Symphony Photography - Boston Wedding Photographer » Symphony Photography

Symphony Photography is moving to Waltham

Symphony Photography — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 08:07:41 +0000

Hi everyone. I’ll be closed over the next few days as I’m moving to Waltham. I should be back up and running on Friday. In the mean time I won’t be able to respond to email or voice mail but please do leave me a message and I’ll get back to you as soon as the net connection is up and running at the new place!

Cheers, Joe

Hiking Mount Washington in New Hampshire

Symphony Photography — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 08:02:13 +0000

So with the weather being a bit chilly I thought I’d post something that might warm everyone up. So, what does a wedding photographer do for fun? My version of fun typically involves endurance sport. I love hiking, cycling, and sea kayaking. Mount Washington in New Hampshire’s White Mountain Range is one of my favorite places. I’m not sure quite how to explain it except to say that for me it’s somewhat magical. Ironically I’d never been to the top of Mount Washington when I was growing up (I grew up in Southern, NH). After college I moved to the San Francisco/Bay Area and THAT is when I got the itch to check out Mount Washington. As it turns out my first trip up Mount Washington was on a bicycle. The Tin Mountain Conservation Center runs a bike race up Mount Washington every year and I decided that this would be the best way to get to the summit. I’ve logged quite a few miles on my bike including multiple centuries (a century if you don’t follow cycling is 100 miles in a day, my longest is 127 miles) and let me tell you… that 7.6 miles up to the summit of Mount Washington offers up the most condensed pain per mile of any road I’ve ever been on. For some reason this makes it “fun”. I actually enjoyed it so much I did it two more times (not on the same day though, once a year up Mount Washington is enough). Getting to the point, ever since cycling Mount Washington I’ve always wanted to hike up Mount Washington and I got that opportunity in September of last year along with a group of friends. It was *the* perfect day to hike Mount Washington with mild temps and perfect visibility! If anyone out there is in to hiking drop me a line! It’s kind of hard for me to get out on a weekend in the summer but if you’re up for a weekday hike… Better yet WHO WANTS TO DO AN ENGAGEMENT SESSION HIKE? If that sounds like fun to you, you MUST call me! I am definitely the photographer for you!

Unfortunately the small image size on the blog doesn't really do this justice. The moss growing around this waterfall is just amazing!

This is a little better. For the full effect though I suggest hiking Mt. Washington yourself!

Overlooking Lakes of the Clouds near a Cairn on the way to the summit.

You can just make out the roof of the Lakes of the Clouds Hut to the left.

It's really easy to lose perspective. Initially it doesn't look like the summit is that far away but look REALLY close and you'll notice how tiny the people get as you follow the trail up. Even on a day with good visibility you really have to pay attention to what you're doing as to not lose the trail.

Victory! I suppose I don't have proof as I'm not in this shot... but I am holding the camera.

There goes the Cog Railway. That's one of the older engines. They're swithing over the Cog Railway to more environmentally friendly engines. It's a bit strange to see one of them go by with no smoke coming out of a faux stack but ultimately it's a very very very good thing.

Yep, there's actually a trail in there!

A straight shot down the tracks for the Cog Railway. This is one way to get up the mountain but IMO... it's cheating!

You can see the parking lot from this vantage point. It's still a LONG way away. This is another great example of how easy it is to lose perspective. It doesn't look that big until you see the people in the photo.

Well, that’s all for this adventure. I’m looking forward to the warmer months. Fortunately the days are getting longer and spring isn’t too far away.

Fenway Park Wedding – EMC Club reception

Symphony Photography — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 21:42:38 +0000

Congratulations to Jennifer and Marc who got married at St. Francis Church in Dracut, MA followed by a reception in the EMC Club at Fenway Park in Boston, MA. I suppose if you’re a Red Sox fan, this is a pretty cool place to have a wedding reception! As far as a wedding photographer is concerned it certainly provides some nice backdrops.

If you're a Red Sox fan, or a fan of baseball in general this is quite the place to have your wedding or reception.

Jennifer and Matthew did an awesome job with the seating cards which look like Red Sox tickets.

Ready to go for the wedding reception at the EMC club in Boston, MA

Fenway Park at night

St. Patrick’s Church and Pemaquid Point Lighthouse – Maine Wedding

Symphony Photography — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 20:57:23 +0000

Congratulations to Elizabeth and Matthew who got married at St. Patrick’s Church in Newcastle, Maine followed by wedding photos at the Pemaquid Point Lighthouse and a reception in New Harbor, Maine.

As the plaque says, St. Patrick's located in Newcastle, Maine is the oldest surviving Roman Catholic church in New England.

Pemaquid Point Lighthouse located in Bristol, Maine is a gorgeous spot for wedding photos.

Merrill House – Hamilton, NY

Symphony Photography — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 16:49:45 +0000

Congratulations to Sarah and Matthew who got married at the St. Thomas Episcopal Church followed by a reception at the beautiful Merrill House at Colgate University in Hamilton, NY.

Event planners Clavin Kelly Events distribute sparklers at the end of the reception! It’s a minor detail but I’ve see SO many sparkler sendoffs go terribly wrong. What happens is someone puts the sparklers out, the guests get excited and light them all before the couple is ready to leave and by the time the couple does leave most of the sparklers have burned out. Having a wedding planner on the job really helps with making sure that the timing of a sparkler sendoff is done properly. Click here to read an article on my viewpoint of how wedding planners can make your life easier and worry free!

Wedding Planners: Clavin Kelly Events – New York

Ceremony Venue: St. Thomas Episcopal Church – Hamilton, NY

Reception Venue: Merrill House, Colgate University – Hamilton, New York

Granite Links Golf Club – Quincy, MA

Symphony Photography — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 04:43:09 +0000

Congratulations to Yaffa and Ravid. Be sure to check out their engagement session as well.

Yaffa and her mom heading into the Bedekken

Catering: Catering by Andrew

Cake: Catering by Andrew

Florist: Sue Kaplan

Band: Neshoma Orchestra

Rabbi: Rabbi Jonah Layman

What can a wedding planner do for you?

Symphony Photography — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 23:57:53 +0000

Congratulations on your wedding! Planning a wedding can’t be that difficult can it? All you really need to do is choose a date and a few vendors right? What do you need? Ceremony venue, reception venue, and probably some place to get ready as well. No big deal. While you’re at it don’t forget the caterer, photographer, videographer, florist, hair stylist, makeup artist, tux rentals, transportation, band or DJ, invitations and printing, thank you notes, and the list goes on and on. Even once you have selected all your vendors there are still lots of decisions to make. What’s the menu going to be? What are the colors going to be? Would this work with that? We want a band but where do we find a good one?

Many people enjoy the process of planning and if that’s you you’re going to have a lot of fun but even if that is you one thing I have noticed about a lot of my clients is that in the months leading up to the wedding there are A LOT of other things going on as well and they simply don’t have one of the greatest commodities required for planning a wedding and that is TIME! I find lots of couples are in the process of buying a home or moving to a new home. Many clients are planning their wedding from out of state which can present a whole other set of obstacles. This is where a wedding planner becomes a total life saver.

Wedding planners (as the name implies) plan weddings for a living and this means they have lots of experience not only in the planning process, but they also have lots of experience with time lines and the logistics of planning a wedding. In addition, experienced wedding planners will have worked with a lot of different vendors. Instead spending lots of time searching the web for vendors that match your taste a wedding planner can do that footwork for you and present you with several options. More often than not, based upon their experience they will have a few suggestions for you to immediately review. This is one of the key benefits of hiring a wedding planner in my opinion, in that you can just communicate to someone what you envision your wedding being and they can present you with a few options that will match your criteria. Even better, because of their experience sometimes a good wedding planner will come up with an idea that you didn’t even think of that you might like even better than your original vision. In addition they can also help you with planning around a budget.

From my point of view one of the HUGE benefits of a wedding planner though is having them there on the day of your wedding. As a wedding photographer I get to see all the behind-the-scenes things that can go wrong at a wedding. Weddings are really dynamic events and you can plan to the Nth degree but when it comes down to it there are many things that are beyond your control such as the weather, guests or vendors being late and various other manifestations of Murphy’s Law. When the unexpected happens with a wedding planner on the job it’s really not such a big deal because they are probably expecting it, have dealt with it in the past, and know exactly what to do to get things back on track. My observation has been that couples who hire a wedding planner are often COMPLETELY oblivious to things that aren’t going according to plan on the day of their wedding and that’s EXACTLY as it should be!

I remember a particular wedding on New Year’s Eve where it was just a comedy of errors. Jean Marks of Jean Marks weddings was the planner in question but she handled everything on the spot, solving problems that may have otherwise been a total disaster. As far as the couple knew, everything went perfectly and I have to say it’s one of the most memorable weddings I’ve had the pleasure to shoot! I’m reasonably confident that if Jean wasn’t on the job things would have turned out quite differently. At another wedding in 2008 there were torrential downpours. Prior to the guests arriving at the reception a small lake had appeared in the wedding tent. Wedding planner Amy Piper of Signature Events was right in the middle of it all, shoes off, pants rolled up, wading in the water and moving wooden palettes around to construct a raised platform (that was not only functional but looked nice as well) so that the guests wouldn’t have walk through water to get to their tables. I’ve worked with Amy on a number of occasions and one thing is very consistent; the events she coordinates run smoothly! This past summer I worked with Victoria Kelly and Keri Clavin of Clavin Kelly Events. Victoria and Kelly also had two assistants with them as well. They handled all kinds of details simultaneously at different locations from making sure each venue was prepared and ready on time to coordinating the transportation of all the guests from the hotels to the church, the church to the reception venue, and then from the reception back to their hotels. All four of them communicated via headset walkie talkies which allowed them to keep in touch even though they were often at different addresses.

If you’ve been considering a wedding planner for your wedding but you’re on the fence, if time is a concern and if you don’t want to worry about anything on the day of your wedding I’d highly recommend hiring a good wedding planner. I can personally vouch for the following vendors as I’ve worked with them and their work and attention to detail is absolutely superb.

New England: Amy Piper – Signature Events

New York: Victoria Kelly and Keri Clavin – Clavin Kelly Events

San Francisco/Bay Area: Jean Marks – Jean Marks Weddings

Happy planning! Cheers, Joe

Welcome to the new site!

Symphony Photography — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 21:14:55 +0000

Hi everyone,

I’ve finally gotten around to getting my new site to the point where it’s easy to update and maintain. Out with the old and in with the new. The old wedding website was switched out for the blog site yesterday and so far so good. I still need to move around some furniture so if anyone has any questions in the mean time please click on the contact link above.

One of the links that still needs to go up is a pricing link so in the mean time, wedding packages start at $2600 and include wedding day coverage, a DVD of high resolution images, an online gallery of all your wedding photos for 60 days, and a web based slideshow for at least 1 year. I also have packages that contain wedding albums, parent albums, and various other options such as engagement sessions and full coverage from the rehearsal dinner to the wedding day to the wedding brunch or a post wedding photo shoot. For the complete details click the contact link and drop me a line.

Cheers, Joe

Chatham Community Churh – South Chatham, MA and Lyman Estate – Waltham, MA

Symphony Photography — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 05:50:47 +0000

Congratulations to Susie and Brian

Wedding ceremony at the South Chatham Community Church in South Chatham, MA

The Lyman Estate is known for their wonderful flower gardens

I thought this was pretty cool. Susie and Brian live in California. I originally started my business there and lived there for 7 years so I really loved their wedding favors which were seeds for the California State Flower, the California Poppy.

Getting ready venue: Chatham Wayside Inn – Chatham, MA

Ceremony venue: South Chatham Community Church – South Chatham, MA

Reception venue: Lyman Estate – Waltham, MA

Photography by: Joe Ciarcia – Symphony Photography