First of all, I cannot even begin to tell you how outrageous the snowfall was that we received last night.  I had great plans of blogging the play-by-play all Jim Cantore style right here - but alas the heavy snows took out the phone line, TV, and even the internet!!  After staying up most of the night listening to the police scanner about downed wires, debri and fallen trees blocking the road, disabled vehicles and accidents - we woke to complete silence before the sun came up.  I won't try to hide it, I kind of love bad weather.  And the only person who loves it more than me is Sean.  He wakes up to check the snowfall total like it's christmas morning and there's a mountain of presents to be unwrapped.  Both eager to turn on the news and see photos of the carnage - that was when we discovered the cable was out.  Instead we sat and munched on raisin bran and listened to the radio.  It's been a full day of plowing and shovelling all of this heavy snow - but I can say with certainty that we received 25 inches or more because first we were measuring it with a ruler last night.  Then the snow got so deep we almost lost the ruler.  This morning we found a yard stick and came out around 25 iches of snow depending on where you are standing.  I have lots of photos which I will share in a day or so.  Until then - the next chapter in Megan and Jon's fairytale: their first look.

Those of you who are not recently married or getting married or have not pored over the pages of The Knot are asking yourselves what on earth a 'first look' is.  Here's the shortened answer.  Standard traditions dictate that on their wedding day the bride and groom are not to see eachother before the ceremony.  The reason for this is that back in the day (back back in the day) arranged marriages were all the rage and couples never even met before the day of their wedding.  Marriages were generally arranged by the eldest members of the families like a business deal to gain property or social status.  (Imagine your great Aunt Ethel picking out your spouse because she liked his lawn.)  Why such secrecy?  If neither bride nor groom saw each other until they had already said their vows, there was no opportunity for them to get cold feet and back out. 

In this day and age, we pick and choose the superstitions and traditions we want to uphold when it comes to weddings.  Keeping the bride and groom apart until the ceremony no longer has anything to do with avoiding cold feet - (we know what we're getting into ladies, right?) - and everything to do with the "wow moment".  That moment when the man you want to marry sees you for the very first time in your wedding dress on the best hair/make up day of your life.  It's the day we as brides pull out all the stops and do whatever it takes to achieve our own movie start level of beauty.  Giving up bread and cookies for six months?  Easy.  Early morning trips to the gym and tanning salon?  No sweat.  The longest hair appointment known to man?  That's kids play.  Because it all comes down to our wow moment. 

We want to step into the sunlight for our moment to shine and have the love of our lives look at us with those eyes that say, "I am such a lucky man."  Maybe it's a girlish fantasy - but we all dream of being this perfect vision in our wedding gown so that on those early mornings years down the road when we rise and shine to make the coffee wearing sweatpants with bedhead and dark circles under our eyes that our husband will look at us and remember our wedding day and smile and know deep down no matter what that we are the most beautiful woman they have ever known.

Cynics - you can roll your eyes all you want.  (I can hear you!!)   But I believe every women deserves her Cinderella moment.  Every one.

And now - after all that build up - here are Megan and Jon who opted to do a "first look" BEFORE the ceremony.  Since their wedding took place late in the day on a January evening - it would be dark out after the ceremony and outdoor photos were very important to them since they were getting married in such a beautiful place!  I love it when couples opt to see each other beforehand.  It gives them a chance to have their wow moment privately without a hundred eyes watching to see their reaction - and often they react more genuinely because it's not rushed or scheduled.  They can really savor it for themselves.  It also really frees up the timeline for after the wedding and gives an opportunity for some truly special photos.  For their first look - we scoped out a spot at the venue (Stonehenge Lodge) that was out of the way and had great lighting.  We asked Jon to stand and the botto of the steps and wait for Megan to arrive.

Megan's sisters helped her carefully down the path and arranged her hair and veil at the last minute so everything would be perfect.

When Megan was in place, I told Jon that he could turn around whenever he was ready. . . .

It was perfect.  A moment frozen frame by frame in time.  I stood at the bottom of the steps and Sean was just off camera at the top of the steps.  Images of Jon by Sean.

They stood for a moment (by now I am shooting like crazy through my own blurry eyes not knowing whether I should laugh or cry because it was just so perfect) then Jon climbed the stairs to his bride.

You could see all of the anxiety and tension just melt away as they laughed and smiled and celebrated. 

From that moment on, everything was smooth sailing.  No one was nervous, no one was worried.  They were just happy in the moment.  The whole rest of the day just flowed.  I would recommend a first look to anyone who is comfortable bending that particular tradition.  Not only does it take a whole lot of pressure off the day and free up your timeline AND give you the opportunity to get photos you will cherish as memories.

Most importantly - it doesn't ruin your wow moment.  It gives you the opportunity to really enjoy it for what it's meant to be.

As we're bracing for the next SNOWPOCALYPSE to hit pennsylvania - I thought I'd do something radical to celebrate.  (Yes I said celebrate the 8-12 inches of snow that's bearing down on us at this very moment.)  I'm going to blog out of order. 

Just because today reminds me a  lot of the last time we were scheduled to get 8 inches of snow in one day which was for Megan and Jon's snowed in winter wedding.  I remember when we shot their engagement session last summer that we stared dreamily into space imagining light flurries falling like a snow globe as they said their vows and sighing:

"ahhhh i hope we have snow :-)  " 

Turns out we did - almost 32" of it at their venue!!  If you like snow - host your wedding in a ski resort area - it works!  You'll notice a lot of landscape photos in this post that we shot both the day of the rehearsal and the day of the wedding - not only was it spectacularly gorgeous - I think it's important to set the scene that there was not just snow.  Or a lot of snow.  There were literally FEET of snow.  The wedding party chose to spend the weekend staying at the Foggy Mountain Lodge in Stahlstown, PA which was just a mile down the road from their ceremony and reception venue.  The girls got ready in one suite and the guys got ready in the suite next door.  Although just getting up the hill was a challenge - since it was Anna's birthday weekend, she was at home celebrating and I was lucky enough to have Sean with me as my second shooter and hazardous driving expert.  We had to pull off in the ditch on the way up the driveway to let the snowplow squeeze by! 

The girls were in full swing with hair and make-up when we arrived.

The Foggy Mountain staff had shoveled pathways through the deep drifts for us all to scurry back and forth between locations and to the cars.  Megan chose a gorgeous royal blue color for the bridesmaids gowns that looked awesome with all of the ice and snow.  Top left and bottom right images by Sean.

This was what the drive looked like on the way up the mountain. 

But let's get back inside where it's warm!! 

This is Megan with her neice and nephew who were also her flower girl and ring bearer for the ceremony.

Then it was time to put on the dress - there is seriously never enough time to get ready for a wedding.  I think for my own wedding I may start hair and make up the night before just so we're not late.  Megan's sisters helped her put on her dream dress and when she walked out, everyone lit up at how beautiful she looked.

Megan's sister, Emma, placing her veil.

The snow stopped for a brief while and we actually thought the sun would come out - Image by Sean.

Over on the other side of the bathroom wall - the guys were getting ready deciphering the rental tux instructions.  (You should see the treasure map the rental shop gives you for folding a pocket square.)  Jon was a little anxious.  With the weather being extreme - we all hoped the guests would get there safely and on time.

More shots from the drive up - as we gained elevation we encountered a weather phenomenon known as 'freezing fog'.  You could see a line where 5 feet below that line there was no snow on the trees and five feet above that line it looked like mother nature had hit the forest with an 80s hair band dose of Aquanet.

Back to the story - the guys all dressed up with nowhere to go - took a very stately cigar break before they loaded into the trucks to four wheel over to the wedding.  Bottom and right images by Sean. 

Tomorrow's post - SNOWPOCALYPSE HITS PA - AGAIN - and Megan and Jon's ceremony by the fire :-)

February.  This is the next photo on my calendar.  The groundhog also saw his shadow so it's 6 more weeks of winter. 

If any of you are surprised by that - you are clearly not reading this blog from somewhere in Pennsylvania.

Also THANK YOU for all of the wonderful comments and emails we've received on our engagement!  Aside from the 17 comments here, I've gotten over 25 emails of happy thoughts!  It's been wonderful :-)

Now we just have to buy a house and plan a wedding.  No sweat, right?