While Nick and I were taking photos, our guests headed to the reception tent for the cocktail hour. They were supposed to gather around the rectangular pool — amidst round high top tables and mason jars of candles tied with red and orange ribbon — but the wet weather prevented that from happening. However, I heard they still had a pretty excellent time.

The space was decorated with red and orange Chinese lanterns, strings of white lights, baskets of greens, and fichus trees (all expertly arranged by our day of coordinator, Betsy, I must add).

Susan Savia provided the entertainment, and drinks were served alongside a European cheese spread with fresh bread, fruits, dips, and mustards (provided by The Festive Board of York).

We offered two signature drinks: Arnold Palmers from the groom and Peach Sangria from the bride. The Arnold Palmer is a blend of iced tea, lemonade, and vodka. And we mixed the Sangria the morning before the wedding. (Get the recipe.)

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The moments (how short they were!) before we ran (walked briskly) into the church to be blessed by a priest (Epsicopal, not civil, if you’ve been keeping up):

This was fun. Somehow, in my rushed and mildly freaking out state, I got the task of pinning on Garrett’s boutonniere. I’ve pinned on lots of boutonnieres at weddings where I was photographing, but never with the pressure of it being a few minutes until our ceremony, with a husband who dislikes all things sharp and pointy, and with an uncooperative pin (that was probably too short in retrospect. So yeah, I stabbed him. Can you believe that? No wonder he’s afraid of needles! Luckily he did not bleed and does not have a nipple ring hole now. Very glad he wasn’t in a white shirt.

I’m pretty sure Garrett hates most pictures of himself (unless he took it in a mirror with some ridiculous hat or sunglasses on, or, if he has a beard and hair that make it look like he’d been lost in the woods for 6 months), but he does seem to like the one on the right with the tree, so we have success! And I like them all, of course.

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No wedding photography package is complete without a few posed portraits with the most important people in your lives.

Thank you, Mom and Dad, for crafting and constructing and helping to bring all of our wedding day dreams to life.

Thank you, ladies! For being beverage coordinators, for arranging our flowers, for remembering an emergency kit, for bringing extra bobby pins and makeup, and for printing over 2,000 pages for our favors (details still to come!).

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So, on the big day (third big day if you’re counting), I had a bridesmaid tea with my ladies and our mothers & grandmothers and then we were off! And running behind. I think I took the whole “getting married beforehand means less stress” thing too seriously, and the tea didn’t get kicked off right on time so we were a little rushed but once we made it to the chapel things felt great.

Yes, I committed the coat hanger sin. I had changed the coat hanger after san francisco just to make sure it would stay on the hanger and forgot to change it. Ugh. You really can’t see it though, so I’m thankful for that.

That’s right. Three pictures of my shoes. That’s what you get when you’re dealing with me. I really like the white on white and kind of want to incorporate it in my house when/if I get one.

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Following our ceremony, we greeted every guest with a hug, and then we climbed the stairs and walked through the pool house to the lawn where everyone had gathered.

There were lots of hoots and hollers as we walked by our family and friends, and I didn’t hesitate dragging my dress through the mud. As we reached the bridesmaids and groomsmen, they popped open their red and tan umbrellas and waved them above us, forming the most fantastic arch. Again, it was a moment we couldn’t have planned, and it was one we won’t forget.

{photo credit to a guest}

Here is my most favorite photo of the day. The smiles on our faces reveal our pure happiness. (And Nick is pumping his fist!)

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Oh my wonderful!  I just viewed the photos from our engagement shoot last month and boy do I love them.  Angela Stott, our very talented photographer, did an amazing job - she found funky, interesting places to shoot and was able to capture such great shots of us.  I have to admit that on our drive home from the shoot Brian and I worried that our pictures might not turn out, not due to any fault of Angela’s, but because Brian and I just felt so silly most of the time - would our awkwardness come through in the pictures?!

Well, we spent the two hours home from Asheville worrying about nothing.  Check these puppies out (all by Angela Stott):

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There are SO many amazing photographers in the world - how do you find the one that’s perfect for you?  Well, not only do you need to blog-stalk them, see images from a full wedding, and find out all of the details about the specific packages that they offer, but you also want to ask these questions:

1. Will I receive a DVD of images from the event?
2. How many images do you post-process (the more the better!  All of those amazing images you fell in love with from their website and albums are post-processed.  If the images on the DVD you receive are SOOC (straight out of camera) you should know and understand this.)? Can I see multiple examples of before-and-after images?
3. Do you color correct all images?
4. How soon after the wedding will I receive my proofs?  My DVD of images?  My album?
5. Do you write up every event on your blog?
6. How soon after the event will you blog?
7. What types of images do you include in your blog post?
8. Do you shoot in film or digital?  Color or black and white?  RAW or JPG?
9. What is your contingency plan if you are ill or otherwise cannot attend my event? {Be sure the answer to this is specifically stated in your contract}
10. Who retains copyright to the images?  Reproduction rights?

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Bryce and Coady’s engagement session is special to me for a few reasons. First, I know the groom-to-be Bryce. He is such a smart and fun guy and these photos express his personality so well. Second, Amy from Angela Anderson Photography is just SO talented. And lastly, I just adore how my city is shown off in the places that Bryce and Coady chose for their session.

I do believe I have a new favorite photo. The lighting, the cars… just everything! Michigan Avenue photos are usually so cliche, but not this one.

The train tracks make such an awesome backdrop for photos. These few, at the Quincy stop, are fabulous.

{Just look at this one - the hair blowing in the breeze. You can’t buy perfection like that.}

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Sorry for the late post today everyone! EAD moved servers over the weekend, and if you’re seeing this post we have liftoff at our new home. It’s very exciting, as things should be faster around here. :) I have two engagement sessions to post today and they are both fabulous (even if they are late)!

The first comes from the wonderful Natalie Moser - you may remember Natalie, as she’s been on EAD before (she photographed Lyndsy and Elon’s awesome wedding) and I’m so excited to have her back! Today we’re featuring Cheryl and Ryan’s Balboa Pier engagement session, which could not be more adorable!

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While the focus of the wedding is on the bride and groom, getting fabulous photos with your family and friends is also probably high on your list of priorities. The perfect wedding party shot can be difficult, as your photographer has to contend with a very large group of people, making composition and posing more difficult, as well as some potential personalities difficulties. Here are a few quick tips to ensure your wedding party pictures are everything you hope for:

1) Acquaint your party with your photographer’s style.  While doing an engagement session with your photographer is often a great way for you to learn more about how he or she works, your girls and guys obviously generally don’t have a chance to meet with and shoot with the photographer prior to the wedding. If you are hiring a non-traditional or more artistic photographer, it may be a good idea to send your party a link to his or her site prior to the wedding. I find that when I want to do some non-traditional poses or more quirky shots, bridesmaids and groomsmen almost always are better at working with me if they have seen some of my work before and have a rough idea of what the finished product might look like. Just as great trust between you and your photographer can lead to better photographs, anything that can be done to encourage trust between your wedding party and the photographer can help immensely.

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Hello lovelies. Hope you’re all having wonderfully calm, inspired days.

I’m so excited to kick off the first of my official wedding recaps here on EAD. Just last week we got our pictures back from our amazing wedding photographers, Dave and Jo of Allegro Photography, and as I said on my own blog, they. are. phenomenal. And the slideshow movie they made is making our guests tear up left and right. I love it!

Our wedding day. How to describe it? Three words that come to mind: serene, opulent, and joyful. And special. So, so special.

Since Allegro did such a beautiful job of documenting our day, I’m going to let their pictures do most of the recapping of our “getting ready” moments. First up, my handsome groom, getting ready in our hotel room.

My pretty dress, quietly waiting for me.

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Yes, I woke up to rain on my wedding day. Every bride’s worst fear. I laid in bed for 20 minutes, listening to the raindrops hit my window, but I felt surprisingly serene.

Then it was off to Escape Salon, where all of my best girls met me for primping and pampering. The salon staff couldn’t stop talking about the weather. Three women said it rained on their wedding days, and they’re happily married. Two women said it did not rain on their wedding days, and they’re divorced. Of course everyone said it’s good luck. I always figured that was just to console the brides facing wet weather, but maybe there’s some truth to the statement after all!

Despite the many attempts to turn the weather into a positive circumstance, I could not help but pray. “Please stop raining. Please stop raining. Please stop raining.”

{photo credit to bridesmaid}

As much as I wanted to believe the rain would stop, I also knew I had to be prepared. And so I asked my bridesmaids to stop at Boscov’s on the way to Lauxmont Farms and pick up as many tan colored umbrellas as they could get their hands on. I thought these would nicely compliment the red ones we had purchased earlier that week.

And then we were off to the wedding venue! The third floor of the stone house was reserved for us, and once we reached it, the mothers and bridesmaids got to work arranging the dresses and accessories.

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