When we were married, we had already been together for 7 years. A lot of people say marriage is only the beginning, but, for us, it was a beautiful day in the middle. We were really young and I don’t think we completely understood the gravity of what we committed to, but each day it is revealed to me how wonderful and special our marriage is. I am eternally bound to a man who wakes up each morning and thinks of new ways to love me, to make my life happier. And as long as we keep doing that for each other, it will only get better. And it has.

Here’s Pablo Neruda’s Sonnet 17 that my aunt read at our wedding. We are practical people, and I think it communicates how we’re not blinded by love just for love’s sake, but still mysteriously consumed by it.

I do not love you as if you were salt-rose, or topaz,
or the arrow of carnations the fire shoots off.
I love you as certain dark things are to be loved,
in secret, between the shadow and the soul.

I love you as the plant that never blooms
but carries in itself the light of hidden flowers;
thanks to your love a certain solid fragrance,
risen from the earth, lives darkly in my body.

I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where.
I love you straightforwardly, without complexities or pride;
so I love you because I know no other way

than this: where I does not exist, nor you,
so close that your hand on my chest is my hand,
so close that your eyes close as I fall asleep.

And here’s the Marc Cohn song “True Companion” that I literally can’t listen to without crying. Please don’t play it at your wedding or I will cry.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sp6zoc84NcU

Tim & Trish’s wedding wasn’t without a hiccup or two. First, the entire waitstaff never showed up (but don’t worry- kick ass guests filled in, and then they found a local bartender who left work to come and help!), then the power went out! Jesse took the photo above which shows Tim and a friend fixing the blown fuse. BUT, the photo below that I snagged, shows the Chinese lanterns out, but the dancing continued. Trish had too many Irish relatives that were ready to party, and they weren’t about to let the power issue stop them.

These photos prove not only that Trish and Tim are awesome, but that if something goes wrong, who cares? You’re still dancing with everyone you love.

Click here to see why I started this feature.

http://eco-beautifulweddings.com/blog/blog-love/real-wedding-nick-nicole/

We typically work 2 hours for every hour we’re at your wedding shooting, and this little “before” and “after” shows you why. Though we aim for a natural look (so no crazy “fake-looking” editing), there are still little tweaks we like to do to every photo to make sure it has our signature “pop!” We make sure the whites are white and the blacks are black, that everyone’s faces and outifts are properly exposed and that it simply looks bright and vibrant. This below is just a basic edit, but when you order a photo for your wall or for your album, we do a second round of more intensive edits- smoothing skin, removing exit signs, getting rid of anything that draws your eye away from the couple. But more on that later…

before

after

It’s subtle, but significant. For your wedding photographs – arguably the most important photos of your life – I think it’s worth the time

It was really fun to plan and execute this shoot because Julia and I were on the same page. (I think we stalk much of the same wedding blogs haha!)

So Julia collected a ton of fun things – old books that she and Andy love, a blanket that was her grandmother’s, the absolute cutest picnic basket – and we brought a long a couple of our favorite things too – an old camera that belonged to my grandparents, some blue mason jars that I’m obsessed with, an old box so we could create some levels… I even brought along our record player, but it’s newer and didn’t look right so you might not see it in many pictures. When we had enough of the picnic, we just walked through the rest of the Arboretum… it wasn’t dramatically in bloom, but we found some beautiful purple flowers and some bright light peeking through the trees. I love the purple and yellow together.

The next part that was absolutely crucial was selecting the right time of day… 6-7ish is the “golden hour” when the sun is going down and isn’t so damn bright We actually had to reschedule the shoot once because it was supposed to rain on the first day we had picked, and was very grey and cloudy. Normally, that wouldn’t have been a problem, but remember that aforementioned vision we had? It included warm, glowy, lovely evening sun.

see that sunlight coming in the frame? I love this!!!

How cute is this?? I could totally see them on the couch doing the same thing.

LOVE this SUN!

this is so dreamy

silly and sweet. i love it!

it's like they're under the mistletoe. I love how Julia's laughing- it totally shows how they are completely amused by each other

Do I need to love a photo of a dog in a sweater at a wedding for more than the fact that it’s a dog in a sweater at a wedding?

Click here to see why I started this feature.