Reception and Ceremony: Nashawtuc Country Club, Concord MA
Event Coordinator: Tricia Keating
Dress: Yolanda's
Florist: Twigs and Sprigs, Concord MA
Hair: Jessica @ DiRe hair ltd
Makeup: Jai'me Perez
Music: Saigel Productions

When you book a wedding in early March in New England you pretty much expect snow, sleet, rain and a biting chill, or just all of the above. March 6 2010 was a little different! We were greeted with absolutely gorgeous weather, with 60 degree temps, gorgeous sun and a little flutter of wind.

Someone was definitely looking down on them!

I met with Holly at their beautiful home in Arlington for her preparations with close friends, family and of course loyal dog. Her late father's handkerchief was carefully tucked into her bouquet and Tyson walked over to lie beneath Holly's feet for a shot as the late winter light came through their dining room window.


I then sped around the corner to meet with (a little nervous) Jeff for a few photos as friends and family gathered in St Paul Lutheran Church for their ceremony. Both Holly's parents and Jeff's father had passed and emotions were high both sides of the aisle. A strong Holly walked done the aisle with a huge, excited smile, followed by a tearful embrace with Jeff. As the ceremony proceeded, directed by Jeff's and his brother John's uncle, there wasn't a dry eye in the church as the two exchanged vows, swapped rings (there was an oops - see if you can see what it is in the slideshow!) and then bounded up the aisle through their celebrating friends.



We then head over to Concord to the Nashawtuc Country Club, and drove through the truly gorgeous grounds to their reception. I met with Rich who helped to provide some skillful off camera lighting and we started with photos of them on the edge of the grounds, just for a few minutes so they could head off to be with their guests for cocktail hour. The light outside was simply gorgeous and the warm weather made a March outdoor shoot extremely pleasant.



With the guests well primed, the evening reception started just as the sun set over the golf course. Speeches, a wonderful dinner and dancing ensued as we covered the thick of the action on the dance floor.



Congrats again to the very happy couple! They are in good hands with great friends and family and I wish them the best for their adventures in life.

All of the images are available to view and purchase as prints here: http://photo.brownphotographic.com/hollyjeffoliverwedding/

Slideshow:
Put your headphones on and click the full screen button, bottom right for the best experience...

I just got in from shooting a wedding on an incredibly warm, sunny day for early March. Here are just a few sneak peaks of Holly and Jeff's wedding...





Thanks to Rich Pizzuti for being a model human lightstand!

Hair & Makeup: Salon Saveria - Walpole, MA
Dress: Allure Boutique - Westwood, MA
Reception and Ceremony: Granite Links Golf Club, Quincy, MA
Event Coordinator: Linda Blackmore
Music: Boston Music Works
Florist: Judy's Village Florist - Foxboro, MA

I learned about Lindsey and Adam through Suzanne and Todd who's wedding I shot back in '08. Back in late Autumn, Lindsey, Adam and I headed out to the Minuteman National Park and then into Beacon Hill for their engagement session. There wasn't one serious moment and that definitely set the tone for their wedding!

It was a cold, grey January day as I drove up the hills south of Boston to the Granite Links, with the clubhouse perched atop a northward facing slope towards Boston. I met with my assistant Doug (second photographer and man-with-the-light for the day) and we scoped the place out before meeting with Lindsey, who was relaxed as ever!

As the getting ready, ceremony and reception were all being held at the club, the preparations proceeded at a calm pace with no stresses about time or worries about traffic. Adam arrived downstairs at the bar, so Doug headed down there while I took some photos of Lindsey with her very attentive bridesmaids, before Adam popped out of the lift. Breaking with tradition, they decided to make use of the day and get some of their formals and couple photos out of the way before the ceremony, so after a non-teary, and funny first-meet, we dragged everyone outside into the cold for some shots on the hillside. 

Alas (and for some reason often the case with winter weddings) the pathways to the best views weren't clear, but we found a good clear view of Boston with the bridal party on the grass and us shooting and lighting from a deep snow bank. I'm not really sure if snow in my shoes is the best way to start a wedding, but sometimes to get that angle you've just got to make sacrifices! With bad weather on the way and a rather damp chill to the air, we knew we wouldn't be outside for long and the party braved it for just enough time before we all headed back in as guests arrived.

A lighting-fast paced ceremony ensued with tears and a lot of laughing (do they ever stop?) from Lindsey and Adam as the sun went down. With plenty of time to spare after group photos, everyone headed off to enjoy their cocktail hour before making a very different entrance to a packed reception room that surprised their guests and ourselves.

After some cracking speeches the party and food ensued. I experimented a little with the 5DMKII's HD video capabilities and put a little surprise in the slideshow for Lindsey! During the course of the night, we headed out with the newlyweds onto a windswept balcony as the wintry elements rained down around us, before rounding out the evening.

Congrats to Lindsey and Adam and we wish you all the best on your journey together! To see all of their photos and purchase prints, click here.



To view the slideshow below, enter Lindsey's maiden name for the password. You can also see all of the photos in their online gallery by clicking here.

Happy Valentines everyone!

As the wedding bookings flow steadily in I thought it would be great to offer a HUGE giveaway for future and past clients...

Well I said giveaway, but you do have to do a bit of work... just join the contest on Facebook (details below) and upload a photo of yourself with your better half. The little twist is that it has to be taken by yourselves... yes that means arms outreached, camera on a tripod or rock or whatever else you can find to rest it on (just not someone else's hands!). Of course it is tough to tell sometimes, but I trust you'll be good honest peeps and humour me with the best shot you've taken of yourselves. Your Facebook friends vote, then the winners are announced on April 15.

You could win one of these:
- Grand Prize: Custom Wedding Photography Package worth $4150!
- Second Place: Engagement Shoot plus a 9x12 art book.... worth $1000!
- Third Place: Online print credit worth $300!

The really cool thing is that if you win, the person that referred you on Facebook also gets $300 of online print credit! So even if you don't win, but you referred someone who did win, you could still get the $300 print credit as a referral prize!

These are the steps:
1. Become a Fan!
2. Enter the Competition and upload a photo of you both and read the Rules. Don't forget to mention who mentioned the competition to you, so they can win something too!
3. Get your friends to vote on your photo... they can vote only once per submission; a maximum of 10 votes.
4. Sit back and wait for the results on April 15!

So why a self portrait I hear you ask? Well I was scratching my head about how I could engage competitors' artistic side and try to get a feel for who they really are and allow people voting to immediately see who they were voting for. Words just seemed boring and a standard photo competition had been done, done and done some more... and I wanted something challenging.

So something I always have trouble with photographically is one of those 'reach out with your hand and shoot yourself' photos, especically with your other half in the frame. My wife actually has an uncanny knack for it... see this shot she took of us in 2006 when we were dating:

Yep, likely better than I could do, though I did shoot this with my hunker-lunker Canon 1Ds in one hand out of the window of a friend's Austin 7 driving around the Cotswolds...

So it doesn't matter what camera you take it with, you just have to take it yourself and get a ton of your facebook friends to vote for you in order to win one of these amazing prizes! The more you spread the news about the competition, the greater liklihood you have of winning the referral prize!

The sooner you enter, the more votes you can get, so get snapping!

Submissions for photos will be between today and March 14 2010
Voting starts today until April 14 2010
Winners announced April 15 2010

Just click here to enter the contest!
 

For rules: click here