I’m so excited to finally share these Moraine Farm wedding photos from Liz and Russ’ gorgeous big day. It was just over two weeks ago that I headed north to Beverly to meet with Liz, and her family and friends, as they began preparations for her wedding. My first stop was their hotel in Danvers, where bridal prep was in full swing, and people were coming in and out with well wishes and a ton of delicious looking Chinese food! I somehow managed to resist the kind offer of lunch, and instead focused on photographing the action.

Liz is incredibly close to her family – and especially to her siblings, Katie and Sean – and I was on the lookout for special moments between them, like this one below (Liz touching her sister’s made up face while having her own makeup applied):

It was my first time photographing a wedding at Moraine Farm so after spending a little time photographing hair and makeup, I headed over to the venue to take a look around. It’s an absolutely gorgeous place, with water views and beautiful rustic buildings, pretty gardens and sprawling fields. I loved the cupola below, and decided to return to it later for some couples portraits.

I had no idea what to expect in the way of decor, and Liz and Russ totally blew me away with their craftiness and creativity! There was a super cute library theme, with “personal library” escort cards, and a bookcase stacked full of books from Russ and Liz’s personal collection for guests to take home as favors.

There was another theme to the decor, too: Russ proposed to Liz on top of a mountain during a hurricane (!) so it was only fitting that their tables be named after their favorite mountains. And their invitations featured a pretty awesome bear:

When they arrived at the venue, Liz got dressed with the help of her mom and sister. I love these sweet moments when emotions were running high:

We had been expecting torrential rain the day of the wedding, but in fact we had the most perfectly sunny weather with just a hint of cloudiness. I was so happy that the ceremony stayed outdoors … it gave me plenty of space to capture these ridiculously cute kids (and Liz and Russ’ pup Pepper) coming down the aisle … and the guests’ reactions to them:

I couldn’t choose between my two favorite photos of Liz and her dad coming down the aisle – so I’m showing both. Plus, the wonderful photo of Russ seeing Liz as a bride for the first time – thank you to my fabulous second shooter Jennifer for this shot!

Russ apparently couldn’t choose between choking up or grinning … it was so cute!

This next photo is one of my all time favorite ceremony shots. I like that you can see lots of different stories in the one image – the funny pup, the father-son interaction, the female relative wiping a tear, and of course the ceremony going on in the background.

A few more favorite ceremony images:

During cocktail hour, we took ton of fun family photos, then I spent a little time taking couples portraits with Liz and Russ in the garden behind the cupola. Here are some of my favorites:

I adore sweet moments between couples, but I really LOVE to see laughter!

Meanwhile, Jennifer was doing a stellar job documenting cocktail hour, and taking detail photos for me. Three of the next four are hers:

Liz and Russ opened dinner with their first dance. It was at least partially choreographed, and 100% awesome. Liz is quite the entertainer!

There were some really beautiful, thoughtful, emotional toasts … but it was the reactions to the toasts that I really loved at this wedding. Liz’s brother Sean got totally choked up during their dad’s speech, and I just love these shots of Sean and Katie:

After dinner there was some crazy fun action on the dance floor:

One final image (again from the awesome Jennifer!) to end with. Thank you all for an amazing day. I absolutely loved getting to know you all, and it was such a treat documenting your sweet, crafty, fun, emotional, hilarious day. I’ll be in touch with the full set in around a week!