Somehow the so-called “slow season” has turned into a really busy season, so I have lots to blog, but I will start with the lovely wedding of Kelly and Adam this past weekend! Yes, it was Valentine’s weekend, no, it was not a Valentine themed wedding… Kelly wanted to make sure nobody thought it was and went for an unexpected (and very welcome) pop of citrus for her flowers… love it!

Kelly looked stunning.

We headed to St. John’s Church in Mount Morris for the ceremony-

It’s a cool church, and I noticed their officiant left them a cute little note in the pew that said “Hey Kelly and Bub- Smile, you’re gettin’ married! Love, Butch” how awesome is that? It was a fun, sweet ceremony.

So happy to be Mr and Mrs!

Rings! They had these cute little snowflake holders for the place cards, so I snagged one for this shot.

Let’s Dance! (I’m singing that David Bowie style as I type, in case you were wondering.)

Fun!

And on to the portraits… the portraits we did in the bitter, bitter cold. You guys were awesome!

Kelly had all the best winter wedding accessories- a fabulous cloak and some cute boots!

So cute!

Thank you guys so much, and have an amazing time in Jamaica… seriously jealous right now!
Congratulations!

So excited about this post! I teamed up with coordinator extraordinaire Cyd of Sweetest Occasion and super stylish Ami at Elizabeth Ann Designs on this shoot. It all started with one little picture posted by Cyd, which was the basis for Ami’s lovely inspiration board…

It was really impressive to watch Cyd at work, bringing her creative vision to life. We unloaded a ton of supplies from her car, and she went to work figuring out how exactly she wanted everything to look… I love this color combination, it is so simple and elegant.

I can’t go any further without mentioning our mascot of the day, my nephew Jeremy. Look how handsome!

You want this to be your seat. Don’t lie.

Mmmmmm

Cute favors!

I had so much fun shooting this with Cyd! It is really amazing to see how one little piece of inspiration can give rise to an entire wedding decoration theme!

Short story: Sunday was awesome

Less short story: Elena and John were referred to me by someone my brother works with, and I was really excited for this wedding after we exchanged emails and met to go over the schedule details. Elena and John are just FUN, so I knew the day was going to be pretty rad. Another reason to be excited, the whole event was coordinated by my friend Cyd of The Sweetest Occasion who knocked it out of the park!

To top it off, we had a beautiful crisp fall day, I think the leaves were right around peak as I headed down to Watkins Glen for the preparations. I’ll start with the guys, who were at the Seneca Springs Resort… John only had one request, to get a Sopranos type shot with him and his groomsmen. I have a few favorites, but this one is my uh, extra favorite!

Then we headed over to meet the ladies at the Harbor Hotel (which I love… this hotel is beautiful) and do the first sight. Elena was looking gorgeous, of course.

We did some bridal party shots at the hotel, and the guys and girls were awesome, no pier was too windy, no dock too wobbly…

Then we headed to Logan Ridge on Seneca Lake…

After portraits, Elena had a special surprise for John. John’s “alter ego” is John Beer (like the tractor, but with barley) and they even made a logo for him a while back. John thought his little gift for the day was custom cuff links with the logo, but no… Elena had something up her sleeve. Something cakey. And charming. From Baltimore. Yes, Elena had a custom John Beer cake delivered by the famous and fabulous Charm City Cakes! John was surprised and very pleased.

Yes, the John Beer logo is a keg with an antler on it… hysterical!

I love colorful shoes on a bride!

Elena was walked down the aisle by her grandfather, which was so sweet- the entrance…

As they said their vows, instead of promising to “share with” Elena, John accidentally promised to share her, which caused a good 4 minutes of wheeze-laughing from everyone!

It was a sweet, happy ceremony.

Great party crowd, the dance floor was packed the whole night…

There was a sort of “hot potato” game with the bouquet and garter, and everyone kept trying to stick this poor kid with the bouquet… notice how neither of the guys next to him is reaching for it, ha ha.

I had to include this picture of one of the videographers busting a move… I swear I barely heard him speak all night, and then Footloose came on and this happened. It blew our minds! Maybe someday I will be that awesome. I do have a few choreographed dances up my sleeve…

All right, John is totally leading the pack as far as my favorite groom dance moves… work it out!

At some point it was announced that the Yankees won something (I’m more of a football girl go Bills) and someone brought out a broom and everyone danced and celebrated with a little Frank Sinatra.

And, portraits.

Epic!

Thank you so much Elena and John, it was a blast spending the day with you guys… have fun in Disneyland! Let me know if they’re still playing Captain EO!

I was excited to meet Autumn and Aaron since we’d been chatting on the phone and emailing for months! It is always fun to meet my clients in advance, but sometimes it’s just not possible when they live all over the place… it’s so cool that the Finger Lakes draw people from so many places.

I’m just going to jump right in to the finished look, doesn’t she look fabulous?

And of course the view at Esperanza Mansion is just perfect, and the whole staff is just fantastic. Katy, the coordinator, had everything running smoothly!

I may have this backwards (and someone please chime in if I do), but I believe that Autumn’s dad made this huppa using trees from their home and fabric from Aaron’s family. It’s probably one of the prettiest I’ve ever seen, I love it.

Kachow.

Another super sweet first sight!

Bridal party actin’ casual.

I love the chair dance, it always results in utter terror, but also hilarity (notice the girl in the lower left that pretty much schooled all the guys on chair-carrying? it was awesome)

Sweet.

On to the party… it was a great dancing crowd all night!

Man In The Mirror singalong time! Megan Dailor Approved. Seriously the best song ever.

More tie singing! It’s sweeping the nation.

And some portraits…

Mmmm.

Thank you so much for having me, it was so fun to spend the day with you and your families! Have an amazing time on the honeymoon!

Another gorgeous day, another gorgeous wedding! I headed down to Heron Hill Winery on Keuka Lake (which I just had to look up… seriously why can’t I keep the lakes straight?) to photograph the girls getting ready. It was quite a scene in the private room, if anyone else tried to come in we would’ve had to start stacking vertically but everyone was happy and excited and having a good time.

Got to love iPhones… they were taking pictures of Leslie’s hair with the phone so she could see the progress. Who needs mirrors!

Love that you can just see Leslie’s mom through the veil.

Some finishing touches…

The ceremony was at St. Gabriel in town… I love how he’s looking at her!

That is a big bridal party!

The reception was a blast, Nik Lite had everyone on the floor all night long, even the flower girl and Elmo

Conga madness

So this was a huge Bills crowd (to which I say hell yes!) and everyone was really excited to hear Shout, and get revved up for Sunday’s game. The guys had a chart with everyone’s score predictions in the church basement, which I photographed for posterity… nobody got the score right, but I think the closest to 33-20 is M.B.’s 28-17… I hope you won something!

Go Bills!

There were no official first dances or parent dances, but I love this shot. I kind of want to photoshop something over that cup though… maybe this will do? Ha ha!

And some portraits… fortified with flare!

Thank you for having me, it was a fantastic day!

Chantelle contacted me last fall about photographing her wedding, and I have been looking forward to it ever since! From talking with her, I knew the wedding would be really beautiful, and of course I love working with people who are excited about pictures… the ceremony and reception took place at the Johnson Museum of Art on the Cornell campus, which I have never been to but was really looking forward to photographing.

I met up with the girls at the salon in the afternoon.

Doesn’t she look lovely?! Her dress was perfect for her, it was exactly what I pictured after talking to her!

This was the rainiest wedding I’ve ever shot (and my worst hair day ever except the time I cut the cowlick out of my bangs when I was 5) it just poured buckets all day with no letup, but we didn’t let that stop us! Chantelle and Rob did a first sight in front of the museum… I think Rob was waiting for me to tell him to look, which was really funny! I don’t usually direct stuff like this so I was in my little “shooting bubble” and thinking “Huh, why isn’t he turning around?” It was a great moment.

But he finally did turn around!

The ceremony was out on the sculpture court… the court is covered, but if it had been windy all the rain would’ve blown in, so we did get lucky with that aspect of it!

You know I got the real kiss, but I wanted to post this moment instead, it’s my favorite!

Rings!

Almost too beautiful to eat. Almost.

I loved shooting at the museum, it was so beautiful! This shot cracks me up… everything you need to know about the weather that day!

Beautiful

And dramatic!

Chantelle is such a happy bride, I love it! Nothing phased her, she just kept smiling.

Rob didn’t want to dance to the weird techno Whitney Houston… I didn’t blame him.

He he

We also braved the elements for a quick shot outside.

Then headed for shelter.

So sweet.

Thank you so much for having me Chantelle and Rob!