Aimee and Sean's wedding

I photographed Aimee and Sean's wedding on July 19, 08. Aimee is the sister of Patty, a dear friend of mine. So I already knew the families and also photographed Patty's wedding years ago. Aimee and Sean have been friends since they were in grade school, she was the girl next door. It was fun seeing Aimee so excited, she has been waiting for this day for a long time!
The reception was at Colleen's by Les. It was my first time there, they have a seven hour reception with TONS of food!








This is Aiden, Patty's son. He is so cute with his dirty little feet.




The guys actually walked to church on that hot July day.






We went to FDR park to get photos. It's such a cool location with this dome and lake in the background. You would never know it's in the middle of South Philly.








The girls strutting their stuff. I loooved the dresses!






Right when Patty gave her toast to Aimee and Sean her son, Aiden came over to where I was crouching and starting picking at the cake! He just could not help himself!







Click here to see more photos from this wedding on my website.

Pictage blog

I am on the Pictage blog today, check it out! Pictage is who host my client's photos for family and friends to view. But they are also a great resource for photographers. They have this blog, seminars, forums, and sell great products.

Kate and Matt's wedding

Kate and Matt's wedding was a great change of pace for me. The natural setting of Tyler Arboretum is perfect for the outdoorsy type. There are beautiful wild flowers, butterflies and even tree houses. The little nook where the wedding took place was surrounded by trees and so peaceful. They had a bluegrass band come down from Vermont to play during the reception. The band got everyone dancing and having a blast! It was nice having something different to listen to all night. (My parent's played old timey bluegrass music so I could relate and enjoy!) Everyone was so laid back. This is what every wedding should be like!






The matron of honor and the bride having fun!


I set it up so the bride and groom saw each other for the first time in this great butterfly house.




There was a frog sculpture exhibit, they hopped right up to get a shot with the frogs!




This is my favorite. I have been taking a lot of photos recently inside and next to whimsical looking trees. This one was just perfect it was like their own little house underneath. I set up a flash behind them to get some shadows for the tree branches. I love it, I just ordered a canvas sample print for my studio.





























To see lots more photos from this wedding click here to get to my website.

My wedding preparations

I have not written much yet about my upcoming wedding. I have been so busy with work because it is "Tis the season to be married!" I have two more solid decisions made right now. I am using Shackamaxon catering for our reception. I have tried my share of caterers of course and I just really enjoyed working with them a few times at Bartram's Gardens. They have a great website with lots of ideas for locations to have your wedding, which is also helpful. Believe it or not I have had tons of bad food at weddings. You would think the caterers would feed the other vendors well, for good recommendations of course and for photographers who work 10-12 hour days. But sometimes they skimp out and give us old sandwiches or luke warm lean cuisine looking pasta. So even some big name caterers were crossed off my list for this reason. I am happy about Shackamaxon because they have excellent food at a fair price. Ken, the events director is really nice too. He met us at the Sedgwick theatre and walked through to give us ideas.


and to answer the big questions every one's been asking me........
My photographer is going to be Sarah Miller who has been my second shooter now for about 2 years. Not only does she have a great eye I feel like she has become a friend too. We talk a lot in our car rides together and I feel so at ease with her not only as an employee but as the photographer for my own wedding. We think a like and see certain moments the same. She also has given me several original ideas and opinions through out or time shooting together and we learn from each other. I am excited to have her there and hope this will be a great opportunity for her portfolio too!


I need help with something! A dj! I am a bit of a music snob and I really do not want an average wedding dj. I have heard the same music over and over every weekend. I would rather hire someone that does not usually work weddings, but more of a club or bar dj. We are not doing most of the traditional stuff at the reception, Shawn and I have even been calling this the anti-wedding reception. We also want to find a traditional Irish trio band to play the first hour or so. Anyone know someone!?

photo shoot for a cherished mom

Wow I have been busy with shoots this summer! Rebecca called me after I shot her wedding in May to ask if I would do a portrait for her mom. Her mother has fully recovered from heart surgery a while back, so Rebecca and her siblings thought it would be nice to get a portrait taken for her as a surprise. We walked around Longwood gardens and talked about their memories of going there as children. This was a really nice gift to their mother who looks great!

















After Rebecca saw this post she wrote this to me below. It's such a great story about her mother's recovery.

"Heather, Thank you, thank you, thank you! That was so fast! You must have been working very hard all week. These pictures, just like all of the images you take, look amazing!
Thank you so much for coming to Longwood Gardens to meet us. After you left, my mother told us how happy she was with the surprise and expressed how special it was to her to be in Longwood Gardens.
I know she will love these pictures. I certainly do, as the whole idea of getting pictures of her was even a bit selfish from the beginning. When my mother was in the hospital for so long I spent hours putting together a webpage with photos of her that we shared with family and friends nationwide. It was therapeutic for me. I found that we had so many pictures from when she was younger and we were children, but I couldn’t seem to find as many of her later in life. After her transplant surgery, I made it a point to always try to take more pictures of her and family so that we will have them forever. And I think I always knew that I wanted to do something more special, but never knew exactly what until I saw your work and was inspired by it.
I always wanted beautiful wedding pictures, and when Shaun and I found you we got more than we expected. But now I have the other pictures that I’ve always wanted. I may even be a little partial to these. My mother is a such a beautiful, caring and inspiring person. Watching her go through a massive heart attack, surgery after surgery, artificial heart pump, and later receive a transplant, we had plenty of moments when we weren’t sure if there would be any more pictures of her smiling like she did in these photos. And you captured her perfectly, both her sweetness and her playfulness.

I can’t wait to order prints!

Rebecca

PS – This is one of the first pictures I was able to take of my mom after her heart attack. Just look just how far she’s come. You would never know this is that gorgeous woman in front of the bed of purple flowers, would you? Needless to say, I like the batch that you took MUCH more."