Brittany and Ben: The Old Stone Church
Fall weddings in New England are beautiful. You don’t really need more than a nice place with awesome people. Check out some photos from this wedding at the Old Stone Church in West Boylston, MA.
Brittany’s sister reached out to me a couple weeks before Brittany and Ben’s wedding to see if I would be available. Like a lot of people, Brittany and Ben’s plans had changed and they decided to get married at a small ceremony outdoors followed by a nice dinner celebration afterwards surrounded by the people they love.
Their wedding took place at the Old Stone Church in West Boylston in the middle of the fall. The colors were beautiful. I have shot here a million times but this was actually my first wedding here. We had a nice layer of clouds to kill any harsh light coming directly onto us.
Brittany and Ben, along with their families, were awesome. I enjoyed talking to everyone before Brittany arrived and this continued through their ceremony and onto their dinner at O’Connor’s Restaurant in Worcester- a place that I always love.
Everything was relaxed and simple and I think it’s really obvious that weddings in New England don’t have to be complicated to be beautiful.
If you are planning an intimate wedding celebration at the Old Stone Church, O’Connor’s, or any other place then I would love to hear from you!
Holly and Joshua: A Country Wedding
One of the great things about getting married in New England is the sheer diversity when it comes to venues and vibes. Holly and Joshua got married on a working farm in MA and the wedding was distinctively them… and awesome! Check out some photos from their wedding at historic Elm Hill Farm in Brookfield, MA.
Holly and Joshua might be two of the most easy-going and cooperative couples that I have worked with. They were always game to do something a little bit different and most of the time it was their idea to do so. On the day of their engagement session, there was this really intense fog and I was worried that it might be a little less rustic-country and a bit more horror movie than they wanted but they were game. I think by embracing the weather we were able to capture some awesome colors and set a vibe that really fit them well.
So, they’re adaptable. That was key because their wedding fell right, smackdab in the middle of the pandemic. They had to improvise quite a bit but in the end their wedding day was a huge success. It also seemed to be very much THEM.
The prep / ceremony took place at Elm Hill Farm in Brookfield, MA. This is a place that means something to them and that they spend a lot of time at. It is rustic and photogenic but also a working farm. One of the highlights of my walkthrough a couple days before the wedding was talking to the owner when somebody brought up the farm’s Facebook page.
“We have a Facebook page?!”
I love rustic stuff and historical places. I shoot at a lot of barns-turned-venues but you really can’t beat the real thing. Holly and Joshua got ready in an old farmhouse on the property that didn’t really look like it had been changed much over the last 100 or so years. It was really awesome to have this place as a backdrop. I also didn’t see any ghosts, which is always a plus.
Their wedding ceremony took place in front of a huge barn and we got to wander around taking photos afterwards. Their reception took place at their house underneath tents with a ton of food and space to dance with a roaring fire to keep everybody warm and happy after dinner.
Check out some of my favorites!
If you’re a horse person, check out Elm Hill Farm on Facebook by clicking here.
Getting married somewhere unique? I’d LOVE to hear from you!
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.
Rebecca and Jason: Love in the Time of Corona
The Corona virus pandemic has forced us to accommodate strict health guidelines in our lives- including our weddings. Just because our weddings are smaller, quieter, and, well, different doesn’t meant they aren’t full of love and celebration. Check out some photos from this socially distant wedding in Worcester, MA with a portrait session at Elm Park.
So much of the past few months has been about coping with the situation that we are all in. If I were to go back 6 months ago and tell my past self that the wedding season, spring portrait season, headshots, event photography and basically every other part of my business would be at a standstill for months, I wouldn’t have believed myself. To think of how much our lives have changed since spring is so utterly bizarre that I sometimes have trouble walking through everything that happened. Sure- life is different but love still calls us to get married. Weddings certainly look different but the meaning and the impact is still there- maybe more so. This was definitely true for Rebecca and Jason’s socially distanced wedding in Worcester.
Rebecca shot me an email a couple weeks before their wedding. Like many other couples, their big dream wedding was sidelined by the pandemic. They decided on an intimate church ceremony with just immediate family present. I feel for all of the couples who have seen their dream weddings necessarily altered, I really do, but Rebecca and Jason’s wedding is proof that you can have a wedding that is just as special without a ton of extras.
Rebecca and Jason’s wedding photographer canceled shortly before their wedding. They reached out to me and luckily I had the day free. This is really not a shocker- most of my days are free. I go on and on whenever given too much space to write about how I love the storytelling aspect of photography. Every wedding is a story but its not super often that I get to tell a wedding story that is on a level of intimacy that this level was on. Within a few minutes I knew pretty much everyone involved and I felt that I was able to spend at least tome time with everybody. It’s easier to see how people fit together when things are a bit simpler. It was also great to see their ceremony being live-streamed straight from the church.
Afterwards, we headed to Elm Park in Worcester where we grabbed some quintessential photos on the bridge (you know the bridge) and attracted a lot of attention.
Check out some of my favorites!
Hopkinton State Park: A Family Session
Hopkinton State Park is a great place to hang out during the summer- it’s beach is accessible and there are plenty of picnic spots. It’s also a great spot for fall family portrait sessions. Add in one of my favorite families to photograph and it’s an easy day at the office.
Roop, Vikram, and their family have really been a constant in my photography business since it started a few years ago. Seeing the same family year after year makes me happy because it means that I am doing something right. I always feel fortunate with this family because they’re enthusiastic and a ton of fun to be around. This was our third session and to a certain extent I’ve seen these kids grow a bit in general and they’ve certainly gotten a more comfortable around me. The first session we ever had was at Moore State Park, like, two days after my wedding and a day before my wife and I were headed to Korea to see family and friends. I tend to like all of my photos but two of the photos that came from this session are probably my all-time favorite photos. I used them so much on social media because I was so proud that I had to pump the brakes a little and diversify a bit. If you are reading this I guarantee you have seen those photos. All of our past sessions have been at Moore State Park in Paxton- this time they were looking for something a bit different so we headed to Hopkinton State Park.
If you ask any family photographer, they are going to say that they like shooting in shade, under clouds, or at the hour before sunset. This is because the light is easy to work with and adds a soft touch. Hopkinton State Park had little shade and it was super sunny when this session happened. We really had to find the little bits of shade we could in some spots and then really embrace the sun. I am happy with these photos in part because they are really the total opposite of our sessions before- surrounded by trees and in moody fall light.
One bit of trivia- for some reason our sessions almost always happen immediately before I fly to Korea. I actually really like this because as someone with some pretty bad flying fears it gives me an hour or so to think about something else. This also means that almost all of this family’s photos over the years have been edited from the home office in my in-laws apartment just outside of Seoul.
Anyway, check out a few faves!
Usually at this point in the blog post I make some clever pun and suggest you reach out to me to talk about your session. Today is a little different. I am offering family session gift certificates. This is still a little bit salesy as I really do think that a family session would make an awesome Mother’s Day gift but there’s another point to this. In light of what is going on, I have been donating 25 percent of all gift certificate sales to the Worcester Together Fund by the United Way of Central MA. This fund was created to help out communities that have been hit hard by this pandemic- both with immediate needs and what is needed in the long term to get out of this mess. It’s a worthy cause to say the least giving this money is something that we can both feel great about. Check out my gift certificates by clicking here.
A Backyard Wedding in Andover: Sharon and Bill
Backyard weddings are making a comeback- especially with event rules up in the air due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Gone are the days when backyard weddings always meant casual dress and coolers of six packs. I’ve been fortunate to photograph a number of awesome backyard weddings in New England and Sharon and Bill’s backyard wedding reception in Andover was definitely one of them.
Sharon and Bill know how to throw a party. I met them at their house in Andover, where they would be hosting their wedding reception, a day or so before their wedding with my wife, SiEun. SiEun would be shooting with me for their big day and I always feel a lot more comfortable taking photos if we can all meet up before hand. While we would be photographing a backyard wedding in Andover, it’s important to note that Sharon and Bill have one hell of a backyard. There were tents, facilities, linens, tables- the whole works.
I sometimes feel like backyard weddings get a little bit of a bad rap. I have photographed TONS of backyard weddings and they have never been anything but awesome. There’s an added level of comfort that comes with the familliarity but there’s always so much effort that goes into decorating and planning.
With the current health situation and large events being a no-go for who knows how long, I expect to see more backyard weddings. Whether those are really intimate ceremonies with only a few people or hybrid weddings with a formal ceremony at another location and the party coming back home doesn’t really matter to me- I love photographing these!
As I mentioned to Sharon and Bill, I also love real estate photography. One of my first thoughts while revisiting this wedding through their photos was, again, “wow, what a great livingroom!”
Check out some of my favorites!
If you are planning on a backyard, front yard, or vacant lot wedding I would love to hear from you!
Holly and Josh: A Rustic Engagement
It’s not often that I get to photograph an engagement session with horses on a working farm. I was able to do that for Holly and Josh’ engagement session on a foggy day in Oxford, MA.
As I was driving to meet Holly and Josh for their engagement session at Buffumville State Park in Oxford, MA, it started to get a little foggy. Within a few miles of driving from my house in Worcester it started to look like a horror movie and it looked like it was about to rain. I was getting a bit nervous for our session but I was happy to see that Holly and Josh were both game. I am super happy that they did because the gray weather really jacked up the colors and the vibe of this engagement session.
One of the things I really like about Holly and Josh was that they were really easy to talk to. This was the first time that we had met in person and there’s always that little bit of nervousness when you go straight from “hello,” to “ok, now go lean against that tree and kiss.” Both of them were super gregarious and full of ideas which really helps to keep things light, collaborative, an fun. Holly and Josh spend a lot of time with horses and they wanted to include them in their session. It was AWESOME getting to spend a little bit of time on the working farm where their horses live. This was the first time that I had a session involving horses. This was cool enough but I have a soft spot for rustic Americana and this couple really delivered on that.
Check out some of my favorite photos from Holly and Josh’ engagement session!
If you are looking for engagement photos on a farm (and can provide a farm) then I would love to hear from you!
Cally and Cory: A Wedding at the Manor
Wedding photography at the Manor in West Boylston is probably a rite of passage for any wedding photographer in the area. Check out some wedding photos from Cally and Cory’s wedding with elements inspired by their love for Japanese culture.
The Manor in West Boylston is one of those places that has been around forever. It’s basically an institution in the surrounding towns. I grew up with people who owned it and have been in the wedding business for long enough that I should have shot there a few dozen times by now, at least. Somehow, this was my first time doing wedding photography at the Manor in West Boylston.
When I first met Cally and Cory they told me that Japanese culture had been a big part of their relationship and that they were hoping to include that love in their wedding. When I arrived I was greeted by these unique twists on basic wedding elements- paper cranes as seat markers, a bamboo plant that held the well-wishes of their guests, things like that. Cally had added Japanese-inspired elements to her dress and had fashioned “shrine” maiden dresses for some of her bridal party. One of the coolest things was a fan game that they played in the middle of the reception. The game is common enough- back to back the bride and groom rat each other out to questions like, “who is the better cook?” Instead of raising hands or pointing they had colored paper fans that added this pop of color.
All in all- it was a great night for a wedding at the Manor.
Check out weddings at the Manor by clicking here.
If you’re getting married with themed elements from a culture that means something to you or in full Halloween costumes then I want to hear from you.
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Pictures are worth a thousand words but check out what goes on behind the scenes during my sessions.