Amy + Ryan's Monsoon Wedding!

Amy + Ryan's wedding at The Mountain Top Inn & Resort was a celebration like no other. So I am going to post a handful of my favorites and then you can watch their slideshow at the end to get the real feel of the day. Andy and I were so fortunate to have been able to capture the joy, love, laughter and rain drops from this extra special day!!

Amy admires her gorgeous Monique Lhuillier gown.
Did I mention how pretty her dress was?
I was crazy about the curlers!!
elegant shoes.
Andy captured this vintage-like photo of Ryan in a mirror.
I love the happiness here as Amy's dad walks her to the car.
Amy + Ryan wanted a first look and I love this series!!



family fun!!
the beautiful bride!!
A couple of my favorite moments from the Ketubah signing. It was so sweet that Amy held hands with her dad.

Cute ring shot...
Ryan and his parents head to the ceremony.
The sky was looking a little ominous.
A couple raindrops fell and some smiles and umbrellas appeared. The Rabbi reminded everyone that they wouldn't melt and he carried on...
A few more raindrops fell and this little guy caught some of them...
I think this was about the last "normal" ceremony photo...(The gorgeous trellis and other beautiful flower arrangements were created by the amazing Nancy Murray with A Schoolhouse Garden.)
And the rest were a bit unconventional :-)...
How much do you love the guy with the chair?!?
The expressions were priceless!
The completely fabulous Janna saved the day and my camera with her little umbrella and her huge smile. Andy was saved by Chelsea, the resort's wedding planner.
The kiss was beautiful!!
Then Ryan picked up his new bride and ran for cover.
Still a little soggy, but blissfully happy!
Just before dark we took a few fun and romantic photos.
The first dance.
The seafood appetizers were AMAZING!The party was wild!!

Ryan's brother had the whole place roaring with laughter during the roast, oops, I mean toast.
Cheers to Amy and Ryan!!


Okay now get your tissues, get comfy and CLICK HERE to watch their slideshow.

There is an old saying that wet knots are harder to untie, so Amy + Ryan, your knot will be unbreakable! xoxo

Andy rocks Katie + Nathan's E-Session

Andy photographed his first Engagement session last month for the adorable and fun-loving Katie + Nathan and I was completely blown away with the results!!
And get this...I am going to be his second shooter at their wedding TOMORROW at the brand new Stowe Mountain Lodge. That's right...He will be in the driver's seat and I get to hide out in the grass while he shoots. We are both excited about it.
Make his day and leave him some comments!!




i LOVE this one!!

Chelsea + Matt's Shelburne Farms Wedding!

About a month before Chelsea and Matt's wedding I received the sweetest letter from Chelsea's mom, Katy. In the letter she said, "The tradition here in the South is to bury a bottle of bourbon in the back yard exactly a month ahead of the wedding, and exactly on the hour of the wedding and you are (hopefully!) assured of a good day weather wise on the wedding day! I dutifully buried a perfectly good full bottle of it so we are keeping our fingers crossed, bourbon buried and prayers said."
I don't know if it was the bourbon, the crossed fingers, the prayers or the combination of all three, but the day was spectacular!! But not just in the weather department, it was perfect in all other areas too. These were the nicest people Andy and I could imagine working with and they made us feel like special guests at their wedding.
It was nearly impossible to narrow the photos down for the blog because I had too many favorites!!
Enjoy!
Chelsea and her girls prepared for the day at her family's camp on Lake Champlain.
Andy was here.
Pretty shoes.
Beautiful bride! (future brides take note...Erin from Paragon Design in Shelburne is wonderful to work with!)

I love this moment as Chelsea's sister, Meg, reads the toast she prepared to her mom, Katy.
Katy fixes a button on the dress.

The handsome groom gets ready.
Wow!!
Chelsea's sister had all of the guests sign this table runner and then she planned to embroider their names. What a thoughtful gift for her sister and brother-in-law!!
A kiss from dad.
This is what Chelsea and her sister, Meg, do when they're excited!
The ceremony was held at the Shelburne United Methodist Church.


Just married!!
I loved the fun ties, so Andy put together a montage of 4 of them for the slideshow. Chelsea wrote to say how much she enjoyed trying to figure out who they belonged to, so this one is for you, Chels!! xo
This guy made surprise appearances throughout the day.
The stylish wedding party!!
The dynamic duo of Gwen + Minner Hobbs of Flowers in Season did an amazing job with the flowers!! The colors were vibrant and beautiful!!
So romantic...

Heading back to the cocktail hour...
Totally feroche!!
The toasts were lively!
I adore this moment...
Let me tell you about this moment...Chelsea's dad was giving a toast and was expressing gratitude to the people who made the day special and suddenly he directed everyone's attention to ME. I must have turned 3 shades of red, but luckily it was dark in the room. I was completely touched!! Thank you, Chal!!
Chelsea's sister gave an awesome toast too!
The newlyweds prepare for their first dance. How funny is it that Matt is stretching?!

The band was CRAZY fun!!
A perfect evening for a perfect day.

C + M: It was a true joy and honor to be a part of your amazing day! You and your family have a special place in our hearts!!
xoxo

A mini summer get-away!

Before the summer season comes to a close, I wanted to share something fun that we squeezed into our very busy life last month. Some friends of ours have a beautiful guest house on Lake Champlain and invited us to stay while they were out of town. We had already taken some time off this summer and couldn't afford to lose out on any more days of work, but we couldn't decline the amazing offer. So we worked all day and spent the evenings and nights at the house. It just so happened there were only a few weekends this whole wedding season that we left opened for family time and this was one of them. So we were very fortunate!!

A big group of kayakers passed by on Saturday morning...
Our hosts had a couple really nice kayaks, so I had to take one for a spin.
If I lived on a lake I would never get any work done because the scenery is so beautiful and ever changing.
This series cracks me up. This all happened within 30 seconds or so of pointing the camera at my little comedian!!
On Sunday we had some friends stop by for a swim. Here is Laura, Emma and Summer.


Our friend Julia offered to take a quick snapshot of us with our soggy dog.
Kim, Julia and me.
Andy took this goofy photo of Kim and me with our glasses of wine and it really cracks me up!!
It was raining for most of the week, but it wasn't too painful hanging around inside the house.
Summer and her pal, Emma, read together.
Baxter chills out.

Summer's pal, Emma, slept over one night.

The hand railings were a work of art, so I had to snap a few photos.



Be on the lookout for...Chelsea and Matt's Spectacular wedding at Shelburne Farms!!

xo

Elyse + Paul's E-Session!

I met up with sweethearts Elyse + Paul at the Burlington Intervale this summer. It is such a beautful location with colorful gardens, grassy fields, farm equipment and mosquitos the size of small aircraft. Elyse + Paul were such fun and so full of love for one another. I truly enjoyed capturing their playful spirit and we can't wait to photograph their wedding at the Burlington Country Club this fall!!

Joe + Meagan's Wedding at Mountain View Farm!

You may remember the very fun e-session I photographed with Meagan and Joe this summer. After running around with them at Ben + Jerry's I was extra excited about their wedding at the beautiful Inn at Mountain View Farm in East Burke. Joe + Meagan have seriously awesome family and friends and the whole day from start to finish was fun, relaxed and perfectly wonderful. And miraculously, mother nature cooperated because the impending rain storm held off until the reception started.
So get comfortable and enjoy my favorite photos from their day...

simple and sweet-as-can-be favors.
Meagan prepares for the big day.

she was absolutely radiant!
Joe snuck in for a quick kiss before Meagan dressed.
the elegant dress.
I loved the colorful paper lanterns and the shoes.
donning the gown.
sooooo cute!
Joe and Meagan opted for a "first look" before the ceremony and these are a couple of my favs!

wedding party fun!

Danika at Blomma Flicka Flowers is a true artist!
Meagan was gorgeous!!
Dashing Joe and his posse head up to the ceremony location.
Meagan's parents joined hands behind her as they walked her down the aisle. (sniffle, sniffle...)
Joe spies his bride. (more sniffles!)
A fun ceremony moment.
Meagan told her girls to pick the green dress of their choice and I loved the way it turned out!
The music was lovely.
The backdrop was stunning.
The celebratory kiss!
The recessional was very festive.

There was plenty of time for some relaxed portraits with the newly weds.



my competition.
The toasts were full of emotion.
The sky was ominous, but the guests were inside having too much fun to care!
A little smooch at dinner.
Happily ever after!


M+J: Your love for life and each other is inspiring and we adore you!! Can't wait to hear all about Africa!!
xo

PARTY TIME!! 3 Party Posts in 1!!

While Andy is finishing up the editing on the amazing wedding of Meagan and Joe, I'll keep you entertained with this festive post....

PARTY ONE:

You may recall that my darling daughter, Summer, turned ten at the end of April. We were traveling on her birthday, so we had a mom + daughter day at the American Girl Doll store in NYC. She made it very clear at that time that she still wanted to have a party with her favorite pals at home. Well, between the crummy weather and the busy schedule, we never seemed to make that happen until the week before school started up again. Oh, and it worked out great because my replacement dad (the dad who raised me) and his wife (affectionately known as "Papa and Honey") were visiting that week. They were super heroes and helped with everything! Honey even helped Summer make a scrumptious cake from scratch!!

the girls...

the yummy cake...
Hannah was born one day before Summer and is her first friend ever.
Riley is probably freeeeezing in this photo as it was about 55 degrees out.
Honey and Papa!!
fresh picked garden flowers
the taped boxes are always tricky...
worth the wait...
it was a bit too windy for candles, but Summer didn't mind.
the cast of characters...
yum.


PARTY TWO:

Okay, so I made it through my 40th year with not too much trauma...oh, except that on my actual birthday, I was flying home from California with the kids and tore my shoulder. oh, and now I need surgery. But this is a happy post, so we'll talk about that another day.
So anyway, I decided that because I'm not a big fan of the 40th birthday party, but love parties, it was safe to celebrate again. So we threw a last minute Plaid-themed party. Why? Because not everyone has polka dots, which I love even more than plaid. Andy whipped up his nearly world-famous carrot cake, two of them actually, and they were scarfed down by the end of the day.

This is what was going on pre-party...which proves there is never a dull moment with Baxter around!

the adorable Amanda Herzberger popped by early on.
Yeti loved the ice cold water.
some of my favs: Marc, Whitney and little Kata
too cute for words...
It was a two man job to light all those candles!
Thanks to Barrie Fisher we had documentation for the next few photos. Sorry that you had to use my Canon, Barrie! :-P


Barrie and Steve Mease capture the cake...
Patty with her fab plaid tie and Cheryl D.
the Delucas were born in plaid.
Pat and Eileen
some of my all time favorites: Janine, Rimmer, Max + Cody
Papa and Honey with their grand dog, Yeti!
Post party. Yet another example of the around the clock entertainment around here...


PARTY #3 a.k.a. The party that I wish did not have to happen at all!!

If the Lunbecks didn't decide to up and move to the state of Washington, a million miles away from Vermont, we wouldn't have had to go to this very fun and festive party. We'd rather keep those wonderful, adorable, and fabulous Lunbecks right here where they belong. We really did have a great time, but I hid my camera, so I didn't miss the fun.

The Lunbecks

Thomas gives his son a little lovin'.
I have no idea whose kids these are, but you've gotta love the decorations on that t-shirt!

Hi Martha, I know you are out there...I miss you already!! xoxo