Last weekend and today

Hi Everyone,
I hope this blog sees you well…this is a very quick blog since I am heading out the door to shoot a wedding today...here are some pics from last weekend. Today we have 4 weddings going on all over New England…last weekend I shot 3 weddings and Kevin shot 1…enjoy the pics and have a great weekend.

Peter

Another brilliant weekend

Hi Everyone,

I hope this blog sees you all well. This is going to be a very short entry with another one coming up again over the next day or so...We did 4 weddings over the weekend and all went off without a hitch. I just received an email from Sandy & Mark Anderson...they are the parents of Keely & Dan whose wedding happened on Friday, the 20th...this is what they had to say:

Hi Peter,

Just a quick note to say" thank you" for all your hard work covering the wedding. Keely and Dan appreciated your professionalism and courtesy in making their day so special. The photographer is such a focal point of any event and you made everyone feel comfortable and relaxed. You were also careful to stay “invisible” through the course of the evening and allow the wedding to take its natural course.

As hosts of the event, Mark and I were confident that you were in the wings working for the bride and groom as we were busy with our guests.

We will be sure to recommend your business to other friends and family. Keely does know some brides to be within the next year and will be sure to give you rave reviews.

We wish you good luck and best wishes in the future. The Mother and Father of the bride can now take a deep breath knowing our daughter and new son in law have wonderful memories of their wedding.

Sincerely,
Sandy and Mark Anderson

Isn't that awesome!!!!! So let me answer one question that has never been asked...why do I always show what people are saying?...am I an ego maniac who thinks I/We are God's gift to photography?...The answer to that is unequivocally no...We are so passionate about what we do and it gives me great humbling pride to know that so many truly appreciate what we do as much as I appreciate all of my couples and their families hiring us...There are so many great photographers out there...there really are...but I would be willing to bet that very few provide an experience that touches virtually every sense in the right way...

I will be doing another entry to talk about the days that happened over the weekend. Have a wonderful day!

All my best,
Peter

The week that was

Hi Everyone,

I hope this blog sees you well. Last week the focus switched from weddings to other events going on here. Last Thursday, John McCain arrived into Nashua, and I was hired out to photograph him during a town meeting that he was hosting. Let me mention that I am not a political person and I do not have an overall opinion of either candidate so far. What was really cool about this event is that I got to go deep behind the scenes…even further back then the press normally goes...however the Secret Service kept a close eye on me ;)

The next day, Kevin and myself photographed Haley…an aspiring model who is looking to get into catalogues and other fashion modeling areas. Haley is only 9 years old, but very mature and composed and I believe that she will do extremely well. I met Haley’s mom and dad during the wedding that I shot in Aruba. The pics came out terrific and they are very pleased thus far.

Yesterday, I had the honor of photographing Christy & Paul along with their 2 dalmation dogs…a great couple who are getting married this weekend in Bermuda and we will be photographing their welcome home reception coming up in a few weeks.

Finally on a personal note: I celebrated fathers day with my two kids up at my place on Newfound Lake in Bristol. I don’t get to spend a great deal of quality time with my kids on the weekends so this was a nice treat to say the least. 20 days until the little one arrives…I’ll keep ya posted.

This week coming up…4 weddings. I am shooting a wedding Friday, Saturday & Sunday…Kevin will be shooting a wedding for me on Saturday…so there will be lots to talk about next week!

Have a great day everyone!

All my best,
Peter

Weddings & Politics

Hi Everyone,
I hope this blog sees you well. Last Saturday, June 7th I had the honor of photographing Melanie & Steve’s wedding at The Shaker Hills Country Club in Harvard, MA (http://www.shakerhills.com/). Overall the day went very well and everyone had a great time even though it was as hot as hot can get. The only thing that I felt bad about is that we had a thunderstorm as we were taking formal pics outdoors and had to bring everything inside. The grounds of the country club are nice so it would have been cool to do more but what can you do right? Can’t control the weather. Enjoy the pics and as always let me know what you think…

This week there are no weddings believe it or not…this is the only weekend I have off (other than July 19th which is on purpose due to the baby coming) until November 16th…however that doesn’t mean that I won’t have anything to d0 of course ;) Tomorrow, July 12th I will be shooting a political event that involves Senator John McCain…this should be interesting for a couple of reasons…the first being that I will be thoroughly inspected by the secret service and 2nd of course is that McCain is running to be Prez. I will write about that experience coming up.

That’s all for now, I hope you are all staying cool this summer so far.

All my best,
Peter

2 Weddings, 1 Day

Hi Everyone,

I hope this blog sees you well. Last Saturday, May 31st was hopping. We had two weddings going on over the weekend. One was in Lowell, MA and the other in Southern Maine.

I shot the one in Lowell. It was for Monique and Billy, the couple whose wedding I shot in Aruba…so I know what you are saying…this must be the longest wedding celebration ever by a couple…it was, but they are awesome people and I know we are going to be friends for life. The wedding was at the Longmeadow Golf Club in Lowell (no website unfortunately)…It was my first time there and I was surprised at how hidden away it was and how nice it was as well.

Kevin shot Emily and Brendan in Lisbon Falls Maine. The rain held off…thank goodness…they are type of couple that loves to ham it up (as you can see in one of the blog photos) however they were both very nervous prior to the wedding…I guess we can all understand where they were coming from…

Well that’s all for now. This weekend we have one wedding going on. Melanie & Steve will be getting hitched at the Shaker Hills Country Club. I am looking forward to this as I have a strong bond with the both of them as we did a really fun engagement session earlier this year.
All my best,
Peter

subject: tipping

Hi Everyone,

I hope this blog sees you all well. We are really crankin’ it up here…we have completed 10 weddings to date with 60 more on the books for this year! 2009 is looking amazing so far…Thank you again to everyone!

I received a phone call the other day from a bride to be wanting to know about the topic of tipping, so I thought I would write a quick blog about to help out.

What I am specifically talking about is tipping the photographer and/or videographer for services rendered. Let me start off by saying that tipping is strictly a personal decision and is not required just like any service in which tipping can occur. How much or little depends on how you feel. Having stated this, I have personally seen a range of $20 all the way up to nearly $400. I have also seen couples purchase gifts and other things as nice gestures for hard work.

A quick story to tell:

I was at shooting at this wedding in Westford, MA and we were having a blast getting some great shots…even in bad weather. The DJ on the other hand has not doing so hot and in fact messed up a key song for the groom and his sister. At the end of the night I received a tip for $300 and I said, ”guys this is very generous…thank you very much”…they replied, “We were going to give you and the DJ $150 each, but since you did great we decided to give you his half as well”…all I could say is “wow, thanks”.

So if you are thinking about tipping let me tell you that it is always appreciated. How much is up to you…I hope this helps others out there and feel free to ping me with any questions…I will be writing shortly about last weekend.

All my best,
Peter