Vermont Wedding: Reception

The ceremony was lovely, the cocktail hour was fun...now, it was time to eat and party! The inside of the barn was absolutely lovely.

 Gorgeous, right? Why didn't I have colored hanging lanterns in my tent?

After a few minutes, it was time for the wedding party to arrive, followed by the first dance.

 

A little Daddy-daughter bonding time on the dance floor.

 Natalie was truly the belle of the ball at this wedding. She was a fantastic flower girl, and loved telling the family all about everything that was going on. I happened upon her "holding court" to some of the extended family, and could not resist snapping a photo. It was absolutely adorable, how she had these grownups listening to her.

 After a delicious dinner, it was time for cake! Out of love for Amanda & Scott, I decided to post this photo, and not the next one with their mouths wide open feeding cake to one another :)

 After delicious cake and cupcakes, it was time for more dancing! At that point, Evan and Claire took Henry and Theo back to the hotel to stay with a babysitter for the remainder of the reception. It was almost his bedtime, and the kid was done - no nap that day, and he'd been asked to do a lot that day. Natalie, however, continued to rule on the dance floor (I've got tons of videos to post next of her showing off her moves). She was so excited when Amanda came over and danced with her!

 I completely forgot that Evan grabbed this photo of me with my sister in law Claire (left) and Evan's cousin Kristen (middle). This was actually the first photo I had seen of myself from the wedding!

 Towards the end of the evening, Uncle Scott decided he needed some time dancing with his niece, so I had to capture that. It was now about 10pm, and after dancing all night and having such an amazing day, she was pretty much done for the night, in her daddy's arms.

 

What an amazing wedding, for all of us! I must say that for me, part of the fun really was seeing the wedding through Natalie's eyes. She loved being a flower girl, and I was so proud of the way she behaved all day - so very grown up.

Vermont Wedding: Cocktail Hour

 In between the wedding ceremony and the reception, there was a cocktail hour at the barn where the reception was located. It was overcast and a bit chilly (but not too badly), but an absolutely beautiful location, and the kids had a blast running around, snacking, and (in Natalie's case) holding court with the adults. The time and location gave me ample opportunity for some really great shots of both the kids, and the family in general!

 

The brothers! (with the beautiful barn behind them)

 At the end of family photos, we wanted to get some of the 3 cousins together. Henry started off extremely uncooperative.

(we were making jokes about this photo appearing in his wedding slideshow, when the time comes)
However, with everyone making goofy jokes and faces, he soon warmed up and allowed his sister and cousin to sit near him, resulting in some pretty great photos.

 Natalie was given one of the bridesmaid's bouquets, and was very excited to have even more flowers to hold.

 Henry spent time on and off through cocktail hour using my point and shoot to take some photos of his own. How cute is this little guy?!

 

Your Moment of Zen

I don't think this really needs an explanation. Simply enjoy the ridiculous cuteness.

Vermont Wedding: Wedding Prep and Ceremony

I can already tell this will be a multiple-post story. I have so many photos to share from my brother-in-law's wedding! I previously posted photos from the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner; now it's time for the wedding itself! In addition to posts here, there will also be photos from the wedding day posted on my photography blog; I'll try to link to those as I can. I think here I'll have 4 parts to post: the first here is wedding prep and ceremony, then photos from cocktail hour, then photos from the reception, and finally some fantastic videos of the dancing during the reception.

As I think I mentioned before, my now sister-in-law Amanda requested that I take some photos of her and Scott getting ready before the wedding. I didn't want to be in the way, so I spent a lot of time taking photos of her wedding dress along with the bridesmaids dresses, her shoes, etc - I love those types of wedding shots! It was a lot of fun. However, I also wanted to capture some photos of her and her bridesmaids getting ready. Since Natalie was in the wedding, she also got to have her hair and makeup done, which she absolutely loved.

I spent the morning sending messages back and forth between the bridal and groom suites, as well as trying to photograph at each location. The bridesmaids took an immediate liking to Natalie, luckily, and were so good about watching her while I was going back and forth (Evan was with the groomsmen, and Henry was being watched by my other sister-in-law Claire, which was so wonderful of her!). When I returned, I found Natalie happily playing on someone's phone.

So, it was back to the men! They of course were ready a bit faster than the ladies, and were very accommodating of me to take a few photos. (The panda hat was a joke from their dad. Don't ask.)

 One of the little touches that Scott added was brightly colored socks for all of the men. Love it!

 Then, back to the bridal suite! At this point, nearly all hair and makeup was done, and I was able to grab a last couple of shots of the bride finishing her prep.

At that point, I took Natalie back to our room to meet Claire, get the kids dressed, and finish my own prep. After doing my and Claire's hair and makeup, we were off to the wedding!

Natalie made a beautiful flower girl, and was more than happy to pose for me during the ceremony, after her walk down the aisle. She was sitting in the pew in front of me, next to her grandparents.

 I didn't have the best vantage point for photos, as I was behind two rows of people, but I did like the framing effects I was able to get of the bride and groom from between two of the bridesmaids!

 And the happy couple, at the end of the ceremony.

Coming up: cocktail hour!

Halloween with friends

Finally, my last Halloween-related post of 2013! Because there are never enough excuses to let your kids dress up in costume, particularly when there are a group of them together, I invited some of our old college friends over for a small Halloween party at our house on the Saturday after Halloween. I had fun purchasing some decorations and crafts (and since I purchased them on November 1, everything was at least 50% off!), and setting up for the party. When everyone arrived, we grouped them all for a photo (or, did as good of a job as we possibly could).

We did manage to get all 8 kids into one photo, despite their unhappiness about the request :)

Since we had 4 superheroes, I had to get them all together for a shot!

Sydney and Natalie

I had seen a few ideas for Halloween-themed treats - one were "witches brooms" with pretzels and string cheese. Thanks to Kathy for actually making these for me - it wasn't easy!

I had just received a chalkboard banner in the mail - I ordered it for photo shoots, but thought it would look cute for the party as well.

As part of the 50% off decor I found at Target, I got this awesome spider. Sadly, he scared a couple of the kids, but I look forward to using him again next year!

And here's our craft (decorate your own treat cup and make a spiderweb ornament), with Frankenstein (and Ellie in the background). Overall, I think the kids had a really nice time, and it's always fun for us parents to get together. Yay holidays!

Halloween in Stratford

On the Saturday before Halloween, our community held a Halloween party for the kids in the neighborhood. There was a short party in the clubhouse, followed by the main event: trick or treating around the pond!

 

Super cute kiddos!

The kids had a really nice time - Henry was initially hesitant to go up to the adults who were handing out treats, but then when he realized that he got candy and got over his reluctance.

 

Henry was just too adorable in his monster costume - I couldn't resist getting lots of photos of him.

 

The kids didn't only get candy - there were also some toys, including bubbles. Who doesn't love bubbles?!

 

And, of course, the party wouldn't be complete without photos of Natalie and her friends on the street!