When an old friend of mine Lindsay, contacted me about gifting a Lovebird session to her sister who recently got engaged, I was so excited. I photographed Lindsay back early in my "photography career" when we were both in high school. She was one of my first ever senior portraits. Till this day it's still on her Facebook (which is so fun for me to look back on). If Loryn is anything like her sister, she'd be so fun to photograph and boy did we have a great time! 

Loryn & Ricky live up in Deerfield, MA. A place that holds a special spot in my heart since I went to school next to Deerfield. The Berkshires and western MA are an absolute perfect backdrop for any occasion, especially an engagement session. We took photos with their amazing pup, then braved Mt. Sugarloaf,  and then ended the session the same way we end every session in the summer, with ice cream (I know, right?!). We had a blast together and I'm so happy with how these turned out. Clearly Loryn & Ricky are absolutely in love. I hope you all enjoy this little sneak peak into their session together. 

After almost a year of planning, I can finally say that Jenn & I are engaged.

For some of our couples, friends and family you know that this has been a long time coming. Jenn and I have known each other from high school and have been dating for the past 5 years. 3 of those years were long distance as Jenn was finishing up her biology degree in Texas. After graduating, she moved up to Rhode Island and made the commitment to live with me. Just after Jenn and I started dating I felt like I knew this woman my entire life. She helped me through some tough times, she encouraged me when I needed it most and she’s always been there for me…even when we weren’t dating. Right away I knew she was the one. I just had to wait for the right time.

May 3, 2018

After about 6 months of planning our trip to Barcelona & Paris, I thought it was the perfect opportunity to propose. Who can say they’ve gotten engaged in Paris before? After hearing dozens of engagement stories I had to be unique, and not overly clique. Jenn and I both love to travel and I couldn’t have thought of a better place to propose than Europe. We’ve both always wanted to go but never had the chance to. This was our chance, and this was my chance to propose. Paris was the original plan but it didn’t end up working out.

We started our trip in Barcelona, we spent 1 week in that beautiful city and then we headed off to Paris for a week. Originally I wanted to propose in Paris. It was more romantic, beautiful and just surreal to be there in person after seeing hundreds of movies of the Eiffel Tower. It was the perfect place. However me being me, I wanted our proposal photographed. Its a moment that I want to always remember, and I want images to bring me back to that day and that trip. After searching around I soon realized that Paris photographers are some of the most expensive photographers in the world. Don’t get me wrong – being a photographer myself I would’ve spent anything to hire the right person and to ensure that moment was photographed. But I would have to trust this person, I would have to have followed them for awhile, known their work, know who they are and so much more if I was going to spend over $2000 on a 2 hour engagement shoot (yeah, I’m not joking). Plus – we were on vacation, and we wanted to do a lot (Disneyland was where we spent most of our money haha) so I didn’t want to spend a ton being on vacation. I was fine with spending what I normally charge, if not a little over. So I brought in my team of photographer friends to help me out.

A lot of people actually expected Paris. Jenn’s co-workers said it would happen, my family said it would happen there, and some clients even emailed me and said “I KNEW IT!” So Paris was expected. Which got me thinking “What if I did Barcelona?” Barcelona was the start of our trip and more importantly, the first place we’d ever be traveling to for vacation together. It was memorable, and unexpected. That’s when I found our amazing engagement photographer, Lena.

Lena and I started speaking at the beginning of March, just after I bought the ring and hid it in the house! After months of planning, changing where I would actually propose, what we would wear, how we would make it a surprise and and much more we finally decided on Sitges, Spain on May 3 (the second day we were going to be in Spain). Lena planned to meet us at the train station (without Jenn knowing I knew her) and follow us around Sitges where I would find a street and drop down on one knee and propose. I got to admit, I was a little worried. We were heading to a place I was unfamiliar with, with a photographer I found through Instagram, in a country we both don’t speak the language of. The plan seemed destined to have some hiccups. Surprisingly – it went off perfectly. We got on the train, Lena followed us around, and when I dropped to one knee Lena captured it all. The next 2-3 hours we were walking the streets of Sitges hand in hand, and more in love than I ever felt before. It’s actually hard to explain and I don’t think I could even if I tried. We felt like we were the only two people in this small little beach town. It was absolutely perfect.

Being on the opposite side of choosing an engagement photographer gave me a LOT of perspective. I never realized how crucial it was to answer someone within the same day, to showcase a full wedding or a full engagement session, and to be able to connect with them not only in a photographer-to-photographer way but also hopefully to become best friends. It’s everything I already do in my business but just going through that experience has already opened my eyes to how important it is and how crucial it is to every couple’s decision. But now the real planning begins.

You might be wondering “whats their wedding going to look like? They’re wedding photographers and have been to so many!” and you’re right. We’ve been to over 20 weddings together and I’ve been to over 100 maybe as a photographer. So we definitely have a good idea of what we want and what we don’t want. All in all throughout the years we’ve seen a lot of couples have giant weddings, at beautiful venues, with beautiful photographs but for us having the closest family and friends we both know is more important to us than having this “picture perfect” wedding. However, I can guarantee whoever we hire for our wedding photographers they’re going to have the best time because I’m pretty sure it’ll be picture perfect.

We’re both excited to start planning and to join our 2019 couples in that adventure. I hope you love some more photos of our engagement session posted below. If you haven’t already give Lena some love on Instagram because she was amazing. Cheers to a successful engagement, and to a beautiful wedding to come!

Meet: Ryan & Jenn

Sometimes when I speak to couples over the phone for the first time, they spend some time chatting about our conversation and services with their family & friends. Understandably since choosing a wedding photographer isn't an easy decision. However for Aubrey & Luke as soon as they saw my site, they knew they wanted to book me. After a few emails we even planned their engagement session for the week they booked! This never happens! 

Aubrey & Luke we're so excited for their lovebird session and I can totally see why! These two were so in love and adorable - even at 5am! We braved the time and woke up super early to head out to Newport, RI and capture their story with early morning walks on the beach, wine at 6am, and of course breakfast ;) 

I had such a great time and I can't wait to see Aubrey & Luke again. Here's just a snippet of their lovebird session! Enjoy!

With love,
Ryan

Kim and Shiloh are some of my best friends. Being photographer's themselves, we can get together and talk business and not bore one another (seriously, it's a thing). Just last week, I called Kim up and asked her if she'd be up to do a session with Shiloh. I wanted to try some new things, and I also just wanted to repay her since she recently photographed Jenn and I. 

It was a beautiful winter day. I think the weather hit 70 at one point? So we couldn't complain about it being cold. We trucked it down to Lincoln Woods, found a nice little spot away from everyone and they seriously killed it. I love this session so much and I hope you do too!

I've known Kimberly for awhile now...As a matter of fact, I've known her ever since I can remember going over my aunt's house for the holidays. Kimberly is my uncle's niece! When she told me she was planning a destination wedding and she didn't want anybody besides me to take her wedding photos, I was so surprised. 

Normally I would decline the opportunity to photograph any family & friends. First and foremost because they're close to my heart and I'd like to spend the day with them without my camera, enjoying the moments to the fullest. However, I couldn't pass up the opportunity when Kim told me that I was her only choice. And, who could pass up a destination wedding? I would have been invited anyway, and what a better way to spend a few days then with a few close family members on a tropical island?

That being said - we're not in March, yet. With the wedding approaching fast, Kimberly & Ian wanted some photos of themselves and their two little sweethearts to capture this time together. We had a blast at The Breakers Mansion in Newport, RI and even ended the night with an amazing dinner in Newport. You honestly can't go wrong there. 

I can't wait to celebrate the day with you two! 

With love,
Ryan

Special thanks to my assistant for the day Kristen Phillips. 

Well, I don't know about you but I honestly can't believe it's Christmas next week! The sun in shinning in the studio, it's about 55 degrees outside and the ground isn't filled with that fluffy white stuff we call snow. A few weeks ago I got together with Ashley & Wale to photograph them for their Lovebird Session! At first, we thought we'd do an indoor session since it was getting a bit chilly out, but then they were convinced that an outdoor session was the way to go! The weather didn't agree with them though. After rescheduling thanks to rain, we ended up having the session on a GORGEOUS fall day. 

Although they were a bit nervous about getting their pictures taken, they seriously had nothing to worry about. These two were definitely models in their past lives - they rocked their session and walked away with some seriously stunning fall photographs. Who says you can make winter/fall session look good? All you need is two beautiful people in love and no matter what you do, the photos will come out stunning. 

Michelle and I met awhile back when we worked together. When she told me she got engaged, I immediately jumped at the opportunity to be her wedding photographer and she said, "Obviously!"  Over the past few months I've gotten to know her awesome fiancé, Nick. These two are so much fun and I honestly had a blast on their Lovebird session. Working with friends, turned clients is just so easy! Nick contacted me right after he saw some of the sneak peeks and wanted to surprise Michelle with a large print for their house. We made it happen and got a print to him the next day. According to Michelle, "I balled tears for hours! That is one of the best photographs of us ever taken!" 

Michelle & Nick, I can't wait for your wedding. Love you two!

XuanMai and Joe grew up together. They met in high school and have been together ever since. When choosing a spot for their Lovebird Session I recommended a park, maybe even a downtown spot but, they had something else in mind. The neighborhood where they grew up, which just happened to be on the lake. The turnout? Absolutely beautiful. Fall is definitely here and this was the perfect way to kick it off.