Cadence & Jesse | Newport, Rhode Island

November 15, 2008

First, I am overjoyed to be finishing up my final wedding for 2008. I’ll be second shooting at least one more time this year, but second shooting is like putting the cake in the oven, then eating it when your best friend is the one who shopped for and bought all the ingredients, then measured out and mixed for you. Second shooters get to do all the fun stuff, maybe crack the eggs and lick the spoon, and the other person does most of the hard work

Anyway, it is a joy to present the images from Cadence and Jesse’s amazingly heartfelt Newport, Rhode Island wedding. I LOVE RHODE ISLAND WEDDINGS! It’s a bit of a hike from Boston, but there’s something magical about that tiny state. Ali and I went out to Newport in March to hang out with Cadence and Jesse to see if I’d be a good fit to shoot their wedding, and one look at the outtakes from that session will tell you we all had a good time. I love and appreciate their quirky personalities and the way they are so different from one another, but so stable together.

Their friends in the wedding party were fun to hang out with, too. The girls loved working the camera and the guys talked to me about their top secret jobs with the gov and also about their beards. (Those of you who end up receiving our Christmas card this year will understand why I have a fondness for beards.) This wedding seemed to be full of happy people and loving couples. If you look through the dance photos, you’ll see that everyone was just having a good time.

Another interesting thing about this wedding is that I ended up shooting black and white for most of the day. Black and white images are powerful, but only really work work if your subject or emotion can stand alone. In this case, there was a strong storyline throughout the day and this is communicated through the images.

I loved this wedding; I love these people.

A quick word about the venues. Cadence and Jesse chose to see each other and do photos right before the ceremony so they could spend more time with people later, so we did a lot at the historic hotel where the girls got ready - Hotel Viking in Newport. The wedding took place in Cadence and Jesse’s home congregation - Channing Memorial Church (U-U) in Newport. Channing, dating from 1880, is beautiful - they just redid their flooring and have some wonderful stained glass.

The reception was at Bittersweet Farm Restaurant in Westport, MA. At first I was confused by the open loft layout, seating most of the guests up in the rafters. But my favorite images of the day came from shooting up there. Bittersweet Farms is a warm venue with beautiful grounds.

[ artist select images here ]

[ all wedding photos here ]

Posted in clients, destination, wedding