Monthly Archives: July 2007

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A perfect New England summer wedding

July 27, 2007 – 4:35 pm

When you think of a warm lazy summer day what pops up in your mind? How about some lemonade? Maybe spending an afternoon sitting under the shade of a tree? Well, insert a beautifully casual wedding in that scene and you’ve described Catherine and Ed’s wedding perfectly!

They had such a beautiful summer wedding that included a reception under a tent at the gorgeous Stevens Estate in North Andover. You could never, ever describe Catherine and Ed as stuffy or formal. So having a wedding in a huge ballroom with giant chandeliers would not make sense for them. They’re such a laid back and truly fun couple so they made sure that their family and friends understood that they wanted the same kind of feel for their own wedding. It all started with their invitations when they announced that the appropriate dress for their reception was “summer casual”. And there was no tux with Ed’s name on it. Instead, he and his groomsmen all wore khakis and navy blue blazers. And Catherine? She wore a stunning fitted summery gown that just reached the ground. And her bridesmaids all wore the most adorable navy blue knee length dresses. Everyone looked so summer chic! And there was no denying that Ed and Catherine were determined to stay comfortable and cool when they both changed into their flip flops just before the reception!

We just couldn’t wait to get these two alone for their own portrait session and here’s a sneak peek at some of our favorites:

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And one more favorite that we took just as we were getting ready to use this very cool old bench for a few images. I think I love this image so much because it just perfectly sums up Catherine and Ed’s easy-going and relaxed style. (And Catherine has these mile-long legs that anyone would kill for, too!)

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Catherine and Ed just make it so easy for anyone to want to hang out with these two for hours and hours! It was no surprise that they had so many family and friends with them at their wedding and all of them were having the time of their lives!

Catherine and Ed actually haven’t left just yet for their honeymoon (soon, though!) and I know they’ve been dying to see their gallery and now it’s finally ready! Thank you SO much, guys, for being so much fun!! We can’t wait to see you again soon!

P.S. — Don’t believe me yet when I tell you how much fun these guys are? Well here’s what I mean… I just got an email from Ed a few minutes ago and I wish there was a video camera on me when I was reading it. Here’s a line from his email:

“If you guys had a penny for every person who said how friendly and professional you were, you’d easily be worth $1.94 right now.

(After all, we only had 194 guests).”

Funny, Ed. REAL funny. ;)

By tiradophoto | Posted in main | Comments (0)

Colleen and Todd…on the cover of next month’s Vogue!

July 26, 2007 – 3:57 pm

No, no, I’m kidding. But they should be!!! We just spent an entire afternoon walking around downtown Boston with Colleen and Todd for their engagement session and we didn’t want to leave! Hours went by and we finally admitted that we couldn’t keep taking advantage of them. :)

The truth is, Colleen and Todd are just a very cool couple. They laugh a lot together and were having a ton of fun as we explored all these new nooks and crannies (and alleys) that we had never seen before! The only downside to having such a good session was that we now have to wait 11 months until their wedding next June. But it really does give us something to look forward to! There were so many favorites from this session, but here are just a few:

Remember that alley that I mentioned earlier? Colleen made that alley look GOOD.

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Then we monopolized some chic storefronts right on Boylston Street…

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And even borrowed someone’s front steps for an Abercrombie & Fitch kind of feel…

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Now that shot above was exactly what I pictured in my head before shooting it. Colleen and Todd definitely “got it” and completely went with the feel that we were trying to get for this one photo. But you can hold that “sexy cool stare” for so long before this happens:

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And THAT might just be one of my favorite images. It feels like one of those really good laughs that come right from the tips of your toes. I love it! And that kind of gives you a hint as to what we spent most of the day doing. We want to hang out with these guys again! Just because.

We can’t wait to see you both again soon!

By tiradophoto | Posted in main | Comments (2)

Sandy’s “Trash the Dress” session!

July 25, 2007 – 1:03 pm

Finally… a follow up on our trip to Atlantic City! We spent some time there recently for a week long seminar for professional photographers that we organized. I’m so happy to report that it was a huge success and we had pro photographers from around the world attend the workshop!

During the workshop, some photographers decided to organize a “Trash the Dress” session while we were there. For anyone who isn’t familiar with this term, there is a new trend that is quickly becoming incredibly popular with recently married couples. The idea is to have a little bit more fun with your wedding dress and suit/tux after the wedding is over. After spending all that time looking for the perfect dress, the perfect outfit, the actual amount of time that you get to wear it seems so short!

On top of that, with the rush of events happening all around you at the wedding, sometimes couples (and photographers!) don’t get to spend as much time as they’d like on their own personal portraits. So these sessions give couples (or sometimes just brides) the chance come back out, get some incredibly beautiful, romantic and fun portraits without feeling rushed and without worrying too much about whether or not their clothes are getting a little dirty.

Now don’t let the name of this session fool you. The entire point of these sessions is not to physically trash the dress. As a matter of fact, Rene and I have never gotten a dress so dirty during one of these sessions, that it wasn’t able to be easily cleaned afterwards. We have gone into alleys, on wet sandy beaches and right into the ocean and still every couple has reported that the dress was completely cleaned and back to normal after a trip to the cleaners. You can also see more examples of sessions from all over the country at Trash the Dress.

But now back to our session in Atlantic City! It was a great opportunity for many of the photographers in attendance who might not normally get to photograph these sessions to have some creative freedom a lot of fun. Even though Rene and I do offer these sessions already (we call them “Day One” sessions) and have had the privilege of photographing many couples after the wedding, we still couldn’t resist jumping into the action! There were eleven actual brides all from the Atlantic City area and 48 photographers! Rene and I offered up our suite at the Trump Taj Mahal where we all met and all eleven girls got ready in our room. I had a blast running around and poor Rene was relegated to one small corner with the other few guys that were just waiting for the girls to be ready. Quite a sight, let me tell you!

This is where we first met Sandy, too. Sandy was getting dressed and needed some help with her dress. She’s so little that her dress was a little loose in the back, so we finally just sewed her right into it! And just by coincidence, Sandy was our bride during the shoot as well and couldn’t have been more excited about it! We had so much fun with her and we kept shooting all evening long. Here’s just a little sneak peek at some of our favs!

I love the gorgeous stare that Rene got here from Sandy. And I LOVE that fog in the background, too - that fog made for a perfect backdrop!

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Rene and I turned a corner on the boardwalk in Atlantic City and we both saw this giant billboard at the same time. We were pretty much tripping over each other trying to get our shots. :) Thank you, Sandy, for working it like the supermodel you are!!

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And a perfect ending to the evening…*sigh* I love this image. Probably one of my all time favorites. I love it!

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It seems crazy to me that even though we met Sandy only a few hours before these images were taken, we just connected with her right away. She was the perfect model and she’s really just a normal, funny every day girl next door! After our session was done and Sandy got to take a warm hot shower, we all just hung out for the evening and had dinner and I know we’ll be staying in touch with her for a long time to come!

And if you’re interested in having your own session after their wedding, let us know! We’d love to have some fun with you. We have a lot of new ideas that we’re just dying to get out of heads - we’re just waiting on the perfect couple! So drop us an email if you’re up for lots of fun and some gorgeous and very unique portraits!

By tiradophoto | Posted in main | Comments (2)

An announcement for all elegant brides (and grooms!)

July 5, 2007 – 5:04 pm

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The latest issue of Boston Magazine’s Elegant Bride will be on newsstands next week! We have a wonderful prize for the first person who can find us in this month’s issue! I’m just kidding. :) But we’re really excited about this particular issue because we contributed to the magazine’s regular “Ask the Photographer” feature! This month we answered the question of whether a couple should decide to see each other before the ceremony. I’m going to keep you in suspense as to our answer so that you can read all about it yourself!

In addition, to our own little article, this issue features a great article on finding your dream dress including tips on what dresses look best on all different body types. There are also some fantastic ideas for some really unique floral arrangements. And Rene’s favorite was the huge article all about cakes. It’s not so much that Rene likes eating cakes, either. He just LOVES photographing them. It’s pretty funny because I actually want to hang some of his cake pictures in our studio as art. So if you like cakes, too, you’re definitely going to love that article. It has so many pictures of the most unbelievable cakes you’ve ever seen.

We were actually surprised last week with a shipment of two boxes filled with complimentary copies of the magazine! So, if you don’t want to wait until the magazine hits newsstands on July 10th or if you just want to come by and say hi, be sure to drop on it and pick up your own copy! We’d love to see you and have plenty of copies to go around!

By tiradophoto | Posted in main | Comments (0)

A huge welcome to our newest photographer!

July 5, 2007 – 4:59 pm

So if you’ve been peeking at our website lately you may have been surprised to see a new name under the “About Us” section. Well, we can’t keep it under wraps any longer! We’re so excited to announce that we have a new photographer joining our studio!

Carl is an incredibly talented artist and has a background in commercial and fashion photography. He recently decided that he would love to explore the challenges and excitement that comes along with photographing weddings and he completely fell in love.

For the past several months, Carl has been attending weddings with Rene and I so that he will be able to incorporate our signature style into his own work. And now the rave reviews coming in from his own wedding couples have been great and we’re so excited to have him be a part of our team!

We’ve been actively accepting wedding and portrait inquiries for Carl and he’s going to be contributing regularly to the blog as well! You can read all about him in the “About Us” section on our website and be sure to take a look at his gallery as well! We’re sure that you’ll love his images as much as we do!

By tiradophoto | Posted in main | Comments (1)

Marie and Carlos’ wedding - A very personal day for us

July 5, 2007 – 4:47 pm

We capped off this past weekend with a very special and very personal wedding for Rene and I. Carlos is actually Rene’s cousin and because they grew up together, their families have always been close. When Carlos and Marie came to us and asked if we would photograph their wedding, we couldn’t say “yes” quickly enough. We were very excited because we love them as family, of course. But we were also equally excited because they also truly loved our work and really wanted us to photograph their wedding, not just because it was convenient. As a matter of fact, Marie is one of our biggest blog stalkers and emails me for details every time we post a wedding she wants to see more of. And as if they weren’t excited enough before the wedding - we got an email from them yesterday right after they arrived at their honeymoon in the Turks and Caicos! I do believe that is a new record! :)

We also had a special treat at this wedding as Carl, our newest associate, also joined us for some extra coverage! In the end, this was definitely one incredible wedding for us both creatively and emotionally. We had a really hard time picking “select” pictures for the blog, so get ready for lots of images!

We start, of course, with the getting ready photos which were so much fun as always. There was so much going on and so many excited people around trying to get to the church on time. Here are a few of our favorites…

This first image is of Marie just getting ready to spray a little Burberry right after she put her gown on:

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While at the same time, the boys were all getting dressed at a nearby hotel:

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We all arrived at the church at just about the same time and everything began to happen very quickly. This next image is of the very handsome Carlos just minutes before taking his place at the front of the church:

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The ceremony itself was incredibly emotional and the one moment I will never forget is Carlos wiping away the tears streaming down Marie’s face while saying the vows he had written himself. It was just amazing. And I’m going to be a tease and make everyone wait to see those images in their gallery. I don’t think there were many dry eyes at the church right then!

After the ceremony, we did a few family formals and then we were able to steal away with just Carlos and Marie so they could have some time together and also so we could have some fun with their own little session. We had access to some great architecture and beautiful greenery all at the same time right where we were. We literally have dozens of favorite images from that one little session with just the two of them and it was nearly impossible to pick some out for the blog. If you can imagine me closing my eyes and randomly selecting photos, it went something like that. :) Anyways, here’s a little taste:

First Marie who was absolutely stunning in her Oleg Cassini gown. Even though you can’t see it very well in this next image, the details on her dress were amazing and she was just gorgeous in it:

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Another quiet moment…

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There were so many really emotional moments during the reception, too. This next image is probably one of my favorite images of a mother/son dance. Ever. In fact, it may be one of my top favorite images period. Carlos was dancing with his mom who became very emotional. His mom raised Carlos, his brother and sister as a single mom and now that they’re all grown up with families of their own, there was no better testament to what an amazing job she did than this: Halfway through their dance, Carlos’ brother and sister spontaneously joined them and they all just hugged each other tightly right there in the middle of the dance floor, crying together for the rest of the song. It was something I’ll never forget and one of my favorite captured moments:

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Finally, towards the end of the evening, we took Carlos and his closest friends outside for a little “guy” time. Carlos’ brother had passed out cigars earlier in the evening and we thought it would be the perfect opportunity to light them up! Rene and I had been thinking about these shots for a long time, and we finally found the perfect group of guys who were up for the challenge. Carlos has plans for a “guy” room in their home and I’m thinking these images will fit right in.

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We’re so excited for Carlos and Marie to see the rest of the gallery from their wedding! We’re also truly so honored to have been able to capture this entire special day for them. They are just one incredibly special couple and it means the world to us that we can call them family.

By tiradophoto | Posted in main | Comments (7)