Next year for 2011 I will be photographing at unique wedding venues around Boston, Chicago, Nantucket, Newport Rhode Island, and Jamaica. I’m excited about the variety, because the weddings will be a mix between luxury boutique hotels, quaint rustic barns, modern loft/warehouse venues, and outdoor beach celebrations. Some locations include the modern W Hotel, the restored Rookery building, the magestic Bradley Estate in Canton Massachusetts, the historic Omni Parker House Hotel in downtown Boston, Smith Barn at Brooksby Farm, raw spaces such as Gallery 1028 and Architectural Artifacts in Chicago, and the InterContinental just to name a few.

Aside from the unique wedding venues I am lucky to photograph in, the weddings themselves are becoming a cultural melting pot. I will be photographing ceremonies that blend so many backgrounds and religions including Reform Judaism, Orothodox Jewish, Chinese, Hindu, Catholic, Buddhist, spiritual and non-religious traditions.

I look forward to learning so much about different backgrounds and am thankful I have been invited to document such unique events at some great wedding venues.

Since a blog post is not complete without photos, below are a few from Florence, Italy taken last week. “Firenze” rivals Barcelona as one of my favorite cities. Narrow streets with beautiful buildings, merchants of every sort, fabulous Tuscan sunsets (including a rainbow), and the buzz of thousands of scooters old and new as a primary mode of transport. I was in heaven! I will post more photos from Italy soon – I just have to decide if Rome or Venice comes next.

Descent of a Bride, Florence, Italy

Lone Nun, Florence

Vintage Vespa passing modern scooters, Florence, Italy

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The Oceancliff in Newport Rhode Island, was where Claire and Andrew decided to have their destination wedding. It is a beautiful seaside hotel and resort in the famous town of Newport, on Aquidneck Island in Rhode Island. The town is famous for the many opulent mansions such as The Breakers and Miramar that were built during the Gilded Age by some of America’s wealthiest families such as the Vanderbilts and Astors. The Oceancliff is one of the mansions which was converted from a private residence to a luxury wedding venue and it has some of the most enchanting views of Narragansett Bay and the sailboats it hosts.

When I was working as an architectural photographer some years ago, I hired the bride Claire, as my intern and we became great friends. She had just moved to this country and hit the ground running as an interior designer. I witnessed Claire and Andrew’s relationship from the beginnings, and saw their happiness grow. Over the years, I have met some of Claire’s closest friends and family from Taiwan and Canada. When Claire and Andrew got engaged, they wanted to find a wedding venue at a memorable destination which families from afar would truly appreciate. As a wedding vendor, I was asked many questions by the bride in relation to wedding advice and planning, and at some point I was hired to be her wedding photographer. I was excited and to be honest, a bit nervous!

On Claire’s wedding day, I arrived at the mansion finding my way up winding stairs to her bridal suite. The room had great big windows, and having a room to get ready with great natural light is essential on the wedding day. This not only is something a wedding photographer loves, but a makeup artist has an easy time working with the right colors for the bride.

For the wedding the bride and groom chose Tiffany blue and orange for their colors. Claire is an interior designer and fine art painter and has a great sense of style. She printed some DIY wedding invitations and menus, and applied stamping and cutting by hand. The guys wore black Converse Chuck Taylor All-Stars and the ladies wore matching blue bridesmaid dresses and carried orange and blue bouquets.

When it came to making sure my good friends had the best Boston area DJ for their wedding, I recommended that they enlist Beat Train Productions. As a Boston wedding photographer, I hear a lot of great music, and a lot of not-so-great music, so I didn’t want Claire and Andrew to be stuck with any old DJ. As you can imagine, similar to wedding photographers, Djs can span a whole spectrum from great to cheesy. Just like Beat Train did for Karen & Robbie’s barn wedding (which will be published in an upcoming issue of The Knot Magazine) and Mary & Steve’s coastal maritime wedding, they kept the guests dancing non-stop. Without any hesitation, if you ask me who the best Boston wedding DJ is, I am going to say Beat Train. All of my clients above will agree hands down. I also just learned that Beat Train is expanding to New York City with select dates available. My guess is that a lot of Boston area brides and grooms might have their weddings back “home” in NYC/Brooklyn and want to meet their DJ before the wedding.

During the outdoor summer ceremony overlooking the ocean, Claire and Andrew exchanged vows amidst perfect weather.They incorporated unity sand into their wedding ceremony with sand from various significant locations. Being that their destination wedding was in Newport, there were plenty of sailboats that afternoon.Claire’s father who speaks Mandarin Chinese, made a toast which was his first speech in English. He did a great job with no mixups and happily welcomed Andrew into their family. Claire’s sister Claris came all the way from Taipei to share such a happy occasion with her sister.Andrew’s father also gave a toast to the newlyweds.Both Andrew and Claire were ecstatic on their wedding day and their smiles were contagious to everyone in the room at their reception.As an asian bride, Claire integrated Chinese tradition by changing into a qipao. The bridesmaids changed into red qipao, while the bride blended eastern and western tradition, choosing a white qipao.The cake was perfect for a destination wedding, using a beach theme integrating shells and adirondack chairs.

Newport RI Vendor list:

Wedding Ceremony and Reception Venue: Oceancliff Resort / Oceancliff H0tel
Newport Rhode Island Wedding Florist: Ston eBlossom
Newport Wedding Photographer: Heather Parker Photography
Wedding Hairstylist: Wedding Tresses
Wedding Makeup Artist: Tada Yourself
Boutique Wedding DJ: Beat Train Productions
Wedding Cake Bakery: Cappucinos
Officiant: George Whitehouse

A Nantucket wedding can be so hard to step away from when editing! It very much feels like I get to relive Vickie and Ted’s big day on the island. All of the wedding details were carefully put together and should be inked in my mind, but all the little moments are what stand out to me for this one. Yes, they had blue, aqua, and ivory – quintessential Nantucket wedding colors. What I remember most from this wedding day was after documenting  Vickie getting ready, she offered a gift to her flower girl. This little girl’s eyes lit up in excitement, and her smile was so radiant. Without anyone asking her to do so, she complimented the bride on how pretty she looked. Vickie and Ted’s flower girl seemed to really enjoy the entire day. We went to the historic Brant Point Light, one of the favorite photo locations on the island. The bride and groom stood on the famous ramp leading up to the lighthouse, while their flower girl played barefoot along the ocean shore. She was a miniature version of a bride, and I wondered if someday she would remember this wedding, and yearn to have a Nantucket wedding of her own.

Here are a few photos from Saturday’s wedding on Nantucket Island at the White Elephant Hotel. Vickie & Ted are from the mainland but chose to get married on the island that Ted’s parents Pui and Carol Chan call home during the summer months when they operate Harbor Wok at the Jared Coffin House. At some point during the day, I convinced the bride and groom that they could use an ice cream break so we popped in the pharmacy and they shared a cone of blueberry ice cream. Mind-blowing floral arrangements by Nantucket florist Flowers on Chestnut and wedding planning services by Maureen and the ladies at Nantucket Island Events. Lots more to come!

Engagement session in town on the island, before dinner at Seth Raynor’s Corazon del Mar.

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last night i was on a call discussing a wedding day time line with a bride and groom. during our conversation, i was looking out the window and saw all the snow and it made me wish that summer would hurry up and get here. not long after the call, my heat went out. i wanted to be warm! it made me start thinking about the upcoming destination weddings. below is an early morning photo i took simply because i enjoyed how the rustic boat provided visual contrast to the idyllic turquoise caribbean sea.

below is a photo of a destination wedding ceremony that i took while i was in the water. i didn’t actually mean to get in the water, it just sort of happened but once i got wet, i decided it was okay to be knee deep to get the shot.

this wedding was also on the ocean however to get the same angle, there was more sand to walk on and i didn’t have to go swimming for the photo. the couple used a chuppah but even for non jewish beach wedding ceremonies, brides often will use a wedding canopy or arch, made out of things borrowed from nature. in addition to bamboo trunks, i have seen four potted plants in the place of a chuppah. for fabric to create the canopy, some of the more interesting ones i have seen have incorporated simple solid colors or color combinations including aqua, celery, citrus themed with yellow, green and orange, navy and celery, and navy and pink.

if you are thinking about having a wedding, one thing to note is that not all beaches are private beaches. some of my favorite beaches to have wedding ceremonies on are jetties beach in nantucket and seven mile beach in jamaica. when dealing with public beaches, you can sometimes have an unannounced guest at your wedding

on of my brides put these DIY decorations together which work perfectly for destination weddings. Sand, beach glass, shells, and river rocks along with candles work great for this type of decor.

many wedding resorts are now creating signature cocktails for their brides and grooms.