and the second winner is..........

Melissa and Matt!
Congratulations, with a whopping 67 comments you secured yourself a beautiful 16x20 gallery wrap! Thanks to everyone for their input and comments, this was such a FABULOUS contest!!!

graham and elsa

So, I finally have some time to do portraits and I am so excited about it! I photographed Graham and Elsa and I just love how their personalities shine through. I will be launching a portrait section on my website, so be sure to check back.

My portraits are relaxed and natural - no weird backgrounds, no fake tin tubs or artificial tree stumps. Just people in their own environments - beautiful.

eli

I had another bar mitzvah last weekend, and Saturday it was Eli's turn! I wasn't there for the ceremony, but heard he did a fabulous job.


Something I thought was really nice was a basket Eli put together for the Pediatric Resource center for young patients of the Dana Farber Cancer Institute. He is a huge music fan, so he collected various iPod accessories for them, and will deliver the basket. My mom was a patient at Dana Farber, and they do such amazing work there.


Eli making his speech....



The whole family rockin' out to the Hokey Pokey - it might just be the single most under-rated group dance!


This little cutie partied all night long....she was in a different person's arms everytime I saw her!


Ok, Elly gave me a run for my money! She must have shot almost as much as I did! I give her full credit, she was shooting film.




By the way, if I weigh 20 pounds more the next time you see me, this is why........


Eli stepping in as videographer.....


Congrats Eli!

zoe

Last Saturday I got to photograph Zoe's bat mitzvah. She and her whole family were so much fun!


Zoe and her mom....


The very cool favors...


And how fabulous is this cake?


I like this shot - Zoe's brother is in the middle standing still attempting to judge "human musical chairs".


Their DJ was Doug Moleux and his team from Northeren Lights Entertainment. They had dancers teaching the kids choreographed dances for a dance-off. I'm probably dating myself, but it was just like a Beat It video!


Here is Zoe thinking very hard about her wish...





Congrats to Zoe!!!!!!

fabulous/not-so fabulous - post your comments now!

Hello everyone!
I just posted the last entry for the fabulous/not-so fabulous contest. Heather (fab/not-fab story #11) was the first lucky winner of a fine art gallery wrap from her wedding pictures. The next winner will be the person whose post has the most comments. All comments must be posted by midnight, MARCH 21st.
Good luck and thanks again for all of the stories!!!
Cheers!
Nancy

fabulous/not-so fabulous - #21

And the last entry is from Val, who got married in February of 2006!

"We loved that we chose to get married near Valentine’s Day – it really worked out great for everyone! For our guests, it was a fun and special evening out during a time when their schedules weren’t jam-packed with other weddings. For us, all of our first choices for vendors were available because it wasn’t “busy season” and they made all the difference in the world! Our live band, Java Jive, brought an incredible dynamic to the evening and are three of the nicest guys you’d ever meet. Lynne Valeri of Video Design created the most amazing video and Nancy Gould, as you know, is quite simply the best! It was absolutely worth it to invest in such talented professionals and we still receive rave reviews from friends and family to this day!

I loved our flowers – tall arrangements of mixed whites and greens with flowing orchids that lined the aisle of the church. We chose to get married at St. John’s Church in Cambridge where both my parents and grandparents were married. The church had never looked more beautiful! I’ll always remember how special and excited I felt as I walked towards AJ – we were about to get MARRIED!


The experience of finding and choosing my wedding gown was incredible and so much fun! I fell in love with an a-line allecon lace gown with scalloped hem at Allegria Bridal in Belmont on my first day shopping with my Mom. I just knew that the way I looked and felt in that dress was exactly how I wanted to feel on our wedding day – it was simple and elegant, and I knew that AJ would love it. Allegria Bridal was more than accommodating, extremely kind, and meeting the designer, Judd Waddell, when I purchased my gown was a moment that I’ll never forget!

People always ask – do you have your “something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue?” For me, this all came together perfectly! I wore my “new” wedding gown, an “old” pearl necklace that my Godmother gave me for my 16th birthday, and I carried a white handkerchief embroidered with blue trim with my maiden initials and wedding date engraved on it. The handkerchief was a tradition that began when I bought it for one of my best friends from college. Subsequently, over the next two years each time the next of our best friends got married (there were 4 of us), we would engrave the next Bride’s maiden initials and wedding date and present it to her on the night of their rehearsal dinner. We all loved knowing that each of us shared this meaningful, personalized “something borrowed, something blue” on our special day.




Lastly, in the “not-so-fabulous” category, I can honestly say, the only thing that we would have done differently is not have a head table. We chose to have a sweetheart table on a riser with a semi-circle table in front of us for our wedding party. Not only did we hate the way it was set-up but none of us really spent much time up there. In reflection, we should have just had a sweetheart table and sat our wedding party with their dates. Luckily, we promised each other to not think twice about anything that wasn’t perfect and rather just enjoy the day, so we had a blast and enjoyed our reception, and each other, to the fullest!"



Doesn't it look like she was having a fabulous time???
Thanks Val!

fabulous/not-so fabulous - #20

Next up is Megan, another 2004 bride! I'm looking forward to seeing her again this fall at Sam's brother's wedding!


"So...about the wedding reflections. I think that our wedding planning was unique in that my sister Katelin and her husband were married 7 weeks before our wedding day. They were married in early September and we were October 30th, 2004. Both weddings definitely reflected the personal styles of each couple which was great. All of our parents were fantastic, supportive and really embraced this unique situation. It worked out so well because we were all in full-on "wedding mode" for about 11 months.

Highlights:

-Working with vendors we trusted and then backing off to let them do their thing. Whether it be the baker, DJ, photographer, florist, videographer, bagpiper, we ultimately hired artists who brought their experience, talent and insight to the day. They are the professionals who do this all the time, so we shared an outline of what we wanted and then it go. We ultimately LOVED the end result of everything.



-Given that my husband and I share a love of golf, our reception facility Charter Oak Country Club, was a perfect setting for our day. The meal was fabulous as well and my husband and I made it a priority to really enjoy our first meal together at a sweetheart table. We chose our favorite meal, a traditional Thanksgiving meal with butternut squash soup and all the fixings and we loved it! It was so nice to just sit together and take in the surroundings and all of the people who were there to help us celebrate our marriage.



-My husband and I are pretty laid back, but we did have a major concern regarding our wedding. Remember back in '04 when the Red Sox were battling for the World Series title? We had heard stories about how people were not showing up to weddings, or bringing little TVs into reception places in order to be loyal Sox fans. Game 6 was supposed to take place on our wedding night--but Thank God they pulled out the win in 4 games straight! The DJ incorporated some favorite Sox tunes and their win definitely added to the excitement of the day.

Lowlights: We didn't have any. The day was just perfect exactly as it was. We were so grateful to be marrying each other, that minor details couldn't have tarnished our wedding day.

Just a note: Sam's best man, his brother Ed, met Sara at my sister's wedding in September. They talked all night and continued to hit it off at our wedding, and will be getting married themselves this September! They will be using Nancy as their photographer as well and we couldn't be more delighted for them! Nancy was such a FABULOUS photographer and was so easy to work with. Her calm demeanor puts you at ease, and she and her assistant were always there to capture each moment. We continue to love her work!"

Thanks Megan!

fabulous/not-so fabulous - #19

Next up is Jennifer - you may recognize some of her pictures from my sample album. She a bunch of things to share!

"When I think back to my wedding day, there really isn't much I would change, mostly because I've basically been planning my wedding since I was in grammar school. My Priscilla of Boston dress was the first dress I tried on. I searched for many dresses after that, but I kept thinking the first one was "The One". Then it came time for the veil. I had a harder time looking for the veil I wanted at the price I could afford than for anything else. After MONTHS of looking for a veil, I finally had to get one custom made at Vera Wang. It was so beautiful so I closed my eyes to ignore the price tag, but I loved it. My only regret is not being able to wear it the entire night. At least it's getting a second use out of it, one of my friends is using it as her "something borrowed" this coming May.

Then my shoes....I knew no one would see my shoes, nor will I ever wear white shoes again, so I figured I'd look for a cheap comfortable pair I could get away with for one day. I mentioned it to my husband and he looked at me and started to laugh. He said he couldn't believe that someone who wears designer shoes every day was looking for a cheap shoe to wear on her wedding day. But come on, more money wasted for one day?? Then I read somewhere that Manolo Blahnik made a white satin dyeable, so I took a trip to NYC to buy them. What a better way to get my money's worth than to dye them another color after the wedding? Which is what I did, they are now black and I wear them to every dressy event!




I remember going downstairs to get ready to walk into the ceremony. I was super conscious about my husband and I not seeing each other before. I remember my father and I arm in arm getting ready to walk down the aisle. Right before they opened the doors for me, my father said "don't forget! Step with the right foot first." His way of still being the leading man in my life one last time. And then he stepped with his left. And I smiled to myself as the doors opened.



Picture taking was also a blur. I remember walking out to Copley Square, and it's probably one of the only times I remember seeing Nancy and Kelly all night. They were AWESOME. I don't know how they keep the masses on track in the chaos. I also remember Nancy on the ground in Copley Square taking one of our favorite photos with the Hancock. Did I mention Nancy was five months along with Jonah at the time? I remember telling her to get off the dirty ground!!


We had a black tie Boston-themed wedding. Almost all our guests travelled from all over the country and all over the world to come to it. I took care of every detail. The hotel gift bags had Boston-based goodies in them. We had done a little "travel guide" of Boston listing all our favorites eateries, things to do, secret public bathrooms along the freedom trail, etc. I had gotten some discount coupons from local businesses and museums. I wanted our guests to enjoy the city I live in.


Our menu cards were designed by a local artist and they were a watercolor scene of the Public Garden. All of our stationery was done by Arlene from Invitations & Company, and she was amazing. I will always use for any stationery needs, she was super nice and gave me beautiful products within my budgets. Our centerpieces were made by my husband. He took photographs of places we've been (which were the table names) and made them into hurricane candles that he dipped and molded himself. Since each one is a work of art of his, each table had a Boston-trivia game on it and the winner of the game got to take home the centerpiece. We see them in people's homes still.


One of the things we had a lot of guests comment on was that every placesetting had a list of each guest and his/her relationship to me or my husband. People really enjoyed reading through it, and they said it made each of them feel special in some way, like they were truly part of our new combined lives and families.


Our signature drink was the chocolate martini (my favorite with a specific recipe). I am famous for drinking them. The Fairmont accomodated my recipe and they were served with the cake. That is where my guests said they fell off the wagon, they were so good.


Our band, Studio C, was wonderful. They had taken the time to learn songs that were special to us and even change the tempo to what we needed. My father and I waltzed for our dance and the band slowed down the tempo of the song we wanted so we could use it. They even surprised me by singing our last song live (they had learned it in a week) when I was fully happy to have it play on CD. That was really special to me and I thanked the bandleader profusely for it.


The most memorable part of our wedding was that we had a live artist paint it. I found him in Starbucks, he speaks little English, but he understood what I wanted. He had never done it before and was very excited for the project. I said I wanted him to capture the essence of our wedding in an impressionist oil painting and that the only scene I did not want was the ceremony. I wanted something else. We could not have asked for anything better. He chose to paint our first dance. The scene is beautiful, the Oval Room at the hotel makes a perfect backdrop and he captured the scene perfectly. Many of our guests say they can pick themselves out in the painting based on where they were standing during the dance. And it was also the first time my husband showed of his moves from our dance lessons, boy were our friends surprised! We getting the painting printed up on notecards and used them as our thank you cards. People still have the card displayed in their homes today. "




Hope this gives some people some ideas - I know SO many people have commented on their custom painting. And I had no idea that those Manolos were dyeable - fabulous!!!!!!!!

fabulous/not-so fabulous - #18

Next up is Adrianne, she had a super-fun day with absolutely amazing weather.

"Top 10 Fabulous Things about Adrianne & Jeremy's wedding day:

10. A 75 degree, sunny beautiful August Saturday! I had fears of 95 degrees.

9. Not speaking to each other the morning of our wedding. It made the moment of seeing each other at the church all the more special.

8. Having our families and friends involved and around us to celebrate our marriage. There's nothing better than that.

7. Having a wedding day that had our stamp on it- from the Red Sox jerseys, to our first dance to Jimmy Buffett, and our last to Motley Crue. The day had "Adrianne & Jeremy" written all over it.


6. Taking a boat to our reception! We were definitely rockstars.


5. Having the greatest DJ ever! The ceiling on the first floor of the restaurant was shaking all night long.


4. Having each part of our day- the ceremony and the reception- happen in our respective hometowns. The ceremony was in mine & the reception in Jeremy's.

3. Having the best photographer we could imagine!!!

2. Our "moment" as we left the church- the piece of advice to take a moment to ourselves was one of the best we received among all that advice.


1. The end of the evening & knowing that it was really just the beginning."


Thanks Adrianne! They had Greg Hodges as their DJ and he was SO MUCH FUN!!!!!!

fabulous/not-so fabulous - #17

The next entry if from Becka, a 2004 bride.

"Almost 4 years after we were married, and still the only thing I wish I had done differently during my wedding was to look at Tom as I walked down the aisle. I was so afraid I would lose it (which I did during the ceremony) that I didn't look at him until I was right in front of him. Thankfully, you captured the moment when he first saw me, so I was eventually able to see it, but if you hadn't, I'd have never known how excited/nervous/happy he was during my walk with my dad.



One thing I was happy that we did was we only had a sweetheart table (I think that's what it's called) - no head table. It was nice to be able to talk with each other candidly and not feel like we were ignoring tablemates. "


Thanks Becka, that' great advice!

new kicks for jonah

Just a few more entries for the fabulous/not-so-fabulous contest to go! But I just had to share this first....

Ok, I'm not entirely sure how many of you are actually interested, but I just got Jonah some new shoes, and I'm sorry but they are just the cutest. He looks like a little skater kid!

The snow is finally receding and it's getting a bit warmer, so we ventured out for a bit yesterday. I'm glad someone is getting some use out my my exercise ball, because I'm certainly not!


Last night I was lucky enough to meet a few friends out for drinks at Lucca in the North End. I wish I had a fabulous picture of my yummy cocktail to share, but I left my camera in the car. My husband and I used to live in the North End, and we were there when Sean and Matt opened it. Stephen even built the mirrors hanging in the main dining room! After Lucca we headed off to Regina's for some Pollo Pesto and Sausage Cacciatore pizza. Yum and yum. Some of my clients are from the North End, and I always tell them how much I miss going there!


**note - I made it home from the North End (not speeding) in THIRTY FIVE minutes. see? Southborough isn't that far away!

fabulous/not-so fabulous - #16

Next up is from Jen, she got married in October of last year.......



"What I Should Have Had In My Emergency Day Of Kit!

Everyone thinks to include touch up makeup and a few extra bobby pins in their purse for the reception but I really wish I had asked my makeup artist for a little squeeze packet of eyelash glue! Needless to say, I was teary eyed for most of the day -- so toward the end of the reception the false eyelashes on my right eye began to come up! (Thankfully you can't see it in the photos!)

Also, a Tide pen/Shout wipe saved my dress! We returned to our sweetheart table after cutting the cake and Andy decided it would be cute to continue to feed me our chocolate peanut buttercake by hand. The cake was moist and the peanut butter was gooey - it was perfection... until it landed on my dress. Being the dutiful husband he is, Andy sprang into action and began trying to wipe it off my dress which, of course, only made the brown spot larger as he rubbed the chocolate into the lace. After some mild panic, Andy remembered the Shout wipes in the bathroom baskets. Voila! It worked like a charm.



Mission: Picture Perfect

Since we lived together before we got married, it was important for us not see each other the morning of the wedding. If there is ever a morning you don't want to have to fight for sink space - then it's your wedding day. But honestly, we wanted the "grand reveal" of seeing each other from opposite ends of the church aisle -- and all of the anticipation that comes with it. At the same time, we really liked the look of photos taken before the ceremony with the entire bridal party. Mainly, we liked that the photos are all taken at the same place. So we compromised. We decided that we would have our photos taken at the same location before the ceremony but at different times. It sounds easy now, but it had to be carefully orchestrated. It required down-to-the-minute Team Bride/Team Groom timelines, explicit instructions and directions (with maps!) for our limo driver and a lot of wishing and hoping that we would not run into each other! And did I mention we decided to do the photos outside? Unbeknownst to me, this whole plan caused my Mom many sleepless nights (she admitted this to me just yesterday). In the end, all the planning paid off and I couldn't have asked for a more perfect day or more beautiful photos! Our pre-ceremony photos are exactly what we were after: there is a cohesiveness to Andy's photos and mine. Even though we weren't there at the same time, the look and feel of the photos is as if we were. "








That was tricky, Jen! But thankfully everyone was very prompt which made it easy!!

fabulous/not-so fabulous - #15

Well, I knew that Jennifer would have some good comments.....turns out she already has them posted on HER blog! (just scroll down about a page for the wedding stuff)

Here are a couple of my favorite entries......(I'm partial to Vows, because that's where I got my dress, too!


"So you became engaged, and you don't have anything to wear? That's what I said. At first I thought I would try to have my mother's gown altered to fit me since I grew up admiring my mother's beautiful bridal portait on the wall of our house. It's a beautiful dress, but as design would have it, I felt it looked better in the box than on me. A friend of mine told me about a place called Vows, a bridal outlet store located in Newton, Massachusetts that specializes in sophisticated designer wedding gowns for much much less.

Fortunately, unlike most of the other shops I had visited, I was able to fill my dressing room with many gowns that not only were beautiful, but were also within my budget. This shop had a very homey and relaxed atmosphere, with wonderful assistance. Vows been written up in the Best of Boston by Boston Magazine as the best place to go for your wedding gown for the past 5 years. I also used their searchable website to virtually pick out gowns before I visited to try them on.

As a result, I found a gorgeous ivory silk Ulla Maja gown that had a very simple a-line cut, and gorgeous cascading train in the back. My good friend Pamela Berberich let me borrow her beautiful veil that fortunately was the same hue of white. With shoes Ron had helped me find at Filene's ($19!!!), and flowers for my hair taken from a vase in our dining room, I was prepared to walk down the aisle in my finest. Hey, I clean up alright, don't I?



Here is a perfect recipe for place card holders: Chocolate boxes!! This allowed us to make a wedding favor, place card, and food-choice indicator all in one:

We used nice little white boxes I got out of one of my jewelry supply catalogs (100 of them for about $24), we filled them with chocolate coins (for good luck wishes) and then tied them shut with smart li'l black bows. To each box we tied the person's name using none other than the luxe papers from Paper Source - and each tag was color coded:

• Pink for salmon
• Checkered blue for chicken
• Sage green for vegetarian

Hope this helps you if you are looking for place card ideas."


Love all your ideas Jen! Has it really been two and a half years.........wow....