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Kelly and Wyatt met at Merrimack College. Kelly was the athletic trainer for Wyatt’s lacrosse team. Once engaged, Kelly knew she would be married at Inn by the Sea as she had spotted it from a sailboat years before and announced that’s where she would one day say “I Do”. They hired me ages ago to capture the daytime event, and I had such fun traipsing the beautiful inn grounds and beach capturing the love.
On to the pictures…
Getting dressed with her girls in one of the cottages at the inn.
Katie and Sean met at her sister’s wedding 10 years ago, but nothing came of the meeting then. They met again while on a ski trip in New Hampshire in 2005 and have been together ever since. With their pooch Dexter (and the memory of their other beloved dog Mirna who recently passed), they treated friends and family to a sunny seaside ceremony at Sebasco Harbor Resort and a rocking reception with Bonerama, a funk band from New Orleans Sean has long followed at Jazzfest. J and Whitney did a fantastic job capturing the essence of the setting and the spirit of this fun occasion.
A birdhouse near the ceremony site. Appropriate, no?
Often, clients contact me with a sense of already having met me thanks to my blog. Such was the case when bride Kathryn called about her wedding a year and a half ago to check my availability. She had settled on a date I was already booked, but decided to have me cover her rehearsal dinner anyway. I loved that she still found a place for me in her wedding weekend and had a blast covering her pre-wedding night celebration.
Kathryn and Christian live in NYC, but returned to Maine where Kathryn attended college and has vacationed with her family on Drakes Island her whole life. It was a perfect collaboration of city meets coastal in a casual chic evening in the boathouse.
Clients-turned-friends Sarah and Hawley live just around the corner from the studio in Portland and are to be wed next month. When I wanted to have a show and tell portrait training exercise with my new associate Whitney, this adorable pair excitedly volunteered for an impromptu engagement session on the Eastern Prom. I walked Whitney through different angles, lenses and portrait poses of a typical shoot and here are some of my favorites from her take.
After dreaming of marrying at the Beachmere as a little girl on vacation in Ogunquit from New York City, Suzanne finally tied the knot to her longtime boyfriend Michael.
In Suzanne’s words, their story:
Mike and I met when we were 17-year-old freshman at NYU. He had a shaved head and an obsession with the Beatles. I was shocked to find out he was already a professional tap dancer who had worked with Gregory Hines and Savion Glover. I had hair down to my waist, pencil thin eyebrows and a nose ring and yet I think he figured out that I remained a suburban bookworm. We were friends for a year or so before we became a couple, officially, at 19. 10 years later and we’re getting married (finally!). We really have grown up together.
The Beachmere is a special place for me, too, as it is the location of the first wedding I ever photographed- my cousin Jeff- back in 2001. It has changed a lot since then, but the impressive ocean backdrop along the infamous Marginal Way remains a perfect setting for a wedding.
On to the photos…
Clouds gave way to a bit of sunshine in the afternoon, but fog later enveloped the grounds.
Megan and Evan met their freshman year at the University of Vermont, and started dating soon after. They were engaged at Orrs Island and returned from NYC, where they are living now, for an outdoor wedding at the Harpswell Inn. It was a classic New England summer day, complete with plenty of black flies to go around for all! Whitney did a fantastic job capturing the essence of the day.
Love this simple bedroom shot… especially the burned out lightbulb and drawn shade. Truly feels like we just happened upon this scene.
For the third weekend in a row, Emilie Inc. photographed at Spruce Point Inn! It was my turn this time, as J and Whitney had been there previous Saturdays. A blanket of clouds and occasional mist blanketed the inn for the duration of the day, sadly, so we weren’t able to take advantage of the typical stellar sunset. Like Lisa, I adore SPI in the fog anyway. There was a cozy, romantic feel to the afternoon, peppered with shrieks of joy from Lisa.
In Lisa’s words, their story:
Steve and Lisa met the summer before their senior year at Boston College. Lisa was a Research Assistant and worked for three different professors in the Psychology Department. Steve worked in the computer lab and often helped computer-illiterate individuals (like Lisa at the time) do things like burn important lab results on a CD.
Throughout the summer, Lisa would run into Steve at the lab and they would exchange small talk. It wasn’t until August that Lisa decided that she really liked Steve and from then on, Steve didn’t stand a chance! The two went on a few dates before they decided to be exclusive.
Two days after Steve and Lisa officially became a couple, the two realized that Lisa was to be Steve’s Resident Assistant (RA) at college. As dating a resident was a slight “no-no” in the RA world, Lisa decided to take matters into her own hands. Instead of breaking things off, Lisa marched into RA training, looked her boss in the eyes and said, “I have been dating a soon-to-be resident for two days, and I am sorry but I don’t plan to break-up with him!”
And the rest, as they say, is history!
On to the pictures…
Lisa catches her bridal reflection for the first time. Priceless (actually, I heard her mutter: “Gorgeous.” Love it).
Whitney returned to Spruce Point Inn for a second weekend in a row. Same venue, but every wedding is always different from the previous one no matter the location. Elizabeth and Derrick met online in Philadelphia, and returned to Elizabeth’s home state to tie the knot in a Romanian Orthodox ceremony and seaside reception. These two beauties opted to forgo the preparation photos to ensure all of their reception was captured by Whitney. It was such fun editing this party, and their enchanting movie star kisses throughout the day. Aren’t they stunning? Love Elizabeth’s dress!
Lisa and Carson met on the left coast in San Francisco. Both of their families have roots in Cape Cod, and it is here where they chose to say their I Dos. Despite Carson having ruptured his Achilles tendon just a few weeks before the wedding playing soccer, their big day went off without a hitch. Lisa, a gal after my own heart, did a fantastic job putting together a beautiful event for us to photograph. From the location (a ginormous mansion on the water), the bridal party (again, ginormous, and draped in the most stunning pinks, blues and greens), and thoughtful details (cocktail umbrella drink escort cards, lawn games and a raw bar during cocktail hour, a contra dance caller with a Bluegrass band at the reception…). Here, take a peek for yourself at these stunning details:
Lisa strung together 400 pennant flags on rope around the property for a nautical theme.
Elizabeth and Jason met at a networking event in Michigan after Jason had just moved there from DC. Ironically, Elizabeth was planning on attending grad school in DC, and Jason followed her there just 8 months later. They returned to Maine, where Elizabeth grew up, for their seaside nuptials with 75 close friends and family. It was a perfect setting for Emilie Inc. associate Whitney’s second wedding (with a little help from J).
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Emilie Sommer, Portland, Maine
Vendor: Photographer
Website: Emilie Inc.
About Me: Emilie earned a degree in photojournalism from Syracuse University and worked at USA Today and The Washington Post in Washington, DC, before opening her wedding photography studio, emilie inc, in Portland, Maine. She loves all the intricate details involved in planning, the warm fuzzy feeling about two people in love and freezing those moments in time in a photograph. It’s a contagious dancing-through-daisies kind of good feeling. She also started the Roots Workshop, the directory News Wedding Photographers and the non-profit Pink Initiative
