To see the full story and more events check out my Blog and Website.

To see the full story and more events check out my Blog and Website.

How did you initially get involved with weddings?

My father was a wedding photographer, so I have been around weddings and photography since I was a little girl. When I was old enough to carry his bag around and label rolls of film, he would take me with him to the weddings. It was a looooong day to my 10 year old attention span, but I loved seeing the brides all dressed up. When I decided that I wanted to pursue photography, I did not think much about doing weddings and instead studied photojournalism and the ethics of journalism. It was not until my junior year of college that I interned with a wedding and portrait photographer that I decided, weddings might just be the thing for me.

What inspires you about working in Vermont?

Colors, landscapes, light. Vermont has some very beautiful landscapes that range from open fields to rolling hills to dramatic mountains. I love that I can photograph with several distinct natural backdrops during a given wedding. Many of my traditional portraits of a couple include a vast view of the landscape around them. They chose to be married in Vermont for many reasons and the beauty of it was likely one of them! I love to include that as part of their story. Vermont also has very lush colors depending on the season. Just coming out of Fall, my wedding portraits look like watercolors! A mix of gold, red, green, and orange. Perfection!

What is your favorite part of the wedding day?

Well…I’m a bit of a die-hard romantic and as cliché as it may sound my favorite part of the day is the ceremony. Inevitably I get teary eyed. I am watching everyone during the ceremony; bride, groom, parents, grandparents, siblings, friends, and get to see a lot of emotions up close (long lens!). I cannot help but to be dragged into the love and joy of it all! The look a father gives his daughter when he gives her away, the tear on a mother’s cheek as her son reads his vows, the way a bride smiles up at her groom softly while a prayer is being read, the way the groom flexes his hand after his bride has put on his ring. It’s pure, lovely romance!

How long have you been in the wedding industry?

I photographed my first wedding as “Kathleen North Photography” the summer of 2007 and have been building my business ever since! In 2009 after I married my sweetheart, I shortened the business name to “North Photography” as homage to my dad and my maiden name.

What are you passionate about? What motivates you?

I am passionate about providing my clients with the best customer service they have ever experienced. Yes, I am a photographer and yes, I make some pretty nice images, but I also am running a business and I believe that awesome customer service is what makes a business unique. I want couples to hire me not only because they love my work, but because they want to work with me. Recently I bumped into my 6^th grade teacher at a wedding that I was photographing and she said, “In 6^th grade, you were no good at math, not very good at science and talked waaaaaay too much in class…this is a perfect career for you!”

What sets you apart from your competitors?

My ability to go with the flow, keep a level head, and multi-task. Your wedding day can be a little stressful and things can go not as planned, so my goal as your photographer is to be the neutral party that is willing to help in any way possible, so long as I am not missing a fabulous photo op! I have fixed hairdos, sewn wedding dresses, retouched make-up, gotten water, given hugs, dabbed sweat, passed out gum for nervous tummy’s, warded off unwelcome guests, pinned flowers… No, I am not your wedding planner nor am I a good replacement for them (wedding planner’s rock!!), but I want your wedding day to be just as perfect as you do, so anything that I can do to make sure that happens, I do! And I do it with a smile. In the end, your wedding day will have been a perfect love story and with each love story comes a few dramatic notes that make it an even better story to tell!

To learn more about Kathleen’s Photography services please visit her website for Vermont Wedding Photography.

To see the full story and more events check out my Blog and Website.

Searching for a wedding dress or dresses for your bridal party can be quite daunting if you live or are shopping in Vermont.  Unless you are shopping in a large city like Burlington, you may find that your choices are fairly limited. We aim to alleviate that problem by highlighting one of our favorite dress designers located here in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont. Tara Lynn Bridal creates gorgeously simple, yet beautiful hand made wedding dresses and bridesmaid dresses in Sutton, Vermont. Her talent level is extremely apparent from the quality of her design work, and the materials she uses for most of her dresses.  Many of Tara’s dresses are made from renewable materials such as Hemp and organic natural fibers. To learn more about her gorgeous dresses please visit her website Tara Lynn Bridal.

Please enjoy our Q & A below with Tara.

Where are you from? Tell us a little about yourself…..

I am from Setauket, New York on Long Island.  I grew up in a lush green neighborhood full of manicured shrubberies and private beaches. My parents had high aspirations for me and were very supportive of my education. I graduated from the Fashion Institute of Technology in NYC with a BA in Fashion Design and Certificate in Tailoring. I started making clothing for myself in Junior high and became obsessed with fashion from then on. My second obsession, nature and the outdoors inspired my move to the Northern Mountains of Vermont. An extreme contrast in lifestyle but a refreshing change as I am inspired by the wildlife and terrain that is free to explore, the landscape here is like one large play ground and when I am not creating clothing in my studio I enjoy sitting on the edge of a rocky brook or laying under a leafy canopy.

How did you initially get involved with weddings?

I was working in a boutique in NYC and selling some of my own clothing there. Some clients would come in and request custom clothing. A customer came in one day and asked if I could make her a custom wedding gown. She was looking for an eco-friendly wedding dress and that’s where it all started. Wedding gowns enable me to create a wearable piece of art that is a collaboration and personal expression of the woman who wears it. It’s a fun, exciting and emotional experience that keeps me going year after year. I am hooked.

 What inspires you about working in Vermont?

My customers inspire me the most, and they come from all over the US and Canada- but when they request that I hand make their favorite flowers, butterflies and fairies I find in Vermont I can step right out of the studio and pick the wild flowers and see the butterflies and birds right here in my yard, in fact sometimes they fly into the studio while I am creating. Vermont’s landscape, panoramic views, sparkling snow in the moon light – it’s a magical place full of wondrous plants and creatures that lend to a realm of fantasy that I can immerse myself into.

What is your favorite part of the wedding day?

Knowing that the bride is in love with her wedding gown, that she feels like a beautiful woman on her wedding day and that she looks fabulous in all the wedding photos.  I always get teary eyed when I receive the wedding photos. And I love when the bride feels likes she is the centerpiece of the celebration in her wedding dress.

 How long have you been in the wedding industry?

I started making wedding gowns in 1999 but always made custom gowns on the side while working for other fashion companies. In 2005 I started to show my custom clothing in fashion shows in CA and NY and the company I worked for fired me. I took what money I had saved and built up my business slowly. Starting with art shows up and down the east coast I perfected my fit, my sewing, experimented with hand appliqué and embroidery techniques. My full focus on wedding gowns really came in 2007 and this year I launched a beautiful new website taralynnbridal.com, opened a bridal studio and unveiled my first collection of wedding gowns. I am fresh, new and evolving.

 What are you passionate about? What motivates you?

Love, music, trees, water, moss, color, texture, fashion, paint, thread, people, food, life, margaritas and fresh air.

 What sets you apart from other professionals in your industry? What makes your work unique?

It’s hand made and custom made. The work I do and the skills needed to make the patterns, the tailoring, the hand embroidery, the appliqué is all made in Vermont, in the USA. There aren’t many bridal companies making wedding gowns in the US anymore and it’s difficult to find people with the skills. The art work I create by hand is the kind of work that gets sent to India and China, or it’s done on a machine. And with a machine it does not look as real and authentic.  Every wedding gown ordered varies from the last one in that the dress, the cut, the art work and embellishments are personalized for the bride, inspired by the bride and made just for her.

To learn more about Tara Lynn’s Design please visit her website for VERMONT BRIDAL DRESSES.

Please read below for a little snapshot about Elum the manufacturer of our UMI line of invitations:

“Umi is our solution for creating affordable letterpress wedding invitations that do not compromise on great design or quality materials. Umi uses 100% cotton print-making paper and bamboo paper in standard and double-thick weights, as well as other eco-friendly paper options. And just like Elum, Umi prints all letterpress items using soy-based inks. How can we offer cheaper pricing? Umi offers package-priced ensembles that allow you to purchase a predetermined combination of items that maximize the space and time on press. So, the more items you buy, the better deal you’re going to get!

But if you are simply not budging your budget for letterpress, Umi can still work for you because Umi offers a flat printing option on the exact same designs at a fraction of the price! And what’s even more fabulous is that it is flat printed on the very same 100% cotton print-making paper used for letterpress. These highly affordable flat printed packages are the perfect solution for those who love amazing invitation design, but simply cannot afford to pay for the letterpress process.

Umi has also teamed up with Envelopments, Inc. to offer a wonderful selection of envelopes, liners and enclosures that can all be incorporated to create a truly custom package. And what’s even more impressive is that Umi offers custom letterpress printing directly onto the Envelopments® enclosures!

But, we still think the most exciting thing about Umi is that you get the trendsetting (and eh-hem, award winning) design and high quality fabrication by Elum. How divine.”

To view the Umi album online please visit their Wedding Invitation website.