Both K and E began their day by getting ready at the elegant Lenox Hotel which is right next door to the library. The thing you should know about this couple is that they have this amazing ability to be able to just center themselves and really “be” in the moment. The energy they both put out there is so strong you can feel it when they walk in the room. It’s really calming! And with my hyper – and well….sometimes spastic – self, it was quite a treat for me to experience their energy whenever we got together.

Watching them together during the day gave me a whole new appreciation for “enjoying the moment.” Even when things were at an emotional high, you could see K and E take a step back, take a few breaths and recenter themselves – it was amazing. Their vows were both completely hand written and were kept a secret from each other until they exchanged them right at the ceremony. “Heartfelt” doesn’t even really describe how amazing they were…..their words were so beautiful, so personal and even though we could hear the words, some of the things that were said had a secret meaning that only K and E understood. I loved that that intimacy that they shared even in a public setting.

For confidentiality reasons we can’t share any photos of K and E themselves, but fear not – there were so many amazing details at their wedding so we still have a lot of eye candy for you!

When I first arrived and met K in her suite at the Lenox Hotel, the first thing I saw as I peeked into her bedroom was her amazing gown in all it’s glory. It fit right into the opulent setting of that suite like a princess its own right:

It’s only right that an amazing dress be accompanied by equally beautiful shoes:

One of my favorite memories was when K’s ipod began playing “Pocketful of Sunshine” by Natasha Bedingfield… K suddenly jumped up and began dancing around the entire suite, pulling all of friends in with her – everyone laughing and spinning all together. It was so adorable and so much fun and I didn’t want to forget what sparked all of that great energy:

K and E chose to see each other privately before the ceremony and so Rene and E made their way to the beautiful hidden outdoor garden at the center of the Boston Public Library. I loved this moment that I saw when K arrived and her dad took a peek into the courtyard to make sure everything was ready for his daughter to see her soon-to-be husband for the first time:

Because K and E set aside time before the ceremony for all of their formals, they were able to attend their entire cocktail hour which featured a fabulous surprise – a roving mariachi band! The guests absolutely loved mingling and chatting while the mariachis walked around the garden serenading them with beautiful love songs.

Meanwhile, Rene and I made our way inside and found even more fabulous details everywhere we looked. And since this is a blog entry dedicated to details, feast your eyes on these perfect little pieces:

Now most couples have a guest book where guests can leave their names and messages as a way for the couple to remember who was there and read their messages for years to come. It’s a great idea, but it just wasn’t enough for K and E. This is one very creative couple. And their creativity manifests itself in their lives, in the careers and as you’ll see, even in their wedding. Instead of a typical guest book, K and E provided their guests with a blank sketch book and a large cup of colored pencils and markers. And then left it up to their family and friends to decide how they wanted to memorialize this special day. Some guests simply left their name in an “I was here” kind of way. Still other guests drew fun little sketches or inventive poems and there were even a few multi-colored masterpieces in there, too. What a fabulous idea that allowed their guests to be as creative as they wanted to be, too!

Books are very important to K and E (and so how appropriate is it that their ceremony and reception were held a library!) and you’re going to love their seating cards. Instead of the usual folded tent cards all arranged in a neat row, K and E created an actual card catalog system for their guests! Guests had to find their last name in the card catalog and were then directed to their assigned table:

Remember how I mentioned that books are very important to K and E? Even their centerpieces reflected that passion. They placed beautiful floral arrangements alongside a stack of old books that were elegantly tied with a satin ribbon. These weren’t just any books, either, they were priceless tomes from E’s family archives. It was just gorgeous:

It was such an honor to be there for K and E and share their day together. We’ve already started working on their album now and we’re so excited about bringing everything together for them in a gorgeous art piece that will suit them perfectly!

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…

And a great close up of Colleen’s gorgeous Reem Acra gown and all of its details:

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
Colleen’s gown: Reem Acra
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