Our last wedding of 2007

I find it interesting that there is always one thing at each wedding that stands out to me. For Amanda and Jay it was the incredible show of emotion. I had to hold back tears through out the day as the two of them laughed and cried. Especially as Amanda came down the aisle and Jay teared up (putting it lightly). Here is a shot of Jay as Amanda came down the aisle, and a shot of Amanda dancing with her father.





Just before Amanda and Jay went downstairs to hop into the limo I snuck them into this cool stairwell for a quick of shot of them together. Then they ran out the door through the party of guests holding sparklers and drove off into the night. It was a very romantic and seemingly appropriate way for our last wedding of 2007 to end.
~Matt

Erin & Jeremy - A Winter Wedding in Cambridge

Our second to last wedding of the 2007 (Dec 28th) was Erin and Jeremy's. They chose the Fogg Museum for their wedding reception - it was a perfect fit for them and a gorgeous location for a wedding! We are so sad that the Fogg is closing its doors for a major 6-year renovation... there won't be any weddings there for quite a while after they close their doors to start packing in just a few months.

One of our favorite things in the whole world is live bagpipe music, so we were very happy when we learned that Erin and Jeremy have a good friend who is a bagpiper (he wore his kilt too, which also made Enna happy :). He played as they exited the church, and then after many requests from the guests he played an encore at the reception which ignited the dance floor. I wish our neighborhood had a wandering bagpiper - it would be so cool to hear this music floating through the air on summer evenings.

One thing we love to do is incorporate the environment of the wedding location as much as possible into the portraits. People spend so much time looking for the right venue and choose these locations for such personal reasons. Erin and Jeremy love art, so this photo showing them in a gallery on their wedding night and being themselves is perfect. Jeremy jumping in his top hat, with a cane and two-toned shoes is priceless.

Boston Photographers Guild

We are pleased to announce the launch of the Boston Photographers Guild, a FREE resource for professional photographers. Matt and I envision this network as a place for professional photographers who live or work in the greater Boston area to come together and network, meet, share ideas and information, and work together to achieve mutual success in our industry.

This online community is intended to provide networking and educational opportunities to professional photographers who have geographic ties to Boston and the greater New England area.

If you are a professional photographer, we invite you to fill out the form below to join us:

Happy Birthday MLK

I have a dream that one day the state... will be transformed into a situation where little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls and walk together as sisters and brothers.

How do you talk to toddlers about Martin Luther King? I found myself wondering this over the past week.

With a quick online search I found a very comprehensive page with all kinds of creative, educational activities for today. We took advantage of the no-school-day for some much needed "daddy time" for the boys, but I thought I'd share this resource here for our busy parent friends. I'll print out one of the coloring pages for after dinner tonight.

Featured on Style Me Pretty

We were so excited to see the nice post Abby wrote about us on Style Me Pretty! Her blog is a fabulous resource, very well written with lots of pretty pictures and unique ideas. Thanks for the nice write-up Abby, we are so excited to spread the word about our new Green Wedding Photography package!

Day At The Zoo

Ollie and the baby gorilla at our zoo are the same age.

Having Fun

Our friend Amanda emailed to tell me that we were looking too serious on our blog... then my dad called to tell us the same thing. So we pulled out the CD that Liana sent us from our Boot Camp workshop and found some more playful pictures. Do these work a little better Amanda? :) Thanks again Liana for the great pictures!

(images courtesy Liana Lehman)

Newport Wedding Showcase

I loved seeing Traci Romano's table settings, dresses, and gorgeous accessories next to our photos.

There were a ton of top-notch wedding vendors at the show, and it was so much fun to visit their displays and chat with all of them about their businesses!

Congrats La Bella on throwing such a fabulous event!

As a side note, Belle Mer is a gorgeous location for a wedding... we really want to photograph a wedding there, especially a wedding that utilizes all of the space including the Island House. It would be such a fun place to do bridal portraits!

KD&J Botanica - Best Wedding Flowers in CT!

Yesterday's bridal show (the Newport Wedding Showcase) was a great success! It was a beautiful show, and all of the vendors there were top notch. One of the most popular vendors wasn't even there... KD&J Botanica, of Westport, Connecticut. They were generous enough to provide the floral arrangement that we used in our booth. I usually don't like hydrangeas, but I love how they combined green and white to create this bouquet, and the zig-zag edges of the flower petals add such interesting texture... I love it!

Bridal Show in Newport... Come One Come All!

We've been looking forward to this wedding show all year long! We'll get to visit with some of our very favorite vendors in the industry, and we're looking forward to meeting lots of brides and grooms planning their weddings. More information about the Newport Wedding Event HERE.

Be sure to stop by our booth which will be right next to Traci Romano Events... we'll have lots of chocolate on hand for everyone who visits!

For couples who book us at or in the week after the show we have a really sweet goodie bag in the works, that includes gift certificates for some of our favorite Grazier Photography products (and, of course, more yummy chocolate).

Newport Bridal Show Here We Come

Our good friends and wedding clients Jason & Sarah Parker came by to get us pumped up for the La Bella Bridal Show in Newport this weekend. You guys are so great - we love you Sara and Jason!

How to Recycle Batteries and Other Bad Stuff

We're so happy to hear that folks are excited about our green initiative - we hope to inspire others to take similar steps in their lives and businesses.

A few of you have emailed to ask us how to recycle batteries. Most stores that sell electronics, like Radio Shack, Walmart, and Home Depot have battery recycling receptacles. Earth 911 is a GREAT resource for finding local recycling places near you, and it's full of other tips about how to recycle.

Or, you can get your own Big Green Box and put all kinds of bad stuff in it! A smaller box is about $50, and it includes shipping and safe disposal/recycling of the heavy metal components in batteries, cell phones. etc.

Some of you may have found that it's a little harder to find recycling centers that will accept household AA batteries. This is because these batteries are now subject to regulations that require them to be safe for landfill disposal - in 1997 legislation was passed requiring the phasing out of mercury in household batteries. So a lot of recycling companies don't accept them simply because they don't contain any heavy metal that can be recycled/sold. You can read more about this topic here.

Green Weddings, Green Wedding Photography

Here it is, our Big Business Announcement... drum roll...

Grazier Photography is going green.

Figuring out how to do this (beyond simple lifestyle modifications) was a challenge.... After all, we already have a minimal commute to work (involving 12 steps up to the third floor of our house). We recycle paper, packaging, batteries, and other items, and we try to purchase local/organically grown food and other products. We see all of those habits as nothing special - they are simply part of our basic responsibilities as citizens of this planet. We wanted to do something exceptional to turn our business green. To be truly "green" wedding photographers we wanted to offer green products. We have finally found an album company to partner with for our "Green Wedding Photography Package" and we are so very excited about their books! Our newest line of books are made using 50% recycled content, and they are produced in as environmentally friendly a process as possible. The books themselves are simply gorgeous... with torn page edges, contemporary layout designs, and traditional elegant hand-sewn bindings.

A green album wasn't quite enough either... we really want to make an impact, bigger than the book sitting on a client's coffee table.

So here's our pledge: for every couple who chooses our Green Photography package, we pledge to invest 5% of that package in carbon offset credits. This is enough of an offset to make many weddings entirely carbon neutral, it will even compensate for most or all of the guests' air and auto travels! Couples who book this package will also receive a really cool Green Wedding Planning gift basket that we've put together - and believe me when I tell you it's FULL of great stuff!

For our current clients, we'll make a 5% investment in carbon offset credits for any order from our line of green albums - even a baby book!

For those of you planning weddings, here are a few simple ideas to reduce the environmental impact of your event:

1. Hold the ceremony and reception in the same location to reduce car travel.
2. Use local and organically grown food and locally grown flowers.
3. Recycle the packaging from your wedding gifts.
4. Calculate and offset the carbon produced by each guest's flight and vehicular travel.


Have other ideas about how to plan a green wedding? Please share them with us!

Roundup No. 2: Our favorite wedding trends/ideas/traditions at this past year’s weddings

Sperry Tents – Lots of people envision a beautiful tent as part of their outdoor festivities. But what they often fail to realize is that most traditional rental tents are not constructed to be beautiful on the inside. We love when the inside of a tent is “dressed up” with draping, lanterns, and lights so that the ugly metal structure isn’t visible. This year we had the opportunity to shoot a few weddings with Sperry Tents – these structures are ABSOLUTELY gorgeous. From a distance they present a festive and graceful circus-tent shape. From inside they are elegant lines, sun-glowing canvas, and beautiful wooden architecture, with sewn details reminiscent of the sails on a fine antique yacht.

Love Letter Readings – Our favorite ceremony idea by far… is what Gary and Missy did at their wedding. On the wedding morning, they each took time to write a love letter to each other. At the ceremony, instead of traditional readings from literature, Gary and Missy’s maid of honor and best man stood up and read the letters out loud. How romantic!

Going Green – We’re meeting with more couples who are working hard to make their wedding’s impact on the environment as light as possible. As a result, we’re seeing more creative and interesting locations, flowers, menus, and favors, all of which make for a more highly personalized and fun-to-photograph wedding.

Dresses that Flatter – we celebrated our 5th anniversary this summer! And Enna will be the first to admit (and warn current dress-shoppers) that once you’ve shopped for a wedding dress, you’ll ALWAYS shop for a wedding dress! She just can’t help but continue to look for the perfect dress when watching the latest trends! This year more than any other we’ve seen dresses that we absolutely love. More and more brides are going for dresses that show off the shapes of their bodies, that are constructed to move gracefully, and that incorporate interesting textures, laces, beading, and other details. And judging by what Matt saw at Bridal Fashion Week 2008 in New York, the coming year is going to be full of even more gorgeous gowns!

Bicycle Built for Two – How could Linsay and Ryan not make this list with their exuberant grand exit? They borrowed a beautiful tandem from Bob’s Bicycle Shop in Portsmouth NH. Ryan was so excited when he told me how they thought that riding a tandem bicycle is such a great analogy for marriage!

Roundup No. 1: Highlights of 2007

New Babies – January ’07 was marked by two very exciting births – first Enna got to document the birth of twins Jaden & Isaac, and then her best friend Cassandra gave birth to baby Kai just a few days later. Kelsey, a handful of Jacks, and Cayenne are just a few of the other babies who made their entrances to our world. Several more of our friends and clients are expecting in 2008! We’re so excited for more baby pictures (and more baby-rocking too!)

Mosaic School – Ollie started preschool this year and he is in absolute heaven. We are so lucky to have found Mosaic School with its diverse and heartfelt curriculum, and loving teachers. Will is also enjoying stretching his legs a bit more at day care without big brother around to boss him.

Charleston Trip – When Debra and Chipper invited us to photograph their wedding in Charleston we leapt at the chance to visit this city for the first time… we initially thought we would make it a child-free trip, but we ended up taking Will along for the trip (and utilized a really great local nanny for our childcare needs… let us know if you need a babysitter recommendation in Charleston!). We felt a little guilty about traveling with just one of our boys, but Ollie was quite content to stay with his grandparents, aunt and uncle, and cousins. Will – who suffers from the oft-bemoaned 2nd child syndrome – reveled in the extensive attention from his parents.

New House – We found a huge house for rent in Roslindale – our initial plan was to buy last year, but when we found this space we knew it would be a perfect landing pad for us while we scope out the next couple of years of our life. Our new house has an AMAZING office, and we LOVE having clients visit us here. Best things about the new house? Steam sauna/shower, big back yard, 3rd floor office, and nice neighbors.

Business Boot Camp – When we learned that Liana Lehman was taking her Business Boot Camp for photographers on the road, we knew that we had to invite her to Boston. She visited us in early December for a full workshop – and BBC is definitely one of the best business workshops we have ever done! Liana is a great instructor, and all the students gained a LOT of insights and tools from her class. Thank you Liana!

Best Dinner Out – the prize goes to Dali, which we visited with our wedding clients & friends Sara & Jason Parker. Dali somehow manages to pull off kitschy décor, yummy Spanish tapas, and silly ruffled tuxedo shirts – all of which have potential to make a place overly pretentious – with ease and a down-to-earth authenticity. We’ll definitely go back.

Jackson – Matt and I have been together for 8 years! And married for 5 of them. And we’ve wanted a dog that whole time (except for the time we dog-sat for a friend in the winter and realized how hard it would be to scoop poop by hand on the frozen city streets of Boston). So this fall, when we found our new house (with big back yard) we finally took the leap. We found Jackson at an animal shelter in New Hampshire – he had traveled there as part of a truckload of dogs from the overfilled shelters in Alabama. Jackson is settling in nicely – he lets the boys climb all over him, even while he is eating, he is fully housetrained (knock on wood), and he waited until the end of our busy wedding season to chew up my favorite wedding shoes. Of course we’ve also been reminded how much fun it is to scoop poop in the winter, but we’re still happy to have him as part of our family now.

Grandma’s Cello – many of you know that we come from musical families. Matt’s brother Russell and his wife Katie founded the Portsmouth Music & Arts Center, and several people in my family are professional musicians (including my dad who retired in ’06 after 30 years of teaching high school band!) I’ve always wanted to learn how to play a string instrument, but somehow never found the opportunity or time. Years ago my Grandma (now known as GiGi by her growing clan of great-grandchildren) offered me one of her cellos if I ever decided to take lessons. So this summer Matt conspired with her to surprise me with the cello for my birthday. I have been taking lessons since the fall and am LOVING finally having this opportunity. Thank you GiGi!

Red Sox Nation – this has been an exciting year for all our local teams, but the prize for “new fan development” goes to the Red Sox… after two failed attempts (thanks to a rained out game and then our wedding schedule), Ollie finally got to attend his very first Red Sox game. Matt treated him to lots of hot dogs, ice cream, and a customized T-shirt to commemorate the experience. That was at the beginning of the season, and The Sox kept Ollie’s attention right through to the end with their World Series Championship – what a way to cultivate a new fan! Our championship hats and special baseball enjoy a special spot in our house.

Our Clients – you ARE why we do what we do! We love our clients, and constantly are marveling at how blessed we are to be doing what we love for a living. Thank you for inviting us into your lives, allowing us to see and document and participate in your important moments, vulnerabilities, and relationships. It is an honor to be part of your lives!