Rayne and Colin’s micro wedding during the current Covid-19 pandemic was about as perfect as a wedding could be. After photographing weddings for almost 20 years, I have made my way around the wedding dance floor, so to speak. Their wedding was absolute perfection. It was laid back and relaxed, despite the impending rain and nerves surrounding having an event during a pandemic. How could that be possible, you might ask. I would have to say that Rayne and Colin just wanted to be married. They met on the campus of Wheaton College (where my son is headed to this fall!) years back. After the back and forth that all of my couples have been faced with this year of whether or not to postpone or move ahead, they decided to do both; they moved the larger celebration to next year while still hosting a small wedding for just their immediate families.
I have known Rayne since she was a baby, which is a part of why this wedding was so special for me. After I moved back to Hartford I baby-sat for Rayne while looking for jobs, We would watch Winnie the Pooh together and have a ball. In addition to that, Rayne was the flower girl at my wedding waaaay back in 1999! Her aunt Susannah has been one of my very best friends since I was in third grade and my Mom was our Brownie Troop leader. Susannah’s father’s wedding 25 years ago was one of the very first weddings I photographed, while I was still a student at RIT studying photojournalism. To round things out nicely over here I will also add that I photographed Rayne’s fathers wedding many years ago, maybe 16? I believe I was pregnant with my Georgie at the time! To say this wedding had me steeped in memories and decades of friendships is an understatement. It made my job easier and harder all at the same time.
We started the day off at their house and I was able to get a tiny bit of the getting ready before we head out to their property for some portraits that made me scream and yell.
On the drive in I noticed quite a few areas filled with my favorite ferny bullshit and I was fully prepared to bring them back to those spots I scoped out. Little did I know that they had their very own mini field of this magical nonsense that makes my heart literally feel like it will explode! I was pumped especially since Colin had just made this path in the middle for them to just saunter on through.
Please know that I was screaming while they were trying to have a tender moment over here, I could not help myself!
Exhibit A: them reacting to my behavior! And also just being so happy to be marrying one another!
Rayne and I were both agreeing how Kennedy handsome this fella is!!
They mentioned Colin going for a boat ride earlier which gave us the idea to check out the dock for pictures and I was freaking out again while trying not to literally rock the boat!
GODDESS ALERT ARE YOU SERIOUS!!!!
The magical little nook was making my head SPIN I was loving it so much. I am already planning trips back up to stalk them both and just make them hang out with me and let me photograph them all the time!
As if we didn’t have ENOUGH inspirational locations…. there was this gorgeous field. Time was ticking away so we stopped here for a moment but it was well worth it!
Something I have known about Rayne is her propensity for finding four leaf clovers like literally ALL the time. I have known this little fact and think about her every time I look for one, and never find one! I have literally never ever found one. Not only did she find a four leaf clover she found a FIVE leaf clover too! On her wedding day too! She even told me she can find them when she is out running. As if I didn’t feel bad enough for never finding them, she is a literal four leaf clover magnet.
The scene of their ‘backup plan’ wedding! Like. WHAT.
Mike (Rayne’s grandfather) and Willajeanne, one of my very first wedding clients are celebrating 25 years together! I think we need to do a 25th anniversary session, don’t you agree??
I loved this mask so much.
Not that I am biased- but maybe I am! I also love this custom mask that my daughter Georgie made for Becky, Rayne’s Grandmother. If you need a mask check them out: 10 inc. Handmade Masks with Love
Susannah was also the officiant for their wedding, and she is AMAZING. I get distracted listening to her because the ceremony she writes is always so loving and personable.
Rayne and her Dad Justin have a moment before he walks her down the aisle.
They took a moment to stop and look around and actually see everyone that was there to support them as they exchanged their vows. I love how Colin looks directly at me, because I was there not just as their photographer, but as their friend. Or it’s that age old moment when you think someone is waving hi at you and you wave back but they are waving to someone behind you!
After their ceremony Colin stepped away, overcome with emotion. I cried with him, from a far, overcome with my own emotions. Folks I am here to tell you that no one cries alone around me. It’s like I am transported with my lens into your heart, bearing witness to your feelings, and letting them run through me, too.
Susannah held their Wheaton College yearbook during their ceremony. I loved that so much!
I was a little obsessed with this dog! He was such a love, this was him smiling with absolute GLEE just being around people. I couldn’t get enough of his sweet personality!
More smiling, I promise!
The details were so sweet and perfect!
This moody lighting and the barn and cafe lights made for some super pretty pictures, and I took full advantage.
Taking a lovely family portrait of the Silk’s who live here! Tell me the best part isn’t Rayne and Colin’s special appearance in the back.
Cafe Louise from West Hartford CT catered these sweet individual appetizers. They were delicious!
Susannah and Andrew. Man, I love these two something fierce!
When I arrived to the property I spotted this bush of clematis right away and was eyeballing it just waiting for the right time. I had some jokes that I couldn’t keep in my head and had to share- hence the big laugh!
Colin’s Dad was super happy to provide a pitchfork for this!
My favorite part was watching Colin slide off the car and yell at his Dad for waxing it so well!
Who knows if I even got one photo with everyone looking I just kept yelling and laughing to try to get the baby to look. She did not.
Watching my best friend become a Mom has been one of the most special things to bear witness to. My heart is so full from their visit, and seeing her and Andrew in their new roles as parents.
Rayne and Colin, I can’t even begin to tell you how full my spirit and soul feel from your wedding. Still. I have missed this something fierce, something so visceral. The last wedding I had photographed prior to this was in November, and I have never gone this long since I started doing weddings regularly in 2002. This pandemic has forced me to slow down, and reevaluate a lot of things. My fire and passion for photographing weddings and events and families has not dimmed. If anything it was deepened into a slow hot fire. I am patient, because I value everyone’s lives above my livelihood. I will get back to bigger weddings when the timing is there for us all. In the mean time, let’s keep these micro weddings coming, it’s filling my soul! Congratulations to you both, I can’t wait for next year! XOXOXOX
To see more micro weddings photographed by Carla Ten Eyck, click the links below:
Micro Wedding in Boston Public Garden
Copper Beech Inn CT Micro Wedding
pictures are worth a thousand words – the first word your pictures convey is LOVE
Julie! You are the sweetest. I love that you can sense that from my work. It means so much XO
Hi Carla! It’s been several months since this amazing love-filled micro wedding and I just revisited your photos and all my memories of it! Your photos are an amazing gift to Rayne and Colin and their families. We will all be forever grateful for your beautiful work where you captured the day on June 27th so well. Your presence as well was a gift. You have a incredibly creative, happy, and kind soul. Thank you. Thank you so much for these special images!
Valerie, I loved Rayne + Colin’s wedding so much, way beyond just the wedding! They are both such loving and kind souls. It was a true honor being their photographer! XO
The whole essence of this beautiful wedding captured me as a complete stranger sitting in Australia. What a beautiful set of moments and thank you for the invitation to share these. Wishing you all a wonderful year ahead xx
Thank you Carol!