Categories
Weddings

Microwedding with Dogs

There were almost as many dogs as guests at Sarah and Matt’s microwedding on June 20th. This was the silver lining of getting married in the midst of COVID-19. They postponed their larger celebration until 2021 but had an intimate ceremony this June with their parents, siblings and fur-family. A total of seven human guests and five dog guests attended their wedding in Vermont at Lareau Farm Inn in Waitsfield, VT.

Sarah and Matt both grew up in Vermont and knew that’s where they wanted to get married even though they now live in rural Pennsylvania where Sarah works as a college professor of psychology and Matt works as an electrical engineer in renewable energy. Matt spent summers working in landscaping growing up and loves the solar energy and stone walls surrounding the Lareau Farm Inn venue. The couple met on a dating app and their first date was over pizza and beer so Lareau Farm Inn, which is part of American Flatbread Pizza, was in all ways the perfect location.

“Lareau had everything we were looking for. It was stunningly beautiful (we wanted an outdoor ceremony), allowed dogs (a must!), and we wanted pizza and beer at our reception and with American Flatbread, Lareau is like the original pizza spot in VT!” says Sarah.

Sarah wore paper flower hair accessories that her mother had worn at her own wedding in 1989. As a wedding present, Sarah’s mom had earrings made from diamonds that belonged to Sarah’s grandmother who had passed away last year. Both Sarah and Matt wore heirloom rings from their family. Matt’s ring is his late grandfather’s wedding ring and Sarah’s rings were created from Matt’s late grandmother’s engagement ring.

Sarah and Matt had been engaged for a year and half before their wedding when COVID-19 hit and they knew they didn’t want to postpone. Sarah says they were so fortunate that Helen, the innkeeper at Lareau Farm Inn, helped them plan a microwedding for their families who both live in rural areas with limited COVID cases.

“Matt and I felt like the ceremony was perfect. We were surrounded by love and dogs and nature. We had asked my brother, Charlie, to officiate in our original plan, so that remained the same! One thing that we added to our ceremony because of the tiny wedding was “Community Vows,” where our families shared expressions of their love during the ceremony and my sister sang “Where You Lead, I Will Follow” by Carole King. Having fewer people really allowed us to more intentionally celebrate and embrace joining our two families together. We are so hoping we can celebrate our one year anniversary back at Lareau Farm Inn with all of our loved ones in 2021!” says Sarah.

They had their first look under the tall trees by the river and their intimate ceremony was incredibly romantic and overflowing with so much love and beauty. We walked down to the river to take some mountain photos and then Sarah and Matt spent some time cuddling with their dogs before they all walked down the aisle together.

The couple had initially planned a European hiking honeymoon, which they’ll go on in 2021, but they spent the three nights following their June microwedding on Lake Wapanacki in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont and stayed in the Boathouse. After the ceremony, Sarah attached “Just Married” signs to their backpacks and we took the cutest photos of them on the trails behind the Inn and even got photo-bombed by a biker.

This was such an amazing wedding, with such a sweet and stunning couple. Thank you so much, Sarah and Matt, it was a true honor to be there! I loved every moment of documenting your day and getting to meet you all!

Categories
Quarantine

Kids VT Features ‘Stay-School Adventures: A Photojournalist Chronicles Her Family’s Time During the Pandemic’

click to read the story in Kids VT

image of kids in a snow globe
Illustration by Ross Sheehan

At first, I wondered whether the “Stay Home, Stay Safe” order would be like living inside our own personal snow globe, amid an extensive collection of neighboring globes. My 7-year-old, Remy, and 3-year-old, Bo, immediately embraced the change, donning an impressive rotation of masks, capes, crowns and costumes. They were more prepared for creating their own new realities than I was.

As two weeks ticked by, I found myself giving a moment of gratitude one afternoon to the fence enclosing our backyard. It gave me 30 minutes of freedom as I let the kids run wild outside. When I saw them next, they were covered in mud. Life was unraveling. It was a Tuesday, and all the normal rules had been shredded and thrown in the air like confetti. But instead of cleaning up the mess, all I felt like doing was admiring the chaos and letting things unravel further.

By week three, we were rediscovering our own house, digging deep into the closet corners. We unearthed things we hadn’t seen in years — my 1998 Rollerblades, a kite and an Irish cap that my husband, Ross, brought back into his daily wardrobe. Windy weather one afternoon meant Ross could give that kite flight again. He raced through the backyard, intermittently dive-bombing the children, until it finally soared.

By week four, Remy and Bo had started digging through the recycling, looking for treasure to beautify their tree fort. I watched them hand off piggy banks and miniature furniture to one another. They spent days decorating the fort with pipe cleaners, ribbons and tea sets. Then they announced they would be permanently “moving out.”

That same week I started taking advice directly from the swamp next door. I thought about how it takes in toxins, churning them over like a giant strainer and purifying the water. It squeezes the best parts out of bad things — a perfect example of what to do when life gives you lemons.

On week five, we took a shortcut home from our neighborhood walk through a tunnel of trees. We talked about how trees track time through growth rings that are permanently logged into their layers. The harder the tree’s winter, the tighter the growth ring. We decided to track our time together with a quarantine time capsule that we buried in the backyard to unearth in exactly one year.

As our world has slowed down, we’ve grown more aware of the other living things inside our invisible snow globe. Remy is sharpening her bird-watching skills. Every day, she tracks the new family that moved into the birdhouse from her tree fort, peering at them through binoculars.

She wants to bring more bird families to the backyard, so she and Ross constructed a new birdhouse out of wood scraps and recycling. The kids collected moss and leaves to put inside — a complimentary bird nest starter kit.

It looks like we’ll be in the garage this week, divvying up leftover scrap wood to make more birdhouses. Bo wants a few scraps to construct an outdoor ant house. Everything else we find is for the birds.

image of a boy with birdhouseimage of kids bird watching with binoculars

image of a handmade birdhouse

Categories
Weddings

Nellie + Trevor’s Quechee Inn at Marshland Farm Wedding

There are not enough words to describe how much I enjoyed capturing Nellie and Trevor’s love journey as their Vermont wedding photographer. The year before their wedding, we’d had a movie setting fall engagement shoot at their White River Junction home with their amazing dog Winifred and their hilarious cat. I was so excited to capture their wedding at the Quechee Inn and Marshland Farm. Trevor is a PhD candidate at Dartmouth, with a focus on climate change, as I understand it. Not only did he make their wedding rings, he also picked their wedding date by studying hundreds of years of weather and historically selecting September 7th as the best option. He hit the nail on the head. The clouds and bright blue skies were extraordinary as Nellie and Trevor had their first look in the giant field next to the Quechee Inn. Although their dog couldn’t be there, they had her commemorated with a cookie portrait at each place setting. The tent was a gorgeous setting with chandeliers and white silk draping canopy. Their natural table setting decor reflected their love for everything outdoors and included rocks, moss and candles. It was such a special ceremony and when Trevor smashed the glass everyone erupted with joy. Their after party was epic and wildly fun and had a packed dance floor most of the night. Nellie and Trevor, you are an amazing couple! Thank you so much for choosing me to capture your story.

Wedding Photographer: Cat Cutillo Photography & Video
Wedding Venue: Quechee Inn and Marshland Farm
Officiant:Rabbi Jan Salzman
Catering: Quechee Inn and Marshland Farm
DJ: Josh Kerman [Wedding DJ VT]
Ceremony Music: Chloe Powell
Makeup: Megan Pardoe
Hair: Cori Skogerboe [Scout Hair Design]
Rings: Handmade by the groom!
Flowers: Roberts Flowers of Hanover
Cake: King Arthur Flour
Bridesmaids dresses: Azazie
Wedding Dress: Stella York [Pure Bliss Bridal]
Groom’s attire: Brooks Brothers
Groomsmen attire: J Crew

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Categories
Weddings

Caitlin + Chris’ Wedding at Lareau Farm Inn

Lareau Farm Inn has always held a special place in Caitlin and Chris’ hearts. They hail from Massachusetts but the Waitsfield destination has always been a second home. It was where they took their first get-away together in 2005 and they’ve gone there multiple times a year ever since, bringing along their two children and watching them grow up more with each visit. So it was only fitting that when they decided to invite their closest family and friends to witness their nuptials, they would choose to do it there along with their kids as Maid of Honor and Best Man. Their military wedding was full of delight, gratitude and fun. Congratulations, Caitlin and Chris! Thanks for having me document your beautiful day!

Wedding Photographer: Cat Cutillo Photography & Video
Wedding Venue and Catering: Lareau Farm Inn
DJ: Solid Gold Productions
Rings: Jared
Flowers: Vee’s Flowers and Garden Shop
Cake: The Goose Chase Cake Design
Wedding Dress: David’s Bridal
Maid of Honor dress: David’s Bridal
Groom’s attire: Men’s Warehouse
Best Man attire: Men’s Warehouse

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Categories
Weddings

Kaitlyn + Doug’s Alpaca Wedding

Kaitlyn and Doug’s wedding sparked a tsunami of creative fireworks in my heart. I mean it was an ALPACA wedding! Alpacas everywhere. You can’t top that. Baby alpacas, giant alpacas, and one insatiably curious alpaca that is near and dear to my heart now and kept photobombing their wedding photos with an open mouth full of grass.

From a wedding photojournalism perspective this was as inspiring as it can get for me. The bride even got to hold a baby alpaca named Speedy for their wedding portraits. That’s normal. In fact, I want this to be my new normal, shooting weddings at the Vermont Wedding Barn at Champlain Valley Alpacas in Bridport, Vermont.  I think Kaitlyn has a natural alpaca mothering aura because Speedy hung around in her arms for a really long time and gave me tons of time to take photos.

It also helped that Kaitlyn and Doug are one of the sweetest couples I’ve met, super easy-going, full of fun and laughter. Their families and friends were all cut from that same cloth. Doug, who is a native Vermonter, moved to San Francisco on a whim where he immediately met Kaitlyn at work who hails from the Los Angeles area. The two now live in VT.

They had this amazing outdoor ceremony that completely teased them with rain. The drops started to come down right as Doug was walking down the aisle. It really seemed like the sky was going to open up and you could see the look in everyone’s eyes. And then suddenly it all just stopped and they had a completely gorgeous ceremony complete with dramatic clouds. At the end of their ceremony the alpacas escaped as they were walking down the aisle and raced along the road with them as they processioned onto the reception area. These alpacas were very mischievous that day and that was such a treat. I loved everything about this exciting, inspiring and quirky free-spirited farm wedding in Vermont.

Kaitlyn and Doug, thank you so much for having me come along for the adventure!

Wedding Photographer: Cat Cutillo Photography & Video
Wedding Venue: Vermont Wedding Barn at Champlain Valley Alpacas

Officiant: Patrick Leene
Catering: Southern Smoke BBQ
DJ: Two Sev (Jamie MacLeish)
Rings: Connie Coleman (Alchemy Jewelry Arts Gallery)
Flowers: Joint effort with friends
Cake: Pratt’s Store
Cake Topper: Etsy SugarBlushStudio
Bridesmaids dresses: JJ’s House
Wedding Dress: Mother’s wedding gown altered by Evelyn Grant of Fine Threads, Anthropologie topper
Groom’s attire: TheBlackTux.com
Groomsmen attire: TheBlackTux.com

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