cathy + nic wedding at the tower hill botanical gardens

Cathy and Nic were married at one of the coolest places- The Tower Hill Botanical Garden outside of Worcester MA- and had their reception in an ORANGERIE!! I just love saying the word! Orangerie! Orangerie!
Mike and I had fun shooting Cathy in the salon, she looks so adorable!

Here Cathy and her girls check out the guest book that Mike and I did. (for those of you that don't know, we put together a coffee table book for guests to sign in on of their engagement shoot images)

Another under the dress detail shot- I am really enjoying the abstractness of these shots! Mike got a great shot of the dress hanging in the window with the cool white shutter thing-ys, make sure you check out his shots!



Now I was really interested to see what Cathy would bring to the hotel for her 'personal items' for Mike and I to shoot her rings with- and she did not disappoint!! She brought CHOCOLATE. Yes! Now who in their right mind would think to bring that? Someone very, very smart, that's who! I guess she and Nic LOVE chocolate and eat some every night, so she brought some and trusted that we would be able to rock something with it and boy were we! And yes, Mike ate the chocolate when we were done :)

Some other things that Cathy brought were some cards that she and Nic had exchanged over the years. I liked the quote on this card.

Mike shot me shooting the above image. I do what I gotta do.

Cathy was so open to ideas she agreed to put her dress on on the theater that was on-site at the gardens... creating a very fun and unique getting ready shooting opportunity for us!



The stage lights gave us some really great man-made flare opportunities, which we all know that Mike and I ate up!

Cathy and her Mom having a nice moment

Cathy and Nic had a nice point in their ceremony where the officiant asks the congregation to accept responsibility in helping their marriage succeed. Here they are smiling at the enthusiastic response :)

Nic's son is a terrific piano player, he played the most moving piece during the ceremony... I had to stop shooting for a moment and just take it in.

Cathy & Nic's guests waiting in their receiving line

Program detail

We popped over to the orchard part for some shots




Cathy & Nic share a nice moment during their toast

A little snuggling during their first dance


Congratulations Cathy and Nic, thank you so much for having us be a part of your day!

Check out Mike's fabulous shots HERE!!

Fireworks in action

Hartford's riverfest does it up city-style this year!

Foggy fifth

It is super foggy down in GLP! Fog is my favorite weather to shoot
in.... I dare say I like it even more than lens flare!!! Not that that
is 'weather' but you get me. It is so fleeting and random and
beautiful I wish I had a bride or couple with me right now! Call me if
you are in the Groton Long Point area and are obviously bored enough
to be inside reading my blog! :)

jen + nicole wedding in newington ct

Part three of our weekend shooting festivities were capped off with the fabulous and funny nuptials of our wonderful clients-turned-friends Jen & Nicole in their backyard! It was a logistical debate- who would cover the bride...? Brides! Well good thing there are two of us photographers- so we both started with Nicole and then Mike hightailed it to Jen's and stayed put with her until we met up at Elizabeth Park for portraits before the ceremony.

This mirror gave me some nice shots throughout the morning...

And then we met up at Elizabeth Park for some portraits and group pictures, during Rose Weekend no less, so there were tons of people around, but you wouldn't know it by the way we shot it!! Very challenging but fun!

So of course.... it starts to rain and we have to hightail it into the gazebo and try and get some shots without getting poured on, which I think we pulled off here nicely before if got too stormy out

I really like the top of the gazebo and so shorty got low, low, low, low, low

low like this

and then we made a run for it to the tent, which was thankfully set up for Rose Weekend- and yes, we made quite a scene running in- two brides and two ninjas all in black, running for our lives! Very dramatic and hilarious

and then this cutie patootie? Yeah.

Jen is such a Yankees fan she wanted to wear these gloves for the wedding but Nicole put the cabash on that! But we got a shot of it, of course!

I love the sand ceremony during wedding ceremonies... Nicole & Jen's family poured the sand in, signifying the joining of their families

hands hands love the hands

they had quite a laugh during their ceremony, and couldn't stop, for a while!! It was great!

Their emotional first kiss

Jen's adorable niece

Check us out getting down in the photo booth

oh yeah, I can bust a move

huh. there's a logo in my beer



Check out my boy Mike's shots HERE... he tore it up, AS USUAL!!!!

well, style me pretty, why don't cha!

Today the Connecticut end of the sophisticated and awesome wedding planning blog 'Style Me Pretty' was unveiled... and carla ten eyck photography was one of the very lucky three photographers to be invited to be featured on their site for Hartford!!

This blog is listed as one of Martha Stewart's most favorite blogs and as such gets TONS of traffic and has so many cool ideas on it!

Current brides, future brides, and blog stalkers.....Check it out HERE!

Some more specific directions, it seems there is some confusion... ;)

**Click on the 'Style Me Pretty Link' Above
** Click on 'The Little Black Book of Vendors' box in the top right corner
** Click on Connecticut
** Click on Photographers
** Click on Hartford
** Click on ME!! :)

larissa + garrett wedding at rocky neck state park

Larissa & Garrett got married at Rocky Neck State Park on what was supposed to be a rainy and yucky day.... but it turned out to be beautiful!! They had the best weather and the most awesome details- Mike and I had a blast shooting. Not to mention that Miss Larissa is the most giggly lady, like EVER, which just made me laugh all day as well! Talia & Lindsay from Sixpence for Your Shoe did it up, fabulous-style, as always!! They are so much fun to work with, if you don't have a coordinator for your day.... GET ONE! They are great!

Now, Larissa had her dress custom made, it was beautiful and it was PINK!! I LOVE pink so I was super psyched, not to mention that the pink and her blonde hair just looked so incredibly beautiful together...

A little sparkle goes a long way... add to it some seersucker? WHAT? Yeah, I love it too!

Larissa gave me some stuff from the reception to shoot their rings so we tied the whole beach theme together with her details- I used the seersucker table linen and the star fishy hoo ha things and made a pretty little design with their rings
a kiss, a hug, a kiss a hug and a kiss

Larissa and her Mom, having a nice getting ready moment

She gave us plenty of time before hand to get to the beach and shoot her and her girls- there was a really cool rocky wall to shoot her against, Mike and I worked it!

And speaking of WORKING IT! I saw Larissa's Mom shooting us shooting her from above and thought- oooohhhhh- and huffed my way to the top and shot down on Larissa as Mike was shooting her from the ground. I LOVE this shot of her, and she only gave me about 2 frames where she wasn't cracking up laughing! But the serious look on her face in this shot just makes it

There was a beautiful looooong hallway of windows where we shot the ladies. I shot this as Mike was setting up a shot

The flowers were off the HOOK beautiful! Chris from Thistles, A Flower Shop in Madison did the flowers!

Come on! The place cards on the netting was super cute. Watching Talia set it up was even cuter! :)

Larissa had an emotional moment during the ceremony, which was right on the patio of the pavilion on the hill.

This is my favorite 'coming back down the aisle' shot EVER- how cute is Garrett's grandmother kissing his hand???? COME ON!

Love the warm delicious flare

And couldn't get enough of the rocky walls

Clearly! I had fun with this wall, the green grass and the nice light. Not to mention the bridal party was willing to do whatever we asked and were fun to work with!

ON our way to another spot to shoot we walked through this tiny patch of light and were like... waaaaiiiitt a minute.... hold on there!! Add some kissing and giggling, and there you have it!

Their cake was so cute, I loved the beach chairs on the top

And I gotta give them props for their first dance song... it was a Smashing Pumpkins song, 'Tonight Tonight'




Larissa & Garrett we had a great time at your wedding, keep your eyes open for your photo booth slide show, it is HILARIOUS!!!

Make sure you check out Mike's shots HERE!