Ceremony: New Marlborough Meeting House Reception: Crissey Farm Flowers: The Harwinton Florist Ceremony/ Cocktail Hour music: String Theorie Entertainment: James Hall Events

Ov vey! Hello blog friends, I have missed you dearly. Holy cow. I don't even know where to begin with the last few weeks. Obviously I'll start with that minor storm we just had HAHA. Never in my 28 years as a New Englander have I seen ANYTHING like that, ever. I still can't believe it. I also, in 28 years, don't remember the news outlets actually naming a winter storm here, like they named this one. I know hurricanes always get names but for a winter storm... kind of shows the intensity of it right? Well, we certainly didn't have it as bad as lots of places, but we did lose power from Saturday until Thursday night. It was one of the toughest weeks I can remember! I was couch surfing between people that still had power and some that had a generator. It didn't help that the week before that I was in NYC for the PhotoPlus Expo, so I was completely discombobulated once we lost power. I hadn't even unpacked from NYC yet :) But I'm happy to say power is restored, and my poor mom is outside working like a mad woman to get all the trees and limbs that fell to the side of the road for pick-up by the town. I want to go help her but work calls first, and I think Julie and Dan have waited long enough for their sneak peek.

About two months ago, I was driving in the car just thinking about weddings and relationships and love and all of that fun stuff, when something hit me that reminded me of Julie and Dan. I don't know why I started thinking about them driving in my car (semi-creepy, sorry J&D) but I did, and I literally wrote their blog post in my head. I knew exactly what I wanted to say when I was ready to blog their pictures.... it was simple but eloquent, with just the right amount of sentimentality. It was perfect. So I swore when I went home I would type it up on my computer real quick, and have it done.

I think we all know where this story is going. Yup, by the time I got home from my errands that day, I FORGOT WHAT I WAS GOING TO SAY.

Ugh.

Well now that I learned that lesson, let me tell you another that I learned through Julie and Dan. Life, love.... they're not always easy. You have to get your heart broken once or twice (or in my case, once or twice per week) in order to figure out who you are and what you want in this world. Over the past year, I've gotten to know Julie a little bit, and I would say we have become friends (or at least that's what Facebook says, and we all know nothing is official until it's on Facebook). We talked about a lot of things- family, friends, guys- and she was there for me with advice on certain days when things were just really unclear. On her wedding day, she walked into her getting ready suite and said "I'm so happy to see you!" It immediately warmed my heart. We started talking, and she was asking for updates on a guy I was seeing. SHE was asking about MY love life on her wedding day lol. That is how much she cares about other people's happiness, truly. So I started telling her it wasn't going so great, and why, and she stopped me. She started telling me about her first date with Dan, and how before him she had been in relationships like I was describing, been on dates like the horrible dates I was talking about. Then she agreed to go out with Dan, even though at that point she was a little jaded with the dating scene. She said their first date was one of the best nights of her life; that Dan was romantic and held doors opened and showered her with compliments and told her how beautiful she was. At the end of the night, they went their separate ways, but Julie got out of her car, went over to Dan's, and told him thank you. Julie thanked him. For the dinner, I'm sure. For holding the door, probably. But mostly I think Julie thanked him for giving her hope again that there are great guys out there, she thanked him for seeing something in her that maybe she hadn't seen in awhile, she thanked him for giving her back the possibility of love. Her eyes lit up as she talked about Dan on her wedding day, and all morning long she could not stop gushing about how she couldn't wait to see him. By the time they said their vows in front of all their family and friends, I may have even been a little choked up. It was a perfect wedding day, and I was so happy they hired me to document it.

I had my amazing friend Lynne Graves second shooting for me on this wedding, and we had such a blast. Go over to her page and check her out.... I dare you not to smile at the picture on her home page :)

And now, my favorites from Julie and Dan!

The gorgeous bride getting zipped up!

Okay so can I just say how it drives me nuts when some of the favorite pictures I took were completely by accident? Lol I know that sounds weird, but in this next set, both pictures are completely out of focus... and I am OBSESSED with them!

Oh hey beautiful...

Outside with the girls for a few fun pics!

I love, love, LOVE when brides leave enough time in their timeline for bridal portraits. An extra half hour after getting dressed and before the limo comes makes me a very happy photographer :) Check out Julie's gorgeousness...