Bonnie and Robert were married in Quincy on Thursday, October 1, 2009.

I am so excited – the red cape I commissioned from Kristen who is a crafty bride whose wedding I photographed on October 11 – is going to be getting some attention from Erie PA’s Terri, who is getting married over Thanksgiving. I’m looking forward to seeing the cape used in a real wedding context!

I’m also quite excited that I’ll be featuring some couture flower hair pieces by Boston’s own Tessa McKinley, who shows and sells her work at Cambridge’s Design Hive Market (next one is November 1).

Some funny shots of the assistants from our bridal shoot with Carol last year.

Eileen and Wouter had a Friday morning wedding, and had me join them for an hour after the reception for some afternoon photos in the Cambridge area.

Although I won’t be taking wedding commissions in the mainland US after 2009, I am still accepting commissions for bridal shoots like this one… pick some wonderful locations, think of a concept or theme if you want, and spend some time making art together.

Every time I look at these photos, I keep thinking OMYGOSHTHEY’RESOBEAUTIFUL and it’s because Eileen and Wouter are blissfully happy to be together. Their joy really overflows.

The “blue” images are from our stop at the WGBH building in Watertown. Ashley almost-Pizzuti and I scouted the area the day before the wedding on our way to the fancy Boston Magazine Weddings Issue launch party (I felt awkward at the party if you really want to know) and decided that would be a good place for photos. Oh boy, it sure was. Thanks to the accommodating communications director at ‘GBH who saw us shooting and rather than kicking us out like so many other establishments are wont to do, instead invited us to share photos for their membership to enjoy. How cool are you WGBH? You earned my lifelong support with that smooth move.

We went to one final location to get some fun photos at the end of our time together. These are from the “colosseum” that is the Harvard Stadium in Cambridge. I have driven past that place several times before, and even marked it into my GPS as a prime place for a bridal shoot… and here it is.

[ more photos! ]

We’re looking for a talented makeup artist and hair stylist for a special studio concept shoot from 10am-3pm on Wednesday, August 19. Location: Lowell, Massachusetts.

We are also looking for a woman with a ballgown in a rich, vibrant color to use in the shoot.

Please email rachel@mergeweddings.com if you’re interested.

Eileen and Wouter not only had a Friday wedding, but their ceremony was at 11:00am (Park Street Church, Boston). After thanking their guests at the end of the reception, we used the afternoon light to go off and do some extra bridal portraits… and spent most of our time at WGBH’s colorful façade!

Toward the end of our time shooting there, Cynthia Broner who is the Director of Constituent Communications for
WGBH saw us and asked if they could publish some of the images in their newsletter. Eventually it was picked up by current.org as well!

Felicia is someone who I have known a little bit for awhile. Apparently she’s a regular over at mergeweddings and planning a beautiful Rhode Island wedding this year. Since she had a cute short dress (and lots of accessories) from Etsy, she thought it would be fun to come in for the shoot. We put her dancing skills to work, and I also made her lay down on the floor a lot for some artsy shots.

Both of Felicia’s looks were stunning. I loved what the Jennie-Jenny hair and makeup team did with her. The first dress, the one from Etsy with the puffy neckline, was glammed up with a veil and other hair accessories. The second, simpler dress was jazzed up with gloves and an elaborate half-up half-down hairstyle that is not given justice in the photos.

bride: Felicia Kuo
Photographer: Rachel Hadiashar

Makeup: Jennie-Kay Murphy (jenniekaymurphy@gmail.com, 401-230-5346)
Hair: Jennifer Gonzalez (jennyg9883@yahoo.com, 401-323-8399)

Floral designs: Erica Jones of Orchids and Blooms (info@orchidsnblooms.com, 617-395-8545)

All of these professionals are available to work with you for wedding day styling, photo shoot prep, or any other professional hair/makeup needs.

Jenn is a model and mother to a four year old. As she is no stranger to the photo shoot scene, I was impressed that she knows how to move and could pull off a look even with huge feathers sticking out of her head!

This is the first time I have used a light blue background in the studio. I usually stick with gray seamless as that is the look I see in magazines.

Grace did a regal look for Jenn’s first style. It went beautifully with the ivory floorlength Maggie Sotaro wedding gown. The feathers remind me of “the Duchess” — have you seen that movie?

For the second styling, Jenn wore her own blue and white gown with an embroidered train, and Grace did a sort of 80s-glam rock look with asymmetrical hair, sparkly eyes, and all kinds of attitude. I’ve never seen styling quite like that before! (Go Grace!)

I chose to actually leave elements of the studio in a lot of the photos from this shot. I’ve noticed magazines doing that a lot in the past several months, and I like how raw and real it looks. I’m not a “flawless photo of impossibly airbrushed woman” kind of photographer, know what I mean?

Model: Jenn Castiglione

Photographer: Rachel Hadiashar (rachel@mergeweddings.com, 857-233-0810)

Hair and makeup: Grace Mahoney (gracealanna13@gmail.com, 508-769-1091)

Floral designs: Erica Jones of Orchids and Blooms (info@orchidsnblooms.com , 617-395-8545)

Custom designed jewelry: Lauren Marsh of Ricchezza Mia

All of these professionals are available to work with you for wedding day styling, photo shoot prep, or any other professional hair/makeup, jewelry needs.

Tara is a nurse and friend of Erica’s who was able to come in and model some custom designed wedding dresses by Mandeep. Funky, right? The last dress has a chain metal top.

Jennie and Jenny, who do hair and makeup out of Newport RI but travel all over, work as a great team for bridal and fashion looks. The first style they did for Tara was a softer look with pinks and other colors to complement her skin tones. One rose in her hair complemented Erica’s florals and contrasted the short funky style of Mandeep’s dress design. The second look with the chain metal dress and cool south-asian inspired jewelry was a wilder look which we ended up calling something like ‘bride of frankenstein goes tribal.’  The huge gray flower in her hair you might recognize from other shoots, it’s one of my favorite pieces from Topshop UK, summer 2008.

Model: Tara Hawxwell
Photographer: Rachel Hadiashar

Makeup: Jennie-Kay Murphy (jenniekaymurphy@gmail.com, 401-230-5346)
Hair: Jennifer Gonzalez (jennyg9883@yahoo.com, 401-323-8399)

Floral designs: Erica Jones of Orchids and Blooms (info@orchidsnblooms.com, 617-395-8545)

Exclusive custom-made dresses: Mandeep at Nijlane fashions (info@nijlane.com, 781-721-1442) – based out of Wilmington MA.

All of these professionals are available to work with you for wedding day styling, photo shoot prep, or any other professional styling needs.

Our floral and bridal photo shoot at the Lowell studio space two weeks ago was a success. I didn’t realize how long it would take to shoot three women in two different dresses each, every dress with a completely different look. I had a general idea of what I wanted in terms of looks, but it was important to me that the stylists have fun doing work they enjoy, since often wedding work is very particularly detailed. Lesson: it takes time to style up well! But I was really happy to work with such professional artists.

We surveyed the dresses we had, the accessories from vintage kid gloves to veils and jewelry, to Erica’s beautiful florals.

Many thanks to those who participated in my first truly collaborative shoot. I’m looking forward to more in the future!

All of these professionals are available to work with you for wedding day styling, photo shoot prep, or any other professional hair/makeup needs.

Hair and makeup for Jenn: Grace Mahoney (gracealanna13@gmail.com, 508-769-1091)
Makeup for Felicia and Tara: Jennie-Kay Murphy (jenniekaymurphy@gmail.com, 401-230-5346)
Hair for Felicia and Tara: Jennifer Gonzalez (jennyg9883@yahoo.com, 401-323-8399)

Floral designs: Erica Jones of Orchids and Blooms (info@orchidsnblooms.com,  617-395-8545)

Custom designed jewelry on Jenn: Lauren Marsh of Ricchezza Mia (www.ricchezzamia.com)

Exclusive custom-made dresses on Tara:  Mandeep at Nijlane fashions (info@nijlane.com, 781-721-1442)