Beth & Joe | The Towers in Narragansett, RI Wedding

On a misty Saturday in September, Beth & Joe decided to tie the knot at The Towers in Narragansett. Although the weather wasn't the best, that didn't stop Beth & Joe. We braved the incoming storm and walked away with some beautiful photos. I was so excited for Beth & Joe's big day from the moment they contacted me. From the beautiful hidden treasures where we took their portraits at, to their killer dance performance mid way through their reception. It couldn't have been anymore fun. Today marks 1 month for these two and I couldn't have thought of a better gift than a little sneak peek into their day. I can't wait to show you the rest.

Happy 1 month anniversary Beth & Joe!

Also, special thanks to these folks who made Beth & Joe's day possible:

Venue: The Towers
Event Coordinator: Amanda Barker
Florist: Flower Thyme
DJ: Pauline Pinto
Makeup: Jessica D'Amore
Hair: Mitsi Dupre

Can't wait to check out the rest of Beth & Joe's day? Click here to sign up to receive a special discount code when their full gallery is launched!

Eric & Kristyn | Fall River Country Club, Fall River MA Wedding

Back last year, I got a message from a good friend of mine, Norm Yelle, an amazing DJ, and all around fun, but a little crazy friend. He let me know he sent a couple over to me and that they were highly interested in booking me! Kristyn & Eric sat down with me and instantly, we had a good time. Eric is beyond funny. I couldn't stop laughing at everything he said during our consultation. Kristyn is so kind, I can't tell you how many times she apologized for her future husband's actions. I told her "There is absolutely no need to apologize. Eric is so funny! I can see why you want to marry him!" Their day was absolutely spectacular. It was filled with every emotion in the book. From Kristyn worrying that everything was perfect, to Eric tearing up when she walked down the aisle, to an amazing fun reception with Norm. 

Seriously, I had so much fun with these two. Here's just a sneak peek from their big day. I can't wait to show you the rest.

Venue: Fall River Country Club
DJ: Extreme Karaoke with Norm Yelle & Corey B & D.J 'S

Sign up to receive a sepcial discount code when Kristyn & Eric's gallery go live here!

Amanda & Dan | Newport Vineyards Wedding

Cheers for the weekend being right around the corner! This weekend we have ourselves a triple header. That means we're photographing a couple Friday, Saturday and Sunday! It's going to one heck of a weekend but we're most excited to return to this beautiful venue pictured below: Newport Vineyards.

Amanda & Dan both grew up in Rhode Island, so it was only fitting that they celebrated with all their family and friends in true Rhody style. This included a beautiful, rustic Newport vineyard wedding complete with "chowda", and an amazing clambake that had fresh lobster, mussels, potatoes, corn on the cob, and even portuguese sausage! It was an absolutely perfect day. 

Here's a sneak peek!

Venue: Newport Vineyards
DJ: DJ T-Rex
Caterer: McGrath Clambakes

Sign up to receive an email and special discount code when Amanda & Dan's gallery is live here!

Katie & Jason | The Omni Hotel Providence, RI Wedding

Katie & Jason were the sweetest couple ever. From the start of their day to the end of the night, these two were seriously the most kind hearted, loving, welcoming people we've ever met. We arrived for Katie's getting ready session and she welcomed us with cookies! Homemade cookies that we're to die for. That may be a first. Their families, friends, and loved ones we're so much fun. We had a blast and wouldn't of wanted it any other way. 

Katie & Jason celebrated their day at the beautiful Omni Hotel in Providence. If you haven't been to a wedding there it's pretty magical. Their DJ Luke from Luke Renchan Entertainment killed it all night mixing the best tracks and even had Katie come up and DJ part of the night (we weren't there for that but would have KILLED to stay a little longer to capture that moment). Needless to say, Katie & Jason knew how to throw a party. I can't wait to share the rest of their gallery with you. For now, here's a sneak peek of their special day together.

Florist: Blooming Blossoms, Providence
Hair & Makeup: Salon Sparrow, North Attleboro MA

Amanda & DJ | The Bohlin, Newport RI Wedding

It's not very often I don't have the opportunity to meet my clients in person. Very rarely are they from somewhere other than Rhode Island or Massachusetts. However, Amanda & DJ contacted me and told me their story and I couldn't pass up the opportunity to photograph these two. 

They met back in high school through mutual friends and started dating in college and ever since then, the rest was history. Originally from West Chester, PA they wanted to have their special day with a little coastal glamour and Newport was the perfect spot. I seriously had a blast photographing their day. From the getting ready, to the first look, to their portrait session - These two were up for anything. One of my favorite parts of their day was when Cayleigh (Amanda's MOH) made her speech. She spoke about how Amanda's dad, Richard (who unfortunately passed away) would be so happy that this day finally came so he could welcome DJ into the family. Although Richard couldn't be there, Cayleigh was and they had a special tradition in Amanda's family where new members would be sprayed in with Silly String - Cayleigh did the honors for Richard. It was a special moment in the room and almost had everyone in tears of joy. Richard was apart of the day just as much as anyone else. I spotted a photo of him and Amanda on a nearby table during the reception and immediately wanted to re-create that photo with DJ and Declan. You can see that below. 

I apologize for the length of this post. It has to be the biggest blog post I've done in awhile. But these two are so gorgeous that I couldn't pass up sharing all of these with you. A special shout out and thank you to Shannon Matos, who joined us for the day and helped along the way! And to all of Amanda & DJ's family and friends: We hope you all enjoy these as much as we enjoyed capturing them.

With love,
Ryan

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Sign up to receive notification when Amanda & DJ's full gallery goes live here

Danielle & Jorge | The Squantum Association, Riverside RI Wedding

Earlier this month, on a stormy, cloudy day, Danielle & Jorge said "I do" and tied the knot at The Squantum Association in Riverside, RI. Luckily for us, the weather held out for the whole day! Danielle & Jorge couldn't have picked a better spot to get married at. Nestled in a little corner outside of Providence The Squantum Association is almost like having a wedding in Newport without actually heading to Newport. 

Check out some of the highlights from their big day! 

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Danielle & Jorge's gallery will soon become available and will be accessible to family and friends using this link. Feel free to sign up now to receive a notification when it's live!

Top 5 reasons you should photograph your formals, informally

Each and every year I meet with dozens of couple's who all tend to say the same exact thing during their consultation: "We love the way you capture weddings. We definitely want more candid photos than anything else." And it makes sense. Real, candid moments are 100% better than any stale, posed moments. Especially when it comes down to the portraits of the bride & groom. However, during the wedding planning stages something changes. Most couple's email us with a list of "formal" photographs to take. Wait - I'm confused, didn't you want candid photographs? 

Formal photographs vs. informal

Formal photographs are described as photos taken in a formal setting or arrangement. Take your family for example. Most families want "formal" photos taken with the bride & groom on their wedding day. We choose a spot close to the ceremony, line everyone up, and take all the groupings you've emailed us and run off photo after photo interchanging groups as we go along. We get a group set, yell out "Ready?! 3, 2, 1" and capture that moment. So what's so wrong with that? There's no emotion behind it. Everyone is lining up to smile for a second and then run off to cocktail hour or the reception. It's a "hi & bye" situation with mostly distant relatives who you only see twice a year and that's about it. It usually looks something like this:

Informal photos are described as photos taken in an informal way or setting. For example, take that same situation we spoke about above and take the same photograph in an informal way:

There's emotion behind these photographs and you can feel it as soon as you look at them. We normally capture 75% of the day like this...However, what if 100% of the day was like this? 

As photographers, we strive to capture the memories as we see them. We don't interrupt moments, we capture them. Hence why this year we're guiding our couples to stay away from the formal photographs. We understand that your family will want them. But that's because they don't know another option. They grew up and got married with all formal photographs and no nothing else. Heck, if they had it their way, your wedding album would consist of all group photos. We're here to guide them into a different experience. When they see your wedding album filled with pure emotion, candid, real photographs, they'll love them for many years to come and be so happy you went along with that route.

Below I've outlined the top 5 reasons why you should switch over to this type of format for your wedding and what pro's it has for you as the couple.

1 - You're going to get real emotions

I think we've come to the conclusion that lining up in the group photo and waiting for the photographer to yell "SMILE!" isn't going to capture any type of memorable moments. However, when you have your first dance, and mom, dad, grandma and grandpa are crying watching you and immediately grab you after your dance, and hold you so tight - Those are memorable moments. Imagine your whole wedding album like that. It would capture the day beautifully without any stale, posed photos.

2 - You'll have more time with your guests

Imagine only spending 10 minuets photographing your family instead of a half hour to an hour. It would free up time for you to go out and greet everyone, enjoy a cocktail or two and any other shenanigans you have planned for your big day. 

3 - Your photographer will love you even more

It's no secret that couple's want control of every single portion of their wedding day. Heck, they have a right to. After all, it is their day. But as creatives, it's our job to have them trust in us when it comes to photographs. Trusting in your photographer will allow us to do our job flawlessly and capture those candid moments we first spoke about during your consultation. Controlling each and every photographs only feels like homework to us. We'll look at the list and know that we need to capture xy&z. Trust us, we've done this before and we'll capture all the important people :)

4 - We'll still do some formal photographs

A big worry when we mention this new format to clients is their immediate family and couple's session. Most couples do want photos with their parents and siblings and we still want that to. We think that your immediate family should definitely be photographed formally because it's an important photo to have. When it comes to their photos, we bring them on a little adventure and capture their emotion along the ride. We'll still set out time to do photographs, they just might not be overly posed as you would have expected.

5 - You'll have more fun

You wont have to put together any shot list, you wont have to go around asking mom and dad who they want to be captured, and you won't have any more stress than you already have when planning a wedding. Your day will go by seamlessly without a ton of downtime for your guests and you'll have more time to enjoy the day rather than taking photos all day! 

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We know that this takes a lot of trust in us as your photographers. Our promise to you is to capture your wedding day as we see it. Your day is unique, special and unlike anyone else's. Hence why we wanted to reach out and see if you'd be on board with this new plan were trying to guide our couple's on. Here's a few candid, real moments from a recent wedding!

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Maggie + Tyler | Weekapaug, RI Backyard Wedding

Maggie + Tyler are the sweetest couple ever. From the first time we spoke, all the way to their wedding day they were so kind and so loving. They both took time out of their busy lives to meet with me multiple times before their big day, and it soon started to feel like I was meeting up with friends rather than clients. 

Their wedding in Weekapaug couldn't have turned out better. At the start of the day, we thought mother nature wasn't going to be so nice to us since it was pouring out. That didn't change Maggie & Tyler's attitude. They kept positive and it all worked out in the end! Just around the time Jenn and I arrived, the rain stopped and the skies cleared up (I maybe prayed a couple of times driving down to have the rain go away haha!) From the beautiful backyard her uncle provided, to the delicious food by A Thyme to Cook, and to end the night with the amazing band East Coast Soul (seriously, if you're getting married, check these guys out), the day turned out perfect. 

We can't wait to share more photos from their big day but for now...Here are some highlights!

With love,
Ryan