While I work a lot with the GLBT crowd I had yet to do a 2-grooms wedding until Jimi & Keith came along...and I was so excited! The boys had a friend-officiated ceremony that made me cry (cue: Seasons of Love), their adorable dog Mickey brought the rings, and the reception was tapas and cocktails (which caused a bit of trouble later in the night).

They threw their bouquet (each attendant had carried one flower which they bound up to toss) shedding glitter everywhere as it went and much to the surprise of all, Keith was wearing a garter. They even put their own spin on the dollar dance, playing club music and getting saucy with any guest willing to pony up a few bucks. I was sad that my wallet was in the car. ;)


Click!

Cindy & Will (my lucky #100!) created a wonderful event for themselves - their ceremony at the Ritz overlooking the Boston Common, portraits in the park, a 13 course traditional Chinese Wedding Banquet at China Pearl (where I think I ate smoked eel...maybe?) and then an after party at Will's home away from home - the Cambridge Brewing Company.

They also crafted a beer for their guests Double Happiness, a Lychee flavored brew, that was bottled as favors and also on tap at their CBC after-party.

I'm not a beer girl, but I had some and it was pretty tasty, as were Will's signature barley wines.

A good time was had by all!


Click!

Emily & Scott were married at the Bay End Farm back in June among their family and friends. Their event was a community celebration - she was married by her sister Kaitlin (whose wedding I photographed in the Fall), Em did her own flowers, an Aunt made their cake, and everyone pitched in to make sure their day ran smoothly.

During the ceremony, it was brought up that Scott has unusually bad luck including on one occasion being struck by lightning and on another his car bursting into flames rather unexpectedly. But as Kate put it during the ceremony, "I really don’t think of him as unlucky. He did after all find my sister and is standing next to her today, ready to continue their journey together as a married couple. That alone makes him the luckiest man I know."



Click!

When I walked into Jen's bridal suite, I saw one of the most unique traditional wedding gowns I've ever seen-- and as it turns out, she'd collaborated with the designer to craft it just for her. It showed! It also paired beautifully with the vintage veil (her mother's) that she donned for her walk down the aisle.

Jen & Brian had a rainy day wedding on the upper cape - their ceremony, a beautiful contemporary mass at the Corpus Christi, was followed by an elegant reception at the New Seabury. Then their family (many of whom had made the trip in from the Phillippines), friends, and adorable flower girls, danced through the night.


Click!

Kris & Nicola or "Krisola" as they are sometimes jokingly referred to had a touching ceremony in Brighton followed by a reception in Mendon full of games, tons of sweet speeches, and a surprise song by Nicola's grandfather. The couple wowed their friends and family by changing into a second set of wedding duds for the reception-- Kris going from a white tux to a black one and Nicola changing from a heavily beaded ballgown into a tailored trumpet style gown with a perfect row of buttons down the back. They make a stunning pair.


(click)

Things I Love:
*Goofy Grooms
*Crafty Brides
*Sassy Redheads
*Fluttery dresses
*Laughter at Wedding Ceremonies
*Adventurous People (hey, let's go hike out on those rocks over there)
*Marble Cake
*Hip Mamas
*Wallet Chains
*Peonies & Ranunculus
*Chris & Jillian's Taste in Music (Cat Power for a first dance and the slideshow theme song for a last dance- that's our lady of total insanity, your love and mine- Bjork if you can't tell)
*This picture:


(click!)

(As you may or may not know: AVR's wedding band has lyrics from this song engraved in it)

Amy and Chris had their whole day at the Wayside Inn and Martha Mary Chapel - rustic, fun, re-enactors, and a big red waterwheel to boot! They chose one of my all-time favorite officiants for their ceremony and she brought out their personalities so well (as is her talent). They had a quaker-style anyone moved to speak may speak section and then did rock paper scissors to see who would do their vows first. I'm not telling who won, but I'll tell you that the winner threw rock-- you'll have to keep an eye out for it.

The song that their slideshow is to is their first dance- I'll be the first to tell you that I'm not all that into country music, but I definitely got a little wet around the eyes listening to the lyrics.


(Click!)

I'm a large, so it's a little different than the small:
2 heads romaine, 2 heads red leaf, 2 heads chicory, 2 pounds sugar snap peas, 1 bunch carrot, 1 bunch turnips, 1 bunch mustard, 1 bunch chard, 1 pound broccoli, 1 bunch arugula, 1 bunch radish and 1 bunch pak choi.

Yay Vegetables that aren't salad greens. :)

Emily and Sam were married at one of my new favorite venues - the Essex Retreat and Conference Center. It's a beautiful and serene space full of sculpture and gorgeously maintained landscaping.

The ceremony was sweet and seemed more intimate because it was across a little pond from the guests, and the reception had such a laid-back, home-grown atmosphere. The swags of paper cranes that the bride and groom folded together before their wedding were a great decoration, but also carried such incredible energy with them- they each seemed to have their own little personalities imbued by Emily & Sam.


(click!)

Also, the music video for this song (Hoppipola by Sigur Ros) is one of my all-time favorite music videos, so I have to share that too:



(Watch the wedding slideshow first or you'll never get the vid out of your head!)

I went to futureme.org last year and wrote myself a letter that I just got...I'd totally forgotten about it:

Dear FutureMe,
Well, today is June 9th. You just got back from Maine last night where it was foggy and you could see your breath. Here today, you can feel yourself sweating the water as you drink it. The dogs are panting on the living room floor and your garden is just getting going. It's Monday.

You graduated from photo school on Friday and now it's just you and the business you started in 2005 and...a wing and a prayer. You nearly tripled your receipts between 2006 and 2007 and you paid for school out of pocket. You have a hard time being proud of yourself, but everyone around you tells you all the time. So you remember that.

Also significant, you think your girlfriend will propose sometime this fall. You're pretty sure of it. You talk openly about marriage and she hints about rings. Is your dress done? If it's not too hot, you should put it on and twirl around in it.

I wish for you at this moment - health, love, success, and a gorgeous garden. I hope you got yourself that pop-up greenhouse and started everything early. I hope you've raised your prices. I hope you have started gathering frequent flier miles. I hope the dogs know how to sit and to lay down. I hope you still manage without a "job." Most of all, I hope you're happy.

Love,
PresentMe

Krista and Dan got married on a gorgeous May day in Quincy, MA. My assistant started the day by locking my keys in the car-- and of all the days to do it, it was the best. Dan and several of his groomsmen are towtruck drivers and have slim-jims on them at all times. We all got a laugh out of one of the groomsmen in shirt sleeves saving the day!

The couple had a quick ceremony at the St. Mary Parish church followed by a great reception at the Tirrell Room in Quincy. Their families and many friends vacation together in the summer time and the camraderie and love was evident through the whole day


Slideshow Here.

I just got an email from Krista letting me know that the slideshow made her cry more than she did on the day of her wedding-- that's one of my favorite kinds of email.

Click!

Jake had his Bar Mitzvah back on May 9th-- transitioning to mahood like a champ. His reading was excellent and he even looked like he was having fun at the mostly-adults-only reception. I wish I could have been at the kids party with them, they're always so much fun-- but I had other commitments that day. Mazel Tov to Jake and to his entire family, you have an awesome kid.

I've been remiss in posting to my journal lately....it's been busy over here and we're in the middle of moving, but:


Click

Megan and Dan got married on one of the hottest April days I have ever witnessed! I got a new telephoto lens and had a lot of fun playing with it-- the above shot was taken from a church balcony - oh yes. They had a sweet ceremony followed by a cocktail-ish reception all within walking distance of the Boston Common where the early courtship took place (Megan and Dan both work under that big golden dome).

Her Dress: Miss Maggie
Ceremony Location: The Paulist Center
Reception: The College Club of Boston
Photographer: That's Me! - on the web : on facebook : on twitter : and now in your inbox once a month!

http://tinyurl.com/ccpNews

I'm: productive

One of my teachers from NESOP asked AVR and I to come and pose for her portraiture class and we decided that it would be fun. The images that we got were from four different students. They're good-- definitely not great and I ended up re-editing them, but free student photos are like that, and it was fun to wander around on the beach on a Monday.

Some selects:



( walking in the sand )

Tags: 091909

I had a dream last night that AVR's parents converted to Hindusim and they didn't approve of our lifestyle and so they took the car away and tried to steal Gertie. Very strange night.

Alex & Karen (not Janet as the JP would have had you believe) had a quiet elopement as the magnolias were opening in the arnold arboretum followed by a meandering portrait shoot by yours truly. Then Alex "sneakily" opened a bottle of bubbly and the couple had a toast.

I really want these:

(which may look strangely familar to you - but are discontinued)

Should I buy these instead:


I'm trying to find a shoe similar to wedding shoes to wear to dance class, but also I really want red high heels. They're both peep-toe d'orsay style. The heel on the Luichiny is about .5" higher than the heel on the Fluevog....which means, I guess, that if I can dance in those, I can dance in my wedding shoes. Undecdided whether I should keep looking or not.

Ebay Purge 2009 Continues:
http://shop.ebay.com/merchant/*tigerlily_W0QQ_nkwZQQ_armrsZ1QQ_fromZQQ_mdoZ

Also, are my children going to want my atheltic trophies? Will they bring me joy in my golden years? Discuss.

Hey all, we're downsizing apartments and so I'm creating an ongoing eBay yard sale for the next few weeks. The beginning (mostly yarn and a tequila dispenser) is here: http://tinyurl.com/cwdfm9

AVR and I decided to keep it simple and have one song for each side of the processional...rather than one for her people, one for her, one for my people, one for me. Not sure what she's picked yet (or if she's picked yet, we have time)

I had been thinking about doing Sarah Vaugh's version of The Best is Yet to Come...but I her lyricism in that song is a little..droopy sounding(?). And hers is my favorite version of it.

Lately I'm thinking of a song called Love and Kisses that Ella Fitzgerals sings. It's got a long musical intro, which I like.. and only a real small handful of lyrics, which I think if timed right would be my entrance. Also the lyrics are totally gender neutral, it's not sad, and it's pretty up-tempo...which is a hard to find combination in the genre. There are a lot of let down and sad songs, and lots of found my man songs, and a bunch of lovey slow songs...but this one, fits the bill.

If you want to listen to part of it, it's here on amazon.

The lyrics say (as best I can transcribe):
Love and kisses, never misses making a heaven for two.
With a tender sweet surrender coming from somoene like you.
Your perfection to affection creates a perfect design.
Love has bound us, sure has found us planning a future divine.
No indecision, I know that my vision is clear when you are near.
No need for sunlight for you are the one light I see so real to me (?)
Love and kisses, that's what bliss is: loving whatever you do.
Full completeness, whispered sweetness, coming from someone like you.

We haven't talked about it yet, but my vote for the recessional is Dinah Washington's version of Destination Moon which starts out with a little trumpet flare and is also gender neutral...I'd toyed with suggesting it as our first dance, but I think it's too slow. More amazon listening.

Tags: 091909
I hear: Love And Kisses-Ella Fitzgerald

I had so many pictures from this wedding that the editing took me longer than expected.


(click!)

Erin & Kevin were married in Philadelphia with Celtic flair. Kevin, his brother and father all are sporting clan McCallister tartan kilts, the groomsmen are in rentals (we weren't sure whose Tartan they were flashing) and Erin's dad was in Irish National. The boys on Kevin's side were wearing kilts for the first time and so definitely got a little cheeky because of it. :) Also-- I just love Erin's dress, the blue peaking out at the shoulder and hem was just beautiful. After the ceremony and formals, we all headed over to the Rosewood Caterers where we were fed well and entertained throug the afternoon.

The Church - St. Katherine of Sienna
The Photo Site - St. Katherine Drexel Shrine
The Reception - Rosewood Caterers

Ha



There were no short dresses...and only one bouquet. Oh, the knot.com. How strange you are.

Vermont just legalized gay marriage-- the first state to grant legal rights to LGBT couples is now the first state to grant full marriage rights by legislative process rather than a judicial process. Basically-- most states have gay marriage becuase a couple sued the state- Vermont created a bill and made it a law (with or without their governor's support).

So to show my support for all couples to marry and also for Vermont-- a state I called home for almost 10 years-- I'm doing a little promotion.

The next LGBT couple to book me and bring me up to Vermont for their legal marriage gets 15% off of any package and no travel fees.

And consider checking out my good friend (and the Day of Coordniator for my wedding) It's About Time Weddings and Events-- Bernadette started her business when MA made its landmark decision to allow marriage and continues to expand as the rights of all people to get married expand. She specializes in LGBT, as well as green, and unique weddings.

I also should shout it out to Iowa- if anyone wants to bring me out to Iowa to photograph your legal gay wedding, I'll give you the same 15% off-- you do have to get me there, however. :)