Rachel Kate Photography Blog

Oh. My. God. I can’t even tell you what I would do right now for either a frozen box of Thin Mints or a giant softish chocolate chip cookie.  There is nothing that could even remotely pass for chocolate in my house right now and I feel like I might implode if something chocolaty doesn’t hit my tongue right away. I happen to know that there are three boxes of Girl Scout cookies (2 Thin Mint and 1 caramel delight, of course) waiting for me at my girlfriend Lisa’s house and I am sending telepathic signals her way hoping that she will somehow mysteriously be compelled to pack up her 4 kids and drive over to my house with my 3 boxes of cookies right this very second.  I don’t have high hopes that my telepathy is that powerful but I am trying for all that it is worth right now.

While I try to keep my mind of the chocolate jonesing I will share with you my nephew, Sam’s two year photos. Good God almighty, that child is like a pinball and I spent the better part of an hour literally running after him up at the studio. Again, and I can’t say it enough, thank the Lord for expensive camera and fast shutter speeds. It was worth it though because my fabulous sister in law came bearing gifts/bribes for shooting him. A bag with a case of Coke Zero, 2 BRAND NEW books, a Target gift card and two bottles of wine. I mean, there is not much more that makes me happier in life and they were all put together in a little bag of heaven.  Holla, Aim. You rule.

A HA Sammy! Bet you thought I didn’t get that, didn’t you. Don’t underestimate me OR my camera, mister.

Love you crazy boy.

xo, Auntie Rachel

Good morning everyone! So, yes, it is slightly snowing BUT there is just the slightest bit of sunshine, so I can handle it. And yes, my kitchen is still in shambles and I am awoken nightly by any number of anxiety dreams. One that was particularly horrifying was when my teeth fell out.  I had that one coupled with all of the stones in my wedding band falling out immediately after loosing my adult teeth and I was walking around with a zip-lock full of teeth and diamonds. Awesome. I can’t tell you how great it was to wake up from that one. Usually though, I am horribly unprepared for a wedding and am missing all memory cards and my camera three seconds before I am supposed to start shooting. Or like last night, had an engagement shoot with a couple who I had no memory of booking, didn’t know their names and was forced to come up with some engagement shoot brilliance in the halls of an elementary school. Completely normal. No cause for concern over here. BUT, it will eventually be finished and I am a lucky girl to have a kitchen never mind be dealing with the whiny discomfort of doing dishes in the bathroom sink while it is in the middle of being made into exactly what I want. And yes, it is one of those annoying half days (seriously? can someone tell me when the need for a half day every other week arose? didn’t we get like 3 in our whole elementary school career??). BUT I get to watch Jameson walk around in just his pj pants holding a sword and having a full on conversation with himself while he periodically walks in my office and casually mentions that he loves me so really? things could be a lot worse.

I’ll tell you something that has no downside at all. My love affair with Adriana and Andy and their New Year’s Eve wedding.  These two people make me happy and if I could somehow adopt Adriana as like a really close cousin or a cool next door neighbor (you know, someone I would need to have contact with on an every couple of day basis) I would be a happy lady. Outside of ringing in the New Year on my couch surrounded by my three men, there was ABSOULTELY no other place I would have wanted to be besides The Barker Tavern in Scituate that night.  I can’t really explain in words what it was like watching these two on their wedding night. I don’t think that I have ever seen two people just so flippin’ happy to be getting married to each other. Andy DEFINITELY wins Happiest Groom Award. Any time you couldn’t find him you just had to look a couple of feet in there air because that is where he was walking all night long. And Adriana, my cool glasses wearing bride (because no one else could pull off wearing her glasses on her wedding day and totally rock it the way that girl did) was one giant smile the whole night long.  It was such a fun party and you couldn’t see a square inch of dance floor the entire night. People were there to celebrate, there was no doubt about that.

Let’s jump in… my shooter Kat Hanafin had the boys and I had my lovely ladies.

Andy is a Captain in the Massachusetts Army National Guard, had to give him a little patriotic love…

Hello, Gorgeous.

This I love. It is so Adriana. We have a love affair of quick email response times and pride ourselves on our exceptional ability to respond faster than any other people this side of the Mississippi.

I love this one that the Kitty Kat got.

A watch for her groom.

And diamond studs for his bride.

C’mon. Who else can wear glasses and look like that??

Time to get married.

Seriously, Andy? Be cuter.

I like this view that Kat got of the ceremony. The place was perfect for a winter wedding.

Can’t stand it.

Adriana’s dad watched the ceremony from Italy on the computer. 1) Technology is ridiculous. I have a hard time wrapping my brain around the US Postal service. Watching his girl get married FROM Italy…my head could explode. 2) There was a point that I had to move the table he was on to shoot some formal portraits. It was weirdly unnerving. That’s all.

And then it was outside for some sparkler fun (in a Stella induced flash of brilliance I bought sparklers online for some fun outside shots).

Into the reception.

These two surprised everyone with a very fancy ballroom routine. It was like Dancing With the Stars live. There was some great dramatic lighting and I am in LOVE with these images.

Oh my. This one gives me chills. It is so timeless.

Adriana dedicated her bouquet to her mom and some nice person flashed their camera at precisely the right time for this to happen.

This was what the dance floor looked like. All night long. Standing on a chair was our only option.

MIDNIGHT!

And sadly, it had to end, but to end on this note (Kat was perfectly placed)? It makes it bearable.

When I can come out of a wedding feeling so grateful for the opportunity of being there and wake up one day to have this in my inbox..”the day was my dream come true and I really feel like I kissed all my frogs but got my Prince in the end!!!!!  We are truly looking forward to a LONG relationship with you as our friend and photographer….cause the PARTY AINT OVER SISTA!!!!!  There are more good times to come!!!!” I am reminded so clearly that I am one of the luckiest people around to be able to do what I do and do it for people like Adriana and Andy.

Thank you both so much. I don’t even have to wish you happiness..you two have that covered.

xoxox,Rachel

I love it. I am catching up on all of my stuff and I had the total pleasure of working this week on Mary and Dave’s wedding photos.  Their wedding was at the Black Rock Country Club (just like the last wedding I posted) back in December. The place is beautiful and so completely perfect for a winter wedding.  I love these photos not only because Mary and Dave are such a great couple but because I felt honored to be there for Mary who I went to high school with.  I’ve said it before on this blog, but I have no problem saying it again, Mary is one of the sweetest, most genuine and caring people I have ever met.  I don’t think I really knew how good of a person she was back in high school and I feel lucky to have gotten to know her better (Good God!!) 13 years later. I love Mary and Dave together and have so much hope for them and their future together.

I just want to jump right in because I am loving these pictures and seeing them reminds me of how awesome the day really was.

Have to give up a little “holla” for Weymouth…

You all know that the getting ready images are always my favorite part of the day. Mary’s are some of my all time favorites.

I love Mary’s smile and the fact that smiling is what she is doing most of the time…

Mary was a gymnast. Her back makes my back jealous.

Love these next two. So much.

Kat Hanafin was my second that day and I LOVE this one she got of the boys. Dave had his father stand up as his best man.  I think that is awesome (even if it did take me a minute to figure it out:).

She got this one of handsome Dave. So good.

This kills me. Dave’s sister, Ann Marie, got her dress caught in the locked door.

Happily, Mary and Dave opted for a First Look so that we could use some of the daylight for photos. I absolutely love a First Look. I love the moment it is and I love being there to capture it.

Compliments of Kat.

It was FREEZING and daylight was dwindling but they were troopers and we got some great stuff.

So cute.

And then it was off for the church. Mary’s dad has me on the verge of tears in these photos.

Dave’s mom isn’t helping the situation.

Thank you so much! I loved being there and love knowing that you two are together.

xo, Rachel

My heart lies in wedding and engagement photography. I love all of my subjects but weddings and engagements fire me up in a different way than my portraits do. If I was pressed to tell someone what my next favorite subject is,  it would be 2 year old girls in my studio. I love ‘em. Two year old boys are mad men, not in the good Don Draper sort of way, but in a thank God for expensive cameras and quick shutter speeds sort of way.  Little girls get it and their clothes are way cuter than what is offered out there for boys.  Bows and dresses bright colors and prints all make me happy.

I had a visit from my friend Riley Anne who turned two this month and honestly gets cuter every time I see her. I took a second to find the blog post I did almost exactly a year ago of Riley’s one year shoot and it is crazy how much babies change in a year.

LOVIN’ what we got.

Seriously, Riley? I am going to eat you.

She takes after her mother…

Yay, Reily! You rock, sister. As usual.

xo, Rachel

Oh thank GOD. The sun is shining, I slept uninterrupted for 8 hours last night, I am getting work done (loving the Kindergarten am/pm switch, for some reason I gained an hour of child free time, don’t know how and simply not going to question it) and for lunch I had Chipotle Grill. Life is SOOOO much better than gray, yucky yesterday. Now I just need to change out of my jeans and into some nice, stretchy yoga pants and all will be right in my world.

I am so happy to share some of my favorite images from Megan and Pat’s winter wedding. It feels like ages ago that I tore into the beautiful Black Rock Country Club on a snowy afternoon all ready to sprint around the place and get my bearings before starting a day of shooting. On my way in I past a pretty, tall girl who actually held the door for me and I breezed right by in a world of my own. It took a solid 3 minutes before I realized that the pretty girl was my bride Megan with lighter hair than I remembered and already looking beautiful  (without makeup, she is one of those). It was an awesome wedding with everything  from getting ready to the ceremony to the reception taking place right at the country club.

Megan is great. She wins my Most Organized Bride Ever Award, I am pretty sure she gave me a iterniary of the day and a shot list in a word doc about 3 months before the wedding was to take place.  The wedding was actually the first time I had ever met Patrick but from what I could tell these two copliment each other perfectly.

Let’s get started. I love that everyone got ready in the lockerroom of the country club. Can you think of a better place for all thoses girls to get ready? It was perfect.

There’s my Megan now. Cool as cucumber.

The kitty Kat Hannifan came with that day and got this of Pat (on the right) gearing up for the wedding.

So pretty.

Hello gorgeous.

Kat got this.

And I got this. Something about it I love.

Love it.

Awww…Meg’s dad. He was great. Right up there with my all time favorite father’s of the bride. Just great.

Then it was time. It seems weird seeing all the Christmas stuff now, doesn’t?

Here’s Pat, love the first time seeing pictures.

I just dig this one.

Megan and Pat both have huge families. And they really wanted big, huge group shots of all of them. Sounds good on paper but there are definitely easier things to do than to corral 40 guests at a time. We worked hard and made it happen and when they have these images 50 years from it will all be worth it:)

This wasn’teven the largest group we had but my good friend Julie (the hottie in red in the back row) is Pat’s cousin so I had to give her and her mom and dad a little blog love.

Caught this in all of the mayham.

I like this one that Kat got.

Good luck, Megan and Patrick! I was honored to be a part of your day and I wish you so much happiness on your journey together!

xo, Rachel