Kate and Alex’s ceremony was officiated by an old family friend of Alex’s parents, Erika.  She filled the ceremony with wonderful anecdotes, and the written word in its many forms featured heavily.

There’s nothing more pleasing to a photographer during a ceremony than a row of tearful bridesmaids.  Kate shed a few tears too. 

Cocktail hour followed, outside the grand house.  I love the mix of smiling faces and delicious food.  Yum!

The light was spectacular towards the end of cocktail hour, so I pulled Kate and Alex aside for a few portraits.  These photos make me so happy …

And a few more – the side of the house was just out of view of the guests, and the light was divine.

The reception will be along soon.  Alex and Kate are on their way to Australia right now (to live!  for a year!), so if you’re a friend or family member stopping by to take a peek, leave them a message in the comments … I’m sure they’d love to see who’s been by!

We moved outside for the group photos and I was relieved to find a large area of shade – look at the size of this bridal party!  Fun. 

I had fun with the guys – especially with them running towards me.  And although I didn’t quite mean to set it up that way, I kinda like that it looks like they’re all chasing Alex.  The girls were just gorgeous.  Wow …

After some relaxed family formals, we had a little time to spare to get some portraits of Kate and Alex around the grounds.  My favorite photos of them are coming later (cocktail hour coincided with the most amazing light) but I had to share a couple here too:

Lots more coming soon – so stay tuned, folks!

To start, some black and white images of Kate and her girls – aren’t they all gorgeous?  It was not unlike walking onto a movie set, being in that room …

I love that Kate wore flats – cute flats by Kate Spade!  The invites and programs by Sarah at Red Bumble Bee were beautiful, and full of awesome facts … the first year of their relationship was spent long-distance (two days after meeting in NYC, Kate moved to China for a year) and they wrote letters back and forth.  Real, hand-written, postman-delivered letters.  Here are some of my favorite facts about their year of letters (stolen shamelessly from the program): number of handwritten words: 26,880; miles traveled by letters: 234,100; net international trade deficit accrued: 108 dollars.

While the girls were getting their hair and makeup done, the guys were having lunch down the street at The Red House.  I popped over for a few minutes to grab a few shots and could have stayed a while – the guys were quite funny. 

Then, we all headed over to the beautiful Lyman Estate in Waltham.  The pretty hydrangea bouquets were by Bronwen Flowers.

That last photo above may just be one of my all-time favorite getting ready photos.  Love the excitement all over Kate’s face!  And some more black and whites of the girls finishing up:

Before the first look with Alex, Kate asked if we could have a little moment with her parents – I loved this idea.  There was a lot of emotion in that room …

The first look with Alex will be along tomorrow – as well as some very fun bridal party portraits …

I started my afternoon just as Neeta was about to get into her gorgeous Maggie Sottero gown:

I loved how excited and happy all the girls were, and how touched Rich was as he opened a letter from Neeta in the room next door.  The colors for this wedding were awesome … combine that with the henna tattoos: photographic bliss!

One of my very favorite things about this wedding was the food and drink.  As guests arrived for the ceremony, they were served glasses of mango lassi.  Yum!

The ceremony was very personal and there was a good mix of teary eyes and huge laughs.  I especially loved the moment when Neeta pointed out their soft toy, Liger, who was watching the ceremony from up inside the hotel:

While Leah was busy taking awesome couples portraits of Neeta and Rich, I headed into the 16th floor Charles View Ballroom to get some detail shots.  It was such a gorgeous setup, and there was so much light to work with.  The fabulous Christy at Cake Weddings and her assistant Erica not only did a spectacular job with the decor and flow, but were SO awesome to work with.  I highly recommend them!

And some final photos of the reception, including some cute couples portraits in the lobby.

Huge thanks to Neeta and Rich for their wonderful warm welcome, to their friends and family for bringing the fun, and to Leah for inviting me to second shoot for her at such a fabulous wedding.  And be sure to head over to Leah’s blog for gorgeous photos galore.    Oh, and for any techies out there reading this: I wanted to see if I could shoot an entire wedding with just two lenses, a 24 1.4 and a 135 2.0.  Turns out I can … until the dancing starts.  I had to bring out my trusty old 35 1.4 for the dancing (and my 85 1.4 came in handy during the reverse-angle cake cutting too).  What I did find, though, was that I absolutely did not miss the gigantic 70-200 2.8 that I used to rely so heavily on.  Happy days!

I was utterly fascinated by the ultra modern right bang next to the old and traditional.  Both beautiful, but in such stark contrast.

Tokyo’s huge fish market, Tsukiji Market, deserves an early start (6am is not early enough) and a week’s worth of exploration.  A couple of hours whet my appetite … as did the multiple breakfasts (Josh ate three separate breakfast meals that morning).

More to come … at some point. 

I’ve been thinking what my ideal kit would contain.  Something very wide; something very long; a couple of lenses on either side of the normal range to cover everything else (normal on my D3S is a 50mm).  And a macro.  the lineup is looking like this: 24 1.4 / 35 1.4 / 85 1.4 / 105 2.8 macro / 135 2.0.  I own all but the 135mm at this point – so a couple of days ago I rented it.  The 70-200mm is a huge lens to give up, and I need to make 300% sure that I’m ready before committing to the 135.  My rental arrived this afternoon … I think I’m in love …

Porter hates the camera, but will at least sit when bribed with Milk Bones. 

The photowrap style means you can have a single photo wrap all the way around the cover, replacing the leather cover.  In this case, I chose one photo for the front and spine, and a smaller, complimentary photo for the back.  I like this design style – it keeps things looking sharp and smart.  Also, note that Karen and Phil ordered two matching parent albums, also photowrap but a different company, in the 8×8 size.  They look good together!

I like posting closeup details of albums to illustrate just how beautifully these things are constructed.  I’ve seen a LOT of albums in my time, and these just can’t be beat!  The pages are thick and heavy, the spine is strong and sharp, the cover is bright and sturdy.  Inside, Kodak Supra Endura paper with UV coating means top quality printing, and the lay-flat panoramic pages mean 100% design flexibility.  Although I often choose not to, it’s nice to know that I *can* design across the seam and not lose any of the image to the gutter.

I’ve been designing a lot of guest books and wedding albums recently, and I’ve definitely refined my design style over the last few months.  I love a clean, simple design with all the attention going to the images:

And a few more of my favorite spreads from this album:

The parrot is always a winner … love these photos of Nell and Steve:

These guys were not shy

My favorite sequence of the night came from the guy eating the cake …

There were just too many great photos to choose from – oh, and hey – that’s me! 

Thank you all for making this such an emotional, fun and beautiful day.  I hope you’ve enjoyed the teasers – there will be a few hundred more photos to enjoy in the gallery … which will be along very soon!

Cocktail hour was filled with good food, many drinks, and lots of little ones exploring the beautiful setting …

I love this place!  So many neat backgrounds, and such pretty views …

We moved into the tent for dinner, and the evening started with some unofficial toasts.

After dinner were some (again unofficial) first dances, and then the party started …

Don’t worry – the crazy doesn’t stop there … along tomorrow will be the awesome photobooth images.  These guys sure know how to bring the fun!