Baby Love!

Kelly & Dan's Wachusett Mountain Wedding

Kelly and Dan's wedding at Wachusett Mountain was one we'd waited a LONG time for (at least it felt that way.)  Having shot their engagement session at the famed Grist Mill back in April, it felt like a long wait till September.  Kelly is a majorly creative type, so we knew whatever planning she did would pay off in a beautiful, romantic way.  Finally, their Friday-evening wedding date arrived, and it was time to experience this couple's originality!

The bride and her bridesmaids enjoyed their preparation time

The couple exchanged vows before a beautifully adorned arbor at the sparkling pond's edge.  Their personalized vows were truly touching (and naturally with Kelly's sense of humor, very entertaining), and more than a few women were seen with hankies dabbing at their eyes.











One of the best aspects of having a wedding at Wachusett Mountain is riding the chairlift after the ceremony -- the couple has a chance to "decompress" for 15-20 minutes, and let the whole experience sink in while enjoying a private photo session atop the mountain.  It was obvious to us they'd had some experience with this ride-to-the-heights thing, and I believe they were seen headed back down the mountain without the chair's safety rail down (yikes!)

Back inside, the reception dining room was romantically decorated with table top arrangements of red roses and golden sunflowers, as well as apple-themed special touches for guests to enjoy.  Now this is romance!







We LOVED the wedding cake with its raffia trim - so totally fitting for this wedding and artfully designed by Custom Wedding Cakes by Penny. 

DJ entertainment for the evening was skillfully provided by none other than Ken Duquette of Champagne Toast.  Might we add, we've had the pleasure of many a wedding meal, and the food here was truly outstanding!





People may think it's contrived or clichéd, but we truly become friends with many of the couples we photograph, and Kelly and Dan are a couple we'll continue to get together with long after the wedding day.

Wherever they go, this couple makes life fun, and artful. Wishing you all the joy in the world, Kelly and Dan, and see you soon!



     ~Chris & Vickie

Worcester Group To Donate Weddings To The Health-Challenged

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Worcester Group Forms To Donate Weddings To The Health-Challenged

WORCESTER, Massachusetts (September 6, 2012) – Six local small businesses that provide wedding services in Worcester County have banded together to create an organization called “Worcester Weddings With Heart.”   The aim of the group is to provide an avenue for local engaged couples challenged by serious illness or extraordinary financial hardship to obtain wedding services at drastically reduced cost.

The brainchild of local wedding vendors Vickie and Chris Wakeen, Wakeen Photography (Grafton) and Carrianne Allen, Bugaboo Confections (W. Brookfield), Worcester Weddings With Heart is somewhat modeled after the nationally-recognized 501(c)3 organization Wish Upon a Wedding (WUW), but with some major differences.  “We are not a registered non-profit 501(c)3 charity, nor do we require that an inquiring couple have a terminal diagnosis, (though they may)  as WUW does.  Carrianne and I were sharing wedding business stories one day, and realized we both wanted to find a way to give back to the community that we love, having grown up here and worked here, meeting some amazing clientele along the way,” stated Wakeen.  “There are so many approved vendors for the W.U.W. Boston Chapter, Wakeen Photography being one of them, that the opportunity for us to be THE volunteer photographer for their charity wedding is greatly reduced, and we were anxious to give back right away.  So we figured, why not do this right in our own backyard, so to speak.”

“As a creator of cakes for weddings and special events, I don’t often get to meet the other professionals involved with a couple’s wedding, so this is a great way to accomplish that while employing my craft to help others.”, said Ms. Allen of Bugaboo Confections.  “We also wanted this to be about the smaller, boutique-style businesses that may be overlooked by couples researching wedding vendors in our area.”

Worcester County professionals also involved with the endeavor include Nancy and Judy Whalen of Creative Papers, Ltd. (Shrewsbury), Jeffrey Robert Salon in Worcester, Virginia Orlando and Candace Atchue of Seed To Stem Botanicals (Worcester), and Kevin Whitney of DJ Kevin Whitney (W. Boylston).

The group will announce the recipients of their first charitable wedding this month, which is planned for September, 2013.  The criteria for applying for consideration of the 2014 Wedding Giveaway will also be detailed upon this year’s announcement.  Opportunities exist for additional small business volunteers from Worcester County in the areas of bridal couture, accessories, men’s wear, wedding day transportation, and videography services.

Media Contacts:

Vickie Harding-Wakeen                                   Nancy Whalen

vickie@wakeenphotography.com                 creative.papers@townisp.com

(774) 279-6782                                                (508) 925-5377

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Nicole + Curtis' Wedding ~ August 11, 2012

When two young lovebirds living in Nebraska decide to marry back home in Massachusetts, they start their vendor research online with nary a clue whom to go with for every aspect of their wedding.  When it comes to their photography, well, we believe in some divine intervention (!) because when they found us it was a "match" made in heaven, so to speak.

Curtis' Air Force assignment took him to the base in Nebraska, and it didn't take long for Nicole, his long-time sweetheart, to join him.  While Nicole completes her studies at the U. of Nebraska, Omaha, Curtis works on complex jet engines, and endures ten hour drills that put him in very uncomfortable situations.  No matter - now he's got his beautiful bride to come home to!

Our wedding packages include a complimentary engagement session, so once Nicole and Curtis arrived in MA, (driving straight from Omaha, no overnights, I might add), we "captured" them for a fun photo session here in Grafton so they could practice gettin' their photo groove on, first at the Grafton Common, and then over to our favorite local farm, Houlden Farm.

The couple hails from Orange (yes, that's where us Massachusetters go to jump out of airplanes for fun, including yours truly.  But that's a story for another time...)


 



The wedding day arrived and we had their photo matte signing board ready for guests to leave a personalized note when they picked up their reception place cards.   We LOVE the way Nicole and Curtis had personalized their reception table settings by holding their own photo session back in Nebraska, taking photos of themselves with their beautiful dog, tripod and all.  Well done!







Nicole had chosen deep plum for her bridal
party colors, with the men sporting black tuxedos and matching ties (sharp!).  Here's Nicole in her traditional bridal portrait looking serenely beautiful, just before her trip down the aisle.





We love the next image of Curtis as he sees his bride in her dress for the first time -- note the look on the groomsman's face (Curtis' brother) as he looks for Curtis' reaction ... priceless!

The couple's wedding and reception took place at The Colonial Hotel in Gardner, MA.  The setting was just lovely, and the lively DJ, Greg from Absolute Entertainment, kept the guests entertained all the way through the evening.  We haven't had such a good laugh in a long time  ~  you're familiar with the garter toss where the single man who catches it must then place the garter on the leg of the young woman who caught the bride's bouquet?  Well this time DJ Greg played a little "switcheroo" on a blindfolded groomsman as he THINKS he's placing the garter on a female, only to discover, to the roar of the crowd, that it was the groom he had sitting before him!

By the time we'd finished the edits on these images, we were craving some buttercream frosting ... here's why!

It was a wonderful experience photographing for this lovely couple and their families ... we'd love for you to leave your comments and thoughts regarding their wedding right here on our blog.  Wishing you a beautiful life together Nicole and Curtis!
                                                  Fondly ~ Chris & Vickie Wakeen

The Inimitable Johnny A

Saturday night of Mothers' Day weekend we headed down to Woonsocket, Rhode Island to Chan's Restaurant to see the one, the only - Johnny A!  If you haven't heard Johnny play, you do NOT know what you're missing!  This was probably the sixth or seventh time seeing him in person, and as usual, the house was hoppin'.  While Chris was capturing some great images, I was up on my feet because I couldn't bear to sit while having so much auditory fun!  Johnny's music is heaven to my ears.



Johnny's schedule takes him all around the world, and this show was slated to be his last for the year.  Word is that he and the band are hunkering down to record more awesome jazz/blues originals, after having already produced three awesome albums -- "Get Inside", "One November Night", and "Sometime Tuesday Morning."

Being a 'newbie' at the iPhone thingy, it totally skipped my mind to record a video clip (duh!), but there are many available that you really should take a moment to check out!

Any words I may write could never do him justice, so suffice it to say there is a lot of press (here) on Johnny already that will knock your socks off!  And DO check out Johnny's YouTube channel, American Guitarist TV!  We love the way he's interacting with his fans and letting us know him more personally.

So here are a few of our favorite images from the night.

Your guys are awesome, and we LOVE your style, Johnny A!  Thanks for entertaining us SO well!

Captivated By The Charms of -- Baby Josie!

Catchy title, yes?  Let us explain.  A few weeks ago we enjoyed the immense privilege of photographing the beautiful newborn daughter of Ellie Vee and Joe Wizda ... creators and lead performers of the awesome garage rock band, The Charms.

Ordinarily, we like to photograph a newborn within the first 3 weeks of birth, since they tend to sleep through the whole session and easily tolerate the many outfit and prop changes, looking like perfect little cherubs.  In this instance we weren't able to capture baby Josie until almost six weeks of age.  But guess what?!  She still looked like a little cherub and behaved like an angel!

What we love about newborn sessions is they don't require much space, the way you would, say, a high school senior session.

Ellie and Joe met us at our home

studio in Grafton, coming all the way from Boston on a rainy Sunday.

The problem was, they enjoyed it so much that they ended up being late for the band's rehearsal at the studio back in Allston ... well, we're hoping after seeing the images, the other band members felt it was worth the wait!

Seeing Joe with his newborn daughter was such a heartwarming experience.  You see, we've been frequenting many of Boston's 'burbs' live music hotspots for a while, just to catch the latest show by The Charms ... watching Joe with his lead guitar moves, and then seeing him with his precious 'daddy's girl' ... priceless!

We are thrilled with how expressive little Josie is!  Go figure -- the parents are naturally smitten with their beautiful offspring, but the truth is, the photographers are also enraptured with how beautiful she is in the images we've created.  Almost makes us want one of our own! (say, what?!)

The tender love between a mother and her child is more than words could express, but so obviously reflected in this image of Ellie and Josie toward the end of our session.  Believe it or not, this image was created with mother and child on the floor of our living room studio.  (Thank goodness we'd vacuumed!)

It doesn't require superior imagination or even many props to create a gorgeous image of a newborn baby ~  the purity and simplicity of a new human being is totally enough to capture one's heart!  Doesn't Josie look like royalty with this color surrounding her?!





Whether in full color, or in black- and-white, a baby's skin is so creamy and pure that every image looks fantastic!

We look forward to the opportunity to capture Josie in all the wondrous stages of her childhood ~  from six months of age when babes learn to sit up, to the "terrible" two's when everything is 'mine, mine', and the adorable three's, etc. ... 

Joe & Ellie, may your days with your newborn daughter be blessed with every good thing - love you guys!

Chris & Vickie