Adena and Ben – The Wedding!

As promised, here’s the post on Adena and Ben’s wedding day.  This post = hardest blog post ever because I am in love with every single photo from this day.  I would love to show you everything, but that would be ridiculous.  Perhaps later this year when wedding season has died down I’ll do a third post with my favorite photos of guests from the wedding.  Many of them were in theme outfits so you definitely want to see them (mullets, chain maille, and pirates – oh my!).

So, as you might have guessed, there was rain on Saturday.  Lots of rain, in fact.  So much rain that the fair (and demolition derby) were canceled.  Plan B was to get married in the (pink and white striped!) tent where the reception was scheduled to be held.  Except that didn’t work out because, well, the tent flooded.  So… Plan C went into full effect at around 4:30 for the wedding which was scheduled to start at 6:45.  Christy and the folks from The Marshfield Fair pulled the wedding together in a barn that is used to house awesome award-winning vegetables.  Seriously, people, they devised and set up the whole wedding in less than two hours.

The new plan: bring the derby cars INTO the barn.

Here’s the wedding party waiting outside the barn to walk in!

Adena and Ben waiting to walk in.  Ben walked in to “Welcome to the Jungle” and Adena to “Here Comes The Bride” (and no, I don’t know the real name of this song – bridal march?).

Getting married on top of a demolition derby car in a barn with exhibits about farming.

Everyone watching the ceremony – these chairs all had to be moved from the tent in the pouring rain.

The plan was for all of the guests to eat fair food (awesome!).  When the fair closed down, one vendor was generous enough to stay open so that the guests could eat.

Adena’s excitement about her cake was unrivaled by any other bride I’ve seen!

The first dance.

Dancing!

Adena’s parents dancing!

I am very jealous of this rainbow dress.

My guess is that this next shot was taken during “Living On a Prayer.”

I call this next shot “Of Weddings and Vegetables.”  Hah!

Thank you, Adena and Ben, for letting me a part of your spectacular day!!!  This was an experience like no other, and I am so happy I was there to document it for you.

There’s a great artcile in the globe about the wedding, so if you want to know more, click here.

And if you want to follow Leah LaRiccia Photography on Facebook (you know you want to!) click here.

Adena and Ben – Day Before the Wedding!

So Adena and Ben were planning to get married at the demolition derby at The Marshfield Fair this past Saturday.  It was going to be awesome – Adena and Ben drive onto the field in painted demolition derby cars, get out of their cars and jump onto the hoods, and then get married in front of everyone in the stands!  It was particularly meaningful because their first date was at this very demolition derby seven years ago.

On Thursday things were looking distressing as it is apparently hurricane season in MA.  We were all in a minor panic as the entire wedding was scheduled to take place outside, so I suggested going to the fair on Friday afternoon (when the sun was allegedly still going to be out) to take some photos just in case the weather refused to cooperate on Saturday.

This turned out to be a good idea, because we ended up with way more time than we would have had on Saturday.  So we went crazy taking photos!

We had access to everywhere in the fair.

And yes, Ben miraculously managed to get into (and then out of!) this little pink car!

Here are the stands from which the demolition derby is viewed.

Adena’s a great shot.

It rained a bit during our shoot, but we were prepared with a giant golf umbrella I purchased the night before.  Special thanks to Christy of C.A.K.E. Weddings, wedding coordinator extraordinaire, for pointing out to me that golf umbrellas can be purchased at golf stores.   Who knew there were even golf stores?  Not I!

On the demoltion derby track!

Crazy little bike!

It wouldn’t be a complete set of fair photos without a carousel!

PINK BUMPER CARS!!!

And now… the corn dog series.

Note to photographers: riding a ferris wheel with a camera in front of your face is really, really surreal.

I have to extend a HUGE THANK YOU to all of the wonderful people at the Marshfield Fair for helping us out and letting us do anything we wanted!  It was one of the best shoots I’ve ever done.  I am so lucky – I really have the best job in the world.  I got to climb all over rides while hanging out with a fabulous couple on the day before their wedding.

Stay tuned to find out what happened at Adena and Ben’s wedding on Saturday!

And don’t forget to become a fan of Leah LaRiccia Photography on Facebook!

Jackie and Dipal: Ski Lift Spectacular!

Because I am obsessing over the ski lift experience at Jackie and Dipal’s wedding this weekend, you will now be subjected to more ski lift!

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Jackie and Dipal – Married Again!

Jackie and Dipal had a second ceremony on Saturday, this one at Mt. Wachusett!  We were with Jackie and her attendants while they were getting ready.

Jackie’s attendants wore black dresses with hot pink shoes.  Yes, folks, hot pink shoes.  Me = jealous.

We were nervous because it was intermittently raining on Saturday (which was actually a good thing, as the weather forecast claimed that it would just be raining all the time).  As the girls were getting ready, it was pouring.

Of course, however, the rain magically stopped for the rest of the night and we had clear skies for the ceremony and everything that came after!

And because the rain stopped, we were able to take the ski lift!!!  (Stay tuned for the very special “Jackie and Dipal: Ski Lift Spectacular!”)

The ski lift was the best thing ever.  I have to admit that I was nervous going into it – I was nervous that it would start to pour while we were up there, I was nervous I’d drop my camera over the chair and down into the mountain, I was nervous that I’d be taking photos at the top and would forget to get off in time and who knows what would happen!?!?  But none of those things happened, and it was an amazing experience.  I think it must have been even more amazing for Jackie and Dipal to have peaceful time alone together after participating in two wedding ceremonies in one day.

After the ski lift we had a few minutes to take some photos with the wedding party.

The reception was lovely and had a nice, cozy feel to it.

And their cake was adorable!

Dancing, as always, was a blast.

It seemed that things were winding down, so I took a short break to chat with Darrell and Christina who at the wedding.  We were talking for a few minutes while most of the guests were leaving, and then I looked up and THIS was happening!

People had removed the hot pink ribbons from the chairs and were having a dance/limbo extravaganza!  It was awesome.

Thank you, Jackie and Dipal, for letting us be a part of BOTH of your beautiful weddings!

Don’t forget to become a fan of Leah LaRiccia Photography on Facebook!

Jackie and Dipal – Married in the Morning!

Jackie and Dipal got married (twice!  stay tuned!) this weekend.  Their first ceremony was in the morning, and was a gorgeous Indian ceremony at the Courtyard Marriott in Fitchburg.  It began with a ceremony involving Dipal’s side out in the parking lot.

As the music began… the rain also began, so we headed for cover!

Jackie getting ready right before the ceremony.

The ceremony was absolutely beautiful.

One of the great things about the ceremony was that the significance of the customs were explained as they were happening.

This next photo is one of my favorite photos from the entire day.

After the ceremony, there was a DELICIOUS lunch buffet.  I am only going to show you my two favorite photos from that portion of the day because we have a whole second wedding to look at!

The first is a photo of Jackie’s mother explaining how one’s face starts to hurt from all of the smiling – so true!

The second is a photo of one of the wedding’s more inquisitive guests having fun before lunch began!

Photos from the American ceremony coming soon!

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A Photo I took….

… is on the Newbury Comics website.  I am very excited!

Annie’s Headshots

Annie came in yesterday to have some headshots made.  You may remember Annie from her recent role in Zombie Prom.

I did my rough edit yesterday, and from around 400 frames I got it down 275.  From 275 to 175, and now I am just stuck!!!  There are 175 great shots of Annie and my goal is to get it down to 50.  Wish me luck!

This last shot is my favorite from the sitting – this would be my pick!

Thanks Annie!  You did a great job yesterday and have therefore made my job of narrowing down the photos very difficult.

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Margot!

Are you ready?  Are you ready for the onslaught of cuteness?

Meet Margot!

Margot = Happiest Baby Ever.

Margot brought a bunch of different outfits for her session and they were all awesome.  I think, in the end, my favorite is the blue dress below.

This is what I like to see – total commitment to the photo shoot.

And now for the yellow outfit!

Thanks for a great photo shoot Margot!!!

p.s.  Don’t forget to become a fan of Leah LaRiccia Photography on Facebook!

Sarah and Chris: The Special Dance! Edition

It is no secret that the dancing is just about my favorite part of any wedding.  Many photographers find the reception to be their least favorite part of the day, but it’s what I most look forward to!

The reason I love the reception is because everyone lets loose and wonderful things happen!

Sarah and Chris’ reception at Lake View Pavilion was some of the best dancing ever.  All of the guests were really into it!

I almost missed this next shot – Uncle Mark throwing himself onto the dance floor during Shout!  The DJ played this song twice because for some reason Uncle Mark missed the first time it was played.

y-M-c-a!

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Sarah and Chris – 8.7.09

My friend Kathy and I shot Sarah and Chris’ wedding last weekend and it was really fun!   We split up and I headed to Sarah and Chris’ house to take photos of Chris and his groomsmen before the ceremony.

I love that I didn’t place the dog in the next photo.

The guys getting ready at the church.

Flower girls!

Sarah and her father right before the ceremony is about to begin.

Receiving line fun!

Here are some moments I caught during the taking of the formals.

And now a series on how to bustle a dress.

The reception was at Lake View Pavilion in Foxboro and was absolutely beautiful.

There was an ice cream bar…

…and a bouquet that had to be tossed three times in order for someone to catch it.

The reception was SO FUN.  Stay tuned for a second blog entry – Sarah and Chris: The Special Dance! Edition.

p.s.  Don’t forget to become a fan of Leah LaRiccia Photography on Facebook!