New venue for us, good times. we love something new and different…duh! Michelle and Mark are so cute, so adorable, we clearly loved our portrait time with them! Rock it out.

the good peeps that make this stuff extra delish:
michelle’s gown: Pronovias
michelle’s hair & makeup: Jennie Fresa
bridesmaids dresses: Bridal Trousseau On Main
florals: Lush Floral Designs
ceremony venue: St Theresa Parish in Trumbull, CT
reception venue: Great River Gold Club
wedding coordinator: Erin from Something Blue Special Events
music: Ronnie Mazal of Musically Yours

Our newest and favoritest and overall most radtastical DJ on the planet: Ronnie from Musically Yours. Pick him up and put him in your pocket. His DJ skillz were killer!

A great way to get on the fast track to Raw Photo Design’s “MVP List” is to allow a lot of time for portraits during your wedding day. Betty & Joe are quite possibly at the TOP of that list thanks to all the time they allotted for portraits during their awesome wedding at the Riverhouse at Goodspeed Station. Not only did we have all the time in the world but they planned their day around getting a whole bunch of photos taken at Gillette Castle in East Haddam, CT which honestly was our first time ever shooting there. Needless to say we fell in love with all the super-cool locations the park had to offer.

A really funny and completely random story about Betty and Joe’s wedding is after the ceremony we plugged the address to the Gillette Castle State Park into our GPS. As we cruise down a windy road toward the state park we heard the GPS instruct us… “In 1 mile, board ferry.” We obviously had the “Weddings Rock” playlist blasting on the iPod so we barely heard what it said but I definitely turned the music down and said to Amber, “Did the GPS just say to get on a ferry?” She wasn’t sure if she heard it correctly either and just then we rolled up to what looked like a draw bridge to get over the Connecticut River. BUT, low and behold…it was a ferry…and the people that looked like they worked on it were all waving for us to drive onto the boat. So….we drove onto the boat. Needless to say, it was one of the most unexpected things to happen on the way to shoot some bridal portraits and definitely took us by surprise. Five minutes later we were on the other side of the river and about 5 minutes away from the castle. It was absolutely hilarious and totally felt like we were in the middle of a Seinfeld episode!

Ok, enough talk…let’s see the images!

How cool is Gillette Castle?!

Betty was such a natural in front of the camera, we had such a blast working with her on her wedding day.

Joe was not too shabby himself!

Some yummy details to get you drooling!

I have to give Amber total props for not only coming up with this sick composition but for totally KILLING the lighting! It’s the little things in life….like off-camera flash on a shoe shot that makes a guy proud

All of these shots of Betty with her Dad are too much!

All of Betty & Joe’s details at the Riverhouse looked awesome!

So, there’s being excited about catching the bouquet and then there’s being EXCITED about catching the bouquet!

Enjoy guys, and thanks for being so amazingly awesome!!

This was a biggie, we cannot even try to pretend that we were not looking forward to this wedding for months.

We immediately hit it off with Allyson & Bryan at our initial meeting, Allyson is a producer at MTV (where I was a production intern) and we happened to know some of the same people, it is such a small world! But, the real reason why we could not contain ourselves leading up to this wedding is because we were going to be photographing the first wedding at the newly renovated Ocean House in Watch Hill, Rhode Island. After you absorb the stunning images below, hop back up here and click the link above to check this venue out. No shock, the Ocean House definitely exceeded our expectations, being there, you cannot help but feel like you are in another era, or one of Gatsby’s gala guests.

Despite shaky weather we were able to get some portrait time outside on the beach with the Ocean House’s great yellow umbrellas, the weather even held off so that Allyson & Bryan’s ceremony could be held outside as planned. The detailed restoration of this Victorian Era hotel is impeccable, and it was an absolute honor to photograph the first wedding there. Huge thanks to Nicole Taylor for being such a gem, traveling to Rhode Island, and 2nd shooting with us.

We were so lucky, even the vendors that we had the pleasure of working with on this wedding were some of our absolute CT favorites!
Wedding Venue: The Ocean House in Watch Hill, Rhode Island
Band: Cracked Ice. Fun fact: they have quite a track record, and even performed at Obama’s Inauguration!
Allyson’s Dress: Designed by Lea Ann Belter from The Plumed Serpent in Westport, CT
Allyson’s Shoes: Manolo Blahnik. Remember this style was made famous by Sex and the City when Carrie’s were stolen in “A Women’s Right to Shoes”? I digress.
Makeup: Stacey Palancia of Blush Couture
Floral Design: Dailey’s Flower Shop of Fairfield, CT

Getting ready.

Go get ‘em Nicole.

Paparazzi in full effect. Go girls!

The first look.

Bryan is a graphic designer, so he designed and printed the Ketubah, and all of the wedding stationary (programs, menus, place cards, etc.) with a seaside theme that was so stylish and very chic. It was perfect for the venue.

The ceremony. COME ON!!!

Could they be any cuter?

The reception.

Selfishly we wish that every wedding featured a Hora – it is just too fun…and of course Eric has to be right in on the action!

We wish you guys all of the best! We cannot thank you enough for allowing us to get to know your amazing families, and be a part of your very special day! xoxo