Jessica and James are, in a lot of ways, my favorite kind of people to work with. They were laid back and incredibly nice but also had this sense of humor that really appeals to me. I enjoyed photographing them and I enjoyed working with them through out the wedding process and their wedding at the Asa Waters Mansion in Millbury, MA was fantastic.

Our first engagement session was scrapped because it happened to fall on the same day as our only major snowstorm last winter and I felt awful. They had traveled all the way in from New York and we just couldn’t make it to Moore State Park for our session. I drive a PT Cruiser- not exactly known for its rugged abilities. When we finally had our session a few weeks later the weather was cold but wonderful. Jessica’s son and her sister Barb- also a photographer- came along. Barb let us use her heart shaped umbrella and it ruled. It was a lot of fun and a great way to get to know the people I would be spending a hot summer day with.

Here is my favorite shot from that session.

I was pumped on the day of their wedding. I had met up with Jessica a few days before and she gave me my own heart-shaped umbrella. I was really touched. I toured the lovely Asa Waters Mansion and had a really good idea about where I wanted to go and what I wanted to shoot. I was happy and ready to go. Then, as I was getting my cameras ready to get loaded into my camera bag I got an awful phone call letting me know that one of my cousins had been diagnosed with a real shitty form of Leukemia (not that they aren’t all shitty).

Jessica and James’ wedding taught me that weddings are not an aside from life. Every single person who is at a wedding- whether they are in the wedding or cherished guests (or bearded photographers) have their own massively complex story going on. Not all of it is happy but during a wedding you just have to accept and embrace that. Love is all about accepting a person’s entire story and weddings are all about love.

If I had a normal job I don’t know if I would have functioned properly. I don’t. I arrived at Jessica and James’ wedding having decided that I would paste on a smile and just exist in my camera. The thing is that it’s hard not to smile at a wedding and it’s even harder not to smile around people like Jessica and James. It was also helpful that they and their guests came to get down during the reception! I found that after an incredibly short amount of time my smile was genuine and there were times when I couldn’t help but laugh and feel appreciative for what I do and the people that I get to spend time with. Here are some of my favorite shots from Jessica and James’ wedding at the Asa Waters Mansion in Auburn, MA.