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!

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!!!

Stacie and Nathan are so sweet and perfectly matched. It was fun to see their families come together and celebrate the happy occasion. I met with Stacie and her parents last winter and was so glad when they decided to book… they were such a kind and vibrant trio. Stacie’s parents were glowing with happiness for their daughter, it was really sweet.
We started off the day with a first sight at Glen Falls Park, which was very pretty…

Stacie was amazed at how calm the first sight made her before the ceremony. The scene was so lovely, what a perfect outdoor wedding!

My friend Tressa came to second shoot with me and caught some really beautiful shots. I loved this one, this little private moment as their families wrapped the prayer shawl around them.

Bridal party with awesome tree!

We did some portraits at the park but waited to do most of them around sunset… here’s why:

Tressa’s angle on this shot… nice!

Stacie and Nathan had a dance routine ready to rock… it’s always scary because most brides don’t have an opportunity to practice in the dress so you never know how it will go! They were flawless, of course.

I think the next four pictures have the same expression and I love it… everyone was having the best time!

This was one of the most topsy turvy chair lifts I’ve ever seen… Stacie is very petite (she wears a size 2 shoe, people!) so maybe they forgot she was up there?

Nathan rocked it as well.

As did Gary…

Stacie and Nathan actually found me through one of my awesome couples from last year, Lauren and Henry… Henry was at a bachelor party that weekend but it was great to see Lauren and her parents again! Lauren and Henry got a puppy so of course we had to talk dogs for a bit!

I think I need to award Wedding MVP to this couple, they were kickin it all night.

It was a fabulous day, thanks so much to Stacie and Nathan for having me and thanks to Tressa for coming to shoot with me!!

Jen has been a guest at two of my past weddings (one of which was my cousin and blog celebrity Kristy’s!) so when she and Jeff got engaged I was thrilled to hear from her about photographing it! I love when I get to shoot multiple weddings within the same circle of friends! When I arrived at Jen’s parents’ house in Buffalo, everyone was buzzing around doing the usual prep. I have to start with a shot of Jen’s gorgeous Badgley Mischka shoes… oh how I love pretty shoes!

Jen was nervous but excited, I think this is the point where things start to get really real!

We headed to the lovely Our Lady of Victory Basilica for the ceremony, where it was approximately 481,516 degrees… celsius. This was the hottest weekend of the year, so things were nice and toasty inside… but it’s so pretty it is worth it! Jeff’s parents were also married here, so carrying on that tradition is beyond cool!

This place is like a dream for a photographer, they let you move around behind the altar but the altar is so high that if you walk around back there nobody can see you so you’re not being distracting… it’s perfect for getting some cool angles during the ceremony.

I loved this moment right after the first kiss… so happy!!

I love bubble exits! And confetti exits! And any other exit that involves throwing things (that won’t cause traumatic brain injuries!)

We headed over to the Japanese Gardens for pictures, what a pretty spot…

It was so hot and bright, but thankfully the gardens had quite a bit of shade for our portraits.

They are so cute together!

And my two favorites…

We headed to Templeton Landing for the reception…

Love this one, so sweet…

Today’s Wedding MVP Award™ goes to my cousin Kristy (nepotism? Too bad, it’s my blog!) who has made many, many, many appearances on my blog, and continues her streak today! I couldn’t decide on a favorite:

Becky and Mike, one of my couples from 2009, looking adorable and happy! They have a baby now, too

The guys had an intense singalong to Toto’s “Africa” because obviously that is the only way to sing “Africa”… there was also some sweet air flute happening during the electric flute solo. That’s one thing the world needs more of, is electric flute solos. Well, and air flute. So two things. Thanks Toto!

Thanks so much for having me Jen and Jeff! Have a wonderful time in St. Lucia!!!

Another awesome wedding last weekend! Lauren emailed me earlier today sweetly asking when the blog would be up because she’s so excited for the pictures (which I love!), and I’m excited too, so I’m going to jump right in!

I met the girls at Lauren’s parents’ house, which was really nice to shoot in… they had some cool furniture and nice light. The flowers were gorgeous!

Lauren looked just lovely!

The wedding and reception were held at Park Country Club which is pretty breathtaking and castle-like. You’ll see what I mean a few shots down! So much happiness…

Yay!

I think when a man kisses a woman’s hand, it is such an elegant, gentlemanly gesture… and look how he’s looking at her! I think that, as I write this, I can already hear the collective swoon of every woman who sees this!

We had to go out front and take advantage of the dramatic setting! What did I tell you?

Bridal party win! I’m saving the rest of the portraits for the end… best for last! (Also, don’t you totally love the navy dresses with pink shoes and flowers? It’s so fab!)

First dance.

Perfect!

After all the formalities, Lauren and Henry kicked off the party with an awesome choreographed disco dance. It was really funny and they totally have moves. Right before it, as they stood off to the side, Henry looked at me and said “This is the most nervous I’ve been all day!” but no worries, you guys nailed it!

This one cracks me up!

There were multiple dance-offs over the course of the night, which is all I could ever really ask for.

Dance-battle with tambourines!

Portraits… we had so many cool spots to work with, I had a hard time choosing my favorites!

To finish up, I decided we needed to do some pictures in the room where the girls waited before the ceremony… which conveniently happened to be air conditioned. I think that was the slowest I’ve ever shot, ha ha!

Smokin!

Thanks so much for having me Lauren and Henry, I had so much fun with you!