MAINE WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHERS MARRY!

Maine Wedding Photographers Marry!

Liz and I are so happy and proud to report our elopement and marriage on Columbus Day, Monday, October 13, 2014! (photos in this post are from our phone)

THE BEGINNING
We chose the city in which we met, Portland, Maine for this elopement, which we held privately.  Our location was the beautiful Portland Harbor Hotel. Our photographer and close friend Patty and officiant Julie Draper were the only two to know about our planned wedding until we both let our immediate families know of our plans only a few days prior.

We mutually feel we are very lucky to have met on the day after Christmas in December 2012. I like to say that I knew it was right, and just felt that this would lead to a life-long partnership within the very first few dates. Liz wasn’t too far behind in that thinking, either. Oh, we’re a match.com success story.

We love talking about how Liz had seen my profile on the match.com site a few times but didn’t build up the courage to reply at first. Meanwhile, discouraged with the outcomes of several different “first-dates” from match, I would take my profile offline only to follow with putting it back up at some later point when I was tired of the lonliness. On the last day of Liz’ match subscription, when she went to find my profile one last time, miraculously this time was a day when it was back “up” and she wrote me a short and sweet intro, asking to learn more about me.

Feeling like I had lots to say, I wrote her a long (long!) reply….and then seriously worried I had overwhelmed her (something that of course the dating sites would warn against!)..but, alas, she liked what I had said, and thought maybe meeting over coffee would be a next logical step. Being this was about 4 days before Christmas, with a lot going on, we thought the day after Christmas would work well.   It was a long wait for me, but I clearly recall being filled with optimism.

That first date was at coffee shop Crema (now renamed Arrabica) on Commercial Street in Portland. There’s something to be said for a three-and-one-half-hour first date in the daytime. We walked the footpath along the East End and then I helped Liz do some shopping at Micucci’s. This led to a dinner date two days later at Cialoa’s in the West End and a breakfast date the day after that at Palace Diner in Biddeford, when I first showed Liz my apartment which is now ours. And we’ve been together ever since. We married on our 659^th day of knowing each other. Why do we know this number so readily? Because we’re both Virgos : ). 

THE ARTIST WITHIN
A couple of months into our dating, I recognized a latent artistic talent in Liz. We were on Congress Street in downtown Portland, and spotting a bicycle half buried in a snowbank, she stopped and grabbed a photo using her Blackberry phone. That was it for me, I knew there was a real eye and talent inside waiting to be unleashed. This led me to start giving Liz impromptu photo lessons. The next thing we knew is that the photo business turned from “my” to “our” and Liz is now solidly on board with being my second photographer at every wedding we photograph, and is steadily and dependbly turning out amazing images. Images the way she interprets and sees things, a woman’s perspective, and often some stellar shots taken from a different point of view that rival, equal, or perhaps even at times exceed the “main” angle I had chosen.

Couple this with office, web, social media, and overall all-around awesome administrative help, business brainstorming, and a keep-it-fresh level of enthusiasm, this is a match made in heaven for each of us.

We do literally everything together, and to all those that expressed concerns about how hard it can be to work with your partner, we say, “we are a perfect match, and that match extends to the love of our work and business”. We work hard together, for sure, but we also take time to recharge and renew. We schedule that time off as if it was a business meeting, because it is, in fact, as important.

Our synergy makes us as a team greater than the sum of our individual parts. We love where this is taking our business and our love for weddings and how we love photographing them, bringing lifetimes of happiness, joy and memories to our couples.

THE DAY: OCTOBER 13, 2014
We had worked hard to get as much caught up before wedding day, so the morning was just about packing and some simple errands.  Liz had her hair and makeup done in downtown Portland at Salon Burke while I checked in to the Portland Harbor Hotel and prepped there.  Liz came to the room to dress but I turned away as I did not want to see her dressed until she walked up the aisle, ironic in a way since we are such proponents of doing a first look for our couples having traditional “full-size” weddings!  Once she was dressed, we walked down together, and I stayed ahead of her, not looking back once.  I took my place with Julie and Patty outside on the garden, which we had reserved for the time to ensure privacy.  As a photographer I noted right away that the even light from the overcast skies would be good for photos!  I took my place and chatted nervously with the ladies about who knows what, and when Julie told me “here she comes”.  It was a surreal moment, and a surreal few minutes to follow.  I recall thinking how much I loved Liz’ blue cocktail dress, and her makeup and hair.  We had a ceremony that lasted just a few minutes, but we each love that we shared our own words, relatively unprepared, as our own sentiments and vows.

We had champagne, the first photo above, then went on Wharf Street and Commercial Street for our couples photos with Patty.  We ended by taking some photos inside Arrabica a few feet from where we first met, and Liz had a maple latte to recreate the drink she had on that fateful day of December 26, 2012.

We had a most wonderful progressive dinner starting with soup and drinks at Fore Street, our salad and dinner courses at Vignola, and dessert at Bar of Chocolate, all in the Old Port.

We flew to San Antonio, Texas, from where this is being written, very early the next morning, as our honeymoon and to see Liz’ daughter Caitlin graduate from the Culinary Institute of America.

We’ll follow this post with one written by Liz from her perspective. I’m confident there’ll be a lot of the same thoughts and feelings.
-Russ

Russell Caron Wedding Photography would love to be involved in your special day, whether in be in Maine, or any destination wedding location you can imagine. For more information, please contact us right away!