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A beautiful wedding honoring a Jewish heritage and lots of love

July 17, 2008 – 1:43 pm

We had the opportunity to photograph Jessie and Josh’s wedding recently at the beautiful Glen Magna Farms in Danvers. There were so many wonderful details and moments to photograph and Jessie and Josh are just a beautiful and warm couple. Josh has a wicked sense of humor and Jessie is his calming balance. Just like Rene and I! (I only wish I was as funny as Josh, though….) They’re so perfect for each and so obviously and completely in love and I still get chills when I think about some of the beautiful moments during their ceremony.

Jessie and Josh incorporated many Jewish orthodox traditions into their ceremony and it was just beautiful to be able to step back and document each moment for them. Before the actual ceremony, there is the signing of the ketubah. Here is their rabbi during that portion of the ceremony:

Jessie also had the honor of having her grandfather in attendance at their wedding as well. Her grandfather is in his 90s and it was very apparent that he is the patriarch of their family and is given so much well-deserved respect and love.

While the ketubah signing was taking place, the girls were upstairs in the estate getting ready with Jessie! Here are some details of Jessie’s dress and her flowers. What was especially wonderful about this is that Jessie is wearing the same dress her mom wore when she got married! It is absolutely stunning and looks so gorgeous on her. How special is that!

And something a little different with their rings. Josh’s ring is completely custom made and the center portion actually moves and spins! It is just stunning!

Up to this point, the men and the women have been kept separate. But when it was time for the bedeken - or veiling ceremony - Jessie and Josh would finally be able to see each other for the first time on their wedding day. While Jessie waits in one room, all of the men form a circle around Josh in another part of the house and then escort him in to see Jessie, while a melody is sung aloud by everyone present. It was truly an exciting and very special moment to witness.

Here the men are leading Josh into the room where Jessie waits for him. Josh is there on the left, trying to catch a first glimpse of Jessie.

As the melody being sung crescendos, the excitement builds and as you can see from Jessie’s reaction, it’s a wonderfully exciting and very emotional part of the ceremony:

And then the actual bedeken takes place:

Jessie and Josh then had beautiful ceremony in the perfectly manicured gardens on the property which included a dove release at the very end! Afterwards, we spent a little bit of time with them alone for their own portraits. We were walking around the house and just fell in love with the grand old library and especially how this beautiful light fell on them:

We just couldn’t get enough of Jessie and Josh and are just dying to share the rest of their images with them. They are on a VERY well deserved honeymoon - for an entire month! - in Thailand. It’s somewhere we are dying to visit ourselves so we’ve promised to hold their photos hostage until they come back and share all of photos from their trip with us! :) We hope you guys are having a wonderful time and we can’t wait to see you soon!

By tiradophoto | Also posted in weddings | Tagged , | Comments (0)

A beautiful Boston wedding at the State Room

July 11, 2008 – 3:53 pm

Here is a wedding that we are super excited about posting on the blog! Katie and Brian are actually still away on a two week honeymoon in Bora Bora, but we really just couldn’t wait to post some teaser photos from their wedding!

I began the day with Katie at the beautiful Boston Yacht Haven right on the Boston waterfront. This place is a hidden gem that not too many people know about. I’ve lived in the Boston area my entire life and had never even seen the Boston Yacht Haven before. So it was so much fun exploring it while we were all getting ready. Katie and Brian had a suite that included a giant deck overlooking Boston Harbor. I mean REALLY overlooking. We were pretty much standing over the water out there! So needless to say, the view was absolutely stunning. We started early enough so that I could take all of the formal portraits of Katie and her mom, the girls in her bridal party and all seven - yes, count them - SEVEN flower girls and one ringbearer. And they were all under seven years old. They were absolutely adorable - how can you get any cuter than 8 adorable kids completely dressed up in gowns and tuxes?? They made everyone’s heart melt wherever we went!

Katie and Brian had their ceremony at the quaint Our Lady of Good Voyage Chapel on the Fort Point Channel. It’s a Boston landmark and was a perfect location for a true city wedding! Just before the ceremony started, Katie and her girls gathered in the back of the church waiting for the music to begin. I absolutely love this moment because it shows how happy Katie was all day long and you can just feel the excitement that everyone was feeling in those last few moments before walking down the aisle:

Just after the ceremony we all boarded a water taxi back to the Yacht club for some family and wedding party formals. It was definitely the first time we had taken a water taxi during a wedding! And as you can see here, one of Katie and Brian’s youngest flower girls was completely fascinated with my camera. I couldn’t get her to smile or laugh, she was just so completely and totally fixated on the camera. I just wanted to eat her up, she was so cute!

Also, with that many kids in the wedding party, Katie and Brian told us that they had no expectations of things going perfectly as far as they were concerned. That really made it a lot of fun for the kids since there was no pressure and it worked out really well since not everyone was in the mood to have their photo taken all the time:

One of our absolute favorite parts of any wedding (and I know you hear us say this over and over again…) is the time that we get to spend with our couples alone. With Katie and Brian, they decided they wanted to walk over to the State Room with us and they wanted us to find little locations along the way for their portraits. It was such a unique and fabulous idea and we were completely in heaven. I can’t even tell you how much fun we had together on that walk over. Here are some of our favorites:

The absolutely stunning Katie:

And an excuse to show off a great skyline and a gorgeous couple…

And probably some of my favorite images were taken in an ordinary stairwell right in historic Faneuil Hall. We were walking through Faneuil Hall just as the sun was beginning to set and as we walked past a stairwell, the beautiful warm light began to create shadows on the wall. The shadows only lasted a few minutes but we caught them and created some gorgeous portraits with Katie:

And just as we arrived at the State Room, we captured this moment which absolutely begs to be made into a giant canvas print for the studio. (Thank you, Katie and Brian!!)

So now we get to the reception. Wow. Just wow. The State Room is a breathtaking venue to begin with. But with the additional work and attention to even the tiniest details that Katie and Brian did, it was truly jaw dropping. Take a look:

Another little detail - Katie and Brian’s rings were completely custom designed and made. No one will ever have a ring like theirs and they are really magnificent:

All of the floral arrangements were done by Blue Guava. It was the first time we had ever worked with them and I was just stunned by how beautiful these arrangements were. And just to prove that it wasn’t a one-off event, we happened to work with them again just this past week (how’s that for a coincidence??) and their work is so amazing, that I actually recognized it this past weekend. I just knew that they had designed everything. The floral trees that they put together for Katie and Brian were breathtaking and each tree had beautiful tealights hanging from them in delicate glass vases. A close up of what I mean:

Both Katie and Brian’s families are very close knit. Even though their extended family is big with lots of nieces and nephews and cousins, we were just struck by how close everyone was. It was just so cool to be able to feel the love. Here’s one moment that I will never forget. During Katie and Brian’s first dance, I spied two of their nieces just at the edge of the dance floor watching them - completely unposed and candid - and just so, so happy for Katie and Brian. How absolutely precious is this?

And then just moments later as Katie and Brian’s first dance ended, take a look at their priceless expressions:

Another incredibly beautiful moment was when Katie and Brian wanted to dance with their parents. Katie’s dad passed away a few years ago and so Katie asked to her mom to share a dance with her. While Katie and her mom shared that dance together, a slideshow silently played in the background. The slideshow featured images of Katie’s dad from the moment she was born and then through the years. He was right there with them in the background as they shared that special moment. I can honestly say that there was hardly a dry eye to be found anywhere in that room:

Katie and Brian thought of everything to make their wedding truly unique. From their custom designed rings to the Irish stepdancers who delivered an incredible performance - it was truly an evening that none of us will ever forget. We’re so honored that we were able to be there with them and just can’t wait to share the rest of the images once they are back home again!

More details from Katie and Brian’s wedding:
Preceremony location: Boston Yacht Haven
Katie’s hair and makeup: Luiz Filho, Luz Beauty
Ceremony location: Our Lady of Good Voyage Chapel, Boston
Formal portrait location: Boston Yacht Haven, Faneuil Hall, and the streets of Boston
Reception Location: State Room, Boston
DJ: Brett Heaney, Crackerjack Entertainment
Floral Arrangements: Blue Guava

By tiradophoto | Tagged , , , | Comments (1)

A destination engagement session on the Boston waterfront

July 10, 2008 – 3:40 pm

Scheduling Mikki and Scott’s engagement session could have been a little tricky. Because even though both of them are from Massachusetts originally, they’ve been living in Florida and now Maryland so their trips back home before the wedding are few and far between. But when they told us they were coming to Boston and wanted to get together with us for a session, everything worked out just perfectly and we met them in the Christopher Columbus Park right on the Boston waterfront last week. It was beautifully sunny day and we had an absolute blast together! We’ve already activated their entire gallery, but we wanted to post a couple of our favorites as well:

Mikki swears that she’s not a natural when it comes to being photographed, but I’m sure it’s easy to understand why we just don’t believe THAT anymore after taking these photos of them! :) They’re such a gorgeous couple and have the best laughs ever! Their wedding is going to be here in just over a month and we are so beyond excited to spend an entire day with them. So keep watching for an update on them very soon!

By tiradophoto | Comments (0)

Our very own celebrity couple!

July 9, 2008 – 9:24 am

That’s right…these guys have a permanent address right here on our blog and have the distinction of being the one couple who has made more appearances here than anyone else!

I think it would be a fair statement to say that we’ve been through a lot with Colleen and Todd. We’ve had two engagement sessions - a summer time session and then another winter session with them. We’ve been filmed together for a documentary that was being created about us after our 2007 Best of Boston award from Boston Magazine. (You can see the clip from that video here…) Oh but wait there’s more! Colleen booked a boudoir session with me (which I haven’t posted about because it was a surprise for Todd! But I will soon, I promise…) And now at long last there was nothing to do but wait on pins and needles for their wedding to arrive!

So as you can see the four of us have quite a history together. This is a couple that is truly close to our hearts and that we will stay in touch with for a long, long time. By the time their wedding day dawned last weekend, Rene and I felt almost as excited as if we were the ones getting married. Not surprisingly, we have a LOT of images to share from their wedding so here goes!

As usual, Rene and I started earlier in the day so we could each be with Colleen and Todd to get some great images before the ceremony. It always starts with the attire…

Colleen and I literally had about 2 minutes before we need to run out to the limo and meet the boys, but I couldn’t resist one portrait of her just before we left to meet Todd and Rene. Just using the beautiful natural light pouring in from the window in her hotel room.

And now you know why I completely fall in love with her every time I get to photograph her!

Colleen and Todd asked us to help them set up a meeting for them where they could see each other privately before the ceremony and spend a few quiet moments together. A few weeks before the wedding, the four of us took a Sunday afternoon and walked the campus of Wellesley College to try to find the perfect location. This beautiful huge archway partially covered in gorgeous vines was one of the last little spots that we saw before we left that day. And we all knew it was “the place” where it needed to happen. It was just so perfect, the lighting was beautiful here and had so many great elements to work with. Rene and Todd arrived first and just a few minutes later, Colleen and I found them. This next series of images describes all of the emotions of that special moment when they first saw each other much better than I ever could:

We then got to spend some alone time just with Colleen and Todd and have a session for just the two of them. After all of our previous sessions together, this was one of the things we were so excited about!

What you don’t know about that last image is that Colleen and Todd squeezed into this little tiny opening inside a stone archway just so we could get these images. Rene fell in love with the lighting inside and started talking about some of the great ideas he had for that spot. Colleen stepped up to the little tiny doorway, peeked all the way in at the dark dirty space that was there…looked back at Rene and then reached down with both arms to gather all of her dress and dived right in. MY GIRL! The results were stunning and we are so happy that they decided to go for it!

One thing I want to start doing here on the blog is show a little bit of what goes on “behind the scenes” of an image that we take. That way, you’ll be able to see what a location might look like (and I’ll be the first to admit that we sometimes use some really odd locations!) and then you’ll be able to see how the resulting image turned out. I know that sometimes if we’re in an alley or in some other unusual location, it might be hard to imagine what kind of image we could possibly get from it. But it’s actually always about the lighting. And posting these “behind the scenes” photos should help to get some insight into our crazy minds!

So here is an image that I took of Rene photographing Colleen and Todd. This is that little tiny space that I was telling you about. It was dark, dirty and not much room to move around. (Especially when you’re wearing a big gorgeous white dress!) There’s Rene on the left and you can see the videographer (David Bettencourt’s assistant, Jeff) there at the very bottom right corner:

Not the prettiest location, eh? But here is Rene’s resulting image - straight out of the camera:

After a beautiful ceremony we headed over to the beautiful Nashawtuc Country Club in Concord. And from the moment you walked into the ballroom, you could immediately see how much work Colleen and Todd put into every single detail of their wedding. The room was absolutely breathtaking with chocolate brown and soft pink accents. The room was completely transformed with soft uplights and everything was perfectly thought out - even down to the beautiful chocolate pintuck linens.

Near the end of the evening, we snuck outside for a few minutes with Colleen and Todd so that we could do a mini night session with them. So glad we did!

To say that this wedding was special for us is an understatement. We love Colleen and Todd to pieces and are so beyond thrilled that they’re finally officially husband and wife! Here’s to the start of a long relationship together and many more sessions to come!

Some details from their wedding:
Colleen’s pre-ceremony location: The Westin Hotel, Waltham-Boston
Pre-ceremony photo location: Wellesley College campus
Ceremony location: Wellesley Congregational Church
Reception location: Nashawtuc Country Club, Concord, MA
DJ: The Event Experience. Erik Buford is one of our absolute favorite DJs. We can say this from personal experience because Erik actually DJ’d our own wedding 9 years ago!! We loved him then and he was completely amazing again at Colleen and Todd’s wedding.
Videographer: The one and only David Bettencourt
Cake: The Icing on the Cake

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An urban engagement session

July 8, 2008 – 2:40 pm

After having to reschedule three times because of summer thunderstorms suddenly appearing in the forecast, we finally were able to get together with Sindhu and Ajit for their engagement session just this past week. And not a moment too soon - their wedding is only a week and a half away! Ajit actually drove all the way from his home in Connecticut just for our session in the Boston Public Garden and we’re so happy that he did. We had a fabulous time with them and are so excited about their wedding soon! Here’s just a quick sneak peek at a few of our favorites from this past week:

Get ready to see this gorgeous couple again in just a couple of weeks when we blog about their wedding!

By tiradophoto | Comments (0)

Heather and Kevin’s beautiful Cape Cod beach wedding

July 8, 2008 – 11:56 am

Last weekend was THE weekend to get married in Boston, we think! We had three beautiful weddings and they were all so different and unique from each other. It was great! So we’re going to kick off our blogging marathon with a couple you’ve seen before! Heather and Kevin came in with their family just a couple of months ago for a family session just after their baby, Gavin, was born. You might remember them from the last time we blogged about them here…

And after spending the afternoon with them here in the studio we traveled down to the gorgeous Wychemere Harbor Club in Cape Cod. It’s definitely a beautiful location to have a wedding - right on the beach with plenty of gardens and sand and beach grass. It just makes you want to kick off your shoes and celebrate, which is what everyone did!

The day started out incredibly overcast and drizzly, but slowly as the morning progressed, the clouds began to dissipate and just as their outdoor ceremony was about to begin, the beautiful warm sun came out. How perfect was that?? We have a lot of images to share so here goes!

Heather and Kevin wanted to see each other privately before the ceremony and Rene and I helped them coordinate their private meeting and few moments alone. All the while documenting those beautiful emotions they were feeling along the way…

After wards we had a mini portrait session with just the two of them and had a great time finding some little hidden spots around the club…

You’ve got to love that authentic Cape Code cedar siding. For anyone who is not familiar with Cape Cod in Massachusetts, there are building ordinances that require these particular siding shingles to be used in certain areas on the cape. It gives the entire area it’s beachy “Cape Cod” feel and preserves the look that thousands of tourists treasure year after year.

The ceremony was held in a garden that overlooks the dock and the harbor. It provided their guests with a gorgeous scenic backdrop to the ceremony as well as most welcome ocean breeze! Here, Heather was proudly escorted down the aisle by her son, Joseph.

And after the ceremony, Heather and Kevin snuck away with Rene and I to the beach so that we could do another mini-session with them before returning to the cocktail hour.

And now for some details! First their wedding cake which was so amazing that we could actually smell how delicious it was when we first walked in! And it looks gorgeous as well - a little bit of a different view…

Kevin is actually part of a band and during the reception, he was finally convinced to take the stage along with his other band mates (including his brother) for an impromptu jam session. These guys are GOOD and completely rocked it out for everyone:

Thank you again so much, guys! We can’t wait to see you again very soon!

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