What wonderful humans (and dog) at this Boston Public Library wedding! I am so, so lucky to work with such kind souls at so many of my weddings, and the moment I stepped into Mackenzie’s getting ready suite at the Fairmont Copley Plaza, I knew this would be a special group of people to photograph.

In the past few years, as wedding parties have grown in size, and our phones have become more cemented to our hands, what used to be one of my favorite parts of the wedding day has suffered from a little disengagement. Sure, there are usually some fun moments (although many, honestly, feel a little manufactured – a toast at the end of makeup, the perfectly set up first look with the girls) but I’ve been missing those genuine interactions throughout the morning prep. Not so at this wedding! This crew was engaged, super fun, so sweet and supportive; I don’t remember seeing anyone documenting the day on Instagram or TikTok – they were too busy living it. It was a real treat.

Mackenzie’s wedding party consisted of her best girlfriends and her brother – whose role was Man of Honor. I loved this. He was so sweet and did an absolutely fantastic job of his role – especially his toast! Their mom was also there and she was funny and kind, just like her lovely kids.

Sean and Mackenzie had their first look on the grand staircase at the Boston Public Library. It is such a classic spot, and I love those photos – especially when they both teared up. We grabbed a few quick photos on the Juliet balcony, then headed down to the courtyard for the group photos and a handful more couples portraits. The couple’s delightful doodle dog, Obi, even joined us for some photos (and just a quick note here that dogs are not normally permitted at Boston Public Library weddings unless they are service animals of some kind – just in case you are wondering!)

The ceremony was performed by a close family friend who has perfected the art of mixing the funny and the sentimental – in fact this was definitely a theme throughout the day: the key players were either laughing deep belly-laughs or shedding happy tears throughout!

I photographed this wedding solo, but used my third camera on a tripod on the balcony so that I could get some fantastic top-down photos during the ceremony. I especially love the one of Mackenzie and her father’s entrance.

Cocktail hour was manic for me: ten minutes of group photos on the stairs, followed by 10 minutes of cocktail hour coverage, followed by setting up for the reception and photographing Bates Hall and the Chevannes Gallery details. Phew! Despite photographing multiple Boston Public Library weddings each year it always surprises me just how much running up and down the stairs is involved. 😉

Dinner and toasts took place in Bates Hall, and some favorite moments included the toasts as mentioned, and spotting one of their friends documenting the event in their sketchbook (so cool!) I also loved the cake cutting which again was a perfect mix of fun and sweet.

After dinner, we moved to the Abbey Room for dancing. Mackenzie & Sean’s first dance was to ‘Friday I’m in Love‘ which made me so happy (I love a unique first dance song). Another favorite moment was the bouquet toss: the first attempt had mackenzie sending the bouquet right into the chandelier! It was hilarious. Her second throw was perfect and it was caught by the girlfriend of one of Sean’s brothers – who then handed individual flowers to each of the single ladies that missed. It was so incredibly lovely, and was really the perfect way to sum up my experience of working with this group.

Thank you Sean & Mackenzie for having me, and a special shout-out to my favorite video team – Jeremy & Chris of LoveLocked Films – for all their help day of and for just being the best damn people around.