Remember not that long ago when I blogged about my girl Lisa? Well, her fourth little bundle of joy arrived a couple of weeks ago and Brady is awesome. He is so super-cute I want to steal him. Just for like an hour (oh, who am I kidding, a half hour) or so. Just like I predicted Lisa is all “whatever…” no sweat at all. Four kids? Piece of cake. I sometimes question not only her sanity but her actual status as a human…how can she be for real?? More importantly, why didn’t I get some of whatever it is that makes her tick?
I know you don’t want to hear me get all mushy again so I’ll save it for another time and just get on with the show.
Yes. He really is that cute. And so flippin’ good. Just posed and worked very well with me and all of my photgraphic demands. I think we are going to be good friends.
Love this one of all of the kids hands and baby Brady’s feet.
C’mon. The dimple? Really? I might eat him.
Welcome to the world, little man. You picked a pretty good family to belong to.
xo, Rachel
So, oddly enough it’s raining outside. I know it’s hard for you to believe but, really, pouring. Why? How? What exactly did we do to deserve this? Pretty soon I’m going to need some answers. Good ones. What environmental spawn of the devil is responsible for this madness? I’m over it and I have tried to keep a stiff upper lip but that lip is crumbling and I don’t know how much longer I can hold on.
OK. Got that out of my system. Now let’s talk weddings. One in particular is worth mentioning right about now. The wedding of Chrissy and Steve. Remember these two? Chrissy is beautiful and Steve is right up there on that great guys list of mine. I had the pleasure of photographing their wedding a couple of weeks ago and it was awesome (and by some grace of God, dry).
Let’s just get right into it…
Holy smokes. As in holy smokeshow. Chrissy was gorgeous. Not surprising at all.
Remember my little Allie? She’s Chrissy’s niece and she just became a big sister! Keep a lookout for baby Chris.
I love this image of Chrissy and her dad.
Love this. Steve is seriously so proud and in love. You should see the way he looks at her.
This is Chrissy’s oldest son Ryan (their youngest, Noah is there in the background). Such a good little kid. And one helluva a dancer:)
I love how hard Noah is cracking up.
It was the day before Father’s Day and Ryan read a poem to Steve. Wicked cute…
*sniff*
It was a crazy party. This group of people were NOT messing around when it came to having a blast.
Congratulations you two! I loved being a part of your day and I know you’ll have the happily ever after you both deserve.
xo, Rachel
It’s funny looking at these pictures and seeing the sun. It feels like years ago since we have seen it. Nonsense really. Out of hand, dreary nonsense. But I think that the end is near and for now, I’ll give you some nice beach pictures with a cute one-year-old Aliya to help get you through.
I met Alyia with her mom and dad down in Dennis last week at a beautiful beach (sigh) and had so much fun running around and trying to keep up with her. I took her newborn photos last year and I can’t believe that a year has passed since she arrived. She’s awesome and the cutest little mix of Brian and Lozel. I think she bears resemblance to Lilo (you know, Lilo and Stitch), can you get any cuter than a real-life Lilo? Nope. I don’t believe you can.
We told her it said “Lifeguards Only” but she insisted…(and by she, I mean me).
C’mon.
Gotta be my favorite of the bunch.
She rounded the shoot off with a little barking at the birds and then we called it a day.
Thank you guys for having me down. I love seeing my babies grown up and Alyia-girl/Lilo, you rock!
xo, Rachel
Nope. There will be no fancy high heels. And uh-uh. Don’t even think about a tux. You guys are lucky there is even a wedding at all. Lauren and Keith got married at the beginning of this month and a more laid-back couple I’m not sure ever lived. They wanted a party. They wanted to laugh with their family and friends and they wanted me there to capture it. Done. Done. And done.
I love these two. I shot their engagement session not that long ago and my face hurt from laughing so hard. The wedding was no different. They are perfect together and their love of laughter and each other is written all over their faces.
Lauren doesn’t like her freckles. I wholeheartedly disagree.
Lauren needed to make a quick stop at her place of work and brighten up the day of some of the elderly folks she works with. She was amzing with them, one of those rare souls that sees and brings out the best in those around her.
Lauren’s mom got misty a few times that day. Seeing her walking her baby down the aisle almost got me a little teary. Almost:)
Then it was picture time and this is pretty much the way the story went for the rest of the day. Always laughing. Always smiling. I’m not kidding, my face hurt.
I wish I had room to show you all of the poses Keith struck behind Lauren’s back. One of the funnier people I have ever met. Lauren loves it and expects nothing less.
Just cracking up…shocking, I know.
Love this.
And now, I’m sure the are living happily and hysterically ever after.
Thank you guys. Thank you for inviting me and for keeping a smile on my face the whole day. I wish you the best of luck in the days ahead.
xo, Rachel
Ummm….not even sure how to start this post. I’m not sure what I did to deserve Liz and Kent, but somehow Liz found me and I swear she is some photographic angel in disguise sent here to make me happy. I have been dying to get a couple in and around my new studio and I knew just from the emails that Liz and I have shared (like when she forwarded me a picture of the dress she wanted to wear for the engagements) that these two were who I wanted to play with there first. They happily agreed and on Sunday we had a blast and I couldn’t love the stuff we got more. Liz is so cute, giggling that “they’ve never done this before” right before she got into the first of her three outfits and struck a pose with no prompting from me.
I love these photos. Love actually doesn’t begin to describe it. Narrowing them down was almost impossible.
The building my studio is in has the most amazing light, character and opportunity for killer shots and we took advantage of it all.
Liz was stunning.
Kent wasn’t so bad himself.
My studio happily, fortunately, unbelievably luckily resides next to a couple of generous antique dealers that are cool with me using some of their stuff as props. Life couldn’t get better…
I really can’t choose favorites. Liz and Kent are awesome in all of them. But I really dig this one. And the last one gives me chills.
Antique frame+ gorgeous Liz+ sexy Kent = Happiness
Thank you so much. Thank you for being willing to try anything and for being your happy, in love and perfect selves.
Can’t wait for September!
xo, Rachel
I’ve mentioned before how I love to see people that I was young with grown up and becoming parents. I got to spend some time with my friend Tom, who recently became a father to little Thomas McGuire and who I spent plenty of time around a beer pong table with at the lone frat house in Bridgewater my freshman year of college. Tom married Tricia who went to the same high school as me, and together they have grown up, live in a beautiful house and just welcomed their first little baby into the world.
Tommy is a doll and I am so happy for Tom and Tricia.
Congratulations Tricia and Tom!
xo, Rachel
So, I am going to be honest (I know that’s hard for you all to believe. Me honest?) but I wasn’t feeling it. Monday night rolled around and as much as I was looking forward to seeing my pretty friend Megan and her husband-to-be I was tired and I just wasn’t feeling creative or talkative or funny. I had spent the whole day in front of the computer and on the ride down to Plymouth to meet Meg and Luke I was having myself a nice little pity party, whining in my head about how much work I have to do, how I need a haircut but can’t find the time, the ever present hovering fear of the reality of school being let out, blah, blah, blah… can’t even stand myself.
On my ride down I neglected to be grateful for the reality of the summer being here (and my perfect, healthy boys being so excited about their vacation). I neglected to be grateful for the ability to share what I love to do with people as cool as Megan and Luke. I neglected to be grateful. Period. When I got to Plymouth Rock and saw Megan and Luke, dressed perfectly, looking happy and to me to provide them with this experience all of my annoying, petty nonsense faded away. I am lucky.
Shooting them was a breeze. I loved watching them in their own little world simply enjoying each other. Megan is a beautiful, kind, generous person. She gives of herself as a teacher and as a human in ways that my sometimes selfish mind is jealous of. And I credit Megan, in a small way that she doesn’t know about, with providing me an experience and therefore a path that has led me and my family to the place that we are today.
I love these photos. I feel like they capture Megan and Luke so well and they encapsulate a style and a vision that I have in my head. Megan and Luke translated that beautifully and I thank them for that.
This would become a canvas above my couch.
This one would be a canvas over my bed.
Totally unprompted. How can that be, you ask? Because they were perfect, that’s how.
Thank you guys. For reminding me that to loose sight of what is important is just wasting precious time that I could spend being grateful for what I have. I can’t wait to be a part of your day.
xo, Rachel
I’m sitting here with my Great One well aware that this is my last Wednesday of working alone and uninterrupted before my precious little boys will be out of school and have a solid 12 hours a day to need things from me. When I feel slightly overwhelmed by the enormity of what exactly the summer means I channel my friend Lisa. I have been doing this since I met her outside preschol when our oldest sons were 3 and she quickly became one of my closest friends. Lisa is just about to become a mom for the fourth time, something that my brain cannot even comprehend (I mean, it’s not like we live in the wilds of Irish Catholic early immigration), and if there was ever someone who should have 4 kids it is Lisa. Leaving my mother out of the equation of course because that woman walks on water, Lisa is the best mother I have ever met. She breezes through life having 3 kids with a bag packed full of snacks (always enough for my kids, too) wipes (NEVER without a wipe when you need one), and a complete knowledge of dates for various registrations and other vital information like when show and tell is at the ready. There are times that I swear she is the child whisperer and can get a house full of kids to sit and listen in the blink of an eye. She is a master of traditions and by some lucky stroke of fortune me and my children have benefited from her amazing ability to make every holiday and every first Wednesday of the month Papa Gino’s fund raising night a momentus occasion. She pushes me to do better and when I don’t she will pick up my slack.
Pretty soon she will welcome her fourth lucky little baby into the world and I know that no part of her already busy life will suffer. She has a grace and positive outlook, an endless energy and a boundless love for her children and adding one more into the mix, while it gives me cold sweats to think about, will be no sweat at all for her.
We took some pictures (to put in the perfectly organized baby book that of course she actually HAS for all of her children) because she says it’s the last time. Hmmmm… I believe that when I see it:)
We thought when we took the picture above her bed that that was her family. I might have to digitally add the newest addition so she can keep the killer canvas above her bed without feeling guilty.
Lisa, I am so happy for you (although my eye rolling and laughing at you might make you think otherwise). I am so grateful for you and even though we don’t spend 40 hours and countless dollars a week anymore, you’re my girl.
xo, Rachel
My Moose got married. She was beautiful and he was gorgeous and it was perfect and I was there to capture it all (and for those of you who are wondering why I am calling her Moose, well she left that unique maiden name at the alter when she married Joel. It has nothing to do with her size).
Kylee is one of my closest friends. We met freshman year of college and I can honestly say that my friendship with Ky was the beginning of all of my real and true friendships. There was no part of our lives we didn’t share for those 5 (whatever, it wasn’t a race) years. We lived together (not quite sure how any of us made it out of that apartment alive and not hooked up to oxygen tanks) worked together (ha! remember that, Moose??) and grew up a little together. She has a beautiful soul, a hysterical sense of humor and really likes things neat and in order. I count her as one of my blessings and when she called me (what seems like a very long time ago when I was still pretty new at this photography thing) to tell me that she was going to marry Joel she didn’t even hesitate for a second when she decided that I would photograph the most important day of her life.
Joel has brought Kylee so much happiness and seeing the two of them on their wedding day vow to take care of and love each other forever was the only place in the world I wanted to be on May 29th.
Kylee moved to New York to be with her husband right after the wedding and while Buffalo is now a prettier, happier place with her there, we will all miss her so much. Life gets busy, time flies and although I didn’t get to see my moose-head nearly enough I took comfort knowing that she was only a 40 minute car ride away. Knowing that is not the case anymore has me sitting here in tears writing this blog but I know that she will always be my real and true friend and that the place in my heart that she holds will never change.
So enough is enough. Here is my pretty girl, couldn’t love her more.
I got to Ky’s house early and followed her to the salon to get as much before stuff as I could. LOVE the before stuff.
Kylee and Joel were married at the beautiful Doubletree Hotel Bedford Glen.
I can’t even tell you how stunning she was. Well, I guess I don’t actually have to since you can see it for yourself.
Makeup was done by the talented and super nice Tara Vaccaro Gudmundsen of tada.
So flippin pretty. I know I am partial to her but really, she’s gorgeous.
Love all her girls too. Funny group of ladies…
Kylee and Joel opted for a First Look before the ceremony.
This could be my favorite of the day.
It was not a pretty morning. Rain threatened and clouds were plenty. No one was worried about the outside ceremony. They knew that if Kylee’s dad up in heaven had anything to do with it that the sun would shine for her. He didn’t let her down.
Now I could post a couple hundrend images from the never-ending reception. But instead I decided to leave you with just one. Vanessa doing the worm. ‘Nuff said.
Kylee and Joel,
Here’s to you. To a long and happy life together.
Kylee,
I love you.
Joel,
Take good care of our girl.
xo, Rachel
Early this week I took a ride up to the Arboretum in Jamaica Plain (which might be my new favorite place to shoot) to see Katie and Matt and play around a little bit before their wedding in July. We had a great time (well, I did, if they didn’t they were good actors) and despite a flip flop fatality early on in the session (who says you can’t shoot barefooted hiding in the brush to capture the shoot thru effect that I love so much after a violent flip flop demise?) it went beautifully.
This might be my favorite.
Here’s pretty Katie.
Love this one, too.
This one makes me happy as well.
The next time you’ll be seeing them pretty Katie will be wearing white! Can’t wait. Thanks you two for being so accommodating to your crazy barefoot photographer. See you so soon!
xo, Rachel
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