Kate Rose Photography

{If you missed the first part of our wedding post, you can click here or just scroll down.}

It is so exciting to have images of Mike and I that just melt my heart. I feel so lucky to have found someone who not only has a huge, caring heart, but also helps support me being able to live out my dreams. Sometimes I forget to be super grateful that he has adopted some of my dreams as his own and that we get to work together in this beautiful little business we have created.

What I loved about our photographer,  Jose Villa, was that I could just be myself- there was a comfortable space he created for us, an ease and a lightness that matched the day. I look at these pictures and see *me*. Real, honest, authentic is important especially when you count on these images to be part of your memories in years to come.

We had a lot of fun putting together the details for our wedding day.  Most of the decorations were either handmade or borrowed from my parent’s attic or my cousin’s farm.  Many loving hours of work and many helping hands…

Seating cards hung on an antique clothes drying rack…

Wildflowers picked by my mother…Probably her favorite job amongst the millions of things she did to help.  She is a wild gardener.

We had a little photo booth area set up with a Drop It Modern backdrop, a Fuji Instax camera and a dresser full of fun hats. I knew my friends would like this idea, but I had no idea how much all of our guests would enjoy it, right down to my 98 year old great aunt.  It really bridged the gap between different groups of people- I have crazy, fun, laughing pictures of cousins and family friends and little kids that had never met each other before but became instantly friends.

The centerpieces may be the truest sign of how much Mike loves me.  And my sister and her husband.  And another one of my friends. These were a labor of love to say the least.  I wish I could share a behind the scenes picture of what Mike looked like every time he headed out into the woods to cut down branches and saplings, covered from head to toe in protective gear from mosquitoes and poison ivy, drenched in sweat on 90 degree days. I must admit I liked the idea when working on centerpiece number 5 more than on number 20… But aren’t they so pretty?  Along with the lanterns, they gave the wedding such a wooded-fairy wonderland kind of feeling.

For our favors, we had little muslin bags printed from Etsy that said “All You Need is Love.”  Inside each were a few treats, including a kazoo and one of a collection of favorite poems that were in the spirit of celebration and enjoying life.

Ro-magical is a term I have taken to using quite a bit these days…

I know this post is growing and growing, but it’s kind of become a public way for me to thank and show my appreciation for those closest to me and  I couldn’t leave my brother out. I chose this picture, even though it doesn’t show how devilishly handsome, charming and funny my brother is (always making me laugh), but because it reminds me of how thoughtful he is.  Just seeing his handwriting brings back memories of all the little notes and letters he used to send me in the mail when he was little. He has a way with words of getting to the heart of a thing while making you laugh your way there. I now have that piece of paper stashed away in my treasure box of things that make me smile.

My best friends from high school and college…more kindred spirits.

Great Aunt Flo makes the blog because she is 98 and she can still soul-train. I hope to have half the spunk she has at that age…

And my dad.  Cried like a baby all day long. Wouldn’t have it any other way. I think I’m just getting to a place where I can start to understand how parents really do give everything they have to their children. I can see it in that bottom picture.

We really were able to have complete creative freedom in planning our wedding just the way we imagined- partially because we had it backyard style, but mostly because our parents let us be ourselves and didn’t impose their ideas on us.  They gave so much and didn’t really ask anything of us, until my dad made one request.  He wanted the chicken dance.  I tried to explain that he hadn’t been to a wedding in a while and people don’t really play the chicken dance much anymore- I don’t think I’ve heard it since I was about 13 at the roller skating rink.  But how could I say no to the one, most simple thing asked from us? So I surprised him and played it right after our dance together.  And it is really pretty fun, especially when you discover you randomly have a chicken costume in your dresser drawers.

And my mom again.  Because it really does always start and end with her. She is everything I know, everything I have to be thankful for, everything I love.

What a wonderful way to start our life together.

All our love to our family, friends, and our clients and readers (most of you fit in more than one category :)

~ Katie + Mike

I have been meaning to share the images from our wedding but I’ve been procrastinating for a few reasons. There are so many images I’m in love with throughout the day, that I don’t even know where to begin. These pictures are so dear to my heart that I would prefer to invite you over for a cup of tea so I can talk you through each one, tell you what each one means to me, the feelings that correspond with each, and the stories of the people, those closest to us who came together to help us create the most magical day of our lives.

I go to weddings all of the time, I am constantly moved by the grace that each possesses, I cry a tiny bit at almost everyone.  But nothing prepared me for what I would feel on my own wedding day. I knew that I am deeply in love with Mike, I knew that we did everything we could to make the wedding truly *us*, not just visually, but really from the heart, I knew that we would dance and have lots of fun…I was aware of everything we were bringing to the day, but I couldn’t even conceive of what our family and friends would bring to the day. I didn’t realize how strongly I’d feel that.  I’ve never had that many people I’ve loved in one place before and it was an experience that defies words.  One of the reason’s I’ve been putting off sharing my story is that I can’t find words to describe that glowing, radiant feeling I had all day.  And for weeks afterward, still lingering now…

I think I can say that my heart grew at least two sizes that day, one from the pure happiness of being able to marry my best friend, the one person I feel most myself around, who makes everything feel right.  And an extra size from the love we received from our friends and family, those that came out of the woodwork to help us with the planning and setting up of our wedding, those that stayed up late talking and got up before sunrise to help, those that climbed ladders, those that gave up their homes, those that wrote us poetry, those that gave us really tight hugs, those that shared such kind, honest, heartfelt words, those that danced recklessly all night with us…and most especially for our parents, who not only gave us the freedom to follow our own path, but are the ones who taught us how to be truly ourselves in the first place.  They planted the seed for every bit of goodness Mike or I possess and we love them the whole wide world.

There are too many images to share even a fraction of my favorites, so I hope you’ll indulge me if I post too many.  Our photographer, Jose Villa, was amazing.  The images show how I felt in every moment and I can look at them now and feel it again.  That is pretty magical.

I designed the invitations and all the coordinating pieces scattered throughout…

Loved my florist, Fino Fresh Floral Design…

I love my mom.  And I love pictures that show how much I love my mom.

This is my sister. This picture hardly begins to speak of how much we love each other. She got married this summer, too, and I don’t think either of us could have done it without the other. She’s my best friend, my kindred spirit (if you’re at all familiar with the Anne of Green Gables movies we grew up on :)

Hidden in the acres of woods behind our house is an old abandoned chicken shack.  Mike did a bit of demolition  so we could paint a few signs…

My cousin’s own C N Smith Farm, which is located in East Bridgewater, about a mile from where we got married.  My grandmother grew up on that farm and I grew up working there during my summers as a kid.  It is a place that’s just part of me.  Many elements of the wedding were begged, borrowed and bought from the farm- including a tractor ride to back to our reception.  {If you’re local, you need to visit- every season is magical in a different way, but their apple cider is what fall is all about. }

Our ceremony was held at Sachem Rock Farm- a beautiful field in East Bridgewater, right down the street from where I grew up.  I used to walk down there a lot as a kid and it’s where Mike and I spent our first new year’s eve together star-gazing.  Since I’ve known that I wanted to marry Mike, I’ve imagined getting married there.  It’s a town owned property so in order to get permission the board of selectman vote on it (they voted unanimously).   I love small town democracy. And I love that I drive by the place where we were married all the time, that we could picnic there anytime…

I now have my own niece and nephew. They are sweeter than sliced pie.

What’s pretty cool is that I already have a set of awesome parents, but somehow I’m lucky enough to inherit a second set that are equally amazing. It seems almost unfair to the rest of the world…

We had a dear friend marry us.  Makes it especially cozy.  And he’s a poet- he wrote us a beautiful poem as part of the ceremony. 

One of my favorite images…such a tiny slice of the day.

Walking back up the aisle together = best feeling ever.

Something about this image reminds me of what black and white photography is all about…

My kid-lings…the little girl on the left is kind of my baby.  I used to help care for her and her sister (my bridesmaid) when they were just tiny things.  They both hold a big piece of my heart and they have some nerve growing up on me.

Amazing, amazing, amazing to have all of our grandmothers together.  Especially since one of mine came all the way from Australia.  The beauty of this did not go by unappreciated.  It really is the people in our lives that make us so rich.

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