location | Harbour Place, Portsmouth NH
photography | Douglas Levy
floral designer | Dutch Bloemen Winkel
invitations and paper | Parrott Design Studio
desserts | Cookie Creatives by Jennifer
hair and makeup | Wingate Salon
tent | Sperry Tents Seacoast
If you read the 2011 edition of Seacost Bride, then you’ll have seen that beautiful “wedding” that was designed for an overall budget of $25k, and you may be wondering how it was pulled off? Well, we’re certainly excited to share with you all of the tips and of course, more photos of both the table design and dessert table — that was absolutely scrumptious by the way!
Before we dive into the table design (and drool over the desserts) we talked with Massachusetts wedding photographer, Douglas Levy, who photographed not only this fabulous design but a truly adorable couple for engagement and bridal potraits . . . let’s take a look into engagements with Doug.
What was your inspiration behind the shoot? Things were a bit tricky, but in a fun and challenging way. On a wedding day there’s so much going on beyond the photographer’s control, often times we are making images at less than the optimal time of the day. This shoot started around 9 a.m., just as the morning light was becoming a bit unflattering.
One of the things I love the most about photographing weddings is that no two are the same, and you have to be able to react and adjust on the fly, skills that very much applied to this shoot. “What do you do with a gorgeous couple, with great hair and makeup in what most would call “bad” light?” Shoots like this really help me push how I see light and how to find the best backgrounds that the couple will look their best in.
In this case I lucked out with a really fantastic couple who were totally at ease with other and the camera. It really just came down to the 3 of us having a conversation and hanging out, and capturing that.
What determined your arrangement? I always try to position couples in nice light with nice backgrounds and then let them be themselves. There’s always going to be some posing involved, but ultimately (and in this case), the best images are the ones where the couple can be themselves, images where the reaction to seeing them is, “that’s just us.”
Where did you go in Portsmouth? We just spent some time walking around the waterfront and near Strawbery Banke, shooting wherever we could find the best light and backgrounds.
Amazing, right? Thank you to the Wingate Salon for an amazing job on hair and makeup!
Previously posted in 2/2011
as seen in the 2011 issue of 
