2022: A Year in Review
2022 in Photographs
This has been a busy, busy year. In a lot of ways, my business has changed more this year than it has in any year before. This became apparent to me while grabbing photos for this post when I realized just how much of what I photograph is now commercial, real estate, or editorial. Families and family moments, like weddings, are still a huge part of what I do and I am proud of the photographs that I came away with this year. Here are some of my favorite shots. I let a few headshots and houses slide in there but for the most part there are a lot of families and a lot of genuine love. The last two are of my daughter, Eejin, who is one of the reasons why this year was so busy. Here’s to a happy and healthy 2023!
Amy and Dan: A Long Road
2020 wedding couples had to deal with more than their fair share of turmoil and none more than Amy and Dan. Check out this spectacular wedding they put together in a matter of weeks after their plans fell through.
This is a long one but there’s a good pay off.
Working in the wedding industry is unique because we work with our clients for a longer period of time than, say, a family portrait photographer. Eight or nine months is probably the minimum amount of time I work with my wedding clients. During this time there is a lot of communication and back-and-forth, engagement sessions and brainstorming. For a photographer like me who is really into documentary photography this is super important. The rapport that I build with my couples lets all of us feel a bit more comfortable around each other and lets me capture an authentic story.
Amy and Dan have been my clients for a while. I was trying to remember when Amy and Dan booked me and I had to dig in my closet to find their contract because it was long enough ago that my filing system had changed. Being a responsible business owner I re-organized my old filing system by putting it in the back of my closet. 10/25/2018 was our contract signing and their wedding on 9/12/2020. They booked me with my wife, SiEun, as a second photographer because it was important for them that we captured the story in a way that’s not really possible for a solo photographer. They pretty much had all of the big parts planned with their big day happening at MAJOR MA VENUE. I’m intentionally vague there- a post-wedding blog wouldn’t be this long if there wasn’t a good story.
Fun fact- Amy and Dan met in a wedding tent at an event they were both working. They told me this at our first meeting at Starbucks. You can actually see them tell their love story as part of Worcester Wares (an awesome local business) by clicking here.
Shortly after our contract signing I photographed their extended family at the Farm at Summit Wynds, a local farm that sells all sorts of great stuff, has been raising show horses since the mid-60’s, and is extremely photographer friendly with fields of lavender, sunflowers and other beautiful things. Remember this place- it becomes important later.
I’m not going to lie- I was a little bit nervous for this family session. I’m confident in my skills but you always want to make a great impression on people that you know you will be working with again. It was all great, though. Amy’s family was awesome and it was fun to see four generations who were pumped to be together. It’s also relatively rare that I meet that many of the big players before the big day, so we all got a few bonus points in the way of comfort.
A lot of time went by and the next summer brought Amy and Dan’s engagement session at Scarborough Beach in Narragansett, RI. This is their go-to beach so it was both a beautiful place for photos as well as meaningful to their relationship. We spent an hour or so climbing over rocks, sitting in the sand, and eventually (them) going all in and letting the surf crash over them. It was fun. What’s the point, otherwise? I mean that. All jobs can be difficult but it’s important to have moments when you can smile and forget you’re on the clock.
That was late summer, 2019. Everything was all lined up and my wife and I were all ready to go!
Then 2020 hit the fan.
Man oh man. Industries all across the board took a beating. Those of us in the wedding industry took huge hits during what should have been our busiest season. Most of my clients opted to postpone. Several adapted to smaller celebrations. Every last one of my clients was open about their plans and worries and we all did our best to keep up with guidelines. We were really all in this together. Amy and Dan’s plans changed and their guest-list, like everybody else’s, shrank but they were determined to see it through.
For the most part, wedding industry folks were doing their best to help their clients, follow regulations, and go out of their way to keep others afloat. Almost everyone was looking out for everyone else except for a select few who must have missed about a thousand memos. About a month before Amy and Dan’s wedding I saw the first post.
“Did you guys here what happened at MAJOR MA VENUE?”
Soon enough it was all over the news.
“MAJOR MA VENUE hosts hundreds of guests at weekend weddings in the middle of a pandemic, violating all the guidelines.”
I remember sitting on my couch, facepalming and saying, “oh sh*t.”
The fallout was huge. Wedding industry folks who had been following health guidelines and were barely making ends meet were livid at a venue that ignored it all knowing the impact it could have. As expected, what happened at this venue was cited as one of the reasons why the governor of MA added even more restrictive rules to events and venues.
All couples getting married after this incident had extra stress to deal with. Couples like Amy and Dan who were supposed to get married AT the place got extra stress. While most (including me) would have shut down in despair, Amy and Dan said “f*&^ it, let just plan another wedding.”
So, a week or so later Amy, Dan, SiEun and I met for a drink at the Seven Saws Brewing Co. in Holden to go over the plan that was beginning to hatch. Amy and Dan had hit the ground running and by the time their big day came everything was falling into place to such a ridiculous degree that you would be forgiven for thinking the original wedding was a decoy.
We started off at Amy’s parents’ beautiful house in Holden. Now, I love doing prep photos at houses because that’s where people are comfortable. I stuck with Amy for most of the time and SiEun was hanging with the guys. One of the things issues you run into with photographing at houses is lighting is sometimes not great. Well, this is not the case when the house belongs to Marie who happens to owns Window Designs Etc. Lighting became a non-issue. Side-story: at one point I was struggling to close a blind and while my self-esteem plummeted Marie said, “Wait a minute, Tom. Watch this.” She then opened her phone and closed the blind with an app.
From there SiEun and I headed out to the first look spot. Amy and Dan wanted somewhere local and beautiful and conveniently they knew just the place. Fun fact- the Farm at Summit Wynds lets you rent areas of their farm for photoshoots. This includes their massive sunflower field. In a way it felt really appropriate that we were doing their first look photos in the place where we all first did photos together.
From here we headed back to Amy’s parent’s house for the ceremony. It was smaller than they had planned but it was beautifully arranged. Their backyard was level, green, and played the part of wedding ceremony venue exceptionally well. It was a beautiful ceremony and to finally see that after a pretty intense journey made me - their wedding photographer - very happy. I can only imagine that was the case ten times over for their families.
After this, SiEun headed over to the reception venue while I stayed and photographed the now traditional Wedding Car Parade. I actually really like this- I hope some form of it stays a a thing even after all of this is over.
Finally, we all drove to Amy’s sister’s house where there was a huge tent (I think I mentioned Amy and Dan spent a lot of time together in the event industry?) killer cheese spreads, and a traveling brick oven pizza truck that made some of the best pizza I’ve ever had. The DJ was great and those who chose to dance had a blast while others spent time hovering around a roaring fire. You can see their wedding video- made by Nicole Paquette Photography - by clicking here.
Amy and Dan’s wedding was a huge success on a lot of levels. They pulled off an A level wedding in less than a month. I mean, who does that? It had a meaningful ceremony and everyone seemed to have an awesome time right up until that last song. It hit all the benchmarks of a professionally planned wedding but more than that it was definitely an effort of love. Throughout the entire process I saw Amy and Dan’s family and friends all around them giving love, lending backyards, and just doing their best to make this day happen. Amy and Dan and everybody else really rolled with the punches and I was really proud to be a part of this- thus the 10 page blog post.
Check out some of my favorites from this one:
Amy and Dan had awesome vendors and I loved working with them. Amy’s parents probably won’t be renting out their house for bridal prep but check out Window Designs Etc. by Marie Mouradian if you’re looking to update your window fixtures. Click the links to learn more about the other vendors at Amy and Dan’s wedding.
First Look Venue: The Farm at Summit Wynds in Jefferson, MA
Hair: Vanessa Freitas Hair & Beauty in Worcester, MA
Make-Up Artist: Beauty by Carson Elaine
Videography: Nicole Paquette Photography (Note- Nicole isn’t offering wedding videography anymore but she is still offering photography)
Day-of Coordinator: Feathered Events in Barre, MA
Amy’s Dress: Designed by Justin Alexander, from Elizabeth Ann’s Bridal Boutique in North Auburn, MA
Alterations: Holden Tailors and Alterations in Holden, MA
Dan’s Suit: Rocco’s Gentlemen’s Clothing in Worcester, MA
Floral: Berg Florist in Worcester, MA
Music: Tc’s Disc Jockey svc. in West Springfield, MA
Tent and Rentals: Michael’s Party Rentals in Palmer, MA
Pizza: Anzio’s Brick Oven Pizza in Northborough, MA (holy $*@& this was good)
Cheese Spread: Pecorino Cheese Shop in Grafton, MA
Cakes and Pies: The Bean Counter Bakery Café in Worcester + Shrewsbury, MA
If you’re getting married and love roller coasters of emotion I’d love to hear from you! Fill out the form below and I will send you some info.
Small Weddings and Why They Rock
Weddings have been trending towards smaller, more intimate celebrations for a while. The pandemic has made this necessary. If you’re on the fence about a small wedding then check out some of the benefits from a New England wedding photographer’s point of view.
Planning a wedding can be stressful. This is particularly true here in New England where most people get married during the summer and fall. Add in the need to adhere to pandemic regulations and the phrase “stressful AF,” might be an understatement. This is one of the reasons why the popularity of smaller weddings like elopements, backyard weddings, intimate weddings, and micro-weddings have become immensely popular. If you are reading this, then there’s a good chance that you are thinking about celebrating your love with a smaller wedding. Now, this might be something that you have always known you wanted but it could also be something that the pandemic has forced on you. Either way, there are some huge benefits to having a smaller wedding celebration - pandemic or no pandemic.
Less planning means significantly less stress
Weddings are heavy in logistics that take a lot of time to figure out. You could definitely (and probably should) hire a wedding planner to help you out but regardless, there is a lot to plan. And you know what? There is still a lot to plan with a small wedding - it just won’t have quite as many moving parts that have to be balanced against other moving parts. It is a lot easier to have the people who mean the most to you in your backyard under the stars, in a park pavilion, or at your favorite restaurant after a city hall wedding ceremony than it is to try to factor in the driving time between a ceremony location and the reception. Planning on a smaller scale helps keep that overwhelming wave that comes with big weddings at bay. It makes everything from space concerns to seating charts a little more doable which makes the whole wedding process a lot more fun for you.
Less of a financial gut punch
Weddings are not cheap. Like, at all. If you think of them from a logical financial point of view they are actually terrible investments- and this is coming from somebody in the industry. It just doesn’t make a ton of sense to spend such a large amount of money on something that is over in a few hours- especially for a young couple just starting out in life. Of course we don’t look at weddings from the eyes of an investor, we look at them through the eyes of the in-love, their families and friends. They are the splurges of our lives and we all deserve to splurge sometimes. Smaller weddings are also a splurge but they will give you less of a spending hangover (possibly more of a real hangover-depending on your friends and the bonfire situation). Take a backyard wedding. With sites like Pinterest and DIY being huge now, it is absolutely possible to pull off a dream wedding with a little bit of space and a lot of motivation. Some of the coolest weddings I have been to involve a brick oven pizza food truck, string lights, and a big tent full of friends in the back of somebody’s house.
You will be more present
This one is huge. In fact, if money isn’t an issue and even if you love the idea of planning a huge event, this might still be enough to bring you around to the idea of a smaller wedding. I shoot weddings all over New England. Each season I have weddings of all sizes- from small elopements at Worcester City Hall to huge events at the resorts in Vermont. I love them all but there is a huge difference between them that is super apparent in the time between the wedding ceremony and the reception. After the ceremony is typically the time where the couple stands in one spot for a while and family and friends gather around them for formal group portraits. These are important but in all of my years I have never heard anybody say “Wow, Tom. This is just great. Definitely the highlight of the day.” It’s something that is necessary but rarely anybody’s favorite part of a wedding. This almost always takes place at the same time as cocktail hour and is usually followed by formal couple portraits. This usually culminates with missing the entirety of cocktail hour and then arriving just in time to be announced into the room and into first dances, parent dances, toasts and everything else. Before and after dinner is when most couples make their rounds to all of the tables to say hellos and thank their guests for coming - possible with a photo at each table. I’ve seen people pass out before they even got to dinner.
This isn’t really a thing at intimate weddings because you all are really just together for most of - if not all of - the time. There are formal group photos but there are fewer of them and they tend to be more casual because you are more comfortable with them and there are fewer people looking at you. There are still couple photos but there is usually less of a rush because the timeline is more relaxed. Table photos - which are my least favorite part of a wedding- are usually not necessary because you will be up close with everyone while you dance, party and celebrate. You will be able to spend real, authentic time with the people present. I mean, isn’t that ideal?
This brings me to photography
Photographers come in a lot of flavors. Some have their personalities cranked to 11 and say things like “I’ll be busting moves with you on the dancefloor by the end of the night,” while others (like me) are a cool 7 and barely busted a move at their own wedding. At our core, though, we are all just storytellers. Photographing weddings brings me satisfaction because each one is a story I get to see and bring out into one very long photo-essay. The thing about smaller weddings is that the stories are closer to the surface. There is less formality to cut through and more genuine interaction. Being with a tighter knit group of people brings the belly laughs and tears of joy out a lot easier. Having a smaller cast allows me to capture a much more authentic experience and for couples who gravitate towards documentary photography styles that is really important.
If you are planning on eloping or having a backyard wedding, intimate wedding, micro-wedding in New England and are looking for candid-heavy documentary wedding photography then I would love to hear from you. I am based in Worcester, MA but provide wedding photography all over New England. Click here to see photography from smaller / DIY weddings. If you want to receive more info, including pricing, then fill out the form below and I will send you my FREE PDF GUIDE to intimate wedding celebrations.
Tom’s Blog:
Pictures are worth a thousand words but check out what goes on behind the scenes during my sessions.