Love is in the air.....Proposal!

     Words can't express how I felt when Chris asked me to photograph him proposing to Lauren.  First of all, Anne and I had not had the opportunity to shoot a proposal yet, and were excited to know the couple that would be our first.  Lauren is one of my best friends, and I have known her since kindergarten!  Chris and I conspired for months before the actual proposal date about the details of the shoot, and Lauren was none the wiser.   I have to give credit to Chris for the majority of the planning, he thought out a proposal that all women deserve.  It was personalized and memorable.  The hardest part was trying to figure out a special place that would not signal anything to Lauren.  The place that was chosen was in an arboretum on Long Island.

Chris, Anne, and I made our way to the Arboretum to check it out about a month before the big day, in complete secrecy.  We spent awhile wandering around the arboretum testing out the different locations.  There were many beautiful spots in the gardens and throughout the grounds.  Chris chose, with some help from us, a nice secluded location underneath a tree with pink flowers by a bench (sadly the flowers were gone by the time the big day came but it was still beautiful).  All we had left was to wait until the big day!   I knew Chris was excited for the big day to come, but I did not know how impatient and nervous he would get.  I received text messages everyday from Chris counting down the days,  and of course checking the weather to make sure no rain was coming.  The week before the weather was back and forth and it seemed like it could possibly rain on that day.  All we could do was hope for the weather to hold.

Finally, the day arrived!  We made sure that no one knew that I was even going to be in town with Anne.  I even texted Lauren complaining about how busy it was at the ariport that I work at on Nantucket.  Anne and I went to the arboretum early to assess the location and find our hiding spots...and we may or may not have played around for a bit coming up with ridiculous hiding spots that would never work!  We received some odd looks by passersby, but what did we care?  We were getting ready for an amazing shoot.  Then... my phone vibrates... and its a text from Chris, "We are at the bathrooms." (meaning they were about to start the walk into the area).

  I think I was just as nervous as Chris was because I wanted to make sure we did not miss a second of the proposal.  We sat in wait as they strolled around the arboretum, and then took cover for our covert operation as soon as they got close.  We were holding our breath, and our adrenaline was pumping!  Then we see them coming towards us.  They stop.  He has Lauren take a picture of the tree they are under to distract her, and then he drops down onto his knee!  The shock and excitement is apparent as Lauren starts to shake and her hands go to her face.  Of course she accepts the ring with tears in her eyes and they embrace.

Then after Lauren calms down a bit and grounds herself, she looks around and says, "Who is that over there?"  She found me!  At this point, it didn't really matter, and I was then able to congratulate her right away.  Next, of course, were the obligatory phone calls to family and friends.

After all the phone calls were made, Anne and I asked the newly engaged couple if they were up for a mini engagement shoot so they could have some more photos to commemorate the day.  They said that they would love to, and so we got to have some fun!

Can't wait to shoot the real engagement shoot and to be a part of Lauren and Chris's wedding in October 2013!  We wanted to thank Chris for making us a special part of his big day, we love you both and couldn't be more excited for what's to come.


-Stef

"A photo says, You were happy, and I wanted to catch that.
A photo says, You were so important to me that I put down everything else to come watch."
-Jodi Picoult, My Sister's Keeper

Sara and Nathan's (CT) Wedding 5/12/12

      I have to say I feel truly honored to have been involved in Sara and Nathan's Connecticut portion of their wedding (which I will explain in a little bit).  I have known Sara since our days at UConn, and there was never any question that she was going to be a part of my life for years to come because of my husband, TJ.  Of course, I view having Sara in my life as a blessing.  I actually met Sara through TJ, and they have always been close friends and refer to each other as "sister and brother from another mother".  So another added bonus was that my husband was a guest at this wedding!

     Now when I said that this was the Connecticut portion of the wedding, what I meant was that this was mainly a reception being held for the friends and family who could not be at the first wedding.  Obviously, that made this wedding a bit different for Anne and me.  The reason for this was that Sara and Nathan had been living in Iowa as Sara attended Veterinary School, and wanted to have a wedding there with the people she knew from that area.  It also happened to fall on the weekend of her graduation, so that was a whole weekend of celebrating!

       Our day began at Sara's mother's house, where we were able to shoot the accessories from her wedding and also got to take some photos of the girls getting their hair done.  Since this was not a traditional wedding, the groom even popped in for a little while to see how things were going. 

     Once the girls were done getting their hair done, we headed over to a hotel near the venue.  Typically, the bridal party would assist the bride with the final stages of getting ready, but in this case the couple decided that since they were already married, they would help each other.  This was a first for us and we had no idea what to expect.  It really was hilarious and touching all at the same time; I mean women who know how to work dresses struggle at times trying to figure out how a wedding dress works, but Nathan was up for the challenge.  And I have to say, he did a great job after a few hiccups here and there!

     Once the CT wedding reception started, it was obvious that these people take partying and dancing very seriously!  There was such an insane amount of energy buzzing through the room.  You could not only see how happy everyone was for the newly married couple, but you could feel it!

Of course, we had to get an obligatory shot of all the UConn alumni at the event.. and I got to sneak into this one!  Wow, Sara and I look so short compared to the rest of the gang!

Congratulations again to the beautiful couple!  Both Anne and I wish you a lifetime of happiness!

-Stefanie

“Which of my photographs is my favorite? The one I’m going to take tomorrow." – Imogen Cunningham

Stephanie and Stephen's Wedding 4/22/12

First things first,  the buildup to this wedding was much different than any of our other weddings for many reasons.  The main reason was that we did not meet our bride or groom until the day of their wedding, yet we already felt like we had known them forever!  Our meetings were all set up through Skype, and we were sure to follow Stephanie's Facebook and Pinterest boards to see what to expect for her wedding.  Yay social media!    Speaking of which, Stephanie was sure to keep up with her soon to be husband while they were getting ready...

As you can see in the photo, Stephen started his day getting ready at the barber with a hot towel shave.  This was a first for us, and it was definitely fun to watch!

While I was at the Barber Shop with Stephen and the rest of his guys, Stefanie was at the house with Stephanie.  (Sidenote:  Stephanie's middle name is Ann, and it was determined that we were meant to work with her because those are also our names!)  Shooting the getting ready images at the bride's house always allows us the freedom of creativity, because it is typically low pressure and you get to play around with the wedding dress and the accessories to create beautiful detail images.

After both the bride and groom were ready, we all rendezvoused at the church for the ceremony.  Now, before this we had been given specific instructions as to where we could be in the church.  (We included the videographers, who were two of the best videographers that we have ever worked with, they were just so in tune with us and had similar shooting styles.)  We were both a bit nervous because the rules were pretty restrictive.  But we talked to the officiant, and luckily,  all restrictions were lifted and he said we could go where we wanted as long as we were not a distraction from the wedding.  Of course, we never want to be a distraction so we were already prepared for that!  

Throughout the whole day, it had been raining pretty decently but we still had our fingers crossed that we would be able to shoot some formals outside... sadly this did not happen.  Luckily, the reception was held at Jericho Terrace which has beautiful indoor areas to shoot.  And we were very familiar with this location because it is the same place that Stefanie's wedding reception was held three years ago, and in the same room!

And then we went to shoot in the dome room, where the reception was held.  This was one of Stephanie and Stephen's reasons for choosing the Jericho Terrace, that room is beautiful and made for some stunning images!

The night rounded out with the reception, which included a performance by Stephanie's brother.  You can see in the images just how happy and in love Stephanie and Stephen are, and you can also see what great personalities they both have, always with such sincere smiles.  

Both Stefanie and I loved this wedding, and had a great time with our couple!  Congratulations again to Stephanie and Stephen!  We hope you had as much fun as we did!

-Anne

"Human gesture and expression are the essence of photography.  It's not about lights or fast lenses and fast film.  It's the ability to a capture a moment in time.  To capture the spirit of someone in that magic box is wonderful.  It's what I fell in love with as a kid." -John Shearer