You can see some previous winners from this competition here, here and here.

I started the day much earlier, at The Langham Hotel in downtown Boston where Heather was getting ready (and in fact where the couple put up their ten guests for the weekend). Some fun details to start – I am so happy that they took my recommendation of New Leaf Flores for the beautiful bouquet and boutonniere:

Heather was all big smiles and excited chatter as she was having her makeup done.

I love these two photos of Heather and her friend Sarah:

Time to get dressed! And what a gorgeous dress it was – the Waterfall Gown from J.Crew’s wedding collection.

While Heather was at the hair salon, I snapped some photos of Peter getting suited up:

Despite the chilly breeze, we held their look outside in the tiny park across from the hotel. Heather was so excited to show off her shoes.

Some sweet moments – and some funny ones – followed. Don’t these two kiss like movie stars?

After the first look, we all headed down to Plymouth to the boat launch. I arrived a little earlier than the wedding party, so snapped a few photos of the beach. It was so beautiful …

Led by their fantastic British celebrant Lucille Wymer, everyone made the short walk down the steep hill to the boat launch. Spirits were high:

This was the third smallest wedding ceremony I’d ever photographed and it was perfect. I hope these photos capture some of the intimacy and emotion of the event.

There were beautiful readings, and an emotional account of Peter and Heather’s lives together thus far.

I love this:

It was just the perfect setting … *sigh*

Towards the end of the ceremony, each couple wrote a message which they placed inside a bottle and threw into the sea. It made for great pictures, and lots of laughter.

Rings! And more happy tears …

Peter had prepared a surprise reading for Heather in the form of a poem – it was beautiful:

We stayed on the beach for a few more minutes to take some portraits and detail shots. I can’t get over the bouquet by New Leaf …

These guys were so excited to be married!

The reception was split between post-ceremony drinks back at The Langham Hotel and dinner at L’Espalier. I stayed for the first part and had fun playing with lighting up the crazy dark bar without freaking out the staff there – it was a challenge! But I love the photos we got:

We made a little outing to see the Christmas tree at Faneuil Hall but my very favorite portrait of the night was actually outside L’Espalier – the emotion was perfect. Thank you all so much for a beautiful day, and for trusting me to capture the story of your wedding. I hope you’ve enjoyed the teasers! The full set will be ready in a couple of weeks.

We started just down the street from their apartment, next to the water:

These two are fully versed in the “get in and snuggle” mantra by now. And they know how to rock it.

Loving those fall colors … *sigh*

This strange building was a neat spot for an architectural silhouette:

The view of downtown Boston is so cool from here. Oh, and we might have trespassed. Oops. Don’t tell anyone that yoga-instructor Amanda used to be a lawyer.

These two have some mad jumping skills – and I LOVE their expressions here!

One last moody silhouette to complete the teasers … thank you guys for another awesome afternoon. I cannot WAIT for your wedding at the Aquarium next summer!

Jordan and Nipa assured me it would be a good time watching the non-Indian ladies play dress-up … they were not wrong.

I love this series of images I captured of Nipa’s mom and sister helping her dress:

Do you like these reflection shots?

Once Nipa was ready, we headed out to the roof terrace at the Marriott for some family photos. I just LOVE this space. It’s really pretty, with great light, and it’s so cool being so high up yet in a garden or park. It would be a great spot for a late afternoon ceremony … Anyway, I’m getting off-track. Don’t these guys look splendid?

I don’t often post “formal” photos – but I wanted to share the wonderful colors and prints I had to work with. Just beautiful …

The reception proper was held in the ballroom at the Marriott. It’s not a particularly remarkable room, until you add in the lighting. I was so delighted when I walked in and saw the amazing patterns on the walls, and the beautiful blue and gold uplights. Huge kudos to CJC Event Lighting for transforming the space. I highly recommend their services, and owner Jim was very personable too.

Some details of the cocktail hour decor (Nipa’s parents did a beautiful job with this):

And a couple of photos of guests during cocktail hour outside the ballroom:

Jordan and Nipa opened the reception with an incredibly cool Bollywood-style dance – yeah!

There were some toasts before dinner …

And of course dinner was an amazing Indian feast – yay! Not the best food to eat if you’ve got a long night of dancing to cover, but dinner marked the end of my coverage so I was a very happy camper. Thank you Nipa and Jordan, and your wonderful families, for your warm welcome and amazing hospitality. I loved working with you all and can’t wait to share the full gallery with you at the end of the week!

Nipa’s sister Alpa officiated the wedding, and did a spectacular job of it. It was beautifully paced, rich in thoughtful words, and both humorous and emotional.

Although it looked somewhat like a traditional western ceremony, the content came mostly from Jain and Hindu traditions – my first Indian wedding, then! The sounds too – amazing Indian music flowed through the ceremony, from maestros Natraj Music. Act I included the processional and Namokar Mantra, followed by the Kanya Daan, or giving away of the bride. For this, Nipa’s parents joined the couple and holy water was poured from their hands, through Nipa’s hands, into Jordan’s hands. This ritual also includes the bride’s parents asking the groom to treat her as a loving and equal partner. I love this – what a far cry from the “obey” line in traditional western wedding ceremonies!

Act II opened with a reading by Jordan’s mom and sister, followed by the Hasta Melap, or joining of the hands:

Act III included the Saptapadi, or seven sacred steps walked together, then the vows and ring exchange. One of my very favorite photos is of Alpa getting all choked up during the vows:

After the ceremony, I made a mad dash around the tent to grab some detail shots. The light was just beautiful in there, and the decor, though simple, was very pretty (kudos again to Blooms of Hope who provided the gorgeous flowers).

While guests enjoyed the views during cocktail hour, I took Jordan and Nipa off for a few more couples portraits …

I really like this quick grab at the end of cocktail hour – it was quite the sunset!

Throughout dinner there were dances and toasts:

And partway through the reception, Jordan surprised Nipa by serenading her with Neil Diamond’s Hello. Classic! We were all laughing and crying and laughing throughout. It was pretty cute.

The rest of the night was spent dancing like crazy – DJ Nate Oinonen of White Label DJs did another awesome job of keeping the dance floor packed all night:

One last sunset photo to end Part Two … and the super fun Indian reception will be along shortly!

The ceremony was performed by one of the couple’s close friends, and he was FANtastic. In fact, Sophy and Rich had two friends play major roles in their wedding and both guys made my day a bazillion times easier; the other was their friend Ben who is a wedding coordinator down in DC. I am so sad he’s not closer to Boston as he was an absolute dream to work with (thank you both for all your help!)

Despite this being the “Western” wedding day, Sophy’s Cambodian culture was still very visibly present throughout the day. I love this photo of the little girls in their traditional Cambodian outfits:

The vows were both hilarious and emotional:

The Grand Ballroom at the Liberty Hotel is one of my new favorite places for a wedding reception. The room is just GORGEOUS – everything about it screams class. Yay.

How cute are these cake toppers?!

As guests entered the main reception, they were handed scarves by the couple – pretty neat favors, huh?

Rich and Sophy opened the reception with their first dance, followed by a very sweet mother-son dance:

Throughout dinner there were a ton of toasts; my favorite moment was the incredibly emotional surprise toast by Sophy’s two sisters and her brother. These guys were adorable …

After dinner, Sophy and her father gave a traditional Cambodian dance, and after that it was party-party-party! Thank you all for a wonderful wedding weekend; I hope you’ve enjoyed your teaser photos. And I must give a quick shout-out to DJ Seth Isaacs of Beat Train Productions who did a fabulous job of keeping the dance floor packed all night, with both Cambodian hits and Western music. Kudos!

Jessica and Jeff moved to Boston a few months ago for work, and they quickly fell for their new city.  They live in Beacon Hill and wanted some photos that showed off their favorite spots in the neighborhood.  We couldn’t have asked for a more beautiful afternoon for photos – the light was truly incredible.  I’ll start with two of my favorite photos from our session:

We started out in the Boston Public Garden with some relaxed sitting and wandering.

I wanted to capture the beauty of the gardens, and the light that day, but without showing the throngs of tourists in the background. Patience was needed …

We headed over to Comm. Ave next, and it was here that I captured some of my very favorite images of the day:

Jessica wanted to show off the beauty of Beacon Hill so we wandered up through the cobblestone streets and found some great spots.

These two are so cute! I love how sweet and giggly they are with each other:

I loved the impromptu piggyback ride!

And one last photo to end the teasers for today. Thank you Jessica + Jeff for a super fun time – I hope you like your teasers!

We met up in Central Park, close to their apartment on the Upper East Side, and went for a little wander.  I ADORE their outfits … and I still cannot get over the ridiculous cuteness that is Anel’s bow tie.  Love! Also, a quick shout-out to two of Julia’s friends for their help: Arielle made Julia’s gorgeous necklace (and be sure to check out her ILOVEME collection) and Ashley was responsible for Julia’s flawless makeup – thank you ladies!

We came up on this bridge and I immediately saw the photo below. We had to wait for an excruciatingly slow school group to go through, then battled with another photographer, but finally got the bridge to ourselves. I think it was worth the wait, right?

Anel found this next spot for us; he has used it himself numerous times for photo shoots – and what a gorgeous spot it is. Love all those overhanging vines …

I was itching to head up to the High Line Park for the rest of our session. I first visited it a couple of months ago and knew that I had to come back with a couple for some engagement or wedding photos.

When I first started taking photos professionally, I was constantly scouting for great backgrounds … these days, it’s all about the light. I could care less about the background if the light is perfect … like right here:

And there’s something about this one … or rather, there’s something about these two …

As we wandered along, enjoying the views and the sunshine, I spotted La Newyorkina, a cute stand selling paletas (ice pops) in wonderful flavors (Julia and Anel agreed that the watermelon was scrumptious). Perfect photo opp!

I can’t stop!

This next image is called Love Is In The Air.

A bit more silly, followed by some more utter-cuteness:

And then some final sun-soaked pictures in a sea of bright yellow flowers – we couldn’t resist the perfect match to Julia’s luscious lemon branding for her lemons & loafers fashion blog.

Thank you both for a super fun afternoon, for racing around NYC with me, and for shelling out a small fortune for iced treats. I hope you like your teasers. And, I can’t wait for your wedding at Glen Manor House next year!

I love this moment between Jason and his almost-mother-in-law:

I have to admit, when Chrissy was describing the “muted color palette” with brown dresses, I wasn’t 100% convinced; seeing it all come together was eye-opening for me. I clearly have no vision.

The ceremony was super short, but packed full of sweet glances and giggles and big, big smiles.

Those first few moments after the ceremony are some of my favorite of the wedding day:

After some crazy big family group photos, everyone moved over to the front terrace at Turner Hill for some relaxed cocktails. This reminds me of my own wedding location, an old country house in the English countryside … *sigh*

The decor in the reception tent was simple but very pretty:

Dinner opened with toasts:

Immediately after dinner, everyone moved to the fourth location of the day: the main house. This is where the party started and remained, and what a great spot for it! The first dance was followed by the parent dances … so many cute moments.

The rest of the evening was spent dancing to band Shine (awesome!) and drinking. Chrissy and Jason, thank you so much for welcoming me so warmly into your amazing group of friends and family. I was sad to leave the reception, and hope that you’ve all enjoyed these few teasers … there’s so much more good stuff to come in the full set of photos!

The girls had their makeup done by the utterly fabulous Veronica Shin (one of my absolute favorite makeup artists in the Boston area), and it was also a pleasure watching hair stylist Jennifer Fusco work her magic. Jason + Chrissy’s sweet doggy Reggie was missing from the celebrations so I worked in one of his toys for some detail shots. Oh, and the beautiful invites are from Hoopity on Etsy.

Chrissy was glowing:

We then all headed up to Turner Hill in Ipswich, MA to complete the getting ready. I am in love with this venue. Look at it!

Love these photos of Chrissy’s girls helping her into her Private Label by G gown:

Jason’s sister and Chrissy’s sister fixing the veil:

The guys, meanwhile, were fully dressed and playing poker at the other end of the hallway. Love it!

I grabbed Jason to have his boutonniere put on by florist The Singing Flower (whose work was gorgeous, by the way). Jason obviously found something about this quite amusing.

And then it was straight into the first look. This light … wow.

These two are so sweet and natural with each other. It made my job easy!

Time for some bridal party photos! Turner Hill could not be any prettier. I mean, really. And that light was just spectacular …

Love this one of the guys (thank you for being brave, Jason!)

One last teaser before the ceremony and reception … which will likely be along on Tuesday next week. In the meantime, if you haven’t already, head on over to my Facebook page and like it – there are often a few little extra sneak peeks posted there first!