The Wedding of Ashley and Mike

Ashley and Mike's wedding was a dream. We photographed Ashley's brothers' wedding a few years ago, so it was great to see Sean and Kelly, and their brand new daughter. We knew that Ashley and Mike had a strong connection and great personalities because we had such a fantastic time photographing their engagement! They were wonderful to work with. Photography was important to them and they mapped out day to include lots of time for photographs. 

It was quite refreshing not to have to be rushed and forced to miss awesome shots of a wedding couple. That is the only time I am ever frustrated at a wedding, when the bride and groom spend all this time planning a spectacular day at a  spectacular church and have a grand reception but do not leave any time to create these lasting memories that will persist for generations to come. That was definitely NOT the case for this couple! Wahoo!


Tom dropped me off where Ashley was getting dressed, and one of the images of her looking out the window is one of my favorite all time wedding images! Tom had lots of time, and lots of fun, with Mike and the groomsmen and Dads at the church before the ceremony. Their ceremony was full of meaning and the priest stressed the importance of everyone "being present" at the wedding. they had lots of time for formals, and fun photographs outside the church. Their was a great tree outside the church and a wonderful water/bridge area too -- and we got to use both!! 

Then we went to the Old Drake Hill Flower Bridge -- wow!!! What a place! We had great light too, soft bright cloudy makes for wonderful portraits. 

"The Old Drake Hill Flower Bridge in Simsbury, Connecticut is an example of 19th century metal-truss bridge construction. Originally designed and built in 1892, it spans 183 feet and carries a 12-foot roadway suspended 18 feet over the beautiful Farmington River. It was originally designed as a one lane, one way bridge used for vehicular traffic. It was replaced by a modern 2-lane bridge a few hundred feet to the North in 1992. In 1995, it was restored as a unique bridge. In 1996, inspired by the Bridge of Flowers in Shelburne Falls, MA, groups began to develop community gardens on & around the historic Old Drake Hill Bridge. The picturesque 48 flower boxes, 32 hanging baskets and Cottage Gardens are planted and maintained by a dedicated group of volunteers."

After the flower bridge we went to their reception location, The Riverview, where we took more photographs and lots of family photos before they were introduced. The Riverview is spectacular inside and out and we made sure to bring Ashley and Mike back outside once it got dark. 

Ashley's Dad, Tom Brady, also sang to her and Mike at the reception, can you say goosebumps...

You can see the photos from their mini-album here in this gallery on our website, a little sneak peak.

Little did I know when I was capturing Ashley looking out the window that Tom was capturing Mike looking at the church window, as if they were longingly waiting to be in each others arms. 

  

The entertainment was provided by (Emcee/DJ/Coordinator) Sal Fusco who not only provided awesome entertainment and music, but who communicated with us and kept us in the know for what was to transpire next.

The awesome lighting at their reception was done by: CJC Event Lighting

and the flowers and fabulous table arrangements were created by Sylvia Nichols, Cheshire Nursery

Andrea and Todd

Andrea and Todd had a wonderful wedding, calm, romantic and full of joy! We had a great time photographing this wedding, it was full of emotion and love, but without any chaos. Their kids were fun to photograph too! Take a look online at the rest of the photographs in their galleries. Their wedding and reception was at a fabulous location, a brunch at the Hawthorne Inn in Berlin, CT. The always outdoes itself, with their staff, Jennifer is fantastic, their food, and their attention to detail!!

Holiday cards

We have been getting lots of orders for Holiday cards! Order yours now!

Photographic 4x8 cards, with envelopes
25 for $35


Check out some new templates for cards -- Holiday Cards, Save the Date cards, Wedding Thank You cards, Birth announcements, Seniors, Graduation : http://ourcardproducts.blogspot.com/ LOTS to choose from!

Press printed:

Prices: Flat Cards -- 5x7 or 5x5 or 4x8.5, with envelopes
24 for $80
100 for $220

Prices: 5x7 or 5x5 Folded, with envelopes
24 for $125
100 for $370

Want a simple design for your press printed cards -- with just one photo and some text, no artwork, deduct $15.

Want just the edited JPG to print your own cards you can purchase JPG file with rights to print for $50 each.

You can even use the edited JPG file to make your own postage stamps at http://www.zazzle.com/


Here is an order that I received today for Photographic 4x8 cards

We were so happy that they chose that image, one of our favorites. I just love that photo -- it is likely to go onto the wall in our Studio!

Krista and Pasquale's Wedding -- sneak peak!

A sneak peak of Krista and Pasquale's Wedding!

This couple had the absolutely perfect day for an outdoor summer wedding -- not too hot, no rain, perhaps the best day of the summer to have an outdoor wedding (at the Water's Edge in Branford). Krista and Pasquale were fun to photograph, they mainly wanted candid images, captured using our photojournalistic style, mixed with a tad of classical portraiture in order to record their families in a maner that is timeless, artistic and unique.

insides

Back cover

Their ceremony, in English and in Italian, was right on the water at the Water's Edge. Wow!

Krista and Pasquale wanted a lot of candid images, making it easy to photograph them. Their reception was full of laughs, smiles and fun!

Malek and Shakira -- what a wedding!

Malek and Shakira -- what a wedding! It was very customized, had a LOT of "them" in it, had a lot of traditions in it. They had African drummers during the ceremony, what can I say, be still my heart, Wow!

Shakira was standing in front of the mirror in her parents bedroom and I asked her to look down for a second and captured this...wow!

What an amazing ceremony, what an amazing couple! We always feel honored to be rpesent when two people in love say their vows, but this ceremony was especially touching, steeped with tradition and emotion! The attention to detail was everywhere and the processional started at 3:59 for her 4:00 ceremony

The beautiful flowers were done by

Maria Pedreira of Rosa's Florist

2051 Main St. Bridgeport, CT 06604

Telephone: 203-384-6059

The sound of the drums was...

POWERFUL!

Malek's vows were every woman's dream, so much so that when he was finished Rev. Dr. Anthony Bennett proclaimed that if Shakira didn't want him that he would marry him!

Their reception was at the Waterview in Monroe

As you know...I just love Black and white and color...

These two images were amongst Tom's favorites from the day. His wonderful 70-200mm f 2.8 lens just threw the background softly out of focus and allowed the happiness of Shakira and Malek to shine through!

We had a lot of time at the Waterview outside on their patio which enabled us to capture a plethora of images of the wedding party, family, and of just the two of them.

We had so many favorites of this couple, here are just a few...

The people in the wedding party were a lot of fun

What a fun group!

Their cake was beautiful and its colors called to me to create some more black and white and color photographs.

The pictures that we took from their engagement portrait session were used for a signature album as well as for a 16x20 signature photograph. Their signature album can be seen here in an earlier post.

Their reception at the Waterview was wonderful, attention to detail evident everywhere. And I loved that each table had a framed photograph, I am hoping to use some of these in their wedding album as backgrounds.

OK, I love, love, love this last image!

The tree of love growing right of their heads, which are making a heart shape.

This photograph captures their intense love for each other.

It is going on our wall

You can view more images from their wedding here in their galleries on our website

Here is a look at their accordion book -- take a look at other accordion books, they make great gifts!

You can view a video of some of the highlights here:

Coupon for Alicia and Michael's Wedding Photographs

Here is a video with some of the highlights from Alicia and Michael's Wedding. You can watch the video on our Blog and Or you can view it here.



You can view the sneak peak of their wedding here on our Blog -- we captured some really awesome moments! and all of the photos from their wedding here on our website: http://tlc.smugmug.com/Weddings/Alicia-Michael






For a limited time take 15% off photographs from Alicia and Michael's wedding. Please note that this discount does not apply towards shipping. Code: Alicia2010

Wedding at Gillette Castle

What an awesome venue for a wedding -- meet Antares and Jay. Mr. and Mrs Leask III said their vows at Gillette Castle last weekend. Mt first wedding with Sasquatch too! This was an awesome couple, they left plenty of time for photographs, were obviously in love and had a lot of personality. Check out (click on them to see them larger) some of these photographs -- Wow!

This next one I just love, such a timeless quality to it. How, oh, how are we going to decide which of these to put on out Studio walls???

"THE Kiss" -- one photo could not do it justice, I had to create a series :-)

The archways made for a great prop.

This was another of my favorites from the day.

For this wedding everyone was dressed to the hilt or should I say kilt ;-)

A quick group image of the bride, the bridesmaids and flower girls on the way to the ceremony. The bridesman was not in this image. Yes they had a groomswoman and a bridesman!

From below looking up at the balcony. The B&W makes the image look like it could have been taken at any time.

These next two images are HDR (High Dynamic Range). The first of the three images is SOOC (straight out of the camera) while the middle image is the result of taking three images exactly the same except one was purposely overexposed to grab the details in the sky and shadows and one was purposely underexposed to grab the details in the brights. HDR images are especially great for those bright times of the day when the sun is high and the contrast is great. Look at the detail -- Wow! I try to capture a few HDR images at every wedding, but I knew that I just HAD to try this at Gillette Castle!

Talk about romance!

I love the junior bridesmaid's expression during "the kiss" I remember when Breanna would cover her eyes (or hide behind doggie) when people kissed on TV :-)

Can you believe these images with the castle in the background. I was so excited to be at this wedding, but I was elated when I heard that they had left so much time to take advantage of these beautiful grounds to photograph at.

Fun, fun, fun...

Have you ever seen a bride in platinum??

We really got to take advantage of the Castle grounds and they will have these images to show their grandchildren!

I love the way that she is looking at her new husband!

See -- my first wedding with Sasquatch there...

He was actually a wedding present from Jay to his new bride!

I had soooo much fun photographing this wedding!

We have lots of brides covering our Studio walls, Jay will be the first Groom.

These are just timeless! Can you tell that I just loved this couple??

You can view more images from their ceremony at Gillette Castle here on our website.