For some reason a few of my recent posts have magically disappeared. Other than being able to post things, I’m not super web savvy, so in lieu of spending hours trying to retrieve them, I’ll repost for now.

Marshall and Shauna were lovely on their wedding day, and it filled everyone else with hope and happiness. It was great to be photographing another family wedding. It’s an honor we don’t take lightly.

And because I know not seeing the photos when you think they should be there is super annoying, here’s another fun one. Such a personal and happy ceremony. (Not to mention wonderfully decorated- look at those flowers draping over the mantel!)

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A few weeks ago, a recent bride – Julia, of Julia and Andy fame… or as I always accidentally call them, Julie and Andia – wrote me an email about how much she loved my “Why I love this photo” feature and that she wanted to do one of her favorite photo of her wedding day. I mean, being a big blog slacker as I’ve been lately, I was first excited to have someone do my work for me, but I was really really excited to see which one she chose. I was so surprised that this was her fav. But also really humbled… because out of all the photos of the day, it’s one that seemed relatively simple. I guess that’s what it is about weddings, and life in general, the little moments that take your breath away. Of course we didn’t know what was going on in Julia’s head as it happened, and the little story below made me cry. And then I kissed my husband, because he’s the one that caught the photo that made the wedding… Read on!

From Julia:

“My wedding day was amazing. I had a very do-it-yourself approach to the wedding and spent countless hours and days and months making everything from the wedding invitations, the table decor, the pew bows, the favors, the seating cards, all the way to the play list and my shoes. I loved being so involved but the time it took was often overwhelming. Then finally, the big day arrived. I expected to be a nervous wreck but found I was surprisingly calm. After getting my hair and makeup done, I went to my sister’s house to meet up with the rest of the bridal party and get dressed. Then everything started to move very quickly. Within no time, we were dressed and headed to the church. A few minutes later, we were lined up and ready to walk down the aisle. I was expecting to get emotional or anxious or nervous any moment, but it still just wasn’t hitting me what was happening. It still sort of felt like a dream.

The ceremony was beautiful and it was now time for my very-soon-to-be husband and I to exchange our vows. The priest instructed us to repeat after him as he read our vows to us. Andy went first. Looking into each others eyes and holding hands, Andy began to say his vows. Repeating after the priest he said, “Julia, I take you to be my husband” instead of saying wife. The priest was the first to notice the mistake but we all quickly caught on. The guests began to giggle and Andy blushed a little. I started to laugh too and looked out to our guests. In that moment, I feel like I woke up. It lightened the mood and make the moment real to me. Finally I relaxed and was filled with joy as my groom and I laugh together and with all of our guests.

In the days after the wedding, I kept thinking about that moment. I was so confident in Ciras Photography that I knew the wedding pictures would be beautiful, but could they have captured that one moment that meant so much to me? I was afraid to ask; if they didn’t capture it I couldn’t blame them. It was probably just two seconds when I looked to the guests and how could they have predicted that would happen or would mean so much to me? As soon as I got the pictures I scanned through the thumbnails looking for the one picture I prayed was there. There it was, exactly as I had remembered it. I was thrilled and reassured that I had made the right decision to choose Ciras Photography. I am so glad that my husband and I decided the photography was such an important aspect that we confidently made the investment. All of the pictures were amazing, but this is by far my favorite photo from the whole day.

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Just a few teasers of the cuteness at the studio last weekend. Emma thinks her big brother and sister are the funniest people around.

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I’m in awe of the details from this wedding, in particular the way they displayed the engagement photos on a clothesline! Genius!
http://atsecondstreet.blogspot.com/2010/07/wedding-reception.html

We’ve had some pretty cool displays of engagement photos at weddings:
My favorite had to have been Erin & Dustin, who used photos I took at their Jamaican wedding as decorations at their New York reception. now the canvases they had made are displayed at home above their bed.

They even used photos from the wedding as favors at the reception

We’ve also done a lot of Guest books designed with engagement photos

Then there are small framed prints, which look nice on a gift table, on a mantle or near a guest book:

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I think exciting is such an appropriate word for Cara and Nicole’s wedding. During the getting ready time, both were nervous excited, ready to see each other. They both were beaming during the ceremony, and the reception was buzzing with excited energy. No one was afraid to dance; the dance floor was packed all night. It’s so much fun to be a part of a wedding so filled with love and excitement!

Cara & Nicole are blog regulars: You might remember them from their Provincetown Engagement Shoot or from the SoYoureEngayged.com feature!

Here are the wedding stats:

Reception: Angelica’s
Dress Designer – Cara’s- Custom Designs by Florence Alvino,Wakefiled,MA…Nicole’s-Precious Memories,Malden,MA
Officiant – Cara’s aunt Roseann
Florist – Platinum Posies, Middleton, MA
Cake – Montillio’s
Band/DJ – Perfect Parties, Michael Gallant

Nicole was so happy to see Cara at the end of the aisle

The partying continues, but all they see are each other

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For being a wedding photographer, I’m not really much of a mush-ball. I like a good kiss as much as the next girl, but I seem to prefer photos where people are laughing and enjoying each other’s company. or something dramatic; I love drama.

But! In honor of Valentine’s Day, here are kissy faces from all our weddings last year. Jesse and I are currently smooching our way through Spain, which is about as romantic as it gets. We loved our 2010 Boston weddings (and our Hawaii Weddings, our DC weddings), and this is our romantic ode to them

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Mandi- it’s in and it’s amazing… and will be on its way to you shortly!

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We’re so happy that we won the WeddingWire Brides Choice Award for the second year in a row!

(See last year’s award here: http://cirasphotography.com/blog/index.php/ciras-photography-wins-award/)

The press release:

WeddingWire, the nation’s leading wedding technology company, is thrilled to announce Ciras Photography has been selected to receive the prestigious annual WeddingWire Bride’s Choice Awards™ 2011 for Wedding Photography!

Recognition for the Bride’s Choice Awards™ 2011 is determined by recent reviews and extensive surveys from over 750,000 WeddingWire newlyweds. Our past clients are among those that shared their experiences on WeddingWire, the largest wedding review site in the nation.

Ciras Photography stands among the top five percent of wedding professionals in the WeddingWire community, representing quality and service excellence within the wedding industry. Awards were given to the top wedding professionals across 20 service categories, from wedding venues to wedding photographers, and were based on the overall professional achievements throughout the past year.

“WeddingWire is honored to celebrate the success of the top-rated wedding professionals within the WeddingWire community,” said Timothy Chi, WeddingWire’s Chief Executive Officer. “With the annual Bride’s Choice Awards™ program, WeddingWire has the unique opportunity to recognize the best wedding professionals across the US and Canada. We applaud Ciras Photography for their professionalism and dedication to enhancing the wedding planning experience last year.”

We are happy to announce that Ciras Photography is among the very best Wedding Photographers within the WeddingWire Network, which includes leading wedding planning sites WeddingWire, Martha Stewart Weddings, Project Wedding and Weddingbee. We would like to thank our past clients for nominating us to receive the Bride’s Choice Awards™ 2011.

For more information and to read our stellar reviews, please visit our WeddingWire Storefront today at www.weddingwire.com/cirasphotography

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Living far apart is hard, so Chris and Monica had some photos taken so they could have beautiful photos of themselves together. We’re putting together little albums for the both of them right now. I can’t think of anything better.

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And I am a home decorating blog addict.

I know this isn’t the normal wedding-photography-related blog, but sometimes I bet you need to get out of your wedding zone. Plus, this could help if you and your significant other aren’t yet living together, or if you want to spruce up your nest as an after-wedding project. I mean, come on, what are you going to do with all that time that once was filled with planning a wedding?!

To start, I am not an interior designer. These are not learn-the-rules-design blogs. I actually never really liked decorating (half because I am super frugal and half because Jesse and I would bicker over all the decorations until nothing ever was hung). But after we bought a house (which I’ll eventually unveil here), and Jesse and I found a nice decorating middle ground (to say the least, we somehow evolved into the same decorating style), I found myself reading home blogs all. the. time. It actually was a problem for a while, and then everything started to mash together in my head. After weeding out the blogs that I got little from, I now have a staple of them that I read a couple times a week. To save you the hassle of what I went through, here’s a good starter kit. Well, I guess it’s only good if you like the same things I do. So, take these as you wish

Under the Sycamore
This isn’t just a home blog. Photographer-turned-stay-at-home-mom Ashley talks about decorating, her cute kids, taking photos, life, and making stuff. I heart this blog because of Ashley’s ability to be so darn crafty without being “crafty.” In other words, when I make things, they look homemade, when she makes things, they look expensive. Also, I have a thrift store habit… search for her room tours. So inspirational.

Young House Love
A husband-and-wife-team (I have a soft spot for those!) of house renovators. There’s probably a million blogs that attempt to do what these two do so well- remake a house and blog the process. They’re funny, they’re frugal, they wing it and also over-plan. I love this blog and their adorable daughter and dog. Click “projects” in the top bar and see how to do anything home-related. Ok, not everything. But most everything that matters.

Apartment Therapy
This is a biggie, and how has break-out kitchen, kids rooms, and technology blogs. This one has less personality than the blogs above (where you jump into the lives of strangers), but that’s because it covers all different homes. There are regular home tours, how-tos, and where to shop. I particularly love their craigslist round-ups, but Boston always seems to have the least fun craigslist treasures. This is where I start if I have a home question (how to grow spices indoors, how to paint ikea furniture…)

Making it lovely
This blog is great because it combines my strange obsession with stationary with house decorating. I particularly like her home-made inspiration boards because they’re cute and fun!

Well, that’s the tip of the iceberg, but should get you off to a nice start… as if you needed more distractions in your day!

What are your favorite home blogs that I should be reading?

Oh, and the photo in our profile above is of us in our living room the day we bought the house!

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