Tessah & Jared, 29 June 08

On Sunday June 29th, I had the privilege of photographing Tessah and Jared's wedding at the scenic Bristol Harbour resort in Bristol NY, along Canandaigua Lake's shores. They chose a country themed wedding, complete with wildflower bouquets, centerpieces and details. They included quilts in the decorations at the reception. The groomsmen wore snazzy custom shoes made by Jared along with khaki pants and a khaki colored jacket for Jared. The bridesmaids wore a vibrant green color, matching the green logo on the groomsmen's shoes.

First came Tessah with her (11!) bridesmaids, getting ready:



It was hot in the prep room, so her ladies helped out...


Some lovely bridal portraits...




After blessing the groom with prayer, the men gathered for some great photos as well.



Those funky cool shoes:


My favorite of the guys (click on the picture to see the full size version)


A monsoon of a thunderstorm (with reports of hail) passed through while I was photographing the groom. It stopped raining in before the ceremony, and threatened with a few sprinkles right at the start. After the weather cleared, we got some beautiful portraits of the two of them.

The moment when he first sees his wife (rain? what rain?):




Looks like a painting...


The reception was lovely, filled with fun times for the friends and family. Soon though the party ended and Tessah and Jared took off for their first night together as husband and wife!









Thank you for a wonderful opportunity. There were so many favorites of mine, so many great moments, it was hard to whittle it down to these few!

-- Andrew --

A rare opportunity... the proposal

I had a rare opportunity a few weeks ago that most wedding photographers don't get to see.. the very beginning of the wedding story-- the proposal! So, the story goes... I had gotten together with this couple, Tim and Joanna, to do some practice couples photography a month earlier. I later spoke with Tim privately and he indicated he wanted to propose to Joanna and wanted me to take pictures of it.

So we set up a ruse for Joanna-- I called her and said that some of the pictures from the couples session didn't come out and we had to redo them, plus I was missing a couple other types of pictures I meant to get. She totally bought into it. Tim and Joanna showed up with her suspecting nothing.




Tim and I never finalized a "signal" but I did say that I think that covered it. I did set them up so Joanna was looking at me with Tim behind her out of sight..



Tim then said "I have a pose idea!" and got on one knee:





Joanna was very, very surprised (and happy!)





Smiles were had all around. What a special moment! I was so happy to pull this off with Tim and give Joanna something to remember for a lifetime. And she got a pretty nice rock too!


They also will be hiring me as their wedding photographer (date TBD), which I will be pleased to do so. Thanks to Tim and Joanna for a special opportunity!

-- Andrew --