I arrived at the elegant Boston Harbor Hotel one recent Saturday morning and was greeted with the normal hustle and bustle that is to be expected from a busy, popular downtown hotel. Even if you never ventured past the main lobby, I’m sure you’d find yourself standing a little straighter, checking to make sure your hair is just right and trying not to stare at the beautiful marble everywhere around you. Or at the beautiful afternoon light pouring through the windows facing the skyscrapers of downtown Boston. And well, okay…maybe I did actually do all of that as I walked through the lobby trying to find Rebecca’s hotel room.
Then, I got to the end of the lobby and looked up to see one of the friendliest faces ever with a big grin on it and outstretched arms to give me a hug. It’s was Rebecca’s mom and I was just so happy to see her there smiling back at me. Both Rebecca and Brian are blessed to have amazing families with personalities as warm and inviting as Rebecca’s mom. We’ve been able to get together with them many times over the past few months and there is no doubt that these guys were special to us in so many ways.
It really does make a difference – at least from my perspective – when we’re actually able to really get to know our couples before the wedding. It doesn’t have to always be in person, either. It could be sending emails back and forth to each other, catching up regularly on Facebook or Twitter, or maybe it is getting together here at the studio or over dinner, we just love it! This is what happened with Brian and Rebecca and so by the time their wedding day arrived, there was so much laughing and joking around and everyone really enjoying themselves. Although, to be honest, Rebecca and Brian LOVE to laugh and joke around with each other already. I was rolling at some points during the day at some of the things Rebecca came out with – she’s so quick.
Rene and I started the day separately and while I was with Rebecca at the Boston Harbor Hotel to get ready, Brian and his groomsmen met Rene at the church where the ceremony was to be held, St. Ignatius of Loyola at Boston College. The boys arrived about an hour before the guests were scheduled to arrive which gave them plenty of time to have some fun with Rene.
And just about when that portrait was taken, Becca was just getting settled into the Rolls Royce that was going to transport her with her mom and dad to the church:
After their ceremony, we all made our way back to the Boston Harbor Hotel for all of the family and wedding party portraits and Rebecca and Brian insisted that they wanted to have fun with it – and that we did! We ended the portraits with a private mini-session with just Becca and Brian by themselves. The timing came together perfectly – and I wouldn’t expect anything different for these guys – when we got to use the beautiful blue twilight sky and lit skyscrapers as a backdrop:
And now for some details… (yea!!!) One of things that I learned from Rebecca over the last few months was just how important the details were. They spent sooo much time on every last detail and they wanted to make sure they would remember all of their hard work. Let me tell you…the hard work definitely paid off. The entire cocktail hour area as well as the salon was bathed in beautiful flowers and candles everywhere. “Ambiance” was obviously the goal and ambiance was definitely achieved.
The thing is…because Rene and I knew we’d be busy with all of their portraits, we were really afraid that we wouldn’t be able to do justice to all of the wonderful details they had put together, so we called on Jeff Newcum who – amazingly – did not have another wedding to photograph that night. So Jeff came in and hung out with us for the rest of the night…and even more importantly captured all of those gorgeous details. Now, I’ll be the first to say this…Jeff is the KING of details. I love his details – I always have and I always will, so he was the first and only person I wanted to be there with us. His candid reception coverage is also amazingly fun and full of energy so we had so much fun. Here are some of Jeff’s fabulous details:
And an exceptionally well dressed guest during cocktail hour:
For anyone who has been keeping up with me on Facebook lately, you may have seen one of my recent comments about the amazing grandmothers I met at our last two weddings. (And if you haven’t been keeping up with me – friend me on Facebook or Twitter to stay up to date with all of the latest Tirado Photography news!)
Well, Rebecca’s grandmother was one of the women I was talking about. I first met her when we sat next to each other during the limo ride to the church. After about 15 seconds, I felt like I met a new best friend. She is so full of life and funny and enjoys everything she does completely. She and her husband have been married for years and love to travel everywhere. She even told me about some trips they’ve taken where they just showed up at the airport, walked to the shortest line and bought tickets to whatever destination that plane was heading to. I love that! I aspire to be like her right now and hope I’m still like her when I’m her age, too. She’s an amazing woman and a total inspiration. And here she is with Becca… Like grandmother, like granddaughter – both with an infectious smile and spicy love for life:
Now it occurred to me that we don’t usually post many images from the reception here on the blog. I don’t know why this is, but today’s post is going to be an exception for sure. There was a lot of fun and crazy energy everywhere and it definitely made for some really fun candids. The evening began with some toasts that were funny, emotional….and really, really funny:
As a surprise, Becca’s dad secretly arranged with the band for there to be a hora halfway through the reception. No one was more surprised than Rebecca and Brian and it was so much fun to see the range of expressions cross their faces.
The band was fabulous and kept Rebecca and Brian’s guests on the dance floor the entire night. Good music is always a huge “must have” for any reception for sure:
We loved every second of Rebecca and Brian’s wedding and I’m so excited that I’ll get to see Becca’s mom tomorrow when she stops by the studio to pick up the proofs.
And because it can never be said too many times, another HUGE thank you to the fabulous Jeff Newcum for coming down and helping us out and especially for your always beautiful images.
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