As most of you know, a couple of weeks ago my grandfather suddenly and unexpectedly died. It sent me and my family reeling, and between the shock of it and travel for the funeral I have fallen a bit behind with my editing. I am ever grateful for my patient and understanding clients and am working hard on keeping to my promised turn around times.

Yesterday I sent a bride and groom their wedding gallery. Waiting to hear back from a couple is agonizing. Thankfully Kathryn didn’t make me suffer to long. I received this gracious email from her shortly afterwards:

“These pictures are fantastic!  There’s not one I don’t like.  Thank you, thank you, thank you! Dana and I have said several times that having you at the wedding to herd all the cats and keep track of every moment was the best thing that we did!  And that was before we saw the pictures!  Wow!  Every time I looked up you were there catching every detail and that just felt great!  My only regret was that I didn’t have you stay until the very end but I honestly think that you got everyone photoed and caught every important moment.”

Kathryn is an ordained minister who focuses on “personal ritual and ceremony.” She crafted a beautiful wedding ceremony. I would recommend her wholeheartedly to anyone looking an officiant for a personalized wedding ceremony (contact information to follow). Thank you, Kathryn, for your kind words. Made my day!

Now it’s back to editing Rebecca and Bailey GORGEOUS Newburyport wedding. Beautiful bride in stunning Vera Wang gown and handsome groom in a kilt — what’s there not to like about their wedding?!

So far this has been a super busy summer. Hey, I’m not complaining. I’m just saying I’ve got a really good excuse for neglecting this blog! I’ve had the honor of photographing some truly wonderful weddings so far this summer. It’s been HOT and HUMID for most of the weddings and while it sure makes us all sweaty nasty it doesn’t dampen the spirit or joy. I’ll blog all about these weddings when I get up to speed with all of my wedding edits, but for now I’ll share some slideshow links.

I kicked off my busy season with a vow renewal. Amy and Matt wanted to mark their 10th anniversary with a family celebration, and they asked me to photograph it for them. I didn’t make a slideshow of highlights seeing as it was more like a portrait session, but you can check out some of the images I shared on Facebook. Working with them was a joy and I am looking forward to photographing them again soon. I received this email from Amy after she saw the Facebook images:

“…just took a look at the photos…they are so beautiful, we LOVE them!  You really were such a pleasure to work with — we had a great time! We are already talking about doing a family session with the girls in the fall. Thank you for everything!” And after Amy saw the entire gallery: “Wow! I just finished looking through the photo gallery online and I can’t tell you how happy I am with our photos! You did such a fantastic job, you have an amazing eye and incredible talent!”

First wedding was the awesome McCoy-Biddy couple. The very first time we met, we laughed and joked so much that I just knew I was the one to photograph their wedding. Thankfully they felt the same way.  I am so lucky to have met them and call them my friends (and not just because Patti is the ultimate Bauer Hockey connection).  Patti and Keith are quick to laugh — the throw your head back and close your eyes kind of laugh — and their wedding was just like them – non-stop fun.  Not even an ornery priest could spoil the day. I cannot thank Patti and Keith enough for giving me the time and space to create some beautiful images for them. Check out their  Spruce Point Inn wedding slideshow. And here are some words from Patti (now known at P-Biddy):

“I spent a good amount of time yesterday afternoon just looking at our pictures and I really can’t get over how beautiful they all are. I love them so much and can’t wait to make our selections. I know our friends and family have already started buying up pictures as well. You made us all look so great!”

Michelle and Josh had a small family affair in Windsor, Maine. They live in Texas and flew to Maine to share their wedding with Josh’s family. They did all of the decorating and set up themselves — and they did it beautifully. Michelle was a gorgeous bride who stayed calm when others might not have. Like when the skies opened up and poured down in during the ceremony. Or when the ground under the tent started resembling a soggy marsh. Or when… Seriously, Michelle is the epitome of grace under pressure. Speaking of pressure, I felt a fair amount of it to deliver perfect images because not only is Michelle an avid photographer, the groom, Josh, is a photographer in the US Army. He has been to Afghanistan. If he can get the focus and exposure correct in an actual battle then surely I could handle a little bit of rain… You can see how I did in their wedding slideshow. From Michelle:

“Amy, I don’t know how you did it, but you managed to make us look fantastic even on a rainy day! You are an amazing photographer! We are so glad to have had you document our special day!” and “We are so glad we chose you to photograph our special day. As two photographers ourselves, we know how important it is to have someone, who is not only professional, but has a true talent for photography.”

Did I mention that it has been a hot and humid summer? I give you exhibit A: Emily and Shawn’s barn wedding in Appleton, ME. It was one of those days where you just have to give into it and accept that you are going to be a sweaty, hot mess all day. Emily is an ADA in New York and Sean is an NYPD detective. Go right ahead and imagine a courtroom scene where they meet and sparks fly. That is how I prefer to think they met. Their wedding was at Sean’s cousin’s amazing country home. It was so much fun photographing this wedding, and working alongside the talented Josh Swan was a treat. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the star of the day, Diesel. This little doggie sure knows how to work the camera! Check out the slideshow.  Emily shared this on Facebook:

“Amy, we are thrilled beyond words with the photos. We’re so very glad that you were the one who captured our day. I’m so surprised at some of the photos you shot, given that you seemed to blend right into the crowd and I didn’t know you were there for many of them. Our priest also commented that it’s very common for photographers/videographers to steal the show during the ceremony, but that you and Josh were perfect. Thank you!!”

Now that’s all I’ve got to share right now. The rest of the weddings are still in the hopper waiting for me to finish editing.  You can see sneak peeks of all of my weddings on my Facebook page.  So far it has been one amazing wedding after another. I feel so lucky to have been given the honor of documenting these important moments.  Thanks to you all for the kind words and for letting me share your wedding days!

Planning a wedding or other kind of special event? I still have some dates available for 2012 and am currently booking 2013. I am also booking portrait sessions. Please contact Maine wedding photographer, Amy Salerno, for more information.

I was wrapping up a phone call with a bride about photographing her 2012 wedding when she asked if I could give her some references.  It’s not something I get asked very often so I reached out to my former clients to see who would be able to help me and this bride.  The response was immediate and enthusiastic.  Thank you to everyone who offered to speak to the bride about working with me.  I’m not sure how many she contacted, but one friend and happy client, Jenn S., forwarded me her referral email.  It blew me away that Jenn would take such time and care to describe her experience working with me.  I asked her if I could share her words with you here.  I was truly humbled to read her kind and generous words about me and my work.  I often feel like I am the lucky one to land such amazing clients — it’s gratifying to hear it goes both ways.  Here is what Jenn had to say (the questions are from the bride, not me)…

I’ll try to answer your questions as best as possible but my quick rundown about Amy is this…she is unbelievable (in the best possible way)! I actually worked in the industry for a while for a number of different photographers and the biggest problem with many photographers is that their ego gets in the way of them doing their job. Amy is amazing at her job but she’s not trying to be a part of your wedding, she’s there to capture it. She knows exactly what she’s doing and never questions herself (this is not true for many photographers). I’ve seen wedding photographers get very pushy and demanding as if they know so much more about what you want than you do and as if their job demands attention (very annoying); Amy is nothing like that. That being said, if you did need help with anything, Amy would almost certainly have the perfect answer. So, to answer your questions…

How was your experience working with Amy? Awesome. It was the easiest decision when it came to my wedding planning. I actually called her first to find out when she wasn’t available so that I didn’t bother trying to get married on those dates.

Would you use her again? Absolutely. I’m actually pregnant with my first child and am hoping to get her to photograph the baby once s/he is born.

Was the online proof gallery easy to use? Did you like the way she touched up the pictures (if she did)? The online gallery was super easy and useful. I’m from MD, my husband’s family is from MA, and my mom’s side is from the UK so it was great to be able to share those images with everyone. She delivers a great product. I didn’t actually ask for any touchup work but I know that if she can’t do it, she’s part of a huge photography community of people who are happy to help.

How did she take the shots? Was she unobtrusive? I actually had people coming up to me after the wedding telling me how great she was. She helped me plan out a schedule and then I didn’t think about it anymore. She got more shots than I hoped for and there are ones that to this day (3+ years later) still make me tearful. I actually didn’t know she was there (she wasn’t an obtrusive presence) but when I wanted to ask her something, she was instantly available.

Did you like your photos? See the answer above…I love them! You have this vision in your head of what you want/expect because of other weddings you’ve seen but nothing compares to seeing your own wedding photos and honestly, you will not be disappointed. There will be photos that you couldn’t have imagined asking for are so thrilled she got them.

Did you have any problems? If so, how was the problem resolved? There were no problems with the photography at all. Actually, my husband’s face broke out the morning of the wedding and Amy had the makeup artist come and “fix” his face and the pictures never showed anything. The best part…I knew nothing; I was in complete oblivion. Amy fixed an unforeseen problem (not her problem either) to make my wedding day better.

Why did you select Amy? I’d seen a lot of her work and love her style. Also, I trust her and knew that she had my best interest at heart.

What should I know about Amy? Amy loves weddings, loves them. The hardest thing to do as a vendor for any event is to care about the event as much as the client does. When it comes down to it, it’s probably the most memorable event you will have up til that point and if your photographer is just doing a job because they can, it shows in the final product. Amy genuinely enjoys being the photographer at a wedding. For that day, she is your biggest fan and will do what she has to do to make sure you get the photographs/memories that will make you happy.