I met Jes and Billy in the winter sometime to talk about their wedding.  I felt so comfortable with them from the second we started talking and we made a date for August.  They chose not to do an engagement session so driving up  to the beautiful Nonantum Resort in Kennebunkport, Maine I was, well I wouldn’t say I was nervous, but I would say I was maybe curious as to how the day was going to go. We had only met for about 40 minutes months before and I was prepping to be in their faces for the next 9 hours or so. I got to the resort a little bit before Jes returned from the salon and as soon as I saw the tent being set up with pink and orange Japanese lanterns I was so far past curious and as far into pumped as I could get.  And then Jes walked around the corner and my heart did a little dance because she was not only stunning but instantly upon seeing her I felt totally at ease and I knew that we would make magic.  And then all of her gorgeous bridesmaids entered the room and again, I was thanking my lucky stars. And then I saw her dress..and then ..and then..and then… The whole day was story book.  The detail put into the wedding was amazing but beyond that, way, way beyond that, was the complete and total kindness that emanates from Jessica, Billy and their  families, who took time to make me feel like they were truly grateful that I was with them.  There are times when I leave a wedding and have that feeling I felt when I was  a waitress and was looked at as “help”. It doesn’t happen often but it does happen.  From the second I met Jessica’s family they made me feel at home and Jessica is truly a credit to her awesome parents because just being near her made me happy.  There wasn’t a second that Jessica took for granted.  She was and is blessed and she knows it and she is thankful.

On top of the beautiful weather and location, the amazing detail, the kindness and joy I was moved most by how incredibly in love Jess and Billy are.  They just are. It was almost tangible. And it was moving. I loved every second of their day that I got to capture and the feelings of their day stayed with me long after my drive home.  They are good, good people and they deserve all of the happiness that they are creating in their lives.

Here we go…

The details..oh the details…

This is Jes’s sister. Kind of not right how perfect this family is.

Well hello, Gorgeous.  The SUPER talented Tara Vaccaro Gundmundsen of Tada did Jessica’s makeup. Tara is beyond sweet and I have seen her work a few times and am always blown away.

I have no words for these next few.

On our way.

Jes’s dad spent the morning placing pink and orange banners along the side of the road all the way from the highway to the church. The limo driver was very accommodating when I asked him to pull over so I could hop out and take a quick pic. And not for nothing, but have you ever seen green hydrangeas before?? Why is this new to me??

I think they made his day.

I love this church. Like, I have a crush on it. For real.

There is Billy (and his best man hysterical brother)!! Such a great guy. A gentleman all the way.

Jes’s mom.

I love how Billy is looking at her here.

See what I mean? The church was perfect. And the ceremony was so beautiful. Different yet traditional. Just awesome.

Married!

This is what Billy does. He picks Jes up and puts her over his shoulder. Like. All. The. Time. Not sure if there is anything cuter.

What? Oh yes, OF COURSE there was a lemonaide stand set up outside the church. Don’t be silly…what kind of question is that?

This is one of my favorite pictures of the day. We got into the limo and Jess just had a moment. Overwhelmed by how amazing her day was and although I did feel slightly creepy aiming my camera through the divider in the front to capture this private moment I am so glad that I did.

Oh, did I happen to mention that for their pictures they figured I would like it if we just had the limo driver drop us off in the middle of Kennebunkport so that we could just take a little walk together and see what we got…ummm… yeah. At this point I was on the verge of exploding. Just spontaneously combusting with a) how much I loved them and b) how excited I was to just shoot them exactly the way I love to shoot, taking a walk and seeing what happens.

It was ridiculous. They were like celebrities. Everyone around us was so happy for them. Just an awesome experience.

Just so happy to be together.

Back to the Nonantum.

Blow it up, brothers.

I love this picture of this family.

I am still not entirely convinced that Billy is Mr. Lynch’s son.  Just not buying it…

And I am not sure why this isn’t a wedding REQUIREMENT. They did double dutch”jump roping” and it was quite possibly one of the best things I have ever seen at a wedding.

I was a cheerleader for a lot of years. And I don’t think my toe-touch was ever that high.

Thank you Jes and Billy!!! Such an awesome day, you guys deserve all of the good things you have coming to you.

xo, Rachel

Today I am happily sharing with you the wedding of my girl Nancy to Kieran.  It took place a few weeks ago at the beautiful Wequassett Resort down the cape. The day was beautiful and Nancy was so, so excited.  You remember Nancy? One of my BI girls who LOVES to have her picture taken and really, is there a better combination of person out there for me? Don’t think so.  Everything about the wedding was quintessential Cape, from her parent’s beautiful home where she got ready, to the church, to the ridiculous Wequassett right on the ocean. It was just an awesome day.

Let’s get started…

She was so cute. She COULD NOT wait to get into her dress.

Love this of Nancy and her dad.

Kat Hanafin came along and got the boys for a bit before the ceremony.

And there is Kieran.

How about those eyes??

I love this one of her family.

Love it.

Her dad decorated the golf cart for the occassion..so cute…can’t stand him..

Kat got this one of the boys.

On their way.

I think this one that Kat snapped is cool.

Just love it.

Mmmmmm….

I love that my buddy Sean truly thought that I would not blog him and his pretty wife Kathleen. Silly boy.

Kat got this. It is perfect.

Congratulations Nancy and Keiran!! Thank you so much for inviting me to be a part of your amazing Cape wedding. I wish you so much love and happiness int he years to come!

xo, Rachel

I’ve know Eric (which is weird for me to type because I have always known him by his last name Lobo and have never called him Eric in my life) since freshman year of college. He is marrying Ana in a couple of weeks and I will be there to shoot it. We went for a stroll around my beloved Navy Yard last week for some practice and here are some of my favorites from the day.

Ana is stunning.

My fav.

See you in a couple of weeks!

xo, Rachel

 Yes, there were definitely nights that I would wait by the window in tears for Eric to pull up and take them for a little while so that I could make a complete thought in my head for once in 12 hours. And yes, there were the days (more than I care to remember) that I had no patience and yelled at my little boys because the thought of cleaning up the SAME mess AGAIN was overwhelming.  I didn’t particularly enjoy pushing my kids on the swings for hours on end. I could tell myself in the moment that there would be a day that I would give anything just to be able to push them for awhile again but it never made me love to do it. And I won’t lie and say that nap time wasn’t my favorite part of the day.  But I miss their warm little bodies curled up on mine while they settled down to rest. And I miss the way they looked in the tub and the way they talked with a binkie in their mouth. I miss seeing them see things for the first time and I miss being a young mother so totally in love with my first baby that I felt like I was walking on air.

I never think that I can love any stage of their childhood more than I love the stage we are currently in. I have said SO many times over the years that I just want to freeze time. Stop it in it’s tracks so that Jameson will always have the chubbiest legs and curly blond hair. Or so that Aidan will sit in his high chair with his arms folded behind his head like that forever.  And right now, I want it to stop so that Aidan will always look so flipping cute as he is all business in his zipline gear heading up the ladder like a little man. Or so that Jameson will still come directly to me in the morning to curl up and cuddle for a while before we start our day.

My mother always says “The minutes last a lifetime but the years fly by” and she is so right.  I never thought I would get to the place where I had two kids in full time school. NEVER. And here I am. Crying on my keyboard because time flew by while I was busy complaining about how the minutes were taking forever.

Aidan and Jameson-

I love you more than you will ever know.

xo, Mom

It is no secret that in terms of babies I am DONE. Finished. That baby ship has sailed and with it went any visions of me lugging around an infant carrier and putting ruffle bum tights on a baby girl (because if I am even going to envision it I might as well do it with a girl in the picture).  No cute, cuddly newborn makes me think about anything more than the fact that I am happy to be able to hand them off at some point in the near future.  My friends have some pretty cute kids and I happen to be the aunt of quite possibly the most beautiful child in the world and NONE of them make me think, even for a second, that I would like to go down that road again.  It just isn’t even a thought that enters my head. That is until last week when Elizabeth walked into my studio and in an instant made me sit and try to rationalize just HOW I could pull off having another baby. 

Liz is yet another of my BI loves. She is a NICU nurse and is due with her first baby in a few weeks. She came with her husband for a maternity shoot and took my breath away.  She is so incredibly gorgeous and is everything magical and beautiful and perfect about what it means to expect a baby. To decide that you would like to grow another human and to relinquish all control over your body is a pretty intense yet fleeting experience.  You do it, you live it, you feel like you will be pregnant forever and as soon as you give birth it is over. Done. Just like that. I think that I bear witness to some seriously important moments in people’s lives but the shoots I love the most, the ones where I truly feel like I give a gift to my clients are the maternity sessions.  I just can’t stress enough how important I think it is to capture this moment in a woman’s life. Because looking back I can’t even believe I ever did it, let alone twice.

Liz came to this session completely prepared to make the absolute most out of it and I loved EVERY second that I got to shoot her. She left all inhibition at the door and with her husband, Chris (who looked at her like she was the sexiest, most beautiful woman on the planet) we caught these moments for them to have forever. The days before their lives will change in ways that are unimaginable to even them right now.

This girl is as sweet as she is beautiful and I feel lucky to know her. I can’t even begin to pick a favorite. I love them all.

Chris is from the Netherlands and “lief” means “sweet” in Dutch (I think it is Dutch, I definitely know that that word means “sweet”).

Thanks. Thanks a lot for making me wonder, even a little bit, if I could possibly have another baby:)  Seriously though, I am SOOO happy that you did this, Liz and Chris. I am so happy it was me who got to capture this for you. That “lief” little baby is one lucky soul to have you two as parents. And I can’t wait to see if the love of your life will be dark or light!!

xo, Rachel

While I continue to mentally tuck myself away into my happy place I will share with you my little friend Matteo. He is four months now and so cute and non verbal…I miss those days… As always, I had a lovely visit with one of my favorite families and got to chill with my boyfriend Luca who is now two and as awesome as ever.

There’s my boyfriend now.

Thanks guys! Awesome as always.

xo, Rachel

Anyway, let me tell you about Mia and Peter. A total bonus. Harry, my buddy who has the space behind mine in the building my studio is in is an antiques dealer. Mia and her mom are whatever it is that you call the people that go to the antiques shows weekly (antiquers?). Harry recommended me to Mia for her upcoming September wedding and I was lucky enough to have her get in touch.  Their wedding is soon so Mia and Peter came down to the studio last week to get a quick practice run in before the real deal.  They are awesome..a TOTAL bonus. Mia is gorgeous and her laugh makes me happy (plus she likes to do it which makes me even happier) and Peter. Oh Peter. God love him. He was the best sport but having his picture taken is definitely not up there on his list of favorite things to do.  You wouldn’t know it though because these two just laughed their way through the shoot and made my job easy. I am so psyched to be there when they say I do less than a month away.

They are so cute.

This might have been right around the time that Peter found out that the pictures would end up here on the internet.

This is my favorite.

She is just ridiculous.

My shoes are jealous of her shoes and my legs are jealous of her legs.

See guys? Not so bad. You did great and just think, Peter, less than a month before you get to do it all again!

xo, Rachel

I must have had two cups of coffee that day because I had the notion to go and grab some balloons for her birthday shoot.  I don’t know which of these pictures I love the most.

Yes. Yes they do say her name on them. Her mother Nadia is so lucky she had a girl. She was made for one.

Don’t even get me started on the tutu.

Happy Birthday baby girl!! Thanks for making my dayand being the perfect little cupcake that you are.

xo, Rachel

Last year I had the pleasure of photographing Lauren and Keith’s wedding down in Rhode Island. Love them. So funny, so kind and just completely enjoyable people. Lauren’s sister, Christy, got in touch with me what feels like a hundred years ago (I think it was in March or something like that) to set up a time for me to come and shoot her family this summer.  One of the things that I love about what I do is that I often get to see areas that I would NEVER happen upon in my everyday life. Not going to lie, there was a point in my journey out to their AWESOME log house that I was questioning just where the hell I was going to end up.  I made it and kind of didn’t want to leave.  It was so rural and they actually all own and wear cowboy boots. Love it. They have horses and tractors and three awesome kids and despite the 90 degree heat we had so much fun.

Ben won his first blue ribbon in a tractor pull the day before I got there. I kind of can’t handle how adorable he is.

Baby Maddie! Christy was pregnant with her when I first met her.

And pretty Kelsey.

She is only like 14. Watch out, dad:)

LOVE.

Thanks guys! SO much fun. Thank you for having me down and for being so great.

xo, Rachel

The latest of my RI beauties is Kim and her equally handsome (and completely hysterical) fiance Justin.  Kim is sweet and laid back and has a very calming kind of personality. Justin, who I have met a couple of times, I THOUGHT was quiet. I was mistaken and what he is is actually a very funny dude who made our shoot (despite the 100% humidity and ridiculous temperature) hugely enjoyable.

We met in Providence and started shooting on the very bridge that Justin proposed to Kim on. It was so hot, and I was on the second RI shoot of my day and slightly exhausted. I needed to get my head into the game and as soon as I saw their fabulous styling, put them in their first pose and saw how amazing they was I was in it to win it and couldn’t get enough of shooting them. I knew we were making some pretty stuff and when I got back to my computer I was not let down.

It was hard to get Justin to be serious. Which was fine by me because it made Kim laugh and I am kind of in love with her laughing.

I could seriously do a lengthy blog post on all of Justin’s supermodel poses alone.

Love.

Love this.  What can she do? Kim just rolls her eyes and laughs and I love it.

So pretty, right?

Quick sweaty costume/location change.

I could easily do an entire hysterical series of the poses Justin was doing behind Kim’s back without her knowledge.

And of course it had to end on a laugh, and probably my favorite from the night.

You guys rock. I seriously cannot wait for your November wedding. Thank you for making this so much fun and for just being yourselves.

xo, Rachel