All of the snow has melted, the air smells fresh, the cherry blossoms were out, tulips were in full bloom and it felt like Spring was in full effect. This dreamy and romantic celebration of love was the best way to kick off my 2013 season.

Kaitlyn and Kenny exchanged nuptials on a cloudy yet sunny spring day in April. As I pulled up to the extraordinary brick Mansion on Turner Hill, I felt overwhelmed with excitement and wonder. What will the day hold for everyone today I thought to myself… Well that was a short lived thought because as soon as I walked into the sun-filled bridal chambers and saw 8 beauties in linen robes with Champaign flutes in hand, I knew it was going to be a fun day. They welcomed me into the room as if I was part of the bridal party, it was such an amazing start to my day.

After everyone was polished and ready we headed outside to the sweet and romantic gardens. Guests walked upon cherry blossoms that were dropped from the exquisitely large tree to the right.  Kaitlyn and her father walked down a pebble path {she in her Valentino heels} to meet Kenny standing near the terrace kissed with hydrangeas and crystal chandeliers. A giant golden harp sat to the right of the garden as it sang sweet songs to all to hear. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house, they were pronounced husband and wife the trumpets sounded as rose petals flew through the spring breeze… “All You Need Is Love” by the Beatles filled the air and I just about dropped my camera!

… had I died and gone to heaven?!

What made this day most special was the warmth and love that filled everyones faces. Kaitlyn and Kenny are going to have such a beautiful journey together, I’m so excited for them.

This really was a day to remember for everyone in attendance.

Peace & Love… Actually,

April K

This affair was decked from head to toe with 5 Star wedding vendors:
Venue: Mansion on Turner Hill {amazing venue to work with, Carol ROCKS!}
Flowers: Pepperberry’s {knock your socks off gorgeous}
Band:  Night Rhythm {rocked the house down}
Cake: Jenny’s Wedding Cakes {she did a great job!}
Second Photographer: Meghann Gregory Photography

Do you ever find yourself thinking:

• You would really like to have an overall theme that represents your wedding day

• You and your love don’t really fit into any of the typical “cookie cutter” wedding themes out there

• How the hell do brides find time to fine-tune all of those annoying details while having a life?

If you often find yourself drooling over those perfectly styled weddings that are plastered all over wedding blogs and pinterest I have the perfect person for you to meet.

Becky Pleshaw, founder of RP Design, who specializes in custom wedding branding.

April: What exactly is custom wedding branding?

Becky: Wedding branding sets the theme for a couple’s special day. It includes the colors, typography, imagery, and general style for all of the printed wedding materials, from save the dates to thank you cards. Branding provides a common thread that pulls together all wedding communication and compliments the overall look and feel.

April: You are a great resource for couples who know what sort of theme or brand they want for their day, but what about those couples who have absolutely NO IDEA!?

Becky: Typically there is already a foundation for design that we can uncover by discussing some basics.  Will the wedding be casual or formal? Daytime or evening? In a ski lodge, or on a beach? I can leverage what details couples already have, such as a bridesmaid color or wedding location, and build a complete brand from the ground up.

April: Do you have a process that you use to work with couples to help figure out what would best represent them?

Becky: I work with couples one-on-one to lay out their brand in a really organized way. I like to keep it as easy as possible for them, but I welcome whatever level of involvement they’d like to have in the process. We will decide on the general theme and work our way down the line, choosing a color scheme, typography style and any other graphics we plan on using throughout. We then define which materials they want customized and finalize the branding kit. The most important thing is that they are happy with the results and have a brand that’s perfect for them.

April: What look and overall theme was this couple wanting to achieve and how did you come to your final overal look?

Becky: Christine and Travis are getting married in Boothbay, Maine and they wanted their wedding materials to bring out the character of their location. They had a good idea of what they wanted and we worked together to bring their theme to life. Once we established the vintage postcard style save the date, I continued to incorporate the wedding colors, typography and custom imagery throughout the rest of the pieces that Christine and Travis would need.

April: Why should couples talk with you before checking out any other custom branding resource?

Becky: In addition to my passion for design, I have extensive experience in marketing, brand creation and strategic thinking. I take pride in my work and couples will feel confident that their entire design process is in good hands. I love getting to know the people I work with and together we will achieve the perfect theme for their wedding.

To find out more about what Becky offers, check out RP Design’s website and follow the blog!

Peace, Love & Branding,

April K

Happy Friday Peeps!

I decided to put all this personal talk on hold and put the spotlight back on weddings for a moment.

While I was in the midst of my wedding craze last year, I wrote a blog post sharing what I did to make my day unique to Justin and I {post here}. I mainly wrote it because sometimes I hear brides questioning themselves “am I allowed to do that?” “well I really want this but I’ll probably just do that”…. No my friend, this wedding is a ONE day celebration to kick off your life’s journey together. That means, you do not do things just because they’re easier. You do what you WANT and what is representative of the character of your relationship.

Well, that’s my thought anyway. This is coming from a girl {me!} who cancelled her first wedding plan {yes, after we put deposits down and had dates held} mostly because she didn’t feel 100% good about it, a lot of things were off and it wasn’t sitting right in her heart.

I digress, so after I wrote that post my girl Lauren, who is having a destination wedding and who also has one of the best characters I’ve ever known, needed some advice. I suppose this isn’t exclusive of only destination weddings, but that is where my head is at while I’m writing this.

Lauren Writes:

Hey April,

We’re doing a destination wedding because that’s what fits our budget and frankly Bryan and I are not the type to have a huge hoopla of a wedding and we’d much rather chill on a beach with rum punches and those fun little cocktail umbrellas. Fine.

The resort that we chose is extremely private and intimate and allows us to “customize” our wedding to fit what we want. Fabulous.

I found my dress and my bridesmaids dress. Ahead of the game, here!

Sccreeeeccchhhhhh…..this is where it stops. Now what do I do?!? Maybe more importantly, how the HELL do a plan a wedding on a beach in Mexico that is fully representative of a pig-chasing/tractor-driving/pumpkin-growing farmer (Bryan) and a Long Island-born/shoe-obsessed/career girl (Me)? I’m at a total loss here. Bryan and I are at complete ends of the spectrum with one another; possibly THE most opposites attract couple aside from two major things: 1. We love beer and 2. We can’t live without each other.

I guess my question is, what is your advice on how to figure out ways to make our wedding representative of who we are? Obviously we’ve had some great times over the past 2+ years that I can look back on, but all I want to get out of this wedding is for people to walk away and say “That was so them.”

I guess the main thing I’m stressing over isn’t the location, how my hair is going to look, or who is going to show up – - it’s more of a nervousness that we’re going to put this thing together and it’s going to look like someone else’s wedding rather than our own.

April, any or all advice that you could give me on this would be amazing. You know how I am: I love myself some organization and can provide you with the best strategic marketing plan money can buy, but when it comes to creativity, I fall flat, and I need to seek help from my creative friends before I’m labeled as boring

April Suggests:

Hey Lauren,

Here are 3 things you can focus on to make your destination wedding representative of you and Bryan:

1. Writing your own vows – I know a lot of couples squirm at this idea but really this is what a wedding is all about, getting married and pledging yourselves to each other. I feel like the ceremony is something that is often overlooked compared to what type of venue you’ll have, music, food, booze etc. This is one day that starts your journey together; nothing could speak more about your relationship than how you vow to spend the rest of your lives together. Believe it or not, vows are something people remember. Put your personalities into the vows and you’ll walk away feeling like that’s all you needed to make the day “your own”.

2. Bringing little signs for things, they’re packable in a suitcase and signage + printed items really add a lot of personality to the day. Don’t feel like you have to use formal language either, put your personalities into the verbiage you use. Programs + thank you cards at tables or in hotel bags + signage = make it all match and sort of style your day according to Lauren + Bryan’s world.

3. Your dress + your shoes + your jewelry + his outfit will have your personalities in it. Don’t be afraid to stray from traditional. Let Bryan wear a little flannel pocket square or a straw hat, representative of his pig chasing farm boy ways. Your shoe obsessed self can pick out a fabulous pair of TOMS or flip-flops that are representative of your favorite color. You don’t have to have HUGE statements to represent of who you are; sometimes it’s the little things that make an impact. Which is great for you since you have to pack it all up in a suitcase.

Remember, this is your day, do it anyway you want! Funky, vibrant, off the wall, and classically all yours.

Peace, Love & Destination YOU!

April K

I was thrilled when we decided to start out Emily & Bert’s engagement session in their Back Bay apartment.

Why?

Because I feel the more you incorporate your everyday-ness into your engagement photos {that you’ll have forever}, the fonder the memories will be down the road. “Oh remember that blanket” or “remember what fun it was living in that apartment… remember when we used to walk along the Charles and order out from our favorite restaurant…”  and it just opens the flood gate of memories from such a new and exciting time together.

My wish for each engagement session is for you to look at the memories years from today and be reminded of WHY you fell so deeply in love.

Emily and Bert certainly make a sweet couple, I am so looking forward to their wedding at the Boston Public Library in June of 2013.

Peace, Love & First Apartments,

April K

P.S. How clever and fitting is that Save the Date?!

When Marisa called me around this time last year, I remember being in Utah talking her through how I do things and she sounded so sweet and awesome. I loved her right from the start…I remember writing next to her name “book this girl”.

A year later here we are, at a beautifully decorated wedding at the Linden Place in Bristol, Rhode Island. Marisa did such a great job planning her day from the invitations right down to the favors, she really went all out with candles (which I LOVE) and put a lot of personal touches on just about everything she could. So many DIY spottings throughout the day, I loved it.

The only way I can describe Marisa and James together is by using the word “cute”, haha. They are just so head over heels for each other which made capturing them so much fun. I know they will have many many years of ooogling over one another, laughter and adventure.

Peace, Love & DIY Perfection,

April K

I often times ask couples what they’ll be doing with engagement portraits, so that I can plan and visualize for whatever it is they’ll be using them for. Sometimes they’re used for save the dates {which I’ll need to leave room for text etc} and sometimes they’re used for a guest book or just because. I feel engagement pictures are such an important piece of the puzzle when you’re starting to preserve your families history.

The engagement period is when it all begins, when you decide to walk through life together and start planning your future together. I feel this time is precious and will be long gone, before you know it you’ll have 3 kids who are all off to college, and you’ll be left wondering what happend. Time moves quick, I don’t need to tell you that. Having photos from a time in your life when you were fresh, new and learning how to love one another is a great “go to” during your marriage. Chances are you have never been photographed professionally together, so why not take advantage of this precious time?

{Christine + Travis}

Beacon Hill’s old world charm and slanted streets make it the perfect location for a very Boston-esq engagement shoot. I was so happy when Christine contacted me to capture not only her wedding {which sadly I cannot shoot} but also her engagement portraits. She is such a kind hearted and energetic person and I was so happy to get to know Travis better. They’re a couple that just melts into one another and can tell they’ll be together forever.

Follow below for our walk through the cutest town around!

Peace, Love & Crooked Streets,

April K

When I meet with potential clients for the first time, I never know what I’m walking into. Are they going to be lame, boring and I’ll do all the talking… or will they be super cool and tell me all about what they love to do together, what they love about each other and open right up?

Dan & Nicole were certainly the type of people that opened right up. Before we even discussed wedding details, we were talking about 3 day hikes in the White Mountains, camping, gear… you really couldn’t stop the rampage of our mutual love for the great outdoors! Finally when we got to the wedding stuff, we chatted about what their vision was for their day, what they wanted in a photographer and of course how the experience with me will be like no other!

After we left our meeting I think there was a mutual love fest going on because we had felt like we’ve known each other forever. When I get asked to shoot for couples like Dan & Nicole… it’s the ultimate photography treat! {kinda like vanilla ice cream with rainbow sprinkles}

{fast forward to wedding day}

“I’m gonna need a lot more hairspray” was the general tone of the day… the wind was gusting off the ocean as if Hurricane Irene had a personal invite to the wedding. It didn’t stop Dan & Nicole in any way. We still took lots of photos outside of the charming Owenego Beach and Tennis Club in Branford, CT and they were even brave enough to walk the plank over the ocean out to the giant rock for some dramatic photos. That’s when you know two people are in love… when they don’t care what else is going on around them {including hurricane like weather}, they’re doing their thing and loving every minute, not even noticing the elements.

Dan & Nicole did such a great job with putting their own special touches on the day. They had a little of everything that meshed together harmoniously. It was a wedding full of character, that’s for sure.

Peace, Love & Windy Wedding Blessings,

April K

Ugh, where do I even start with this day? It was unbelievable, I mean, the series of events that took place as soon as I walked in the door right up until the minute I left…

First, I must say, I like to give myself a pat on the back every now and again… simply because I seem to attract THE COOLEST couples. Let me just toot my own horn with a prime example… Jen and Mike. Charismatic, full of life and energy and clearly are absolutely made for each other. The way these two play off one another is out of this world, and they were up for anything, nothing could bring them down. I am certain, without hesitation, that these two will have the most thrilling life together.

Now, down to business, after both Jen and Mike were finished getting ready we headed over to the Boston Public Gardens to do their first look. What better place on a beautiful day than to use the gorgeous bridge as a first look location. As you could imagine on a Saturday the bridge was bustling with tourists, but we got very lucky! The wedding party kindly asked if people could wait for Jen and Mike to do their first look. Much to my surprise, every one present was honored to be able to watch the love unfold.

The ceremony was beautiful and as you’ll see down below… it’s not uncommon for the rings to not go on as easily as they do in the movies! Leave it to Jen and Mike to make everyone laugh about it. They followed that up with a reception at the Hyatt Regency Boston who does a fantastic job. Groove Events came in and did a bomb job on the uplighting which transformed the room into a wonderland of pink {my favorite!}. With the help of the talented Boston Florist, My Flouer, to add soft floral accents to each table effortlessly, this did not look like a ballroom wedding.

To top it all off, there was a traditional Chinese Tea Ceremony, Dragon Dancers, a surprise guest for Mike, and some SERIOUS dance moves to top off the night! I usually don’t post dancing pictures… but I couldn’t help myself this time.

There are a lot of moments here… so take your time and savor!

Peace, Love & Wedding Day Surprises Are The Bomb,

April K

Quite possibly the most entertaining & priceless sequence right here…

Mike: “Jen what did you do? you didn’t… no”

Jen: “oh yes I did!!!!”

Mike: “GET THE %^&$# OUT!!! YESSSSS”

All of the Boston Bruins fans out there might recognize this man and his “cowardly lion-esq” voice singing the National Anthem!

What is my dream as a photographer? Besides my long list of goals… most importantly for me, is for my subjects to be comfortable to be themselves in front of me. Just to be together, not caring what I’m doing or thinking or what bench/wall/any object I’m climbing to get the perfect shot. My dream is to have each and every one of my clients to simply… act as if I’m not there! The goal for me is to capture each couple as they are, naturally, in real life… {just looking extra insanely good doing it!}.

Well Becky and Mark certainly had no troubles doing just that. These two are so much fun and completely and clearly adore each other. It was one of those shoots that I walked away feeling all toasty and tingly inside. Needless to say, I cannot wait to capture their wedding day! It’s going to be off the hook.

Peace, Love & Belly Laughs,

April K