The words “big crazy families” and “summer camp wedding” are all that was needed to hook Daniel Orren and Quyn Duong (photographers for Chellise Michael Photography) to this woodsy outdoor wedding, which took place at Windsor Mountain International Summer Camp in New Hampshire.
The Brooklyn-based photographers got the request from Neela and Chris, who are also living in Brooklyn and shared their back and forth history when they initially reached out:
“Chris and I are from the same hometown,” Neela wrote. “We actually dated in high school. Although things didn’t work out for us then, we reconnected after we both graduated from college and moved home to Massachusetts. We immediately fell back in love and moved in together briefly, and then packed our bags and moved to Brooklyn.”
“Two months ago,” the bride continues, “Chris surprised me and asked me to marry him. Now we are planning a big family wedding for September and are excited for an awesome photographer. The summer camp idea came from my mother. I was a big camper as a child and she pictured it as a casual but elegant and romantic wedding in that setting.”
Neela also mentioned that it had been difficult finding photographers who shoot candid yet romantic, somewhat non-traditional images, but when she landed on the CMP website, they didn’t have to look any further.
“Neela and Chris trusted us with full creative freedom to do our thing,” Duong says. “It’s always fun for us as wedding photographers to get a little experimental, and they trusted everything we were doing. They were the perfect clients: laid-back, in love and down to party.”
Experiments included some late-night light painting with a Pixelstick. “It was pretty damn cold outside,” Duong says, “but Neela and Chris were major troopers and let us run around in a cold, dark field with them.” The photographers stuck around for brunch the next morning, too, where they found the couple in full wedding attire (the bride slipped a sweater over her dress), which called for an impromptu “morning after” shoot.
GEAR FOR THE DAY
Cameras: Canon 5D Mark III (x2) for Daniel Orren; Canon 6D (x2) for Quyn Duong
Lenses: Sigma Art 24-35mm, 50mm Art, 35mm Art, Canon 70-200mm IS and 100mm Macro for Daniel Orren; 35mm, 50mm, 85m, and 135mm Prime L lenses for Quyn Duong
Lighting: Canon Speedlite 580EX II (x2), Pixelstick (light painting)
Check out more Weddings of the Week, and email Libby Peterson or Jacqueline Tobin with submissions.