This Grace Restaurant wedding in Portland, ME was my second wedding of the year, and the second of the three amazing winter weddings I photographed in January 2015. You can find my first, an elegant Boston winter wedding, here. My weekend started on Friday morning when I drove up from Boston. A big snow storm was rolling in, and I wanted to make sure I would arrive safely, well in advance of starting photos. The snow started coming in thick and fast before I was up for the day, and it made downtown Portland look like a fairytale town. It was a beautiful sight to behold from Kelly’s cozy room at the Portland Regency Hotel.

Once the girls were beautified (thanks Jojo at Joya Beauty and Lena at Hair that Moves) Kelly got dressed, donning fun striped woolen socks and snow boots, and a perfect pink winter coat. These guys were not deterred one bit by the snow and I’m so excited that we got to do their first look and portraits outside. Although it was cold, fresh snow makes everything that much more beautiful, and it reflects soft, gorgeous light back into faces making everyone look extra pretty. It’s pretty much my favorite weather for photos! We went to a couple of my favorite spots around Portland, including a little beach area with rocks and gulls, and the lovely City Hall building for the group photos.

The ceremony was held downstairs in the intimate basement space at Grace Restaurant. Huy and Kelly’s friend Katie officiated which was perfect – it was Katie that played matchmaker and first introduced this sweet couple! The ceremony had some wonderful moments, many funny, and a couple more emotional. I was happy to capture the bridesmaids all tearing up at one point.

After the ceremony, everyone headed upstairs to the main restaurant space at Grace, a spectacular room that used to be a church. It is huge and full of character, and I especially love the central bar. Then, it was back downstairs for dinner and dancing. After the first dance, Kelly and Huy sat down for dinner – you can see this photo in the collection above – and had a little moment. I absolutely love this message I got from Kelly when they saw their full set of images: “There’s one image in particular that we were super psyched you got – (it) probably seems like a random moment to everyone else, but we finally had that “holy cow, we’re married moment” and you caught it. THANK YOU!”

The rest of the evening was super fun, with a couple of great toasts, and some really funny moments on the dance floor. I want to end with this sweet note that I got from Huy the evening I sent over their teaser slideshow: “Kate. We spent so much time watching this slideshow over and over again that we finished an entire bottle of wine. We don’t know how to thank you enough for capturing these beautiful images. We absolutely love these photos and can’t wait to see the entire set. You’re incredible. Thank you for allowing us to relive the array of emotions we felt throughout the day. Kelly and Huy (who are both slightly drunk at the moment…)” Love these two!