It’s so weird how the dozens of posts I wrote in the last two months completely disappeared from my blog! Must be a… uh, wordpress bug. *shifty eyes*
I just got back from a trip to Arizona for my second Pat’s Run , which was absolutely wonderful. I’ll post more about it once we have some of the professional pictures, but you can read last year’s post here if you’re so inclined. And even if you’re not inclined, you should read “Where Men Win Glory” because it is an excellent book!

I can’t believe I haven’t blogged all my engagements yet. I got sucked into a vortex of decorating and puppy snuggling this winter that has been really hard to escape from. Chelsea and Steve booked me for their Skaneateles wedding last fall and we shot their engagement photos a couple of weeks later. We met down at the canal path in Pittsford where I was immediately consumed with jealousy upon seeing Chelsea’s hair. And boots. And scarf. (Ok I’m stopping!) These two are such a great pair… Chelsea is as sweet as can be and Steve is hilarious and had us cracking up the entire time. The wedding is going to be so flippin fun!!

Love.

They’re so cute.

I was not kidding about the hilarity…

For real!

he he

So sweet

I had to include this one… this was basically an accidental high noon showdown. I chatted with Chelsea and Steve about what I wanted them to do for this shot, then had both of us walk away from each other to get the distance I wanted. We swung around at the same time and bam! I’m going to say camera trumps finger guns, but that’s just me ha ha!

Can’t wait for October you two!!!

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!

Another lovely wedding! I had really been looking forward to meeting Kelly and Andy… we had tried valiantly but snow and a 9 month deployment got in our way. Andy is in the Navy and just returned from his long deployment about a month ago, so there was an extra layer of joy this weekend. This was actually my third military wedding, but the first one with uniforms, yesss! (To be fair, one of my brides was a Marine, so it’s not like she was going to wear her uniform!)

Everyone was chill and happy at Kelly’s parents’ house as they got ready…

Gorgeous, glowing bride!

Handsome groom.

The ceremony was at Most Holy Rosary Church, which is a really great place to shoot. It’s actually pretty well-lit and I loooove that Kelly and Andy were reflected in the shiny floor!

Loved this sweet moment when Kelly leaned her head over on Andy’s shoulder… le sigh!

I think my favorite thing about full Catholic ceremonies is all the time between readings and things where the couple can have a few seconds to themselves (sort of, ha ha, I mean there’s only a couple hundred people watching.)

Right as Kelly started walking down the aisle, the priest told me he would invite me onto the altar during communion for some shots… I thought that meant just going up along the sides to catch shots like the one above. Obviously I didn’t have time to clarify, because Kelly and her dad were headed my way, so I pretty much had 5 heart attacks when the priest actually stopped the ceremony after communion to bring me up for this shot. Now I know what it’s like for the bride and groom to have a couple hundred people staring at them! Yikes! It was so funny, I’m sure the look on my on my face cracked up more than a few of the guests. Sweet shot though!

The reception was at Bellevue Country Club, which has an increeeedible view from the 7th hole… check this out!

The light was a bit intense so we waited to do most of the portraits around sunset and it was worth it, if I do say so myself!

Kelly brought along this little flag for some pictures, which I thought was a super cute idea!

So adorable!

This is the one and only time you’ll ever hear me say something good about bugs: I totally like them in this shot.

Ok, let’s talk about this party. These people were ready to ROCK. And rock they did! I don’t think I’ve ever seen people have so much fun… the dance floor was completely packed all night long and everyone was having the best time!

Sisters with their grandpa… so sweet

There were some acrobatics and lots of dirty-dancing-esque-lifts going on, it was pretty hilarious!

Andy, thank you for your service! Kelly and Andy, thank you for having me! I had so much fun photographing you and your families and friends! Have a wonderful time in St. Lucia!

We all know April showers bring May flowers. But what do May showers bring? Well, awesome wedding pictures for one! Sure, nobody wants it to rain on their wedding day, but when it comes down to it you just have to roll with it.

As I headed to meet the girls at Danielle’s parents’ house, the rain got heavier and heavier, but when I arrived nobody seemed really bothered by it.

Pretty bride.

The ceremony was at the lovely Syracuse Cathedral.

Sweet ceremony, happy couple!

Danielle, Christopher and their bridal party were totally cool about being out in the rain for pictures. It was mostly just drizzling, but still… troopers! I think it was worth it!

We originally planned to go to a park for pictures, but it was just too rainy so we did everything in the plaza around the cathedral. It’s a really cool area and we had tons of pretty spots to work with. I love that place!

Cute!

Favorite. I think this needs to be a giant print.

Everyone had fun at the reception.

Especially her

And him. And me while taking this picture. I mean come on… hilarious!

he he!

This has to be one of my favorite first dance pictures in a while… so happy!

Thanks for having me Danielle and Christopher… I’m sure you’re having an incredible time in the Bahamas! I think I’m going to start including honeymoon coverage in my offerings, this weather is bunk!

Another lovely day! I can’t believe how fast it went from 90+ degrees (fast=1 day) to 60s… it’s kind of crazy, but has been giving us some pretty skies. Lots of intense clouds, which is always nice! Katy and Chris are a super sweet couple who live in Boston so we didn’t get to meet until the wedding day. Everyone was getting ready at the Arbor House in Skaneateles and it was a great atmosphere when I arrived. It was a bit chaotic in the front house where the guys were getting ready, and it was all giggles and smiles in the back house where the ladies were. Kate Spade was kind enough to make an appearance!

The ceremony was at St. Mary’s of the Lake in Skaneateles…

Some seriously dramatic light on the altar!

The heavy backlight made it a bit challenging to shoot straight on, but I think this looks so pretty and ethereal!

Bridal party! I love the cool red of the dresses… it’s so pretty.

The reception was at the Skaneateles Country Club which has a great waterfront view. Things ran so smoothly thanks to coordinator Danielle Fleckenstein!

Love it, love it, love it.

Fun party

We did portraits by the lake near the church and at the country club… it was a perfect fall day with bright blue skies and puffy clouds, and saving photo time for sunset worked out really nicely… lots of pretty blues and purples and soft light.

Thank you for having me Katy and Chris, I am extremely jealous that you’re in Hawaii right now!!! Have an amazing time!