Friday, July 31, 2009

Michelle & Luke - Wedding Day! Lowell & Andover, Massachusetts

I'm writing this blog from my hotel room in Michigan. I'm shooting a wedding here today, but I have a non-written rule about having one wedding blog up before I shoot another. So even though I'm pushing it down to the last few hours, I'm still getting this next blog up "on-time"! :)

Michelle & Luke are amazing. No, really. I know that all of their friends and family that are reading this right now are shaking their heads in agreement with me with a sweet smile on their face and the rest of my blog followers are thinking "yah, ALL your couples are amazing... whatever." While this is very true, Michelle & Luke just have an extra something that sends them over the top amazing-wise.

You may remember their engagement photos (click HERE for the link) that I shot last year while I was in Boston shooting a different wedding. I said then that Michelle has the best personality ever, and it stands true today. Couple her sweet, caring heart with Luke's gentleness & kindness and they are one heaven-sent match.

To the new Mr & Mrs... Thank you SO very much for allowing me the true HONOR that it was to watch the two of you interact on your wedding day. You have such a pure joy for life, that I walked away from your wedding feeling refreshed & renewed. Thanks for being a blessing to everyone you touch. I love you both!

To the photos. :)

It's hard being beautiful....

Thankfully, lollipops cover a multitude of sins. :)
All of Michelle's bridesmaids were SO beautiful!
Michelle was a picture-perfect bride.
She got dressed in their new home.... I saw this photo from their engagement session last year & had to take advantage of it. :)
The next few photos were taken outside of the house that Michelle grew up in....
My Boston-Bride's! Michelle & Laura! (Click HERE to see Laura & Ryan's wedding from last year!)
I told Luke when I arrived at the church before the wedding "Dude, your wife is super hot." He got a huge grin on his face and said "Oh..... I know" :)
Luke had the BEST faces through the entire ceremony. I adore the way he looks at his bride.
The new Mr & Mrs!!
Their plan was to exit straight out of the church and into the limo to head to the reception site where we did all of the photos, but I snagged them down a hallway at their church for this next shot. Michelle & Luke met when they were 13 and were high school sweethearts. Actually, they even went to their church's high school, so these particular set of lockers were all too appropriate for a quick shot....

Then to the reception at the Andover Country Club....
Most-fabulous wedding party possibly ever. Loved them all.

There was a crazy huge thunderstorm at the beginning of the reception, which caused the reception facility to loose power for the first little bit of the reception. All was well though, spirits stayed high and as the evening continued, the electricity came back on, the DJ was back up & running & this rainbow popped into the sky.....
I'm thinking someone was trying to steal my job....

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

A preview to the sneak peek...

Hello blog readers! My head in still spinning from the whirlwind that has been the last month of my life, and it's not over yet. I just returned from Massachusetts from a beautiful wedding, and am headed back out on Friday to Michigan for another one! Couple that with things going on in daily life at home & I'm playing lots of catch-up. :)
Since it will probably be a couple more days before I am able to get the time to post Michelle & Luke's sneak peek, I decided I should post something in the meantime.
Sooo... This post is dedicated to the super-fab-awesome bridal party that Michelle & Luke had at their amazing wedding. A large group of these folks were also a part of the wedding I shot in Mass last year, so it was so much fun to work with them again. They're all beautiful, so it made my job super easy :)
A very special shout out to the men of this group.... I have to say that you guys really impressed me. 9 times out of 10, the groomsmen are the ones that I have a hard time rounding up and keeping together... Well, since the girls schedules fell a little behind in getting ready, I was running late getting to the church for the guys shots before the wedding. I flew into the church doors & started scouting out the groomsmen, and Greg (groomsmen & the groom's brother-in-law) came straight up to me, asked who I needed & where I needed them, and within minutes they were all right where they needed to be, and worked it out for me GQ style. You guys ROCKED it.

And the girls.... Really, could this group be any more gorgeous?! Much much more to come on these beauties soon!

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Boston Bound


A few months back, I picked this little book up from Barnes & Noble, in anticipation of this month. While I'm definitely not looking into specializing in Destination Weddings and being gone every week of the year, I do love to travel a few times a year to shoot weddings. This month happens to be all of those traveling weddings packed into a few weeks time! Anyways, I thought this book was too cute to pass up and all to appropriate for this month.... Minus the parts where it speaks of mommy sitting in meetings all day.... My job is much cooler than that. :)

Tomorrow morning I head to Massachusetts for what I KNOW will be an amazing wedding! I'll return early next week, so please be patient with me while I'm gone in returning emails and phone calls.

Monday, July 20, 2009

Cara & Casey - Wedding Day! Lake Geneva, Wisconsin

Thursday I boarded a plane to Chicago, rented a car upon my arrival, and drove north to Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. I felt like I was in a bit of a time warp, as I did the same thing this time last year. Two years ago, I photographed Rachel & Ben's wedding in Tulsa, OK... Rachel's maid of honor was her cousin, Heather... Heather then got engaged to her beau, JP & they asked me to travel to Kenosha, WI to shoot their wedding last August. Cara was one of Heather's bridesmaids, and after that wedding, she asked me to come back to WI this year for her wedding! Are you confused yet?! :) I had SO much fun at this wedding... seeing familiar faces from when I was there last year and meeting new ones. Cara & Casey's families and friends were so incredibly kind to me, and treated me as if I were just part of the gang. Thank you all so very much for making my time in WI so memorable!

On to the photos!

I stayed at the same resort as Cara, her family & friends, so it was REALLY nice to stroll down to her room in comfy clothes & flip flops to shoot the morning events. I walked in to find Cara & some of her nieces curled up in bed together checking out the resort they'd booked for their honeymoon online.

All of the girls had their nails done there in the suite...
I'm sure this belongs to one of Cara's nieces, but when I saw it laying on one of the tables in their suite, I couldn't resist taking a quick shot of it... It was all to appropriate for a wedding day... :)

All throughout the day, I would glance over at Cara & just think "man, she is soooo pretty!" - Cara, you were a stunning bride.My Wisconsin brides! Woot, woot! :) You can click HERE to see the blog from Heather & JP's wedding last year... Love you, girls!

Fabulous. These girls are just fabulous.
I should mention that it was sprinkling outside just the tiniest bit during the above shots... Then I drove over to the Geneva National Golf Course to meet up with the guys & do their shots. As soon as I jumped in my car, the heavens opened & the rain began to pour. Yikes. Their wedding was scheduled to be held outside at the golf course, but had to be moved under their cocktail hour tent due to the weather. It was still absolutely gorgeous & God gave us about 40 minutes after the ceremony of clear (albeit overcast) skies to get shots of the family & of the newlyweds. Thanks, God! :)
Cara's father during the giving of the bride... So precious...
Cara, I was watching Raise the Bar the other night and realized that you look alot like an actress on there... Natalia Cigliuti... Google her :)
Cara & Casey's reception was a blast... So much laughing & dancing... I could post pictures for hours of fun dancing shots, but considering I've already blogged more shots than normal, I'll wrap it up. :)
C&C, your wedding reflected your love for each other so beautifully. Thank you so much for inviting me to come and for the great time. Have an amazing time in Mexico!
xoxo -
Amanda