Steph+Chris | May 27, 2012 | Magic Wings, South Deerfield & Wiggins Tavern Northampton

So my baby brother got married a few weeks ago.  They just got back from their honeymoon in Hawaii & San Francisco.  I figured it was time for their blog post to go up 🙂 Chris and Steph decided to do things their way and instead of having a big elaborate wedding they opted to have a small intimate wedding of their closest friends and family.  They did originally plan to do a bigger wedding with a wedding party and all those other details so when it came down to switching to a smaller wedding without a wedding party I had to remind them that Prue (our daughter) still needed to be the “flower girl” because she would be heartbroken if they took that job from her.

Along with doing a small wedding they also got ready together and we (Chris, Steph, Drew & myself) went out before the ceremony and took photos in Downtown Amherst (they met while at UMASS) and did portraits at some of their favorite places.  We also went over to Sugarloaf Mountain and did some portraits up there.  They invited family & friends to come hang out with us up there before the ceremony.  Okay already enough of me writing (I feel like I could go on & on & on), let me show you some of the photos!!

They both had purple chucks to wear, though Steph did change to heals for the ceremony.

Drew snapped this photo of himself in the mirror.  You’ll see a similar photo I snapped of myself in the mirror…we didn’t know each other did this until after the fact when I was looking through the photos.  Clearly we think a like.

Chris needed help with his tie.  Drew was happy to step in and assist.

I had to include the image of Chris jumping into the frame on the right.  After he did it and I showed him the photo he was even more jazzed that he photo bombed it so well.

I decided I won the battle of the mirror photos because I got both Chris & Steph in my image while Drew just got Steph in his!

After getting ready in Northampton the four of us hopped in the car and headed to downtown Amherst for some portraits.  We unfortunately hit a parade along the way (being that it was Memorial Day Weekend) and that put Chris is a funky mood.  He doesn’t like parades and was mad we were late…in the long run, it didn’t matter and we had plenty of time to shoot.

This was at the restaurant where they had their first date.  The staff were kind enough to let us snap a few images.

I love this next set of images we captured.  It’s right near the location where they had their first kiss.

Bueno Y Sano is another restaurant that they love going to so we stopped by there as well.  Steph made all the flowers in her bouquet from paper.  I think she did a great job!

After finishing up in Downtown Amherst, we headed over to Mount Sugarloaf for some more photos.  They had invited any friends and family who wanted to come hang out there before the ceremony.  Our little lady Prue was the flower girl (remember I told them they couldn’t take that job away from her.  She would have been heartbroken, so while they didn’t have a wedding party, they had a flower girl)

Everyone who made the treck up to the top of the mountain.

It was totally worth the $2 we spent to drive up to the top for this photo right here!!

Our sweet little lady was all about what “Uncle Chris & Auntie Steph” were doing.  She followed us around the entire time we were taking photos.  She was that annoying guest at the wedding 🙂

Chris and Steph love the show Community.  So when they were trying to come up with a fun prop for photos they decided to be Evil Chris & Evil Steph like the characters Abed & Troy.

After a few more portraits at Mount Sugarloaf we headed over to Magic Wings for the ceremony.  I’ll let you in on a little secret.  I was freaking out about the butterflies.  Drew & I went into the butterfly area before the ceremony to check things out.  I didn’t think I’d be nervous,  but I was totally freaking out that the butterflies were going to fly into me.  Actually it wasn’t a secret at all, everyone knew I was freaking out. Prue wasn’t your typical flower girl.  Her job was to walk in before Chris & Steph holding a basket that had an ipod and was playing the recessional music for Chris & Steph (they walked in together).  Chris & Steph walked into the Beatle’s Helter Skelter 🙂

To determine who read their vows first they did rock, paper, scissors.  Chris won so Steph went first!

Then we quickly shot family portraits.

Striking a pose with Prue 🙂

All their friends who came to the wedding!

Next we did a few more portraits inside with the butterflies.  Again, I was freaking out, but doing a little better about them flying into me.

The manager at Magic Wings was able to get the butterfly to stay on Steph’s petticoat for a shot!  I love this image 🙂

Twin butterflies that Drew happened to capture!

We then headed outside and grabbed a couple more images outside Magic Wings.

Finally it was time to head over to Wiggins Tavern in Northampton for dinner.  It was a casual, they didn’t even want to be announced, but Drew and I didn’t really give them a choice and announced them anyway!

They didn’t do a planned first dance, but instead when the Beatle’s song Oh, Darling came on they got up and danced.

Yummy cupcake time.  I can’t remember the name of the bakery (I’ll need to get the info from them)!

I like this shot of the escort cards because Chris and Steph made sure my card included myself and the little nugget (due hopefully in only a few weeks at the beginning of July!)

We had some sparklers so we attempted to go outside and have everyone light sparklers for a fun photo.  Note for future massive sparkler attempts, matches don’t really work.  Have multiple sets of lighters so everyone can be lit at the same time.

There wasn’t too much dancing after dinner, much to Prue’s disappointment.  We put on a few of Prue’s favorite dance songs so she could dance because that was something she really wanted to do.

It was a fabulous day and we loved being a part of it.  Thanks for letting us capture your wedding, even though we were working we were still able to have fun and enjoy the day as well.  My baby brother isn’t so much of a baby anymore 🙂