Li Ward photographer of pets and weddings. Fat Orange Cat Studio is a fresh and candid boutique photography service in Boston, Massachusetts.

Here are Gracie and Dewey, a pair of Golden Retriever urbanites living high above the city of Boston. Go ahead and treat your eyes to these golden puffs of fuzzy goodness!

{ couldn’t resist including this stellar view of the South End and Boston’s skyline }

Last weekend I photographed Jill & Brian’s happy, emotional beach wedding on Plum Island, Massachusetts. It’s hard to believe this wedding has already come and gone: I have been awaiting it with nervous anticipation ever since Jill booked me nearly a full year ago, all the way from Los Angeles and when my photography portfolio consisted mainly of hand-knitted socks, scarves, and the occasional cat wearing said scarves. We met online waaay back through our mutual love of knitting. We are both members of Ravelry, a very popular online knitting community. That’s right. Knitting is huge. Just about everyone knits, including me (although very very little these days). It was an extreme leap of faith on Jill’s part to book me when she did, but just as she said about meeting her husband-to-be, “When you know you’ve found the one, you know.” I think we all operate best when given complete trust, and that’s true whether you’re in a job or a relationship. So I thank Jill from the bottom of my heart for trusting me implicitly to photograph her beautiful seaside wedding!

We started at Jill & Brian’s rented beach house on Plum Island, where we found Jill’s mother putting the finishing touches to the bride’s rosemary and lavender head wreath. Upstairs the bridesmaids were arranging their own floral bouquets. As expected from a crafter, there were a lot of DIY touches, including an ivory cashmere wedding shawl that Jill knit herself, as well knitted seahorses that would become cake toppers.

After the beach ceremony everyone was caravanned to nearby Plum Island Hall for the reception. The color themes were teal, orange and white. ;-)

After the reception, some of the guests lingered and headed back to the beach house, carting along with them the leftover wine bottles and the leftover cupcakes to enjoy as the sun began to set. On this day a crazy storm was raging in Boston, uprooting trees and cutting off power lines. Tornado warnings were even issued. On Plum Island it wasn’t quite so drastic, though the weather could not make up its mind what it wanted to do – rain or clouds or sun? Or how about a mix of all three throughout the day? But whatever the weather decided to do, it did at the right time. For the early afternoon beach ceremony we had a soft blanket of gray clouds, parting just slightly for family portraits on the dunes, torrential downpours while everyone was indoors at the reception, and then puffy white happy clouds that turned golden and pink at the after-party. It was such variable, delicious lighting.

Congratulations Jill and Brian! It was a priviledge to be part of your wonderful day.

My modest little wedding season started off with a huge bang with Lindsey and Wilson’s Wedding Weekend Extravaganza. It was 4 days and nights of playing host to a culinary, seafaring, history-book tour of Boston, and they wanted it all captured on film. They just relocated from my home state of Georgia where Wilson recently received his doctorate in physics, UGA style. I met some Georgians among the guests who were visiting Boston for the first time. I wasn’t able to talk physics, but I was able to talk all things North vs South! What a treat it is to see Boston for the first time in this stylish, classy, and fun manner, thanks to the lovely couple and their families.

Friday evening: Rehearsal Dinner
The weekend kicked off with the Rehearsal Dinner hosted by Wilson’s parents at Mooo Restaurant. Everyone started with drinks and hors d’oeuvres on the roofdeck of the adjacent XV Beacon Hotel before descending downstairs to the restaurant’s private wine cellar for dinner. On the bar were the couple’s rehearsal dinner invitations in the form of wine bottles affixed with a custom label. Swoon. Name cards were professionally calligraphed – you know I love that! – and propped up by wine corks. After her speech, Wilson’s mom pulled out party favors for all the guests – collegiate T-shirts with the name “Lindsey” and “Wilson” printed across the front. Turns out, there is a real Lindsey Wilson College located in Kentucky! And the crowd went wild.

{ Custom wine labels created by Ceci New York }

Saturday Noon: Bridal Luncheon
The next afternoon, while the boys were enjoying a tour of Sam Adams brewery, Lindsey’s bridesmaids threw her and her girlfriends a bridal luncheon at Upstairs on the Square in Harvard Square. More laughing and mimosa and bellini toasts clinking over plates of delicious food. It was at this point I wanted to forget the camera, order my own bellini and be one of the girls.

Saturday Evening: Sunset & Cocktail Cruise
After a quick change and a little up-do, it was time to meet more family and friends for cocktail hour aboard a boat. When I arrived the boat’s bar stock was already running half empty. Do these people know how to do it right or DO THEY KNOW HOW TO DO IT RIGHT? We sailed around Boston Harbor and a little into the Charles River during sunset.

Sunday: THE WEDDING!
Ohhhh the wedding. The wedding! Held in Boston’s historic Old North Church in the North End, followed by the reception at the Lenox Hotel in the Back Bay, this wedding was full of old world class and spared no details. I was secondary shooter, Lisa Rigby was the primary. You can see all the gorgeous details from Lindsey and Wilson’s lavish black-tie wedding here on Lisa’s blog.

Here are some of mine at the Church. I was not as quiet as a church mouse as the sexton instructed me to be (“Once you’re up there, don’t move!” Me: “What! And photograph from the same spot?”). Well he should know – the wood floors complained loudly with every tiptoed step I took! It was like I suddenly weighed four tons and had microphones attached under the soles of my feet, just in case you couldn’t hear me, you all the way in the back. Oh I love old curmudgeonly churches!

{ See more wedding photos here }

Monday: Farewell Brunch
Finally, after 3 days of non-stop partying, it was time to refuel with a hearty brunch at Gaslight Brasserie in the South End, before catching your plane, train or automobile, and heading home…

A pretty amazing weekend for these two newlyweds, wouldn’t you say?
Congratulations to Lindsey & Wilson! It was a pleasure getting to know you and all of your friends and family.

This handsome feller is Balto the Rat Terrier. I met him and his owner at the barber shop they operate in Boston’s South End. At first Balto wasn’t too keen on having is photo taken; in fact, there might have been some choice words for me muttered (growled) under his breath as he sought refuge in his barber’s chair. But as soon as I we stepped out of the shop and into the sunlit streets all was good, all was light. His bat ears perked and his brown eyes sparkled!