches before it was off to the church.

It was not foo­ling around rai­ning, but that didn’t stop Sarah smi­ling from ear to ear!

New Castle Con­gre­ga­tio­nal is about as quaint New England as it comes. Still proudly dis­pla­ying the doors on the pews so you had to close your­self in.. I bet that was early child care. :)

I’m not sure who’s smile was big­ger, Sarah’s or Jason’s! I think he loves her more than a little bit ;)

Sarah’s brother gave a very emo­tio­nal dedi­ca­tion during the cere­mony, there was barely a dry eye in the house. Howe­ver, note the boys.. Jason’s sons.. and their pre­ca­rious loca­tion next to the grate on the ground. Now remem­ber that.

And the offi­ciant asks, may I please have the rings. And his oldest son, being the Best Man, goes to ful­fill his task.

And then it slips through his fin­gers. You could feel the whole church catch its’ breath… and then exhale in laugh­ter when it hit the car­pet and was quickly reco­ve­red with out having to call in an HVAC team!

After that it was smooth sai­ling through the “I Do’s” and a quick escape to the car to head off for portraits.

Sarah has her heart set on taking pho­tos at Great Island Com­mon and thank­fully Mother Nature obli­ged and the rain clea­red as the cere­mony ended.

After a few quick shots it was back to the Ports­mouth Country Club for some dry land and good times. I <3 a good funny face photo!

l.o.v.e.i.t.!

I also loved all the pretty sim­pli­city with the deli­cate pink tulips. So very spring!

Jason gave a warm wel­come speech that again, had ever­yone emo­tio­nal, and he looks very proud of him­self for it too.

I’ve never been swar­med by so many chil­dren when it was time to cut the cake. It was a riot! In the lower pic­ture you can see their sons’ heads pee­king up won­de­ring when THEY were going to get to eat the cake too.

One of the things I loved so much about this wed­ding is how ‘pre­sent’ every one was. They were fabu­lous wed­ding goers — sup­por­ting each other and paying atten­tion. Crow­ding around the dance floor but still being res­pect­ful of the awe­so­me­ness that was going on. Sarah’s & her dad got her mom quite welled up. Ever­yone just gathe­red round and hug­ged her.

When Jason dan­ced with his mum, his youn­ger son clim­bed up on his new step-​mums lap to watch. Boys at wed­dings always tug at MY heart strings and remind me of my (not so little any­more) guy at our wedding.

Par­ti­cu­larly in this ins­tance, where Sarah drag­ged him on the dance floor to dance with her and he wan­ted anything but to dance. I have eerily simi­lar pic­tu­res of Ben­ja­min and I in this situa­tion! :)

Ever­yone, and I mean ever­yone dan­ced but the kids really stole the show and bus­ted some crazy moves!

I thought I spied some sun­set so I went outside to check it out and found this mot­ley crew -

And sun­set! So I grab­bed them for a quick kiss and then it was back to the party.

Bou­quet toss and once again, ever­yone is front and cen­ter and enjo­ying the festivities!

Shortly after that it was time to take my leave; and I’m posi­tive ever­yone con­ti­nued to dance the night away!

Thanks Melissa — the pic­tu­res look great :) - I haven’t got­ten through all of them yet — but really beau­ti­ful! thanks so much. I have already pas­sed along your name to some peo­ple we know that are get­ting married next year!

Sarah & Jason — thank you so much for having me at your wed­ding! In case you hadn’t figu­red it out by my gushing I was bow­led over by your family & friends! I hope this first half a year (bad blog­ger!) of marriage has been wonderful!

~Melis­sa­Ko­ren

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Corey’s Senior Photos 08.30.09

How to make me feel old -

1) Make a really good friend fresh­man year in high school and become close with her and attend her family func­tions and get to know her tiny cousins.

2) Tell me one of those tiny cou­sins is about to BE A SENIOR in High School. 

That’s about it. At least for this lesson.

Corey was a great sport and super pho­to­ge­nic (if you ask his mom he got it from her..;))

We met up at one of my favo­rite pla­ces, Great Island Com­mon in New Castle, NH on what star­ted out as a gor­geous afternoon. 

Then as we wal­ked out on the jetty this ama­zingly thick and fierce fog came rolling in! Yeah, rolling, like a bow­ling ball towards the pins. Ten pin not cand­le­pin. Because that’s how I was raised!

Whoosh — there goes the horizon! 

I think it sca­red the birds away. Yeah, that’s it. And no mat­ter what anyone says I was not at all con­cer­ned that that sea­gull was going to dive­bomb Corey and then come after me. Not one bit. 

It’s coming on shore now — see it eating the tree in the right hand photo? It was crazy!

We retrea­ted even further inland towards the cars and I asked Corey if he wan­ted to swing — he didn’t even hesi­tate and jum­ped right on!

Gra­dua­tion is just around the cor­ner and Corey will be off to monu­men­tal things I’m sure! Thanks for let­ting me cap­ture this moment in his life!

You did an AWESOME job. Thank you so much. ~Sherry

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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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Sukey & Bob 07.24.09

Just last week I sha­red with you Sukey & Bob’s enga­ge­ment pho­tos. The weather this sum­mer was just mean. A rainy rainy June and July only got slightly bet­ter. Howe­ver, these two eeked the most out of their day!

I arri­ved at the Went­worth while they were finishing up Sukey’s finishing touches. She was Stun­ning. This was not a sur­prise as she’s an ama­zing and gor­geous per­son, but it still took your breath away.

The beau­ti­ful flo­wers by Ambro­sia Gar­dens in Ports­mouth, NH. So dainty and I love the splash of blue.

Shortly there after some of the girls piled into the car to head over to the cere­mony site.

The rain was a little too threa­te­ning so they had to make the deci­sion to move the cere­mony in the tent, which pro­ved to be a good idea as it did rain for a bit during their nuptuals.

It made ZERO impact on the hap­pi­ness though. This family is glowing!

I love that they both wal­ked her down the aisle. And that they both got to kiss her cheek to help set her at ease.

The swee­test bri­des­maids, they were all so cap­ti­va­ted by the cere­mony, but how could you not be with this gorgeousness!

The tent was great — it was very visually appea­ling, I love the lines.

They had a great sand cere­mony — I bet it makes a great addi­tion to their home!

Future pho­to­graphers of Ame­rica! I love it!

I love these two — this photo of Bob was actually when I arri­ved at the tent before the cere­mony and let him know that Sukey was here and we’d be star­ting in just a bit. He was BEAMING!

Sukey did something very uni­que — she has a lot of very spe­cial won­der­ful women in her life and so she asked them all to pick dres­ses of their choo­sing in a spe­ci­fic color and hono­red them each with a sin­gle rose. In addi­tion to the young bri­des­maids — it was a fabu­lous crew!

The men weren’t too shabby themselves!

The won­der­ful staff at the Went­worth Country Club took us golf car­ting to their beau­ti­ful bridge -

And back again to the ocean side -

Then it was time to get down and enjoy the recep­tion! The sun sho­wed up and sta­yed around and it was perfect!

Their soft blue stri­ped theme was per­fect for this July sea­side wedding!

As with everything else that day, and I’m sure in Sukey’s life, her parents sha­red in their speech together. I love the way her dad looks at her mom.

Each of Bob’s grooms­men took a stab at a speech. They were ban­ned from saying one par­ti­cu­lar word. But uh, I can’t remem­ber what that word was. It made it a lot more fun though! 

They all had a dif­fe­rent approach — from stan­dard paper -

To notes on the back of their room key. HA!

Time to cut the (tasty tasty!) cake.

And a dance with dad.

While mom watched every second.

Then it was time to toss the bou­quet — I love the look of con­cen­tra­tion on Sukey’s face!

This lucky lady caught the bou­quet but the little girls were MUCH more inte­res­ted in having a turn with it.

I can’t express how much I enjo­yed wor­king with Sukey & Bob on their wed­ding and mee­ting their family and friends. They cer­tainly have a foun­da­tion of, and are surroun­ded by, so much love and sup­port I’m sure they will be together for as long as they can imagine.

~Melis­sa­Ko­ren

These pho­tos are SO ama­zing!! Wow! I chec­ked your web site last night and we found the gallery that way and spent the eve­ning remi­nis­cing. I can’t get over how many of these 900+ pho­tos are abso­lu­tely outs­tan­ding! I’m a little overwhel­med with work at the moment to make this as elo­quent a tes­ti­mo­nial as I would like to but — wow — am I SO glad we had you cap­tu­ring the day! You got so many moments that I mis­sed, and pic­ked up so many little details.

Here’s a telling remark which is attests to your abi­lity to be all seeing, all kno­wing. We were loo­king at some of the pho­tos you got of the guests and Bob com­men­ted “Oh, she must have taken these while we were doing pho­tos outside” He quickly rea­li­zed the error of his logic since you would have had to have been outside with us taking the photos, but it kind of speaks to how well you multi-​task and how unin­tru­sive you are too.

I think someone with 2 assis­tants would have been hard pres­sed to get the same cove­rage. I will write more later because I have so many thoughts on how great you are for about 1,000 reasons!

Again, you did such an ama­zing job with the pho­tos. I’m so, so glad we went with you as our pho­to­grapher. If I can ever be a refe­rence or help pro­mote you in any way, please let me know! ~Sukey

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