May, 2011
Okay. Sit back in your seats. Continue only if you have a lot of time to oooh and ahhh over an AMAZING location, PERFECT weather and an AMAZING couple.
Ready?
Labor Day Weekend, I traveled to Long Beach NY (go there. now. it’s incredible!) to photograph the wedding of Jocelyn and Joe at the newly opened Allegria Hotel. What made it difficult, like so many of my weddings, was that it got picked up by the gorgeous Merci New York Style Blog — and because they wanted to wait until warmer weather to showcase a beach wedding — we had to wait to talk about it…although a FEW images sneaked out here and there because, frankly, I couldn’t wait perfectly. 
I want you to look at the photographs and think about the fact that Jocelyn conceived the concept of sea glass and wove it through the entire wedding. Blues, greens, that soft color that only comes from years of being washed in the ocean — were featured throughout all the details of their wedding. They also got up the next morning at sunrise with the entire wedding party to do a day after session — and both “events” received rave reviews from the blog writers over at Merci New York. Special Thanks to Jessica Weiser for coming all the way from Maine to shoot this wedding with me!!
Things that were cool:
Aforementioned decor and design — Joce even designed, printed and HAND DYED the ribbon on her invites. Sooo beautiful.
Perfect weather. Loving family and friends.
A large crowd on the board walk that participated in the ceremony — seriously, like hundreds of people were watching. It was fun!
Jocelyn and Joe practiced not one but TWO choreographed dances at their reception. I’m talking “Dancing with the Stars” level dances. Super impressive!
A Chinese Tea Ceremony integrated both families
Sparklers at the end of the night.
A Day After Session that ROCKED!
So you can see…it was hard to wait to share these. If you want to peek at the write up on Merci New York click the pic:
Some fun pics from the wedding (wait. day after session also coming!)
And then we all got up at Sunrise. But TOTALLY WORTH IT!
Me = Rochester
Two of my couples = Chicago
Solution? Go to Chicago of course!
I day tripped (sort of) up to Chicago for the day to spend with two of the coolest couples I know! Of course we were ALL hoping for that iconic shot of the Chicago skyline — and instead got such thick fog that you couldn’t actually tell Chicago existed from a distance…so…my favorite thing to do — we made it up as we went along…
First up Evelyn and Mclean – check out that cool skyline covered in fog! I LOVE gray days — it makes colors sooooo soft and vibrant at the same time! Take THAT bad weather! ::laughing::
This is the EXACT bench that he proposed to her. Tammy FAV!! (We won’t mention that she dropped the ring…and then they almost couldn’t find it. Nope. It was a PERFECT proposal!)
Here’s the beach they love — and the obvious LACK of skyline…but LOOK at how beautiful they look. I love happy. I LIVE for happy. And these two emote happiness. It was like walking next to two balls of sunshine…seriously!
I think engagement sessions are incredibly important. Plus you get cool pics of yourselves NOT in wedding clothes. It’s a win, right?! I love making them PERSONAL to the couple I’m photographing — places they love to go…things they like to do — and to these couples —- ironically BOTH of them are transitioning to new places in the Country — so documenting the places they love and the things they do together in Chicago was an AMAZING experience!
Next up Elyse and Josh…the sun peeked out for about 5.6 seconds — and JUST as we got ready to go to the beach? You guessed it…in the fog rolled. So WHATEVER. We ROCKED IT ANYWAY.
How can you NOT photograph in Millenium Park?! The Bean is the MOST AMAZING thing EVER. I could have stayed all day just photographing people photographing themselves!
And…oh hi fog! We missed you!
In the most classic way…Elyse and Josh and Evelyn and Mclean worked REALLY HARD to bring me to iconic Chicagoian (I know. I just made that up) places to photograph…but in “typical” Tammy Swales style…I had to choose some…erm…LESS classic Chicago-like places…
I can’t NOT play. I just can’t. Because if it isn’t fun…then WHY are we doing it?
Yeah. I thought so.
Rock on! (I don’t know why I said that. I needed a good closing…and the typical “thank you” just lacked something!)
Dude I missed you in Chicago! It’s only 2 hours away from me, I would love to see you again sometime. Next time you’re in the Windy City, give me a jingle, will ya?
Tammy, these are amazing! I <3 the fog 
So obviously in love!
Love them Tammy! You did such a great job Especially with all the fog!
y’all made an amazingly fabulous decision in booking Tam for your weddings…..she will blow your mind with her ridiculous ability to capture those incredible moments that totally bring tears to your eyes over the years. Beautiful images…..bravo, my dear friend
5.23.2011
Looks like a heck of a fun time. Love how you *use* challenges (fog, etc.) instead of fighting them.
5.29.2011
Awesome wedding images! Love the day after session!