Janet and Jason: A Castle Wedding
St. Clements Castle in Portland, CT, is a ton of fun for a wedding photographer. There was an awesome variety of backdrops and we took advantage of as many as possible. Check out Janet and Jason’s wedding!
I loved Janet and Jason’s wedding. There was just something about the colors that Janet and Jason picked for their wedding and how they played into their venue at St. Clements Castle in Portland, CT, and this great fall day that really make it stick out in my memory. If you haven’t been to St. Clements Castle, I definitely recommend checking it out. It’s exactly what it sounds like- a castle. Weddings at St. Clements Castle are fun to photograph because it really is on a sprawling property with tons of little secret spots to pop out for a private photo or two.
This is Janet and Jason.
I shot their engagement session at Moore State Park in Paxton. I didn’t really think about it at the time but picking Moore State Park for engagement photos was the perfect contrast to their wedding venue. Moore State Park is so rustic and and quiet while St. Clements is really elegant.
One of the fun things about Janet and Jason’s wedding was how they included traditional Korean elements, like bowing and Korean songs into their wedding celebration. It’s always nice to see special traditions brought into a ceremony. Here are a few of my favorites from Janet and Jason’s wedding!
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Hair: Esme de Mello Hair
Makeup: Boston Beauty by Angella
Venue: St. Clements Castle in Portland, CT
If you are getting married in a castle, in a cave, or on a boat, I would love to hear from you!
Erin and Lucas: A Castle Wedding
New England doesn’t have a ton of castle weddings, but sometimes you get lucky. Erin and Lucas had their engagement session at a local landmark and their wedding in as close to you get to a castle- the Sheraton in Framingham. Check out these photos of a great couple during their great New England Wedding.
Erin has been friends with my sister forever. I was really excited when her and Lucas asked me to be their wedding photographer. First of all- they are awesome people. I enjoyed working with them from our engagement session on a really windy day in late fall.
Erin and Lucas’ engagement session was a lot of fun because Erin’s family owns a beach / park called Sunset Beach on the Shrewsbury side of Lake Quinsigamond. This place is one of those local spots that’s been around forever and pretty much everyone in town has a memory. I had swim lessons here and celebrations at the end of Little League baseball. My main memory is chickening out of jumping off that high dive in the back of this picture, backing up too much and then falling off of it anyway.
Erin and Lucas got married at their church and had their reception at the beautiful Sheraton Framingham Hotel and Conference Center. The coolest part about this place is that it is modeled in the theme of a castle and if the weather is right you can go on the roof and grab some photos with the towers. We made it in right before the rain came.
Check out some of my favorites!
If you are getting married in a castle, your backyard, or on a boat- I would love to hear from you!
Becca and Ron: A Disney Fairytale
Themed weddings are a ton of fun. Themed weddings with fun people and perfect weather are even more fun. Check out this Disney-themed love story with lots of hidden Mickey’s and a horse-drawn carriage worthy of Cinderella herself!
I’ve known Becca for a long time. Growing up, she was frequently visiting her grandmother who lived in the house behind mine. She became close friends with my younger sister and I enjoyed making their lives hell on occasion. It was my job as an older brother.
I was really excited when Becca and her fiance, Ron, asked me to be their wedding photographer. I was also excited when they told me that they were having a bit of a Disney-themed celebration. Adding a theme to a wedding always makes for some fun photos.
It was a blast because I had my wife, SiEun, as my second photographer and we got to capture the big events from multiple angles. I am really happy with how it all turned out. I stayed until the end of the night when their awesome dance party gave way to a really cool bonfire. This is something that I have seen happen more and more and is a trend that I love!
Check out some of my faves from Becca and Ron’s wedding!
If you are going to have a Disney, Pixar, or Saw themed wedding- I would love to hear from you!
Kayla and Daniel: A Backyard Wedding
I pride myself in being an adaptable photographer. In a given season I shoot elaborate Indian weddings and intimate ceremonies with the same passion and enjoyment. Sometimes, though, I get to shoot a wedding on a homegrown disc golf course and that just rules!
Occasionally, I photograph weddings for a couple wedding agencies. Agencies are helpful because they help fill dates when you are first starting out. I relied on agencies for my first couple years as a wedding photographer when I came back from Korea. One of the tricky things about them, though, is that photographers often go into weddings with little information about the event or the couple. THis can be stressful for everybody. Most of the time this is fine. Sometimes the groom shows up two hours late. Regardless, as business got better I told the agency I would shoot one last wedding for them. That wedding was Kayla and Daniel’s.
I made it a point to say all of this because Kayla and Daniel were genuinely friggen awesome. One of the reasons why I liked them so much was that I could 100 percent see myself hanging out with them outside of the wedding environment. They were hosting their wedding in their expansive yard that had several disc golf holes. Disc golf is a sport I have participated in for almost twenty years and have incredibly not improved at in the slightest. I felt at ease and free to really explore and photograph. I genuinely enjoyed hanging out with Kayla and Daniel but I also enjoyed talking to their families and friends. One thing that was totally unique was that after the ceremony they fired up multiple grills and started cranking out burgers, hot dogs, and other summer essentials.
Any wedding where the bride is surrounded by grill smoke while flipping burgers is awesome in my book. Check out some of my faves from their awesome wedding.
The Armstrongs: A Winter Family Portrait
Last weekend was freezing. I woke up on Sunday morning thinking that it was supposed to be unseasonably warm and it wasn’t. It felt exactly like December in New England should feel. Add in the insane wind and it felt downright miserable. Conveniently enough, Sunday was the only day that was possible to photograph my sister, brother-in-law, and their two kids.
Last weekend was freezing. I woke up on Sunday morning thinking that it was supposed to be unseasonably warm and it wasn’t. It felt exactly like December in New England should feel. Add in the insane wind and it felt downright miserable. Conveniently enough, Sunday was the only day that was possible to photograph my sister, brother-in-law, and their two kids.
Together, we hit all of my favorite photo spots at Moore State Park in Paxton right as the sun started to dip. You wouldn’t have even known that there were kids under those piles of blankets if you didn’t look carefully. By the end my hands were numb and everyone was ready to jump into heated cars and trucks but I am stoked with how the photos came out. Winter is an underrated time for family photos!
All in all it was fun and definitely worth borderline frostbite. If you are looking to brave the cold for some awesome winter photos with your family I would love to hear from you! From now until Christmas I am selling family session gift certificates! Each purchase comes with a printable PDF that makes a great stocking stuffer. Just click here! See? You don’t even have to get off the couch!
Charles and Evy: Short and Sweet
A few months ago I got to shoot Evy and Charles’ wedding ceremony at their home church in Framingham Massachusetts. While a lot of my weddings are all day affairs, I was only with Evy and Charles for a few hours in Framingham and then a few minutes in Boston.
A few months ago I got to shoot Evy and Charles’ wedding ceremony at their home church in Framingham Massachusetts. While a lot of my weddings are all day affairs, I was only with Evy and Charles for a few hours in Framingham and then a few minutes in Boston. The couple, along with a whole ton of friends and family were going to spend the night on one of the Boston Harbor cruises. I have shot a few weddings on these cruises and they are a blast- if you’re looking for a fun reception that is a little different- definitely check out the cruise options.
I really lucked out with this wedding. The church was huge and it was full of really great light. I asked ahead of time if it was okay to use flash and they were absolutely fine with it (this is not always the case) but I turned it on only once or twice. The people in charge of the ceremony were kind and welcoming and Evy, Charles, and the rest of their guests were so warm and welcoming. I think this wedding really goes to show that don’t need to have a huge event with lots of set pieces and the longest photo package possible to come away with a great wedding story.
Check out some of my favorite photos from this Framingham wedding:
If you like what you saw and are planning your wedding- whether its a two hour elopement at Worcester City Hall or an all-day affair in Manchester, VT- email me or reach out with the contact form below!
Jessica and James: A Wedding at the Asa Waters Mansion
New England is full of historic homes- sometimes I get lucky enough to shoot a wedding at some of them. Jessica and James got married over the summer at the Asa Waters Mansion in Millbury, MA. Here are some of my favorite photos.
Jessica and James are, in a lot of ways, my favorite kind of people to work with. They were laid back and incredibly nice but also had this sense of humor that really appeals to me. I enjoyed photographing them and I enjoyed working with them through out the wedding process and their wedding at the Asa Waters Mansion in Millbury, MA was fantastic.
Our first engagement session was scrapped because it happened to fall on the same day as our only major snowstorm last winter and I felt awful. They had traveled all the way in from New York and we just couldn’t make it to Moore State Park for our session. I drive a PT Cruiser- not exactly known for its rugged abilities. When we finally had our session a few weeks later the weather was cold but wonderful. Jessica’s son and her sister Barb- also a photographer- came along. Barb let us use her heart shaped umbrella and it ruled. It was a lot of fun and a great way to get to know the people I would be spending a hot summer day with.
Here is my favorite shot from that session.
I was pumped on the day of their wedding. I had met up with Jessica a few days before and she gave me my own heart-shaped umbrella. I was really touched. I toured the lovely Asa Waters Mansion and had a really good idea about where I wanted to go and what I wanted to shoot. I was happy and ready to go. Then, as I was getting my cameras ready to get loaded into my camera bag I got an awful phone call letting me know that one of my cousins had been diagnosed with a real shitty form of Leukemia (not that they aren’t all shitty).
Jessica and James’ wedding taught me that weddings are not an aside from life. Every single person who is at a wedding- whether they are in the wedding or cherished guests (or bearded photographers) have their own massively complex story going on. Not all of it is happy but during a wedding you just have to accept and embrace that. Love is all about accepting a person’s entire story and weddings are all about love.
If I had a normal job I don’t know if I would have functioned properly. I don’t. I arrived at Jessica and James’ wedding having decided that I would paste on a smile and just exist in my camera. The thing is that it’s hard not to smile at a wedding and it’s even harder not to smile around people like Jessica and James. It was also helpful that they and their guests came to get down during the reception! I found that after an incredibly short amount of time my smile was genuine and there were times when I couldn’t help but laugh and feel appreciative for what I do and the people that I get to spend time with. Here are some of my favorite shots from Jessica and James’ wedding at the Asa Waters Mansion in Auburn, MA.
Jackie and Rehan: A Worcester Art Museum Wedding
Earlier this summer I photographed Jackie and Rehan's wedding at the Worcester Art Muesum. As a wedding venue, the museum was awesome. From a photography standpoint it was pretty much everything I dreamed about.
It was a ton of fun to photograph Jackie and Rehan’s wedding at the Worcester Art Museum. For one thing- the Worcester Art Museum rocks. I have shot there before and it’s almost hard to take a bad picture. Even if Jackie and Rehan weren’t super cool people I would have loved spending most of the night in the museum but Jackie and Rehan were awesome.
Jacke and Rehan were kind enough to let my wife SiEun help out as a second photographer. SiEun has quite a bit of experience in commercial and street photography and we had been talking about adding her into my business a second photographer. It made a lot of sense because she was experienced, we work well together, and we both kind-of like each-other. I wanted to give it a dry-run before we made it official and Jackie and Rehan allowed that to happen.
The Worcester Art Museum was a great place to take advantage of two wedding photographers. For one thing- it’s beautiful. There is too much to photograph for one person. Every where you turn there is some priceless painting or a suit of armor- all of it lit perfectly for a wedding. Another thing is that Jackie and Rehan’s wedding ceremony took place on the grand staircase in front of a classic moasic. SiEun was able to grab some awesome shots from above the action that really showed the big picture while I was on ground-level. This just wouldn’t have been possible with a solo photographer. Also, I had this preconception going in that a wedding at the Worcester Art Museum might be pretty subdued but I could not have been more wrong- the DJ was awesome and these people brought it all to the dance floor.
Check out some of my favorites from Jackie and Rehan’s wedding at the Worcester Art Museum!
Click the links to learn more about the vendors that made this wedding possible:
Venue: Worcester Art Museum
Hair: Shaylin Sidoti- Facebook / Instagram
Make-up: Beauty Lush by Sarah
Catering: Struck Catering (There are no food pics in this but the food was great)
Dessert: Bean Counter coming in for the win as usual.
As always- if you like what you see and want to talk about photography for your wedding, whether it is at an internationally renowned art museum or your favorite brewery, just shoot me a message.
Amy and Daniel: An Engagement Session at Scarborough Beach
Engagement sessions, or any sessions, at the beach are fun. Add in an awesome couple who aren’t afraid to sit in the surf wearing all of their close and it’s the recipe for a great time. Check out Amy and Daniel’s engagement session at Scarborough Beach in Narragansett, RI.
Amy and Daniel booked me as their wedding photographer about a year or so ago. Their wedding isn’t for another year but in the time between we have gotten together a couple times now for photos. Our first session was an extended family portrait session at a rustic barn (found by Amy). Then in July I got to spend time with Amy and Daniel during their engagement session at Scarborough Beach in Narragansett, RI.
I love doing sessions on the beach and Scarborough Beach (again, found by Amy and Daniel) was a great place for an engagement session. They had dunes, an old stone building facade, and of course lots of sun, surf, and sand.
One of the things I like about Amy and Daniel is that they were willing to venture out and take some chances for these photos. They really embraced the environment and were definitely willing to just dive in- literally.
Check out some of my favorite photos from Amy and Daniel’s engagement session at Scarborough Beach!
If you like what you was and want to talk about your engagement or wedding photography- in sand or snow- all you have to do is fill out the form below. That rhymed.
Class of 2020 Senior Sessions: Zack from Shrewsbury High School
The vast majority of my portraits take place in parks. For the most part these spaces feature great trees, forest-lined paths, waterfalls, old barns, and other quintessentially New England things. When Zack was open to moving somewhere a bit more urban for his senior portrait I knew exactly where I wanted to go: Worcester City Hall.
The vast majority of my portraits take place in parks. For the most part these spaces feature great trees, forest-lined paths, waterfalls, old barns, and other quintessentially New England things. When Zack was open to moving somewhere a bit more urban for his senior portrait I knew exactly where I wanted to go: Worcester City Hall.
I met Zack a little bit before the sun dipped down beneath the horizon. The Common at Worcester City hall was still full of life- people were walking around, sitting on benches, skateboarding and riding BMX. I knew that I wanted to take full advantage the backdrops of Worcester City Hall and all other buildings of Downtown Worcester but I also wanted to include some greenery. The balance here is awesome and in no time at all Zack and I came away with some great portraits that really took advantage of the setting- including that great golden hour! Check out some of my favorites from my senior session with Zack at the Worcester City Hall Common. Click here to learn more about my senior session packages!
Jane and Aline
Jane and Aline’s wedding meant a lot to me because we had been working together in preparation for over two years. From our first cafe meeting to their big day, I felt honored to be a part of it all. Check out some of my favorite photos from their wedding at the Inn at Manchester.
About four years ago I moved back to my hometown of Shrewsbury from Seoul, South Korea. I had been in Seoul for the better part of 5ish years. I left when I was a young guy in my 20’s and I came back a married man in my 30’s. For most of my time in Korea, I worked as a photographer and journalist. When I came home I dove into weddings and immediately started building my portfolio. That’s about when I got my first message from Jane and Aline about being their wedding photographer in Manchester, VT.
Jane and Aline were way ahead of the game when it came to planning. We met for the first time in a cafe shortly after they signed their contact. We shot their engagement session (the sunrise photo below) in Provincetown in 2018. When they first booked their wedding seemed to be so far away and it was something I was always looking forward to because I genuinely enjoyed the time I spent with Jane and Aline.
Their wedding at the Inn at Manchester was everything I assumed it would be- beautiful and full of laughter and love. It was a beautiful day and it was one of those weddings that made me really feel thankful for what I am able to do for a living. It has been a blast getting to relive it all as I prepared their photos. Check out some of my faves- from that first engagement session to that last dancing shot before I headed to my car.
Here are some of my favorite photos from Jane and Aline’s wedding in Manchester, VT. Make sure to check out the vendors below!
Jane and Aline had some awesome vendors that are all worth checking out. Click the name for links.
Venue: The Inn at Manchester
DJ: DJ Mike Napoli
If you are getting married and liked this blog post then check out some other weddings and reach out by clicking here!
Class of 2020 Senior Sessions: Christiana from Oxford High School
Senior portraits are important because they give us something to look back on and remember what it was like to be a high school senior. I photographed Christiana’s senior portrait at Moore State Park in Paxton. Christiana is a rising senior at Oxford High School.
Senior portraits are a big deal because they are representative. A senior portrait, like any portrait, should represent who you are. People always tell young people when they are nearing the end of high school that “real life is on it’s way,” or that they are onto something “bigger and better.” Sure, great things are coming your way but that doesn’t make who you are at this point in time any less important.
Christiana is a member of Oxford High School’s Class of 2020. She trekked out to Moore State Park in Paxton with her boyfriend for her senior photos. I had a lot of fun spending time with the two of them as the sun was starting to set. The session was laid back and full of natural posing. I always tell clients that I aim for painless sessions and this is extra important for senior portraits because nobody wants to look at their year book in ten years only to see a very obviouslt stressed out high school senior looking back at you!
That senior portraits are something that you will look back on gives them this extra sense of life and importance. I am 35 years old (holy #&$@). About once every couple of years I will come across my yearbook and flip through the pages. Every single photograph is of a person who might be unrecognizable to me know. When I come across my own photograph my hair is slightly spiked and I am wearing a cheapo bracelet I thought was super cool that got out of a vending machine. I don’t wear vending machine bracelets anymore and I don’t spike my hair, but that photo represents who I was back when I was 17. It’s fun and sometimes important to remember who you were during the “good old days”.
Check out some photos from my senior portrait session with Christiana at Moore State Park. Click here to learn about my senior session packages!
Want more information about senior sessions? Great! Fill out the form below and I will reach out!
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