Happy New Year!!!!!! A huge thank you to all my incredible clients for making 2011 so lovely and to my 2012 clients for giving me so much to look forward to! (You too, 2013′ers!)

I have been super busy working on decorating my house, I am almost finished with my great room and will post before and after pictures as soon as I have it finished. I built 2/3rds of my chandelier this evening, I can’t wait to finish it!

I met with Kate and Mike in Victor (it was the least I could do considering they came all the way from Clinton, NY) over the summer and we set up the engagement for late September. We originally thought it was going to be cloudy and rainy but it ended up being a beautiful sunny day and we made our way through Rochester (and giant clouds of midges) to shoot at a few different locations. We started at Highland Park, Kate and Mike were like “We’re nervous!” but this was the second exposure I made. They are clearly lying liars.

The sun filtering through the trees was so pretty…

Kate + Mike + Black + White= hotness!

Ah, midges. The light was pretty intense over in this spot but I had to document the midges… yes, all those little glowing things were BUGS. Which, if you know me, is pretty much my nightmare. When I was in Iceland we went to a place called Lake Myvatn, the literal translation of which is Lake Midge (or Midge Lake, if you’re nasty.) Fortunately when we were there the midges weren’t there. Apparently they hatch a couple of times a year and the clouds are so thick you pretty much can’t breathe without them going in your mouth and stuff… I imagine it looks a bit like this. I had them in my bag, in my shirt, all over the place… it was pretty gross. But it looks awesome!!! And that’s all that counts (unless they had been spiders, in which case I would have set everything on fire and driven off a cliff.)

Then we headed to Village Gate for some more pictures, the light was getting prettier by the minute and Kate and Mike were killing it.

LOVE this one

And this one.

So much to work with at Village Gate!

Our final destination was the Old Toad, where these two met… I am so glad they met here, what a great photo op! And of course a couple of pints never hurt anybody!

So looking forward to the wedding you two, see you in a few months!

Ooooooooooh boy. So what I’m going to start doing is just announcing a blog hiatus at the end of every season so I can focus on editing but also have a deadline for when to return. I just get so wrapped up in finishing editing all my weddings that it’s difficult to switch gears and blog stuff (everything that hasn’t been blogged was shot, edited and delivered weeks/months ago, so there’s no real sense of urgency to get the shoots blogged.)

Anyway, I hope you had a beautiful fall and are all ready for the holidays! I have an awesome shoot to share from the hottest day of all time! Katrina and Matt are getting married in 2013 (yes, 13!) and got in touch with me in April… they booked me over two years in advance which made me feel kinda like

We met up at Syracuse University for the shoot and it was over 90 degrees, even in the evening. We survived though, and came away with some beautiful photographs. Katrina and Matt have been together since junior high, I believe, and you can just feel the sweetness and love in their relationship.

Syracuse’s campus is really lovely.

Mmm, sunset light… I am sitting in a cafe right now with snow swirling around like a snow globe, but I can practically feel the warmth of the sun in these. I love blogging summer shoots in the dead of winter, ha ha!

We also headed to Franklin Square, and heaven knows I love a backlit fountain!

Katrina and Matt were just so fun to shoot, they are so cute and happy.

Really, really ridiculously good looking.

I can’t wait to shoot their wedding, it’s going to be incredible!
Have a great holiday everyone! I have a ton of engagements to blog and I’ll be doing at least one a week until I run out or wedding season starts up again, whichever comes first!

Rebecca and Zach are married! What a way to close out the 2011 season! I met Zach a few years ago when I did a portrait of his family before he and his brother moved to Arizona. I was so pleased to hear from Rebecca and Zach about their wedding… we set up a meeting and got talking about Arizona, I mentioned I was heading to Tempe for Pat’s Run and Rebecca was like “I ran that race too!” Which pretty much blew my mind. Since it is like 3,000 miles away and all. Awesome! We chatted about their wedding plans and I knew it’d be an awesome day…

I met the girls at Scott Miller Salon, where makeup was under way. PS Rebecca had her hair done at Shear Ego… it is so intricate and beautiful! Wowsa. Absolutely love her profile!

Rebecca and Zach opted to do a first sight, which is always a good idea… particularly when the sun is setting early! My favorite moment.

Did some portraits at the church, which had a lot of spots to work with. Mmmm, red.

The field behind us had the perfect color of green…

So cute!

It was sprinkling a little bit, so had to bust out the trusty old umbrella. I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of using this guy!

It’s weird that it is mid-October, the weather has been especially chilly, and the leaves are barely changing. The trees are either green or completely bare, which is mega lame. We did manage to find some COLOR though!!!

Boom!

In case you couldn’t tell yet, their colors were gray and yellow… I love that combo so! It is the theme of my living room! Loved the girls’ dresses.

The ceremony was at Oak’s Corners Presbyterian…

Mr & Mrs!!!

The reception was at Belhurst Castle, majestic as always! Loved their details. I need to find a new way to say that “Kittelberger’s killed it with the flowers once again.” Somebody get me a thesaurus! Ha ha

First dance. These little gestures make the best pictures. Le sigh!

This one may be my favorite of the night. Zach and his brother Ben are really close, Ben gave a really touching toast and happens to have the most photogenic tears on the planet.

A couple of guests got things rolling with a makeshift limbo… limbo pictures always crack me up!

We’ll Shout even if the Bills lose!

Oh man, I can’t even deal with the look of utter glee on this kid’s face… his dad(?) was spinning him around on the dance floor and he was loving every second of it. So cute!

Thank you so very much for having me, what a wonderful way to end my 2011 season… thank you Rebecca and Zach!!!

This season has been just incredible. So many wonderful clients, so many beautiful locations! I can’t believe it’s almost over! I have been eagerly awaiting Bonnie and Brian’s wedding for quite some time… Bonnie was as sweet as can be through all our email chats, and when I finally met them in July we bonded over our mutual love of dogs, IPA and Columbus, OH. Brian went to OSU, which is a little known college a few miles from where I went to school, the Columbus College of Art and Design. It’s such a shame that OSU is always in the shadow of CCAD, ha ha ha… ok maybe not! It was so fun to chat about all the old places, and it turns out Brian and I were actually living in Columbus at the same time… weird!
Bonnie and Brian are super smart scientists and met while doing research, they both liked each other but neither one did anything about it for a while until Brian mustered up the courage to write her a really long email about work stuff, with one little sentence about going on a date buried at the end. Ha ha! So cute! Bonnie replied “yes” immediately, and the rest is history!

So this was a Finger Lakes wedding through and through… it was an absolutely PERFECT day to be driving around the winding roads, too. I met the girls in Penn Yan, where they were getting ready.

Bonnie told me she was deciding between a couple of pairs of shoes… excellent choice!!

One of the best parts of my job is getting to be around people on one of the best days of their lives… surrounded by loving and happy friends and family.

Rachel at In Bloom did a beautiful job on the flowers!

The ceremony was held at the stunning Garrett Memorial Chapel in Bluff Point. It’s buried on a hillside at the end of a long, semi-paved road and the grounds are just incredible. It felt like a movie set or something, with the sun filtering through the trees and the completely quiet, peaceful vibe.

These two are so ridiculously happy together…

Bridal Party!

I <3 these arches!!

There’s this cool little path with a canopy of knotted-looking trees around it…

I was trying to explain that we had “A River Runs Through It light” but neither Bonnie nor Brian has seen the movie. It’s kinda slow, honestly, but beautiful!

Perfection. Robert Redford called, he wants his light back. Heh heh.

The reception was held at Belhurst Castle! It’s about an hour away from the chapel, but it worked out perfectly because I got to listen to the tail end of the Bills game. Awesome couple, beautiful day, AND I got to listen to Buffalo take down Michael Vick… couldn’t ask for anything more! Bonnie’s details were so great… I LOVED the calligraphy on the place cards. I kept mine and think I need to make that into my official signature. It’s so pretty!

They make it so easy…

Everyone had a great time at the party!

And Wedding MVP award this week goes to Bonnie’s dad… he owned that hat!

It was such an honor to be part of your day, Bonnie and Brian! I can’t wait to hear about the wedding in Taiwan!

When Robyn told me her wedding was going to be on an island at the top of Niagara Falls my jaw pretty much hit the floor… I mean, how awesome is that? I could not wait for the wedding to arrive so I could check out the scene, I haven’t been to Niagara Falls since I was a kid! I made the trek up to Lewiston to meet the girls at the lovely Barton Hill Hotel…

Oh, one other thing I forgot to mention… KILTS.

Happy!

The ceremony looked over American Falls (I think)… one of the Scottish traditions is the pinning of the tartans, which looks so cool. You can see them draped over both Robyn and Grant’s shoulders.

We had to shoot so fast here because there were so many tourists walking in front of the camera and up to the railing right by the bridal party… it was pretty funny. The groomsmen also had to pose for a bunch of pictures with tourists… it was quite a sight!

We also did some portraits back at Barton Hill… I turned around at one point to switch lenses and this is what I saw when I turned back towards Robyn and Grant. HA! They’re so happy and fun…

The reception was lots of fun, aided by a special bottle of Grant’s father’s favorite whisky.

he he he

I’m always in favor of wrapping up a post with some extreme air guitar! Grant killed it.

Thanks so much for having me Robyn and Grant, I hope Portugal was amazing!!!

Oh oh oh, Kalie and Brian! This day could not come soon enough! I booked these two about a year ago and they are such a delight to be around. Kalie is such a bubbly, sweet and hilarious person, even when she had a “freak out” (her word, not mine) at the salon, it was extremely polite and giggly and pretty much nothing like a freak out. Bryan is just this laid back, confident guy, and definitely Kalie’s perfect match.
At the salon, Kalie kept tearing up out of happiness and excitement… the makeup artist was telling her to dab the inside corners of her eyes to catch the tears and Kalie was waving her hands around going “They’re coming out the wrong side, what do I do?!?!?!” It was so hilarious, I was dying behind the camera.

So happy!

Kalie really wanted to go to the beach, and it was… intense. It was cold and windy this weekend, and with each step closer to the lake it got colder and windier. But those blue clouds were beckoning…

Look at the veil going vertical… that should give you an idea of the strength of the wind!

So cute together!

I can’t get enough of those blue clouds!!

The girls were such troopers in that chilly wind!

Rocking the carousel!

Kalie and Bryan’s reception was at the Rochester Museum and Science Center, which was such an awesome venue!! I can’t think of anything better than cocktail hour with woolly mammoths.

Such pretty centerpieces!

Mmmmm. Bryan was obsessed with legos when he was a kid (as in, that is all he would play with… ever) so Kalie surprised him with a cute bride and groom lego cake topper!

So happy!

Aw…

This guy had no trouble getting the party started.

Tough choice this week, but the Wedding MVP award goes to Bryan’s dad… he owned the dance floor all night. It was pretty awesome!

Favorite

Ha!

DID put a ring on it!

Thank you thank you Kalie and Bryan, it was such a wonderful day and I’m so glad I could be there! Have the best time ever in St Lucia!!!