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)

source: brides.com

We’re still looking for one more bride with a cute SHORT white/ivory wedding dress for a special photo shoot on the afternoon of April 15 at our studio in Lowell MA. If that’s you or someone you know, please email me at rachel@mergeweddings.com.

I’ve not yet really gotten to photograph a bride in a short (white) dress, so I am really excited about this shoot. I’m working with an amazingly creative floral designer and peonies (which are in season) and I’ve scored some vintage accessories to use on the shoot.

We’re also seeking creative hair, makeup, and jewelry design artists to help with the shoot. My inspiration for the shoot is REAL SIMPLE meets Anthropologie.

ETA: wowsers – just found a shoot collaboration photographed by Stephanie Williams that does what I would want to do from the shoot (but in a different environent). Check this out!

Ann decided to do her bridals at a vineyard! She had visions of stomping grapes and such, but the end of winter is not exactly the most fruity time of the year for a vineyard shoot. We climbed a tree instead!

bride: Ann
location: Sakonnet Vineyard, Little Compton RI
photographer: Rachel Hadiashar
assisted by: Katie (Ann’s sister) and sweet Ali

styling: Jaime Berkman (makeup), Sarah Maher (hair) 617.209.8126 www.eye4beautybiz.com
cape: Kristen Dirmeier – etsy store
more images: here

We’re working on the book and gallery project…. I love this image of Meg, Sarah, and I.

Yay! Sarina just told me that some of the photos from her bridal shoot are up on the splash page for Giao Nguyen, who is the San Francisco-based makeup artist and designer who did Sarina’s birdcage veil.

Check out the photos here.

Link to Sarina’s bridal session here.

Oh yes we WERE featured in Daily Candy!

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Suzanne was married last September and not only did it pour on her wedding day, but it was hot and humid too! A chance to come in and try some bridals with her hair down, in a relaxed environment was appealing to her.

(check out the look on Suzanne’s face in the far right image! I think Tammy had just made a funny face!)

If you’ve followed my wedding work at all or knew me back when I was planning my own wedding last year, you probably know that I am a sucker for birdcage veils. It was really difficult for me to narrow these down to a few favorites, so please indulge me to show you lots of arty noir birdcage veil shots!

I really hope birdcage veils don’t go out of style this year. That Hollywood glam look will never get old to me.

We did a short segment of the photo shoot out in the parking lot outside my Lowell studio space. It was cold, but I wanted to take advantage of the beautiful cape I commissioned one of my 2009 brides to create for me.

Suzanne had flowers put together by her local florist, and the results were astonishing! I took them home after the shoot and ONE WEEK LATER they are still blooming. Check out Stapleton Floral Inc in South Boston for elegant bridal flowers!

[ more here ]

Last week, right after getting back from Phoenix/Key West and having half of my gear stolen by an American Airlines baggage handler in Miami, my good friend Tammy Swales came for a visit from Rochester NY via Mystic CT. In anticipation of our time together and because I was excited to shoot in my new studio space, I put out a casting call for some studio-based bridals so we could play around with the equipment and learn the space.

And boy, did we have fun!

For some of the shots with Jessica, we wanted to get her curls flying in the air, so Meg would spin the chair and then hop out of the way. It was very funny!

To my own embarrassment, I’ve taken to the tradition of doing a ridiculous portrait with one of the props from each studio shoot. You’ll remember the giant flower from the juxtaposition group shoot, for example. Well, this time Jessica’s earmuffs were just too amazing to resist. I think I might win another sexy award for this one!

[ tammy's blog post here ]

Check out these images from Jessica’s bridal session:

Thank you beautiful Jessica for letting us play dress up with you! It was so fun to do these bridals!

[ more images from the session here ]