Amy & Ben's Wedding - Black Thumb Studio

Friday June 18, 2010

Amy & Ben’s Wedding

The first memory I have of Ben is of a scrawny little kid running around at church being teased by his older brothers Jason and Noah. He reminded me a lot of myself – less the older brothers. Fast-forward to this past Friday. That scrawny little kid is now a mature adult who married the love of his life – Amy. Granted, Ben still gets teased by his brothers, but they don’t lock him in the basement anymore…

Amy and Ben met in college. Did they have a class together? Nope. Did a mutual friend introduce them? Nope. Well then how did they meet, you wonder? Great question. Apparently, Ben dropped a very large water balloon directly on Amy from one of the upper floors of his dormitory. I’m not sure that Jason and Ben did a very good job of explaining to their little brother what "hitting" on a girl actually meant. In spite of this first encounter though, Amy and Ben became good friends and started dating. The rest is history.

You may remember Amy and Ben’s engagement photos from last fall. It was one of those sessions that was just awesome. Perfect weather. Perfect foliage. Perfect couple. Their wedding day was no less perfect.

George and I started our day at Amy’s parent’s house just outside of Springfield. All the ladies were getting ready there. We were also excited to know that our intern from this past fall, Stephanie, was in the wedding party. We’re always excited to see a familiar face. Amy’s veil was on and the girls were getting their dresses on when we arrived. We snapped a few photos of Amy’s dress before she put it on. Once on, we headed outside for some group and family photos. It wasn’t long before they were all jumping in the limo and heading to the church.

The ceremony was held at the church where Amy grew up – the Evangelical Covenant Church in Springfield, MA. The white-walled sanctuary was wonderfully bright and the center aisle was lined with candles in glass globes. Ben and the guys were hiding out in a back stairwell awaiting the start of the ceremony. George snapped photos of the guests being seated.

As Amy walked down the aisle toward Ben, I could see his eyes well up with tears of joy. He smiled from ear to ear as his beautiful bride approached. One of my favorite parts of a wedding day is watching the bride and groom interact with each other during the ceremony – those little nervous glances, the smiles, the tears. Watching Amy and Ben was wonderful. She couldn’t take her eyes off him and likewise.

Following the ceremony, the wedding guests were invited to Zukas Hilltop Barn in Spencer, MA for the reception. We had shot one wedding there previously, but it had been raining, so outdoor photos were not an option for us. This time, the weather was perfect and we spent about an hour and a half on the property taking family, wedding party and couple photos. During our pre-wedding consultation, Amy and Ben had made it clear to me that they wanted creative photos and allotted enough time to do so. I’m so glad they did and am thrilled with the results. We put the wedding party all over an old hay bail trailer. We had them playing on the swing. We even had them standing in the woods completely surrounded by ferns. It was great!

The reception was under the tent behind the main building. Tents are great for photography because of their white tops. We were thrilled! Amy and Ben shared a first dance, cut their wedding cake, shared a dance with their parents and then partied the rest of the night. It couldn’t have been a more perfect day!

Amy and Ben – Congratulations on a wonderful wedding day! We hope the rest of your life together has a lot of sunny days and just a few water balloons.

Vendors:

Dress Shop: Loren’s Bridal – Fiskdale, MA

Hair/Makeup: The Mane Event Salon – Hampden, MA

Florist: Mark Henry Florist – Indian Orchard, MA

Church: Evangelical Covenant Church – Springfield, MA

Livery: Century Limousine – Wilbraham, MA

Cake: The Crown Bakery – Worcester, MA

DJ: Bob Hogan of Bob Hogan Productions – Springfield, MA

Venue: Zukas Hilltop Barn – Spencer, MA

To see a slide show of their wedding images, click here.

George snapped this great candid of Amy while we were at her house.

Another great shot of George’s!

Waiting for the ceremony to start…

The church (and bride!) were gorgeous!

This is an all-time favorite. I LOVE that Ben’s brothers are looking at him!

Love…love…love

I was able to get a really cool perspective for part of the ceremony.

What a stunning couple!

I smile every time I look at this photo. These are Ben’s parents.

That whole big brother teasing thing…Noah and Jason turned into robots…and separately they told Ben that if he pulled his hair it would hurt them…gotta love older brothers!