Tag wedding

Jessica & Tim Married! 09.18.10 | Stratham, NH Wedding Photographer

Jes­sica is beau­ti­ful. She radia­tes posi­ti­vity and you can’t meet her and not smile. A lot. When I arri­ved and found her get­ting ready I said her hair loo­ked so cute (it was much dif­fe­rent than during their enga­ge­ment pho­tos) and then she told me that she had got­ten it cut off the night before, after saying goodbye to Tim. He loves her hair short so as a wed­ding gift/​surprise she chop­ped it all off for him! It was such a cool ges­ture and added another ele­ment of anti­ci­pa­tion to the day.

The wed­ding and recep­tion were held at Jessica’s parents house. They had set up the chairs and her mum had wor­ked all sum­mer cul­ti­va­ting the plants and flo­wers to add to the aesthe­tics. It was gor­geous. The bri­dal party came out of the house and down the aisle but you couldn’t really see them until they were coming straight up towards the arbor.

And thats when Tim saw Jess, and star­ted to well up with tears. Which in turn cau­sed me to well up with tears.

I think there were a lot of tears going around <3

See, Gor­geous!

Married, and quite plea­sed with them­sel­ves about it too. Right­fully so.

And then they all dan­ced down the aisle. They all dan­ced all night — but more on that later!

First it was time for some fun formals.

This crew makes flying look easy!

“ooo ooo ooo — can we do a pyra­mid?”… “I don’t know, can you?” I guess the ans­wer is yes!

Then it was just the 3 of us.

These two are such a beau­ti­ful fit.

I loved the cen­ter­pie­ces, and that I could make their wed­ding date out of their table num­bers :)

These two were toas­ted and roas­ted by their family with the utmost love and regard.

Just the sim­ple act of hol­ding hands and being in the moment with each other *sigh*

They infu­sed them­sel­ves into ever detail and ever aspect of the wed­ding. These film strip time line pho­tos are too cute.

I love it when the cou­ple makes their own toast. Jess & Tim elo­quently than­ked ever­yone who had been with them through the jour­ney that brought them to their wed­ding day.

this IS what love looks like.

Love and a few dance les­sons ;)

And then Jess & her dad had a lovely slow father daugh­ter dance

That broke into some boo­gie woo­gie and brought the crowd to their feet!

I think Dad was relie­ved when it was over ;)

Then Tim & his mother sha­red a lovely dance

I l.o.v.e. this photo

Remem­ber what I said about the dan­cing? This bunch dan­ced all.night.long and they bus­ted some serious moves

This was defi­ni­tely a family affair!

When a sweet inno­cent cake feeding…

goes awry.…

Jess threa­tens revenge

So her dad steps in to keep Tim from being lonely

and then Jess steps in and Tim gets what’s coming to him!

She did try to run away, but he caught her and they made up

Just in time for the first lap dance/​garter remo­val I’ve been wit­ness to.

Too. frea­king. funny.

A good old fashio­ned dollar dance

Soon after that it was the end of my time and they were stilllllllllllllllllll dancing!

And a good time was had by all. Thank you so much for inc­lu­ding me in that.

~melis­sa­ko­ren

I had been searching for a pho­to­grapher for a few weeks when a neigh­bor refe­rred us to Melissa. Being a “do-​it your­self” bride, I was given a lot of advice on what I should pay, what I should look for, does she use a good digi­tal camera…etc, etc. (I’m sure you get the picture-​no pun inten­ded.) My (now) hus­band and I met with her and imme­dia­tely felt com­for­ta­ble. She is fun and witty and know­led­gea­ble about her field. Not to men­tion her pri­ces are great if you’re on a bud­get like we were. Melissa made us WANT to get our pic­tu­res taken by her. We plan­ned some enga­ge­ment pho­tos and had a really good time with her as we wal­ked around. What I liked best about the ses­sion was that she was open for anything and took into account that they were OUR pic­tu­res. She wan­ted to make them mean something. And she did. We used them around our recep­tion. On the day of our wed­ding though, she ROCKED, for lack of a bet­ter word. Not only did she take ama­zing pic­tu­res of everything and anything, she hel­ped pin bou­ton­nie­res on the grooms­men and fathers, she pre­for­med emer­gency sur­gery on my bustle when it kept drag­ging, and she made us laugh the whole time. Melissa is truly a great pho­to­grapher because she knows the ins and outs of her trade and recog­ni­zes the impor­tance of laugh­ter and sim­pli­city on a day you’ll remem­ber for the rest of your life. We’ll be using her for years and years to come. We highly recom­mend her! ~Jess and Tim

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Samantha & Josh: Married! 09.04.10 | Kittery, ME Wedding Photographer

I met Sam & Josh last year at the Exe­ter Inn’s Bri­dal Open House. (This year’s Open House is coming up, stop by and visit me on 220!) When it finally came time for their wed­ding I woke up that mor­ning and went to Best Buy and bought my first Mac! It sta­yed nest­led in it’s box for a few hours though while I got in go mode and hea­ded for their house. Sam was run­ning late at the salon but some of her girls were there and we wai­ted with anti­ci­pa­tion for her arrival.

As I loo­ked around their apart­ment I noti­ced this photo on the book­case near the door. What an ama­zing way to propose!

A few detail shots:

Their wed­ding was very 20’s the­med and I loved the old win­dows and the trunk from her childhood that echoed the theme so well.

Finally she arri­ved, and the wait was well worth it — she loo­ked stunning!

Then we hurried off to Fort Fos­ter in Kit­tery, ME to meet Josh and com­mence their ocean side cere­mony. How dap­per ever­yone looks!

Sam & her dad make their way down the path to meet up with Josh.

When they arri­ved at the gate it was ope­ned and Sam & Josh were given their bles­sing by her father.

And they’re married!

Because of the time crunch in the begin­ning we did the for­mals in three parts, some quick shots of the great loo­king bri­dal party and some family before din­ner, a few family after din­ner, and then and adven­ture with Sam & Josh after the recep­tion was over.

I said ok guys, Jump! You’ve got to love her con­vic­tion though! ;)

On the left is right after the cere­mony, on the right is after the recep­tion. All the dif­fe­rent nooks and cran­nies and trees made for great ligh­ting all day!

It was really awe­some to have a live band at this out­door venue!

Sam’s gram (I think I’m remem­be­ring that correctly) made this ama­zing turret­ted castle cake!

And this cake top­per couldn’t have been any more repre­sen­ta­tive of how they inte­ract with each other!

Well… except maybe when she throws cake at him ;)

But here they are back at their first dance, so in love!

The pavi­lion at Fort Fos­ter is a GREAT place for an event!

A dance with her daddy…

and an ever watch­ful mum.

Then some good ol’ let­ting loose!

A quick gar­ter and bou­quet toss off the balcony…

And the recep­tion was done! As I’d men­tio­ned ear­lier I took this time to wan­der around the grounds with Sam & Josh and ensure that they had some time for pho­tos of the two of them. The more we explo­red, the more I was so thank­ful for our “happy acci­dent” of not being able to take them right after the ceremony!

Samantha is exqui­site and fear­less. Two qua­li­ties you don’t always find in the same place at the same time, but Josh cer­tainly has hit the jackpot.

As much as I loved them together in the tree, when I asked Josh if he would mind step­ping aside for a moment Sam posi­tio­ned her­self a big taller and left me with the most ama­zing shots!

And so it goes, the -

Wed­ding of Sam & Josh.

Thank you both for fin­ding me and invi­ting me along for a glimpse of your lives.

~melis­sa­ko­ren

And Sam just pos­ted a lovely review on wed­ding­wire — thanks for taking the time Sam! Hope you’re well!

Melissa was nothing short of AMAZING! Even though I was run­ning late on the day of the wed­ding, she had already pho­to­graphed my dress and many other things before I got there to save time. She hel­ped me calm down and kept her cool des­pite dea­ling with a very cranky and over­ti­red bride (me). She even hel­ped put on the groomsmen’s bou­ton­nie­res when we got to the venue. In our opi­nion (my hus­band and I), the best part and most fun part of the whole wed­ding was when she took us away to do our pho­tos together.
Des­pite all this, the pho­tos are inc­re­di­ble! Every time I look back at the pic­tu­res from the wed­ding, I see something new and think, “wow,” it’s like she was in ten pla­ces at the same time. I highly sug­gest Melissa to pho­to­graph your wedding.

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Lisa & Doug Married! 08.21.10 | Haverhill, MA Wedding Photographer

When I met up with Lisa & Doug for their enga­ge­ment pho­tos it see­med like their wed­ding was still ‘months’ away. Then, a blink of an eye later it was time! After lea­ving Steve & Kristi’s clam­bake I hea­ded down to Lisa’s parent’s house to find the whole gor­geous wed­ding party finishing up their get­ting readies.

I want that peb­ble rug.

Lisa’s mom made sure the plan­ter boxes coör­di­na­ted with the wed­ding, that’s advance planning!

I love the green & pink!

The cere­mony took place at All Saints Parish Church in Haverhill, MA

And it was a tre­men­dous church! The sweet and pre­co­cious flo­wer girl loo­ked so wee bitty!

But Doug’s smile filled the church a thou­sand times over.

A smile pre­ci­pi­ta­ted by the stun­ning woman coming down the aisle to be his wife.

That’s right Lisa, make sure it gets all the way on!

no joke — tre­men­dous!

Married & celebrating!

Then it was on to DiBurro’s Func­tion Faci­lity for a par-​teh!

Green, or pink?!

Doug’s brother was full of expressions.

Speeches!

Hello bri­dal party!

best.speech.ever

…that must have been some good cake!

This is one of my favo­rite wed­ding games. We pla­yed it at our wed­ding and it’s always a great time.

A family affair!

So good, so good, so good!

I love to see what my clients do with their pho­tos :)

Oom­pah!

Follo­wed by sho­wers of money! Hoorah!

My favo­rite pho­tos from the night!

Pink is my favo­rite color.…

Break it down. (I think from now on I shall only blog with song lyrics)

Can’t touch this.

The right stuff.

We are the champions..?

Ok ok enough of that.. bou­quet toss!

..and gar­ter. Inte­res­ting approach Doug…

I don’t always recom­mend to my clients that I stay the whole wed­ding. I truly enjoy the recep­tions but some­ti­mes if you’re loo­king to cut costs you can easily do with out a pro­fes­sio­nal pho­to­grapher for the last few hours of your recep­tion. Howe­ver, when I am asked to stay I’m always overwhel­med by the last dance circle. And this was a big one!

Lisa & Doug — thank you so much for invi­ting me to your beau­ti­ful wed­ding. May you always remem­ber the hap­pi­ness you were surroun­ded with!

~Melis­sa­Ko­ren

I don’t have enough words to desc­ribe how happy I am with my wed­ding pho­tos. Melissa did an AMAZING job. I was so supri­sed when I saw them. She was extre­mely unin­tru­sive — I don’t even remem­ber seeing her too much (although, it WAS a very overwhel­ming day), but she always see­med to pop out of nowhere whe­ne­ver someone step­ped on my bustle (which hap­pe­ned a LOT) to help fix it. She was so help­ful before and during the wed­ding, through everything. When we had first met with pho­to­graphers, we met with one that I loved her pic­tu­res, but she had abso­lu­tely no per­so­na­lity, and didn’t say boo when we met with her, and was kind of pri­cey to be able to get everything that we wan­ted. The second was much more in our bud­get, but came off to me like a used car sales­man, and the pic­tu­res weren’t very good at all. (Why have an affor­da­ble all-​inclusive pac­kage when the pic­tu­res look like crap?)…But Melissa was JUUUST right. She is very friendly and per­so­na­ble, and her pic­tu­res are ama­zing for a great price. We just got our pic­tu­res two days ago, and I am already trying to choose some for our album, and it is too hard when I love them all! I would HIGHLY recom­mend Melissa for yor wed­ding, and I think we will be calling her for pic­tu­res when we start our family! ~Lisa

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Jenn & Jason Married! Part II 08.14.10 | Fryeburg, ME Wedding Photography

After a fan­tas­tic part I it was on to part II!

Do the bustle! doot da doot da doot doot doot doo da doot doot doot da doot. And the bustle they did!

Embra­cing the rus­tic atmosphere at the  Stone Moun­tain Arts Cen­ter Jenn & Jason’s décor was birdhouse chic. Such a great theme!

So many things I love about this photo!

The crew…

Who set up this photo with out them kno­wing what they were doing. With friends like these… ;)

I love the way he kis­ses her head.

Honestly I somehow skim­med over this when I was edi­ting but when I went back for blog pos­ting I fell in total love with it.

He effort­lessly holds her bou­quet in one hand and whisks her off the carriage safe in his arms and she straigh­tens his bou­ton­nière she’s mus­sed in the get­ting down.

Seam­lessly from cere­mony to rececption

So much emo­tion and inte­rac­tion in this one shot.

I can’t help but think of the Last Sup­per when I see this. Only, there’s a baby grand piano and, it’s the first supper!

They make me swoon. It’s the only word to desc­ribe it.

Jenn & Jason’s wed­ding was defi­ni­tely a family affair. So many cute little ones about

And Jason’s dog was in atten­dance the whole time and so loved and well behaved!

That’s either a pinky pro­mise or a shake of the fist if you dare to throw fros­ting at me…

Gentle & roman­tic. Those two words pretty much sum up the whole event!

Loving parents

Jenn’s brother bus­ted some serious moves on the dance floor all night. Drew a crowd he did.

Swanky & Sassy. Two words I’d abso­lu­tely use to desc­ribe them as a couple.

Well, I guess you can’t ALWAYS be gentle & roman­tic. ;)

But that’s what is at the core of these two and where they always come back to.

Jenn & Jason — thank you for fin­ding me and adop­ting me for the day. I was hono­red to be part of your adven­ture and wish you all the luck in the future!

~Melis­sa­Ko­ren

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Jenn & Jason Married! Part I 08.14.10 | North Conway, NH Wedding Photographer

When I first met Jenn & Jason I knew they were a match made in hea­ven and I was really really exci­ted when they asked me offi­cially to pho­to­graph their wedding.

I arri­ved at the Oxford House Inn a few minu­tes before Jenn & her crew got back from the hair salon loo­king divine.

As they had a few bites to eat I poked around in their beau­ti­ful suite and found details and gor­geous­ness galore!

LOVE the butons, love the lines!

Do not try this at home! She was pro­tec­ting her hair, not trying to get out of the wed­ding ;)

I love the fascinator!

Oh Jenn!

A few quick shots (indi­vi­dually) of the bride and groom on the stun­ning grounds at the Oxford House.

No, seriously pic­ture perfect!

Two more very impor­tant details of the wedding.

This pic­ture cracks me up. Every time I look at it I think that Jason is asking the offi­ciant wth is taking Jenn so long! (She wasn’t late, its just what it looks like!)

What Jason didn’t know was that that little detail from before, was his dog, who Jenn orches­tra­ted as a sur­prise to walk down the aisle and be a part of the cere­mony. She said he would cry and sure enough <3

Trying to recom­pose him­self he loo­ked up as Jenn star­ted coming down the aisle

And then he was beyond overwhelmed

The cere­mony & recep­tion were held at the Stone Moun­tain Arts Cen­ter a stun­ning and uni­que venue in Brown­field, ME

Hap­pi­ness is!

Married!

So many great moments from this day I think I need to make this a two part party!

~til tomo­rrow :)

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Michele & Stan Married! 07.13.10

That’s right, 1pm on a Tues­day. I don’t get many calls for Tues­day wed­dings. I love them!

Michele & Stan had been together for 26 years before they deci­ded to do the “legal thing”. They had the oppor­tu­nity to be the first cou­ple married in the newly built Town­send, MA mee­ting hall — a beau­ti­ful space!

Michele’s 3 granddaughter’s dan­ced down the aisle to “Girls just want to have fun” and did they ever!

Michele was escor­ted down the aisle by her 10 year old grandson.

So filled with emotions!

Michele’s youn­ger grand­son wai­ting to make his grand entrance with their rings. 

… It’s not always exci­ting being the flo­wer girl!

Look at all those grand­kids! What a great family!!

Stan is quite the cha­rac­ter but Michele doesn’t seem to mind.

I love this photo. They really just wan­ted a quick shot or two after the cere­mony and it was so hot outside they opted to stay in. This sim­ple piece of art ador­ned the wall in the lobby and it all just fell into place.

Then it was time to celebrate!

SOoooooo cute let­ting the kids take a taste of the cake before it was cut into!

Then sweet Stan retrea­ted and Michele got nai­led good with her piece of cake!

Stan and his mother <3

Two of their beau­ti­ful granddaughters

Edi­ble arran­ge­ments for ever­yone! What a great cen­ter­piece idea!

The bou­quet toss — no one was inju­red in the catching of this bou­quet — although it cer­tainly looks like someone is about to get creamed!

The kids reques­ted a spe­cial song for their parents to dance to — I love how their loo­king on.

The last dance of the eve­ning was “Save a Horse, Ride a Cow­boy” and Michele came in with her cow­boy hat pas­sing out 100 dollar (fake) bills and two step­ping all across the floor while Stan watched his past, pre­sent and future.

What a great way to spend a Tues­day after­noon! Thank you Michele & Stan for invi­ting me to cap­ture your long awai­ted day.

~melis­sa­ko­ren

Hi Melissa,

Took a while to go through all those pic­tu­res! Wow! Doesn’t look like you mis­sed anything.
Thanks so much for all your skill and atten­ti­ve­ness. We are glad we chose you.

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Ali & Andrew Married! 07.02.10

Perhaps I should have just cam­ped out in Pres­cott Park that week — I was shoo­ting there nearly every other day — but I loved every minute of it! My last of that week was the inti­mate wed­ding of Ali & Andrew a cou­ple I had enjo­yed emai­ling with and was exci­ted to meet! I arri­ved at the beau­ti­ful She­ra­ton Har­bor­side Ports­mouth and found Ali in her room making a few last minute phone calls & han­ding out gifts.

Then it was off to the Player’s Ring buil­ding via tro­lley for their out­door sea­side ceremony.

Ali & her mom wal­ked right off the tro­lley and down the aisle to meet a very hand­some Andrew. I think he looks a lot a lot like Peter Krause (six feet under & parenthood) and very hand­so­mely awaits his bride to be.

Such and emo­tio­nal time for the moms! Each was pre­sen­ted with a white rose and a hug in the middle of the cere­mony. I really like that com­po­nent. :)

With this ring I thee wed you may kiss the bride!

And they lived hap­pily ever after!

Group shot!

Another beau­ti­ful after­noon in Portsmouth.

The only word to desc­ribe this kind of light is Yummy. P.S. if you’ve not been over to Mombo yet (the old Straw­bery Banke gift shop and owner of this door frame) you MUST go. Another one of my cou­ples bar tend there and the food is phe­no­me­nal. Cozy and romantic!

Two of my most favo­rite pho­tos, made infi­ni­tely bet­ter by the gor­geous bou­quet crea­ted by Betsy @ the Flo­wer Kiosk. Her work is uni­que and stun­ning every time. She was the flo­rist for my wed­ding and as both a bride and ven­dor, she’s a treat to work with .

Ali you’re stun­ning, the dress is so spec­ta­cu­larly tai­lo­red to you and Andrey, your suit was the per­fect com­ple­ment to your duo. (photo on the right by Rob)

The Ports­mouth Tro­lley was a great touch and really help­ful in pro­vi­ding trans­por­ta­tion for the guests. They even put up a “just married” pla­que for the two!

You may have caught a glimpse of the (Photo by Rob) cap­tion in this post. I very infre­quently have a second shoo­ter or assis­tant but it seems that having a day off from Pres­cott Park was not a good plan — in a freak acci­dent I step­ped back­wards off a curb and pulled a baji­llion ten­dons in the top of my foot. The show must go on! But in the off chance I’d fallen and couldn’t get up and I asked Rob to come along and assist me with my bag & balance & since he was taking a pho­to­graphy class I tos­sed him a camera and sent him run­ning for the long shots too. He was a tre­men­dous help (though I didn’t fall down once!) and cap­tu­red some of my inju­red ninja skills!

They were lovely enough to leave me a wed­ding wire review:

If you are thin­king of asking Melissa to take your wed­ding pho­tos, do so imme­dia­tely! You will not find a more talen­ted and artis­tic pho­to­grapher to illu­mi­nate your day. You will get so much more than pic­tu­res because this is not just a job to her, it is her pas­sion. The pho­to­graphs are works of art, and you get to be in them.

Not only is Melissa an ama­zing artist, but she is excee­dingly pro­fes­sio­nal. She corres­ponds with you often to make sure she cap­tu­res exactly what you envi­sion. Melissa is just won­der­ful to work with and you will feel so happy and lucky to get her. –Ali and Andrew 7÷2÷2010

Ali & Andrew, I wish you the best of luck in all you do! Thank you for the ama­zing review and for asking me to be your wed­ding photographer!

~melis­sa­ko­ren

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