A few weeks ago I had the wonderful opportunity to travel to New Hampshire to photograph the wedding of Becca and Roger. Becca was referred to me through my friend Leanne, my hilarious friend from college whose wedding I shot in North Carolina a few years ago (check out their amazing wedding HERE). She and her fiance, Roger, were engaged at the top of Mt. Washington, whose summit is visible from the Omni Mt. Washington Hotel, where the wedding took place. The hotel has a really cool history (including lots of reports of hauntings), and I felt so lucky that Becca flew my mom and I out to shoot the wedding and enjoy a long weekend in such a neat place. The day we arrived, the weather was perfect, and the hotel looked amazing…
The day of their wedding was chilly, windy, and rainy. And I mean RAINY. It was that unpleasant, cold, sideways rain. But after the bride finished getting dressed, the rain lightened up enough for us to grab one coveted photo…you can scroll down to see Becca looking like the runaway bride. I was running after her in my dress and heels, followed by the bridal party. Looked sort of like a scene out of a Julia Roberts movie. It was worth it for the photo on the chess board :)
The decision was made to move the ceremony inside, which I know the bride was sad about because the guests were missing out on the gorgeous view. But the room where the ceremony took place was just beautiful. They had a small, sweet ceremony with a hand-tying element that let their close friends and family participate. Afterward, they had a yummy brunch reception!
After the reception ended, Becca and Roger planned on taking everyone up to the top of Mt. Washington via the Cog Railway. Having gotten engaged at the summit, this place holds very special meaning to them. Had this trip been 2 days earlier, the view and the weather would have been amazing. As it was, it was pouring rain, and the wind at the summit was gusting over 100 mph. The Cog engineers would only take us up half-way. While semi-relieved that I wouldn’t have to endure the crazy weather at the top, I was pretty sad to miss the opportunity for such an epic wedding photo. The hilarious photo below shows the bride while the Cog passed over “Jacob’s Ladder”, which has a 37% grade. According to their website, there is a 13ft difference between the passengers in the front and the back of the train. We all had some fun with it!
You’re probably wondering with all this crazy weather, when we had time to complete the fun portraits of the bride and groom. Luckily, since we arrived to the resort on Thursday, we were readily available to the bride and groom all weekend. When we heard the weather forecast for Saturday, I suggested that Becca and Roger might want to consider getting dressed up on Friday evening so that we could shoot the portraits she’d been dreaming about when booking her wedding at this magnificent hotel. So, this bride went into ACTION! She booked hair and makeup, had the hotel florist make a quick bouquet, and convinced Roger to don his suit a day early. It required them to change their rehearsal plans just a bit, but with the hotel staff being so accommodating, we were able to make it happen! If you’re thinking about bring a photographer (me, perhaps!) to shoot your destination wedding, the above scenario is the biggest reason why it’s a great idea!!
Even though we didn’t have the happy blue sky/puffy cloud combination from the day before, I’m so glad we were able to shoot these. Isn’t the landscape so stunning? And Becca’s blush-pink gown is to die for!!! They even got to do a special first look :)
I hope you enjoyed this blog entry! I enjoyed this wedding so much. I want to thank Leanne for her awesome suggestion of bringing me along, and Becca for being so incredibly welcoming to my mom and I. And one more thank you to my mom, who had to put up with being my assistant :)
