Heather was pretty crafty and made this great bouquet of vintage brooches to carry!

I clearly loved her front door, as you can see!

This is Heather’s Dad’s car and this is how they showed up to the ceremony… in style!!

Look at this little guy! What a sweet shot by Crista!

I love how Chris’ face just lit up when he saw Heather coming down the aisle…

This little wave Chris had for some little guests was so cute!!

Come ON!!!!

Emotion to spare… from laughing to crying!

I had to get low, low LOW to get the angle I wanted…! Thanks Jazzy for this shot!

Broadway Floral Design did the florals for the day!

We had time at Ochre Court  in Newport for pictures… it was so pretty!

I could have spent DAYS shooting here. DAYS I tell you!!!

We stopped at this sweet little patch of daffodils on the way back to the rotunda on Easton’s Beach!

So Chris has an identical twin brother, which is always interesting!

I love this shot of Chris and Heahter’s Mom watching Heather and Dad dance….

What a KILLER sunset!!!!!

Dude.

Heather and Chris, thank you both SO much for such an emotion filled and amazing days!!!!

XOXO!

The C10 team for the weekend :my main man Mike Romano on second shooter duties and super sleuth Jazzy Balgobin on third camera!

venue: The Ponds at Equinox, Manchester VT

Event Planning: Storied Events

Floral: Blooma Flicka

Video: Jim Altieri’s Vintage Cinema Check out Jim’s amazing video of Yvonne and Kevin’s wedding HERE

DJ: Supersounds

The weather pulled a fast one on us- the morning was filled with puffy clouds and blue skies- a typical summer’s day in the mountains of Vermont. We thought we were all set for the day, until literally right as Yvonne and Kevin were about to burst through the church doors as a married couple- BAM! the rain came down, and boy did it! No matter! We took a breather and did some shots in the church while we waited, and then just like we planned, it stopped and we were on our way! There was so much color, love, emotion and pure beauty to photograph, this post is just a fraction of my favorite images from their day!

Their ceremony was right across the street from the Equinox Hotel, so the ladies just walked on over when it was time! One of my favorite shots was of Yvonne and her Dad right before they turned the corner to walk down the aisle that Mike Romano caught!

These vintage peach umbrellas were PERFECT and boy did they come in handy!!

The rain really added something nice to their wedding with the mist and the droplets on the florals!

Jazzy snagged an AWESOME shot of Yvonne and Kevin coming in on the boat… I love it!!

Yvonne and Kevin we had SUCH a great time at your wedding, thank you so so much for having us!

XOXO

styling and dresses by Beth Chapman of The White Dress by the Shore

cakes by Hope Wright-Martell of A Little Imagination Cakes

beauty by Dana Bartone and Company

floral art by Tony Palmieri of Datura A Modern Garden

lights by Christen and Erik Ryan of Ryan Designs

coordination by Candice Coppola of Jubilee Events

paper by Nichole Michel of Coral Pheasant

A sunny day in October brought us to the Mansion at Bald Hill for the wedding of Brooke and Todd. It was a relaxed day full of sunshine, lots of laughter and plenty of tears… yes, we ALL cried thanks to Brooke’s sweetheart of a Dad, Harvey! My amazing second shooter for the day was my good friend Danielle Fuller, who laughed and cried with everyone all day as well!!

We were psyched to work alongside my main gal Catie Bane of Dana Bartone and Company on beauty!

There was not a dry eye in the room when Brooke saw her Dad!!

Since they did a first look we had plenty of time for relaxed portraits before their ceremony.

While I was shooting Brooke and Todd, Danielle got some great shots of the bridal party!

This tree was the perfect spot for our portraits!

Brooke’s flowers were done by students at Killingly High School!

They had their Ketubah signing before the ceremony, and it was so emotional. Their rabbi asked each person in the room to come up and quietly tell Brooke and Todd what they wish for them and their marriage… very sweet and so personal!

Seconds before the ceremony their Rabbi told me that he was going to have everyone stand up and come closer, he thought that they would be too far away and wanted the ceremony to be more intimate. Lucklily he also said I could go where I needed to in order to get whatever shots I needed…!

The best thing about Danielle being a seasoned photographer is that she had no idea that the format would be so different and knew we would need a photographer planted firmly in the middle to get the type of shot she got of the rings directly below. I was so thankful and able to roam around and squeeze into little spots to catch what I could!

This was one of the most emotional ceremonies I have witnessed. I loved when the rabbi asked everyone to reach forward and touch Brooke and Tood, and if they couldn’t reach them, they were to touch the person in front of them. Then everyone was connected.

Their cake was my the amazing Mozzicato’s of Hartford and their band was The Cartells!

Brooke and Todd, thank you so much for having us be a part of your day!!!

XOXO

It was a rush too, knowing I was shooting for the cover of The Connecticut Bride Magazine- and a big guessing game as we waited to see what image was chosen! I am thrilled with this cover, and am so so happy to see my great friend  and talented jewelry designer Kelley of Aquinnah’s super dope locket bracelet! I loved it so much I bought one for myself… and the earrings! I loved it SO much, my team got me a two strand locket necklace for Christmas! Yes. I am obsessed. So many mini spaces for pictures!!!!!

So there was this red door, see… and there was this girl with red lipstick! And shoes…. and signage! And a floral wand! TONY!

The beauty for the day was so clean and fresh and perfect! Go Dana Bartone & Company!!

Hands down one of my FAVORITE images from the day- the best part is that she was just standing in the doorway waiting in-between shots and I almost jumped out of my skin when I saw her there…. can you see why???? Her head band, that bouquet, her lips, that bracelet!!

The shot where her legs are up is a risky one, but I am so happy we took the shot it is so cute and fun! And sparkly! Hope from A Little Imagination Cakes always triesto hide from me….!

Hello Kate Spade sparkly shoes!!! For the bouquet (isn’t it sweet and perfect and amazing!) shots below I snagged a pillow that was on board to bring in the red stripes to help support our nautical feel for the shoot!

The above picture? Whaaaaaat!!! One of our locations was the Griswold Inn in Essex- amazing food, and character to spare! A must-stop-by-and-visit if you are in Essex!!

This little tiny slice of blue wall was such a perfect spot to photograph our model with her stunning hair and lips!

This spot had potential but yuck spotty dappled light… the solution? Two super sweeties aka Catie Bane and Miss Amy of Dana Bartone lent a hand man handling my ginormous diffuser to help me get the shot below! Thanks ladies!!

Our team for the day:

floral art: Tony Palmieri of Datura A Modern Garden

art direction: Candice Coppola of Jubilee Events

fashion and styling: Beth Chapman of The White Dress by the Shore

hair and makeup: Dana Bartone and Company

tasty sweets: Hope Wright-Martell of A Little Imagination Cakes

pretty paper: Nichole Tremblay of Coral Pheasant 

My assistant and behind the scenes gal  for the day was the hard working Rebecca Hales!

Get your copy of The Connecticut Bride Magazine on newsstands now!!!!

Our super fun  in WHITE launch party on Wednesday, January 11th was a rousing success! To quote my husband Dave, it was a ‘rager!!’ We can’t thank our amazing group of friends, business associates, colleagues who braved the style taboo of wearing white before labor day!!! Or after Memorial Day? Whatever! We appreciate the support of all of our friends in the launch of this exciting new adventure! Here are some of my favorite photo booth pictures from the suaree that my husband Dave took!

Meet my fellow In White team members!

The White Dress by the Shore

Jennie Fresa Beauty Library

Beneath the Gown

Vintage Cinema

Jubilee Events

Coral Pheasant

The vision of our night was made possible by fellow In White compadres Candice Coppola of Jubilee Events and Nichole Tremblay of Coral Pheasant- what a stunning evening!!

The biggest thank you and credit goes out to our talented team of creatives who truly made in WHITE’s launch such a success! From the talented gourmands at A Thyme to Cook, the gorgeous Sperry Tent and it’s transformation by Ryan Designs, the stunning white floral decor by Datura: A Modern Garden, the rockin’ band and electric violinist from Elan Artists, the delicious prosecco from VOVETI, the stunning white jeweled cakes from A Little Imagination Cakes, the comfy (and warm) white chariots from Gateway Limo, and our cute and fun props from SayCheese for our black and white photobooth!

Big, BIG thank you to Miss Julie our studio associate photographer for shooting the event- check out her photos here on event jubilee.com!

Thanks again for supporting us all, it really means a lot!!

XOXO

Ever since we all started collaborating there have been conversations about doing a JFK inspired shoot based on Jackie Kennedy, really. The clincher may have been Tony’s Jackie O doll that came with us to Costa Rica the first time, that girl was such a diva! I think she whispered in our ears at night to plant the seed even further and make sure she was immortalized in present day wedding magazines! See what I mean? DIVA! And she drinks too much!

Our amazing team for the day includes:

fashion & styling: Beth Chapman of The White Dress by the Shore

floral design: Tony Palmieri of Datura A Modern Garden

beauty & hair: Dana Bartone of Dana Bartone & Company

cake deliciousness: Hope Wright-Martel of A Little Imagination Cakes

pretty paper: Nichole Tremblay of Coral Pheasant

event coordination: Candice Coppola of Jubilee Events

chandeliers etc by Erik and Christen Ryan of Ryan Designs

shot on location at The Bee and Thistle Inn and The Florence Griswold Museum in Old Lyme CT

for Gala Weddings Magazine 

maids dresses by Coren Moore 

Anne Barge designed the gown based on Jackie Kennedy’s original wedding dress! Beverly Siri of San Francisco is the designer of the champagne colored dress at the end of the post- recognize the style?? That would be MY wedding gown from my vow renewal in June!

One of the most valuable things that I have learned over the years of doing these editorial shoots is to make sure I shoot things for myself! Yes, I know if we are aiming for a certain types of spreads there are specific ways to shoot certain things- and this is important and valuable information to have…. but! It is just as important to fulfill things within your own vision whether it goes with the shoot or not- if you have time to, of course! Since I am the time management editorial shooting master (yes, vain maybe but it’s the truth!) I make time for this to happen! The bottom right shot was one I had in my head, and had to work it out to get what I wanted. I am SO glad I did, it made the magazine as a full page image!! (in color)

I took the liberty of adding some behind the scenes in here to show you where I was paired with what i got- I love these! Plus you can see how super sexy I am in my Target Sprite t shirt! Who’s the diva NOW Jackie O!

Tony, Tony, Tony. A floral clutch!!!

Nichole’s paper never ceases to amaze me, it is always so luxuriously designed and perfect!!

Ah… here is where AFTER lying down in this field I saw it was COVERED with poison ivy!!!! Yes!! I am VERY allergic it was kind of my worst nightmare… thank you to Rebecca Hales for running out for some poison ivy wash!! Good thing I am a time management crazy person I even had enough time to stop shooting and shower!

Beth doing her styling thang!!!

Hope’s cakes are so so pretty, and they taste pretty darn great too!

This table smelled as good as it looked thanks to the lilies! I LOVE lilies!

Dana’s hair styling is a work of art!!

Can a more beautiful table be set Miss Candice??

Big shout out to my assistant for the day, Rebecca Hales!! And thank you to the models for all of your hard work!!

Be sure to grab your copy of Gala, it’s on newsstands now!!

XOXO

I am such a big fan of these beautiful ring bowls by Paloma’s Nest!

Kelsey rewrites her vows so they are neat and perfect!

One of my favorite floral artists of all time! Tony Palmieri of Datura A Modern Garden (aka the AIFD Floral Designer of the Year!!! ) made an amazing ceremony structure.

We had the talented Candice Coppola and Diana Chouinard of  Jubilee Events team for the day as well!

The bridal suite here is a photographer’s dream!!

Flowers by Datura, cake by Fatulli’s Bakery!

How stunning, colorful and amazing are these??????

These ladies are so beautiful!

Kelsey’s dress was a Nicole Miller  from The White Dress by the Shore!

Their first look was really emotional, there was not a dry eye in the room!!

My boy Mike, knocked it out of the park with this shot! Hands down one of my favorite images from the year!

Me in action!!

This shot was Mike’s!!

Not to be out done these gentlemen brought their bow tie A game!

Kelsey and Leigh, thank you thank you thank you for such an amazing day we love you guys!!!!

XOXOXO

I have been thinking long and hard about doing a video on the studio, to show what we are all about without being too melodramatic or taking ourselves too seriously whilst straddling that very fine line of not being too unprofessional in the process! It’s a thin, badly drawn line at times for us photographers and we have all been known to dilly dally around it what with having access to so much of our personal lives online, via Twitter, Facebook and peeking old school into my windows! See, my thing has always been, love my work, love me, and we will make sweet sweet music together! Yet I struggled with exactly how to show the fun side of us, and the sweet side, the sentimental side, and my smooth dance move side? My I love my team and my family side, and my home, and my mom’s rose bushes and all of my favorite vendors side. All of it is me, all of it is us. And so, Enter the amazing Jim Altieri of Vintage Cinema, and my bff and studio manager Dominique. And Ke$ha. Or as James Van der Beek says ‘K-E- dollar sign- HA’ Check the video here. (it’s listed on my site right under my picture it’s called ‘studio video’)And don’t take it too seriously, just laugh at how foolish we all look, and at how much fun we all had making it! It’s actually fun to watch Ke$ha’s video “Tik Tok’ before and then watch ours to see the similarities!!

So we set up this whole wedding for the video, and then my great friend Beth Chapman of The White Dress by the Shore asks me if we are going to stop in the middle of filming and renew our vows. Huh? Are we? Aren’t we? Well, it seems like common sense when it was asked out loud, right? And so, not even 3 weeks after the initial wedding idea -yes, you heard right- we planned this ALL in less than THREE WEEKS!!! .. .Dave and I renewed our vows in front of friends and family in our back yard! On one of THE hottest days ever in June. It was June 9th to be exact- and there was the craziest storm ever (or what would start the trend of crazy storms this summer!) that day! Temps hit over 100 degrees!

Here is me washing up after shooting our first part of the video, where we have to look like we just woke up after a night of craziness….

*photo disclaimer here: for my wedding part our official photographer was the super amazing Sara Code Kroll of Growing Tree Photographer, now located in PA! She has been an unofficial part of my studio family from the beginning and I couldn’t think of anyone better than Sara to catch the spirit of our team, since she was such a big part of it!! We just LOVE her eye, and her spirit and miss her so terribly now that she has moved! Sara, I can’t thank you enough for doing this for the studio, but also for me and Dave. It means so so much to have these images of my family, my friends and more importantly of my love. I look through these images and am so moved, even now, almost 6 months later.

Since most of the guests here were photographers we asked them to bring their cameras, however- this whole project was TOP SECRET!! So while they were coming to a party here, they did not know what it was until they showed up! I love surprises!! I tried my best to credit everyone properly ,as there were many, many of CT’s most talented photographers who contributed images to my cache of images: Mike Romano- one of my favorite photographers and people in the world!!! And my crew of super talented ladies-Katie Slater, Jasmine Balgobin, Julie Morawski all of Carla Ten Eyck,  Rebecca Hales of Hales Studio, Renee Descoutures, Eric Langlois of RAW Photo Design, Anthony DeCarlo of DeCarlo Photo, Paul & Krystal McNerney of Studio Foto, Danielle Fuller of Beyond the Lens… thank you all so, so much from the bottom, top, middle and sides of my heart!!!!

And, this is THE biggest blog post in the world!!!! It’s BIG BIG BIG…. to go with how full my heart feels, and how happy I am, and what a great year I have had. Thank you for taking the time to look through this…!

Catie Bane of Dana Bartone and co, my girl, my sweet sweet friend and stylist did the honors on me! Catie is responsible for my pink hair as well… she is a master!

Love this!

Miss Julie was getting all dolled up by the talented Miss Lauren Perry of Dana Bartone!

It’s like The Wizard of Oz here when the lipstick goes on… my favorite part!

Ta-DA!

Dave and I decided to do a first look in our front yard- since the back yard was still getting all done up for our ceremony etc…. we opted to have everyone there with us on the porch but still felt like we were all alone!

Mike and Sara tag teamed this- I love both of their perspectives!

But mostly? I love how Dave keeps his hands firmly behind his back!! What’s up Mr. Ten Eyck!!

I can’t tell you how much I love my dress. I emailed Beth and described this- tea length 3/4 sleeve and she immediately said SIRI!!!! I look and feel like Oprah!!

A favorite. Makes me all teary! Dave and Georgie have been dancing like this forever- they call it Giant Steps…

Sara’s take!

Hey Datura!!!! Tony created all of the floral art for our day… it was so amazing!

Enter: our moody son!!

Now you KNOW I had to shoot even though it is my vow renewal…. please!!

The amazing drift wood tables, couches and lanterns were all by our buddies Erik and Christen at Ryan Designs in Rhode Island! We just adore them so much!!!

Our friend Barbara Foley of Perceptions Jewelry in Rhode Island created all of my maids’ jewels for our shoot!!!

I sweat my back yard so much….!!!! and all of these amazing people! All of these maids dresses were courtesy of The White Dress by the Shore!!

That Nikon there was my college workhorse at RIT…ah the Nikon FM!

Candice set up our table with things that we had- my china from our wedding, cameras that I have, our silver… Renee got this amazing shot of Jack after he pepped up!

Our boys. Now, Erik aka Easy E was having a baby that week so we knew he and Jen couldn’t make it so we planned ahead and ordered a cardboard cutout of him so that he could be there in paper spirit! He is now still in the studio aptly named aper Erik.

I shot some details the day after, since we had the storm of all storms and our ceremony was rained out!!!

I used my Mom’s old dress form and put my dress out by this mimosa tree that my Mom had been trying to get to live for years… it is now thriving in our back yard

My Badgley Mischka flip flops were perfect- dressy-ish casual with color and style! On my favorite CT pillow courtesy of uncommongoods.com

Our favors were handmade by my hauntie Donna- her almost famous pepper jelly!!!

Queen Anne’s Lace, peonies and garden roses. period!

We set up the altar table again the day after and I shot it… it was set up as a dessert table / day of the dead altar / table that had people that I love on it and wanted to honor! My family and my studio!

Cupcakes by Hope at A Little Imagination Cakes!! She is AMAZING!!!!!!

This picture is my Mom holding me on the day I was born.

The Wonder Woman and Batman pez were our original wedding cake toppers!! Right near a shot from our big exit from our wedding almost 13 years ago! By the amazing Jaime Greene!!

We decorated a blue atlas cedar tree- the very type of tree that I gave Dave as our wedding present- he gave me a mountain bike… yes we bought what we wanted LOL!! The words are all things that contribute to a successful marriage! yes, RODNEY!!!! Our cat, he really helps.

This now iconic image by the dope Sara!! We have used this for all of our print ads this year!!! There is a sneaky little element here… see if you can find my guy Jack in here!!!!!

Giving Mike the stank eye as per usual!!!

head piece by The White Dress by the Shore!!

This makes me heart ache!!!!

Dave made this swing just for our vows…. sadly, this tree has since been knocked down from the various storms we have had this year- I only saw this yesterday and it made me so sad! But not us, we are still standing tall! ish.

This is my BACK YARD!!! I love it. And that husband of mine too… he is something else!

You can see the mad scramble to cover everything with tarps!! There is a storm a brewin!!!!

We didn’t forget about jack… he was still a little moody…

So we wanted to wait it out, but our officiant aka another bestie Susannah who read at our first wedding- had to go- so we made it happen on the porch!!!! It was so perfect!!

I love these crowd shots- I didn’t see anyone but Dave the whole time it was great to see where everyone was!!

paper Erik!

This shot was by Eric Langlois of RAW Photo Design! These marked as mine are all a mixture of all of the above mentioned photographers!!! DeCarlo, Danielle, Studio Foto

Dave took charge and said since I am always in charge he would like to go first! Got a rousing laugh from everyone for sure

I was a total sap when reading my vows. We have had quite a ride… and thinking about what to say to someone who I have been with for almost 15 years… it’s pretty deep when you stop and think about who we were then and who we are now. I thought about the man he was back then and the man he is now, and can I just say he gets better with age. He loves his family so much. We are so lucky to have him in our lives and now a part of the studio! I love how my sweet son is there, comforting his mama while I struggled to read my vows…

Amongst the sweetness there were some jabs on his obsession with organic food and… the Central CT Snow Snakes!!!!

These two shots were by Anthony DeCarlo… love them!

We had pizza trucks!!!!! So perfect for our vibe, and so yummy!

The only big bummer was this big tree that fell on Susannah’s car as she ran off to a graduation!!!! I told you the weather got crazy!

Ok. We had a fog machine… that SOMEONE (mary Altieri) got a little buck wild with!!!!!!! Set off the fire alarms n stuff. It was epic!

And then the rain cleared up…. and we headed back outside!!

While finishing up filming, and dancing and eating and having fun!

DANCE PARTY!!!!!

Miss Krystal preggo with Miss Penny!!!

My second, by main red bearded friend, Mike!!!

Catie Bane’s little lady Arianna…. !!

Dave and the Ryan’s probably talking about surfing

Photos by Krystal!!

I love this shot that Krystal took of us!!!!!!

love times one million

Yes. It was still 100 degrees and yes Georgie has on flannel jammies!!!!

Eric Foley acting a fool… like always!!!

Thank you for reading this, and looking at these pictures. They are so personal, and make me so happy. I am so so happy to finally share them with everyone and tell my story…! I can’t thank everyone enough for all of their time, energy, love and patience in doing this. Mostly Dave. Thank you for standing by me, and for weathering our storms and being the better couple because of it. Thank you for supporting me and my crazy career choice / love…. thank you most of all for being the best father in the world to our children!!!

XOXOXO

Credits:

video: Jim Altieri of Vintage Cinema

photography: Sara Code Kroll of Growing Tree Photography

beauty: Dana Bartone and Company

wedding dress: Siri courtesy of The White Dress by the Shore

bridal jewels: custom made by  Aquinnah 

brides maids dresses: The White Dress by the Shore

floral art: Tony Palmieri of Datura a Modern Garden

coordination: Candice Coppola of Jubilee Events

cupcakes: Hope Wright-Martell of A Little Imagination Cakes

lanterns, couches, tables: Ryan Designs

maids jewels: Barbara Foley of Perception Jewelry

flower girl dress: The White Dress by the Shore

Carla’ shoes: Badgley Mischka

CT Pillow uncommongoods.com

additional photographers: Hales Studio, RAW Photo Design, Beyond The Lens, Studio Foto, DeCarlo Photo

The house was filled with so many old family photos and pictures of the property, as a photographer it was pretty cool to see!

I just loved the green bridesmaids dresses!

These two were so cute together!

I just loved this tent design…!

The food was by Cloud Nine Catering!

After dances, we snuck away for some more portraits on the beach.

Nothing like a star lit summer night!

And the finale….? Fireworks by Brooke’s little brother, an old family summer tradition!

Brooke and Steve, thank you so much for having Mike and I at your wedding, everything was beautiful! Congrats!

XO