Melissa and PJ’s wedding was inspired by The Great Gatsby. When I arrived Melissa was the perfect blend of an vintage look with hints of modern trend. Her hair stylist, Jenny Kay Murphy, perfected the look. He really blended a modern style with vintage flair. All the girls we involved with the usual hustle and bustle of getting ready as Melissa sat calmly enjoying getting the finishing touches on her make up.

Melissa gave all the girls robes and personalized handkerchiefs. Very cute.

Check the shoes out btw.. Absolutely fantastic.

The boys, groomsmen, not PJ,were making the usual pre wedding jokes that I am sure they did not want Jenna and I to hear. That’s normal…

We headed off to the church for their ceremony and then quickly headed back to Astors for their reception. It was a sight. It was sort of bitter sweet because this was the last wedding I shot at Astors. I love this location. The mansion was recently bought and weddings will no longer be held there.

Melissa left no detail over looked. Fabric draped gently from the patio pillars that overlooked the great lawn and Newport at 1st beach. The flowers were done by Gatherings by Kate Farrington. They were simple, elegant and placed in those old white vases that I am sure everyone’s grandmother had. The perfect balance of classic and trendy.

We had a little surprise in store for the couple. We hired a pedicab to whisk them away to go up and down bellevue. It was a spur of the moment thing, and a lot of fun!

We finished up pictures with a great big group picture and one shot of Melissa with her grandfather.

The two were introduced and dance there first dance, enjoyed their fabulous reception and left in a 1957 Bentley. The night couldn’t have been more perfect.

Venue – Astors Beechwood
Catering – Plantation
Wedding Cake – Mad Hatter Bakery
Flowers – Gatherings by Kate Farrington
DJ - John Bellagamba from Rythm Productions
Bride and wedding party makeup – Jenny Kay Murphy
Bride’s Hair – Jenny Kay Murphy
Bridesmaid’s Hair – Sam Covalope
Linens – Rentals Unlimited
Transportation - Viking trolly and coach bus
1957 Bentley - Newport Limosuine Company
Pedicab- Newport Pedicab

Hans Fahden Winery

Hair and Makeup by the ever wonderful Eliza Desch

Flowers: Wine Country Flowers

Tim and Christine choose the beautiful Jonathan Edwards Winery in North Stonnington, CT to gather with friends and family to celebrate their wedding. A little bit of Napa Valley in Connecticut. I met Christine and Tim at there engagement shoot. They wanted a barn as the backdrop for the shoot, it had to have been a smokin’ 100 degrees that day. They were great sports despite the heat and I knew then this was going to be a fun wedding!

Jenna and I arrived in Westerly to start the getting ready photos. It was raining on and off which was a little bit of a bummer because Westerly has some great little locations to shoot at. We managed to jump outside for a few photos in between the rain.
The Ocean House was nice enough to allow us to shoot some family photos. Christine and Tim had their rehearsal there the night before and could not say enough great things about the hotel.
We headed across the street for Tim and Christine’s Ceremony. What a gorgeous little church.

After the Church we headed to Jonathan Edwards. The vineyard has so many great locations to take pictures. Tim kept going for what he like to call the “money shot” which was him kissing the top of Christine’s head. In case you haven’t noticed Tim is very tall. 6’5”!
We headed in the tent to give everyone a break from pictures. The tent looked amazing. A Thyme to Cook had chosen great place setting for the event. The plates were triangle which gave it a modern twist. LOVE IT!
Jenna and I also noticed champagne glasses filled with milk and couldn’t quite put it together. Later, during toasts, Christine’s dad gave a heart felt welcome toast and had everyone raise their Champagne glasses filled with milk because Tim’s family are dairy farmers. What a cute Idea. Those are the kinds of details that really make a wedding unique!

Another detail that really caught our eyes were the flowers, Yumiko did such an amazing job taking Christine’s ideas and just running with it. They were beautifully ornate, intricate and full of color. Check them out below!

As always, A Thyme to Cook delivered fantastic tasting food displayed in such a unique way. They are so creative and all of their food is so tasty and presented flawlessly. One item that we couldn’t let walk past us at the end of the night were chocolate covered, deep fried red grapes, amazing! Who would have thought. We will definitely be trying to remake that one at home.

One last added bonus to this fabulous wedding was Night Shift. For all of you getting married, go listen to this band. They are fantastic. They are incredible and they really know how to get a crowed going. I was so excited to see them. Back in the day when I was getting married I wanted them so bad but they were booked. Christine was able to book them and they had their guests moving all night. The energy was fantastic!
Thank you Christine and Tim and family for inviting us to your wedding. It was beautiful and you have a great family. It was a blast!
Thank you!

Coordinator: Erica Cyr, Joanthan Edwards Winery
Caterer: A Thyme to cook
Flowers: Yumiko, Hana Floral
Band: Night Shift
Rentals: Liberty Rental
Makeup: Two Spa Girls
Hair: L’elegance

I left my big camera at home and took my “little guy” which is a little canon I have when I just want to blend and not have my big camera. It’s great for family pics and quickie party pics. Perfect for this occasion.

How Beautiful is the Chanler Hotel?

Best place in Newport to have brunch or dinner BTW. Fantastic food and a great location.

Executive Tom Duffy, and Sioux Chef Amanda O’Malley out did themselves. The food was incredible and looked fantastic.

Stoneblossom Floral and Event Design did the amazing flowers. They are one of my favorite floral designers in the Southern New England area. You  may remember some of their designs form Bobby and Taylor’s wedding at Astors. One of many collaborations together but one of my favorites by far.

I walked over thinking that I saw sushi and to my delight saw that these were sweets. The spread was Asian inspired and done by Sweet Indulgence. The sushi rolls are chocolate covered Rice Krispies. How fantastic! Kerri owner and creator of  Sweet Indulgence took the idea of a candy bar and brought it up 20 notches. I love..love ..love this!

Yup… that’s me on the end next to Peter Silvia and Kristin Love.

Kristin and Joseph of Celeboutique of Newport.

Lighting by Tony Ormonde

Flowers by: Stoneblossom Floral and Event Design

To find out more about Grace’s book please check out her blog and all the other great cities she is visiting.

Little Black Book Member

It was great to see Camilla and to meet Cale for their engagement session. Camilla chose the Brown University campus as the backdrop for their engagement session. Camilla is now Alumni as of this May.. I know I said congrats already but for the record CONGRATULATIONS! I met Camilla after her dad and mom reached out to me when they were looking for a Photographer for Camilla and Cale’s wedding.
Engagement sessions are always so much fun! I was happy to finally meet Cale and it was really so nice just to walk around Brown and Thayer Street and shoot. It was really relaxing and care free for all of us. The weather was perfect.

Camilla and Cale are getting married this September on Fisher’s Island. Very excited to shoot there and to collaborate with a Thyme to Cook yet again! Stay tuned this is going to be a great wedding!

Flowers: My near and dear friend Jennifer from Lush Floral. We were worried they wouldnt make it til Monday (the bouquet was made on Thursday night!) But Jenn’s flowers are so lush they still looked great 5 days later!

Makeup: Jenny Bowker. This girl works wonders! And all in less than an hour! If I could clone her and bring her to Cali for my brides I would.

The cameras below were my grandpas. Yep. It runs in the family. He used to be a photographer back in WWII and then did nature photography after that. Oh, and grandma worked for Kodak. Its in the blood I tell you!

During the ceremony our officiant Annemarie Juhlian had us put letters in a keepsake box (an old Kodak slide carousel) I love that she incorporated this into the wedding. The letters are one from me to Matt, one from Matt to me and one from both of us to the baby on the way. We’re going to read the letters on our anniversary next year… which in turn will also be our vow renewal. Yep, were having a BIG California wedding next year on our anniversary. Less than a year to plan it… we better get started huh?

To see more photos visit Laura’s Blog or check out even more on Facebook.

Since Matt’s whole family is from the East Coast and couldn’t make it out we live streamed the ceremony for them. There were a few hiccups and stressful moments getting it set up and working properly but it was so worth it in the end having them “there”

Matt SO wanted to do this pose. He knows how much I love Grace Ormonde Magazine and how they always have the guys hold bouquets. Thanks babe, for making the bouquet look manly.

Everyone that sees the wedding photos comments on this ring shot. LIKE EVERYONE!

First off: Cupcakes! A simple yelp.com search yielded crazy good reviews about a place called Trophy Cupcakes. When I looked at their menu  I was in heaven and wanted to go to Seattle immediately  to taste test every single one on the menu. When it comes to cupcakes Im not a simple girl. I like the “foodie style decadent” cupcakes. Not plain Vanilla with chocolate frosting. Dont get me wrong, if you put any cupcake in front of me it will be gone in 3.2 seconds! But doesn’t a snickerdoodle cupcake sound so much more enticing than a vanilla cupcake? The snickerdoodle is a “cinnamon and sugar swirled butter cake with cinnamon butter cream.”  YUM!

And not to mention Martha Stewart herself gives this place a thumbs up! Sold! Two dozen cupcakes please! We decided to go for an assortment of everything that was on the menu. I like cupcakes so much that when I buy a dozen I cut them in quarters to taste test. That way everyone there can try a little bit of each. It pains me to think that I didnt get to taste a cupcake flavor. Crazy addiction huh?

We will be serving these right after the ceremony with champagne… because its always cool to have dessert before dinner right?

For dinner locations we googled “seattles best restaurants” and landed on The Purple Cafe. No joking you it was the first place we looked at. The menu and their “private dining” area screamed Matt and Tiffany. Its kind of like an casual cafe/wine bar that serves small dishes (for taste testers like ourselves) and normal dinner entrees. Add in that this cool place has a “private” area between two wine walls that holds 12 (how many people will be at our wedding) people and we were sold. It was almost too easy! But then again, were such laid back people which I think makes decision making super easy…

Here’s where we will be having dinner. Has that Napa feel but in the city huh?

Ok, the wedding is tomorrow…. You’ll just have to wait and see how this all pans out! Wish us luck and Ill be back in the office replying to emails again on the 28th of June!

Well I’m not going to lie, that was something I started researching a few months ago, so it doesn’t really fit into my “how to plan a wedding in 30 days or less theme” I started doing research on all of the regular sites: the knot, weddingwire, projectwedding and just started bookmarking photographers whose work I knew we would both like.

Matt and I come from the same mindset that we wanted something that was timeless and classy, a mix of both photo journalistic and traditional portraiture (with a flair of course). We wanted someone whose work wouldnt look ” so 2010 ” in 20 years from now. Timeless.

So I bookmarked. And researched. Googled. And bookmarked.

And then I was on the phone with one of my friends Jeff De La Cruz last month and he said “oh, you should hire Laura Marchbanks, we went to school together with her at Brooks, do you remember her?” I said that name sounded so familiar. Did I bookmark her?

Then, the next day I was on the phone with one of my best friends Erica Hartman, also a photographer. She explains to me that she’s photographing another photographers family. Wee bit of pressure eh? I ask who it was… you guessed it. Laura!

All signs led to Laura Marchbanks! I finally contacted her. On May 28th. Yes, we waited until 3 weeks before the wedding to book our photographer, but to our defense A LOT has been going on and our wedding was on a Monday. She was available! We chatted on the phone and it felt like talking to an old friend ( not to mention she sounds exactly like my friend thats taking my underwater maternity portraits this Saturday! More on that in a few weeks)

It just felt right, and like I said, all signs led to Laura! Here’s a sampling of her work on her main site, and blog. One of the things I love about her website is her About Me page. You must scroll through and read them all, and make sure to watch the videos. Oh, her contract also states that she will eat cake at the wedding. When I read the “cake clause” I knew we were the right match!

Next post up… food!

Shoes were another ballgame all in itself. I will be the first to admit… I am awful at walking in heels, so I scoured online for what seemed like forever to find the perfect shoes. All I knew was they had to say me and have straps around the ankles so that I could walk somewhat like a normal human being! After asking fans of Adeline & Grace Photography on Facebook I ended up on Endless.com and found these shoes by Chinese Laundry. Totally me and totally fit the dress!

And lastly, I’m a total sucker for birdcage veils! They are so much fun and have the 50s flair that fits the dress so well. So I ordered the Marilyn Veil (aptly named) from Something Bold and a feather hair fascinator from Powder Blue Bijoux on Etsy. I wanted to buy everything in this Etsy store, just for the record.

What’s Matt wearing? He will be pulling from his expansive suit collection from his closet. No kidding you, he has more dress shirts hanging in the closet than he does everyday regular clothes!!!! Its just a part of his East Coast DC vibe. Like I am a sucker for things like birdcage veils and cupcakes, he can’t resist a nice tie. I remember when we first started dating and my friends would come over to his apartment I would bring them straight to his closet and point out how he has nicer shoes than I do! (I have several friends that can vouch for this. ) He’s got style and cleans up nice.

Tomorrow’s blog post… who does a wedding photographer hire to photograph their wedding??? You’ll have to come back to find out!

Coordinated by Dee Merz

Hair and Makeup by The Dream Team

Flowers by Sue