Peanut butter and jelly, yin and yang, lobster and butter...some things are better together. Nothing else could describe just how good Jen and Ed are together. They delight each other, support each other and - as we got to witness on their wedding day - they love each other more than words. They had a beautiful wedding day on the coast of Nahant, where you could watch the sun set behind the Boston skyline. Matt was quite fond of their cupcakes, and I her dress. The day went off without a hitch thanks to Phebe from Making Me Planning and Event Firm. Congrats Jen and Ed, we were so happy to be a part of your day!
Bianca + Mike = Married
Bianca and Mike were married on a beautiful September afternoon at St. Vasilios Greek Orthodox church. The church was a magnificent space, and one of our favorite parts of their ceremony was when the Priest led them around the alter three (representing the trinity) times, signifying their first steps as a married couple. We also learned that Greeks view kissing as an essential part of greeting or congratulating each other. You can imagine my delight when almost each wedding guest got a kiss after the ceremony. Such happiness! After a fun filled Hummer-limo ride back to the reception we grabbed a few portraits, taking advantage of being in east Boston and seeing the full city skyline. We have to take a moment to thank Kristen from Kristen Schueler Photography for adding her expert eye to their day!
Marisa + Andy = Married
One of our favorite things about shooting weddings is watching how each individual couple makes an event their own. In many ways, planning a wedding is the first big project a couple will undertake together. It's not just the brides party, and it's not just the grooms. It is something that represents both of them, and what makes them compliment each other so well. Marisa and Andy had a wedding that truly reflected themselves. From the unique wedding venue on the shore of Jamestown, RI to the beer they lovingly crafted months leading up to the wedding - there wasn't an element that wasn't personalized. They also had a Quaker ceremony, which is especially cool because it consists of the wedding guests contributing readings, poetry, music or on the moment toasts to the couple - instead of having an officiant lead the entire ceremony. All wedding guests sign the couple's marriage certificate, which is such a beautiful way to remember the day that everyone came together to watch them become husband and wife. We also have to give a big shout out to Jamie from Jamie Marland Photography for joining Summer Street for the day with her expert eye behind the lens. (We especially love the shoe shots, Jamie!) Congrats to Marisa and Andy - and thank you for trusting us to capture your wonderful day!
Featured on Style Me Pretty Massachusetts
Once upon a time, before Summer Street Photography was even a twinkle in our eyes, I was a hopeful bride to be. Let me go further. I was NOT engaged and started reading a new wedding blog called Style Me Pretty. It has just started and the editor, Abby, was the only author. It was quaint and beautiful, and suddenly I realized that weddings could be so much more than the banquet hall I worked at in high school where every weekend looked like the same wedding. Honestly, I went through a period of time after working that job that I hated weddings (not marriages, mind you) because they all seemed like a meaningless tradition that people did, "just because". I was convinced that my wedding would be very different if and when it ever happened. It was as though the stars aligned when I started reading Style Me Pretty - and I was hooked. Every day I'd visit the site and drool over all of the various types of weddings. Home grown, big and beautiful, beachy, vineyard....all types. Around the time I did end up getting engaged I had found a few more wedding blogs to add to my daily reading list and suddenly I was a blog reader. As the engagement went on, so did the list of wedding blogs. Dozens and dozens of wedding blogs. Style Me Pretty remained my favorite since all of the weddings they featured withheld a strict standard of taste and style. The blog grew, and grew, and grew until now, where it is a huge wedding phenomena with a sizable full time staff and most all brides we work with know what it is and turn to it for wedding inspiration. Recently, they started an even more exciting adventure into having local blogs. They still have their main site, but they also have location specific blogs for areas like Massachusetts , California, Illinois, and even Australia - to name a few. You can imagine our excitement when we were featured on Style Me Pretty Massachusetts yesterday for Maggie and Seth's DIY Wedding in Maynard. Beyond words excited.
Oh, and can we just take a moment to say HOLY COMMENTS BATMAN? You guys blew us out of the water with your comment love! Thank you for showing your support! We are truly overwhelmed.
And for fun, here is the screen shot of the Style Me Pretty Network with Maggie and Seth's photo hanging out under Massachusetts:
And lastly, our mention on the Style Me Pretty's facebook page. Which we were flattered to see since not all of the local blogs get mentions!
We're not big into tooting out own horn, but we wanted to share our excitement with all of you and THANK you for making Summer Street tick. We couldn't do it without you!
September
September has been the busiest month on Summer Street yet! It's no wonder when the weather is practically perfect in every way. For those of you who do not follow us on Facebook, we thought it might be fun to see a little sneak peek of the work we've been up to the last month. Each of these weddings will have their own blog post very soon - but for now, a quick peek at all of the lovely weddings we've been working on will have to do! In other news, we are already 50% booked up for next year, so if you've been thinking about sending an inquiry our way, now is the time! 
Jessica + Sean = Married
If weddings were novels, Jessica and Sean's would be The Great Gatsby. Their wedding was on Hurricane Irene Sunday, and originally the plan was to have the ceremony outside and the reception under a large tent. Mother Nature had other plans, and luckily the inside of their venue was absolutely stunning, which made for an intimate and romantic setting. Their wedding was the epitome of style and class. Even as we were editing, we were constantly fighting the urge to make the entire event black and white. It was truly timeless. We were blessed with fifteen minutes of sunshine and no rain (sunshine! During a hurricane!) right in time to capture their first look and stroll through the beautiful grounds and grape arbors of the Mansion. They personalized the day by incorporating an Armenian Crowning during their ceremony, having a giant screen printed poster as their guest book ("How do I love thee? Let me count the ways..."), having a mini flash dance with their bridal party, serving Armenian desserts alongside their gorgeous cake and sending their guests home with yummy cake pops. (We took two, except I ate both of them. Sorry Matt!) We were so happy to be a part of their wedding, and will always remember it as our night living in one of our favorite novels. Also, a big thanks to fellow photographer friend, Steph Stevens, of Steph Stevens Photo for letting us borrow some extra lighting!
Sarabina + Andrew = Married
There are so many wonderful things we could say about Sarabina and Andrew's wedding. We could talk about how Andrew was a big excited goofball in anticipation to see his bride for the first time. We could talk about how Sara was calm and collected while every one of her girlfriends cried as she was getting ready. We could talk about how their first kiss (ever) was after they said, "you may now kiss your bride". We could talk about the random stranger who brought them a bottle of champagne while they were doing their portraits. We could talk about how they had a 200+ family formal shot or their photobooth or how Sarabina surprised Andrew by singing him a song at their reception. But we won't go into details on all of those things. Instead, we will tell you how these two are getting married for all the right reasons. They are made for each other and their love is radiant. We have felt incredibly blessed to have gotten the privilege of working with them, and know that their life together will be incredible.
Carolyn + Sean = Wedding
Carolyn and Sean were married on a glorious summer day in Bermuda. Yes, you heard that right. In Bermuda. We were humbled when they asked us to be a part of it, especially since destination wedding couples have umpteen million choices for wedding photographers. When we first met them, we were immediately drawn to their laid back personalities and love for one another as they told us about their plans for a relaxing wedding weekend in Bermuda for their closest family and friends. As we spent the weekend with them during the wedding, we had the honor of getting to know them even better, and following Sean's adorable twin daughters around like the paparazzi (we couldn't help it - they are just too sweet!). They were married at Tuckers Point - which is a GORGEOUS resort on the south east portion of the Island. After a relaxing day at the Spa with her ladies, and a sun showered round of golf with the guys, Carolyn and Sean began getting ready for their ceremony. We couldn't hold back our smiles when Sean's face beamed with love for Carolyn during the ceremony, and giggled while the twins stole the show at several points of the evening. We are so happy for you two, and we wish you all the best!!
Maggie + Seth = Married
Weddings are happy events. Always. I am beyond moved at each and every wedding ceremony we attend. In all their various shapes and forms, they all resonate with astounding love, and that is a beautiful thing. With that said, Maggie and Seth's wedding was one of the happiest weddings we've ever been at. They were RADIATING with love and happiness on their wedding day, and it was infectious. If all of this love fest wasn't enough, they also had an incredible party, complete with a moose head mount. From the donuts to the dress her grandmother hand-lovingly made, Maggie and Seth's wedding was a smashing handmade affair. After their epic first look and a few fun bridal party photos at a local Ice Cream Stand, they made their way to St. Rose of Lima in Northborough for a touching Catholic Wedding Ceremony. After they said I do, we made our way to Maynard to the Rod and Gun Club for their kickin BBQ Celebration styled by the amazing Jillian of New England Vintage Rentals. While Fireflies BBQ served up some seriously awesome grub, Maggie and Seth were showered with some of the most touching speeches from their loved ones. We managed to sneak them out for a few final sunset shots, just in time to get back to the party that was stirring. Maggie and Seth, you guys are amazing. Congratulations on your beautiful marriage and we wish you the best!
Abena + Edwin = Married
When we think back to Abena and Edwin's wedding, two things come to mind. The first, is the overwhelming love that their family and friends poured over them during their wedding day. The entire day was filled with laughter, smiles and love. The toasts nearly made me cry, and by the end of the night we wanted to hug both of their moms and invite ourselves over for thanksgiving dinner. The second thing that comes to mind when we think about their wedding day is how much fun their dance was. Everyone was getting down, and having a blast....even the minister! They were married at St. James Episcopal Church and had a lovely reception at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Cambridge. It was a beautiful day, and we were so happy to be a part of it!
The Importance of Crafting Your Team
Happy Wednesday! I wanted to share a few thoughts both from a personal (brides perspective) and a professional (photographer's perspective) with you all about the importance of crafting your team on your wedding day. After having some time to process Matt and my wedding day I finally feel like I can debrief and reflect on such a special day of our lives. I'll warn you that this might get a little long, but I'll put some of the photos from our wedding up so it goes faster. All photos are by Chennergy.
For those of you who have worked with us, you probably noticed that I am an external processor, and Matt is an internal processor. I tend to chat a lot while shooting while Matt stays fairly quiet and gets these magical candid moments of our couples. This translates into many parts of our relationship, including the style in which we planned our wedding. While Matt remained a solid support throughout the wedding, I - like most brides - loved creating the ideas and overall experience our guests would share. I'd come up with a few ideas, run them by Matt and then we'd decide together how we wanted to execute any specific detail. I was the creative director. He was the executive director.
I am a very driven person. I have been since the day I was born. If I'm not doing 1000 things my job performance suffers. (I know. I'm working learning to s.l.o.w. down). I won't come right out and say I'm a control freak - because I do trust others to do things right - but I have very high standards. When it came to our wedding, I knew that I would have a very specific vision and I wanted to do as much of the wedding planning myself - which I did. I did not want a wedding planner, I wanted the satisfaction of doing it myself.
Early on, someone gave me the best wedding planning advice I would ever receive: "On your wedding day, you can be nothing but the Bride. You can't be the florist, you can't be the baker, you can't be the coordinator, you can't be the sylist...you can only be the Bride." After some contemplation, I jumped on that train, but NOTHING was going to stop me from doing all of the other things myself BEFORE the wedding day. Not only were we saving money by doing everything ourselves, we were also getting the satisfaction of knowing that our wedding would be a 100% unique experience since there was nothing else like it. We didn't want a wedding you could 'pick out' or buy. We wanted a wedding that represented us as a couple. Where we've been - where we are - and where we're going.
And that's exactly what we did. Since our engagement was on the longer side, we did the normal book your 'musts' right away (which was great because we got all of the big picture vendor things as our first pick) and then settled into waiting for other things to come around. Our one year mark hit and things started to pick up. When the six month mark hit, I spent around 10 hours a week organizing details and crafting projects for our wedding. In April that increased to around 15 hours a week. By May and towards the end of may, it was around 20 hours a week. The two weeks before the wedding it was literally a full time job. I'm almost embarrassed to admit that we probably spent 60+ hours a week at that point getting everything organized and set up for the wedding. We were exhausted and as much as we were looking forward to the day, we were very ready for it to be over as to not have the stress of the day hanging over our heads. Luckily our life was able to be put on temporary hold to make time for this, but we were going crazy. It had to end soon.
Our families and closest friends arrive around a week before the wedding day and everyone went into overdrive. Since our families were so insistent on arriving early to help, we were organized enough to hand them different lists of things to get done. They were life savers. We knew that when they arrived, that we had done as much as we could on our own, and our wedding planning phase was over. The only way the wedding was actually going to happen was through their hard work pulling together the final strings. The night before the wedding I was feeling very nervous and overwhelmed. Our friends and family had done so much to get everything in line, but I hadn't let go yet. Since I wasn't going to be there, I was scared to death that something was going to go wrong in the set up of the actual event.
When I woke up on the morning of our wedding, I still had a pit in my stomach, but after a spending a little bit of time by myself with my journal and bible, I was ready to be a bride. Anything that went wrong would have been okay because I realized that the day was only today, and whatever was going to happen was exactly how it was meant to be. I transitioned into full trust of two people, Emily and Phebe. I have known Emily since I was three years old and have always known she was going to be in my wedding. We know each other so intimately, that when she recently started a Floral and Event Styling Business in Minneapolis, MN, I knew that she had to be my florist and stylist. I knew she would understand my vision for the day and would be the perfect person to hand over all of the hard work I'd done collecting antiques, crafting details and envisioning florals - and make my vision a reality. Phebe is a Wedding Planner and is a newer friend of mine whom I've had the immense pleasure of working professionally with. Through each professional event we worked on together, she was SO organized and upbeat. If something happened that was not according to our original plan she wouldn't bat an eye and would immediately find a solution everyone was happy with. She is bubbly but calm, an extremely hard worker and has an eye for detail. While she also offers Full Wedding Planning and Styling, I had already made the decision to plan the wedding myself, and had already made the decision to have Emily do the styling, so I knew that she would be the perfect Day-Of Coordinator. Let me tell you - while they might seem similar - those three jobs are require an entirely different set of skills!
These two women were absolutely amazing. I was able to be at Emily's side as she put our flowers together (which was an exhausting two days in a small air conditioned room) and after debriefing her on the items she was going to style, she sacrificed her own enjoyment of a relaxing day as a bridesmaid (yes she did both) by getting up before the sun to set up the wedding so I could be a bride, and not a stylist. Phebe joined me in the planning process one month before the wedding and the entire time she was always on call ready to help if I needed it. She provided useful advice (make sure I have bug wipes for a meadow reception!) and a compassionate ear as things fell apart. She even answered my e-mails when she was on her personal vacation the week before our wedding. She brought along an assistant to the wedding who was on headset to coordinate timing of events and even called all of our vendors very early the morning of the wedding to give them a gentle reminder that today was the day.
All of the ideas and hours of time we put into the wedding - all of the sweat and tears we shared with our families and friends the week before the wedding - all of it came together because we had 100% trust in our vendors. None of it would have happened without them. Most couples share that on their wedding day, but I'm convinced that Matt and I enjoyed our day so much and both felt like we were able to be 100% present towards our emotions and the people sharing the day with us because of Phebe and Emily. We were allowed to be the bride and groom and NOT worry about all of the little things. It was truly special.
After that long rendition of my personal side of things as a bride, I also have a few thoughts as a professional. While every couple who's wedding we shot have been absolutely beautiful and happy days - things go much more smoothly (aka the couple is less stressed) when you have a day-of coordinator.
If it's not in your budget to hire a professional, enlist a super organized friend to do it, and make sure they know every.single.detail.of.the.day. In my humble opinion, it's better to hire someone who is not there to also enjoy themselves as a guest so that way when something goes wrong after they have had their dinner and start to relax and sign off from their duties as your helper - there is still someone there who people can turn to for problems (and it's not you).
As photographers, we often get roped into the duties of being the schedule drivers of the day of you don't have a DOC. While we have no problem stepping up to help things run more smoothly, this is not our job. It takes away from the time we could be having photographing important details, which compromises our work.
We're working on a full wedding recap to share about our vendors since many of you have asked about them, but for now we'll leave you with this: If you want a wedding that is full of details it's going to take a lot of time. If you don't have the time and you still want that, hire a wedding planner. If you do want to put the work in (it takes a special breed) at the very least hire a DOC. Phebe will do nicely. ;)
P.S. If you're confused, we had a morning ceremony with a tea party reception during the day, and then a larger barn party later in the night. So yeah, we had to parties in one day. As much fun as it was, we maybe wouldn't recommend doing that since it was like planning two weddings.
Our last piece of advice for now? Hire photographers you love. It's truly all that is left after the day.