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.

      Jill & Brian

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      Getting ready

      Jill and her handknit wedding shawl

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      Wedding vows

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

      Handknit seahorse cupcake toppers

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      BBQ chicken

      collage

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      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.

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      Guest bathed in golden light

      Beach portraits

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

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      COMMENTS

      Stunning Li! Stunning! ;-)
      And I dig the seahorses; Hobbes would like to eat one :-)

      LOVE the one of Jill and her Mom!!! Such happiness!

      Li! Gorgeous! I love your way with color and saturation. You have a sophisticated subtlety to your work that I totally envy. Love the angles on the cake too. Not going to lie–probably going to copy that :) Nice work!

      Li, I’m pretty much speechless. All the pics are so beautiful and it’s absolutely thrilling to see them up on your blog! Thank you so much for your gorgeous work!!!

      BEAUTIFUL job Li!! How fun! Congrats girl…you deserve it!

      Awesome work – it was ‘wow’ all the way through the post for me!
      I could even feel the love all the way to Sydney, Australia!

      What an incredibly beautiful wedding. Your photos moved me to tears and I don’t even KNOW these people. Wonderful work.

      jessica gilliland

      Ivey and I are so happy for you both and the pictures are so beautiful!

      Your work is so overwhelmingly intimate and each of these is really beautiful. Thanks so much for sharing them!

      Bravo Li! Stunning photography and great story telling that captures all the joy of Brian and Jill’s day! Thanks! Peggy

      Fabulous photos, as always! And, I love those seahorses!