Love Me Tender: A Providence Wedding with the Schurches

A wedding reflects the values of a couple, and as a photographer, I want to see those values translated into the imagery. Months prior to Lauren and Jake’s wedding, I asked them what they wanted their photos to look like and, more importantly, what emotions they wanted to pull from them. They decided on one word: tender.

With that in mind, I traveled from Boston to Providence via Amtrak and arrived at their hotel, jumping right into the getting-ready rush. I bounced between Lauren and Jake, wanting to capture the hustle and bustle and never-perfect scenes of getting ready for a wedding. That, mixed with the excitement of their friends and the excitement of their own, felt like such an important part of the story.

Keeping to those small, warm moments, I peppered the day with Polaroids of the key punctuations for Lauren and Jake to leave with in hand. One of Lauren getting ready, one of Jake getting ready, and eventually ten sweet little Polaroids that would mark their wedding day from beginning to end.

Once both were ready, we moved to the rooftop for their first look. The Beatrice Hotel was nice enough to open the bar early, and the moment was exactly as wanted: tender.

First looks help give couples structured time for portraits, so that when the actual ceremony is done, there is less time away from their guests and more time to enjoy the day. I always want to make space for beautiful portraits without allowing the photographs to take over the wedding itself. The day is not a photoshoot, but a wedding.

With tears shed and emotions high, we all jumped into our car and headed to the venue.

My goal upon arrival was to carry that same theme of bustle: guest arrivals, seat shiftings, and details. That mixed with the small moments of Lauren exiting the car to her father, Jake’s mom putting on his boutonniere, friends greeting one another, and all of the little movements happening before the ceremony.

I kept front of mind what we had been discussing for months. Lauren and Jake wanted the small, sweet moments and the moments they couldn’t see.

I took that into the ceremony itself, making sure to get frames of the family, friends, and grandparents for whom this wedding was of the utmost importance. Of course, I was watching Jake. I was watching Lauren. But I was also watching the people watching them.

Cue Jake.

Cue Lauren.

Cue the Schurches!

With a small carve-out for family photos, I wanted them to feel timeless and heirloom. We ran down the list of everyone we needed, with the goal of returning to cocktail hour. Because again, the day is not a photoshoot. It is a wedding, and I want my couples to actually experience it.

The reception flowed, and I kept to the busy tenderness of the imagery we had talked about from the beginning.

Cue first dance.

Cue father-daughter dance.

Cue mother-son dance.

Cue all of the hugs, laughter, conversations, and little moments happening around them.

It’s overwhelming sometimes to realize you were allowed into such an overflow of love, and I never take it for granted. As a Boston wedding photographer, I get to witness so many different versions of what a wedding can look and feel like, but every couple brings their own values into the day. My job is to notice those things and let them shape the photographs.

For Lauren and Jake, that word was tender.

And it showed up everywhere.

In the way they looked at each other. In their families. In their friends. In the quiet moments between the big ones. In the bustle of getting ready and the stillness of their first look. In the people who traveled to be there and in the people watching them from the front row.

I left Providence handing Lauren and Jake their ten Polaroids that marked their day, from getting ready to cake cutting, grateful to have been a witness.

Grateful for the months of conversations that came before it.

Grateful that they trusted me to photograph not just what their wedding looked like, but what they wanted it to feel like.

Tender.

As a Boston wedding photographer photographing weddings throughout Boston, Providence, and New England, that is ultimately what I hope to do: create imagery that feels like the couple, and photographs that bring them back not only to what happened, but to how it felt to be there.

Vendors

Hair & Makeup: @thebridalblume
Coordinator: @yeahgoodweddings
First Look: @thebeatricehotel
Venue: @watermangrille
Dress: @touch.of.design.boston
Florals: @gilmoresandchecktheflorist & @dethornedcollective
Guest Watercolors: @carissa_paints
Cakes: @pasticheri