This past Saturday, we flew back from Arizona to New York for the wedding of a former bride’s sister, we did back in June of 2005, who goes by the name of Wendy.  Wendy and Jay were married at the now defunct Atlantica out in Westhampton Beach.  Their wedding was one of my all time favorites!  Well, I am glad to report that Wendy and Jay now have a one year old adorable baby boy, who goes by the name of Owen.  Wendy and Heather’s mom, Judy, who is a sweetheart and I bonded first over having daughters who were getting married and now being a grandmother, which we both adore.  When Judy called to inform us of Heather’s impending nuptials, we were so thrilled!  If you recall, we had done Heather and Mark’s engagement series a few months back during the blizzard of 2010 in Brooklyn, where they reside.  Heather is a nursery school teacher and such a kind and sweet hearted girl.  She fits that part like it was made for her.  I can see her thin frame, blonde hair perfectly pulled back in a pony with not a stitch of make up on, perfectly seated cross legged on the floor amongst all these 3 and 4 year old’s who are glued to her every word.  Mark, is the perfect compliment to Heather.  Good looking and strong, he balances her and you can just tell he keeps the humor alive in their relationship.  During the day, I would watch Heather as she would glance at him, and you could just see how much genuine affection, respect and love they truly have for one another.  We met Heather and her mom and the girls at the Ritz Carlton in Battery Park, New York.  It had snowed again the Thursday before ALOT, like in the tune  of 17″ in New York City.  We held our breath that it wouldn’t create a bunch of problems.  But by Saturday, the sun was out and it was one of those crisp, winter days.

Heather and Mark had informed us that they didn’t want to go walking outside in the snow and get all cold and dirty and that was fine.  The Ritz has enough of those huge, glass windows to capture all the city skylines one could ever ask for.  Emily Burley, of www.DETAILSAREEVERYTHING.com, Heather’s wedding coordinator, was in Room #709 when we arrived.  Heather was busy getting her hair done and the girls were sitting around chatting.

Atlas Floral had delivered all the bouquets, which were gorgeous I might add, along with a really big display of daisies from Mark!

After Heather slipped into her La Sposa gown, we along with Heather and the girls went down the elevator to meet Mark for their “reveal”.  It was one of my all time favorites as they both were laughing and filled with such happiness.  It was written all over both of their faces.

We then did their portraits and then met up with the bridal party who was now all done and waiting to take some shots.

Once completed, we headed out to the Lighthouse at Chelsea Piers where Bob McSweeney along with Atlas Florals were busy putting the finishing touches on the beautiful space.  Long, white, sheer, drapes hung from the ceiling and a chuppah filled with dangling orchids made the ceremony scene breathtaking.  The space overlooks the New Jersey skyline, which was all lit up and reflecting in the Hudson River.  Simply, in a word, gorgeous.

After the Ketubah was signed, we were ready to begin the wedding ceremony, which was touching and sweet and performed by the delightful Rabbi Jen Krause.

A tender moment came during the ceremony when Heather tried to put on Mark’s ring.  It didn’t go on without a fight, to which Mark replied to the guests, “sorry I appear to be bloated!” which was met with laughter from all who attended.

Towards the end, I thought I was doing a double take and imagining things, when I noticed that I wasn’t alone trying to suppress my laughter.  Together, wrapped in the Tallit, Heather was almost hysterical and with Mark, who had this precious expression on his face, as they kept looking at Rabbi Krause who was singing the Prayer of the Seven Blessings to the tune of “I Had the Time of My Life” from Dirty Dancing, which if I am not mistaken, is also one of the theme songs for the Sandals Resort chain on the island of Jamaica, coincidentally where Heather and Mark were going for their honeymoon and where Mark had asked Heather for her hand!  It was too funny…..and hey Rabbi Krause had SUCH a nice voice, if she wants a side career, she can apply for American Idol and try out as a singer!!!!

Another neat little personalization is that Heather, not Mark, broke the glass at the end of the ceremony!

Cocktails and sushi, among other things, were served overlooking the evening skyline.

Then the drapes were flung wide open and our band for the night, Manhattan Swing Orchestra, began a fabulous night of music and dancing.  They had so many singers and musicians performing that night, that every time I looked up, I saw someone different and equally fabulous, singing.

The challah bread was prayed over and cut by Heather’s dad, Leonard and step-dad, Jeff.  Then both dads gave equally touching remembrances of Heather as a child and what it has meant to have her in their lives, as well as, the welcome addition of what Mark has meant to Heather.  Both Heather’s sister, Wendy, the Matron of Honor and Mark’s sister, Amy, the Best Person, gave funny and humorous toasts.

But one of the real special moments of the night for them and their guests, came from one of Heather’s talented and very close friends.  I am sorry I didn’t get his name because his voice was simply wonderful and the song he wrote for the both of them, was so cute and funny and personal all at the same time. What a special gift to be able to give a couple on their wedding!  I am sure we will be hearing a lot more from this guy as he was one very talented artist!

By the end of the night, when the cake had been cut and the specialty dessert had been served, it was time to say goodnight.

but that was not before Mark and Heather took the microphone.  They thanked all their guests for coming and braving the snowy weather and then Mark turned to Heather and said to her among other things, that he really hadn’t expected to find someone and get married.  When he met Heather he said, it was like seeing a little piece of heaven and now he couldn’t imagine his life without having her in it.  She looked at him all the while he spoke, and her eyes shown with a love that only a bride can have for her groom.  It such signified to me, that this is a couple who are meant to last.  As we left, trays of hot chocolate were on silver trays all set for our tired guests to imbibe.  It really was a magical night and lived up to and succeeded everyone’s expectations.  Best of luck to you both and we hope to continue our friendship and to be blessed to photograph your children one day.  To see more of Heather and Mark’s fabulous wedding, please click here and don’t forget, they and us would love to hear from you all with regard to their wedding and the photos!

Okay with the birth of our little grandson, I don’t know what it is, but my hormones for these little angels is going into overdrive!  It’s like I just want one, there I said it!  LOL………..  I can’t take how cute they all are!  This past Sunday Rich had the pleasure of shooting Tyler, the son of Lauren and Anthony (congrats you guys!) one of our wedding couples from way back in 2005.  They had the most gorgeous wedding.  I remember the whole old fashioned limo they had for their wedding and how it broke down right in front of her house!  LOL…………..  But Lauren was a breathtaking bride and Anthony didn’t look too shabby himself if I must say so!  They had called to do a shooting with him as he had just turned two months.

I had company and wasn’t able to be up during the shooting, but when I saw his little face, I was smitten.  What a cutie pie this baby is.  Rich had said that it had been a little rough as he was crying and had been to the dr. for tummy problems, so I didn’t know how the photos were going to be.

It can be very stressful on the parents during a shooting when their new baby is unhappy.  But when I looked at them, I was like OMG, he is adorable and was just fine.  We even got a little bit of a smile out of him at this age.  I had to laugh when I saw that Anthony had brought along a lacrosse stick for him to hold!  Guess we know what sport this little guy is going to play, LOL

So without further adieu, I present to you little Tyler, sure to break quite a few hearts in a town near you……and to see more of the shooting with Tyler, please click here.

It’s funny how as a young person in your twenties, you take in the events of your life, but not really.  I mean you experience all the great life experiences, your high school graduation, your first date, your first kiss, your engagement and then subsequent wedding, birth of your own children, anniversaries, old age with your parents, etc. etc., and you do love all those events and have a good time as well as, challenges, but not like when you are older and have a keener perspective.  As I sit here typing this, I look back on my own life.  How I met Rich, our dating experience, our own engagement and marriage and then, the birth of our own three beautiful and wonderful children.  As you read this, I am sure you are thinking the same of your own life and wondering where this is all leading.  Our oldest daughter, Tara, whom you may remember, as I posted their wedding photos back on September 7, 2007 to Nick, gave birth to our first grandchild, a boy, aptly named Sebastien Miles Vuono, last Sunday, January 31, 2010 at approximately 3:54 p.m. in the afternoon.
I can remember getting the call like it was yesterday, Tara and Nick then living in London, called us to inform us that we were to be grandparents.  I, all excited, and Rich, being the more contemplative one, asked the question that every father begs to ask “where had all the time gone, how could I now be of the age to become a grandparent?”  Like the song says, you blink, and your life has moved on.  Me, always the one to embrace such events, patted his semi-gray head of hair and reminded him how life stops for no one and that age old saying that “you are only as old as you feel”.  Months passed and when they returned from their journeys abroad, they landed in Arizona for a visit.   Our own “baby” was then four months pregnant and her little tummy was beginning to show the secret that lay inside it.    The joy showed in their faces as they both excitedly and nervously awaited the birth of their first child.  Tara, always the avid reader since she was 4 years of age, began absorbing as much reading material as she could on becoming a mom.  The one thing I don’t think she or anyone else for that matter, could gather from all that reading material, was just how much love and closeness you can feel as a new mother to this child which has been growing inside you for all those months.  But I knew.
We were in Arizona awaiting “the” call.  You know the one.  The one that comes in the middle of the night, the one where you can hear in your new son’s voice that it’s “time”, you need to come NOW.  We waited, and waited, first she was 1 day late, then that turned into 2 days and so on and so on.  At 6 days late, last Friday morning, while I made my bed, I received such a call.  It wasn’t Nick though who alerted me that something wonderful was about to happen, but our youngest Ashlyn, who texted me (some things do change) that Tara was having pains, nothing severe, but she just wanted me “to know”.  I called Tara only to find out yes, she was having pains, five minutes apart even, but there was a nervous giddiness in her voice.  I knew and soon she would too, that although she was in labor, she was not “IN” labor.  I asked if it was time to buy our tickets to Boston to await the birth, and she said “not yet mom”.  We waited and waited.  She walked the mall, watched tv and rested as best she could and yet nothing.  We, on the other side of the country, waited as well.  We decided to take a long desert hike that ended with a full moon, a perfect sign of impending birth and the most magnificent sunset I had ever taken note of.  A few phone calls later, we were told to come and so we gathered our luggage and headed east that Saturday.

We were flying from Phoenix to Chicago and then on to Boston.  Our trip would take us approx. 7 hours, surely I thought enough time for our little angel to be born.    Part of me was sad that I wouldn’t be there anxiously awaiting his or her arrival in some stark white room outfitted with chairs and a tv that would be set to the prerequisite CNN.  No, I, instead would be flying through the clouds, cell phone in the off position waiting to be turned on to blare that big green box that would read “Text Message from Nick……you now have a *****”.  But each time the pilot would announce our landing from the cockpit, Rich would rush to turn it on as we sat there blankly staring at the i-phone, green lights glowing with all its bells an whistles igniting, only to find “no message”.   In Chicago, we impatiently texted, Ashlyn.  She answered saying that after a few trips to the hospital, the labor was stalled, no dilation was really taking place.  We sighed okay as we stepped aboard our next flight, thinking surely, this time, we will hear something upon our landing in Boston.  But again, nope, no baby yet.  Nerves started to kick in mixed with excitement and jubilation of having a new baby boy or girl in our family.  What would it be?  Who would it look like?  What time would it arrive?  How big would it be?  But none of these questions would be answered yet…………time was at a standstill as far as our little baby grandchild was concerned.  He or she was on their own clock.  It had now been about 42 hours since that first giddy phone call.
Nick picked us up at Logan Airport even though we said we would take a cab and transported us to their new home.  A beautiful apt. set in Boston’s Back Bay area.  We walked in and Nick left us to go downstairs to see how Tara was doing.  He came up and asked me to go down to see her as he said he thought she needed me.  I went down to find her laboring in the bed in their room with a very concerned Ashlyn sitting by her side.  They had given her Ambien to sleep and instead it was making her feel horrible.  She was in the throws of strong labor pains that were relentlessness in their presence and timing.  I could tell she had been crying and need both sleep and relief.  I advised her to go to the hospital as did Nick and see what they could give her for the pain.  They left around midnight en route to the hospital while Rich, Ashlyn and I stayed behind.  With Ashlyn in bed and Rich laying down, I was supposed to do what?  Sleep?  That was not going to happen.  How could I sleep, when my “baby” was in all this pain for such a long time……  I laid there on the freshly made aero mattress waiting for something, anything, to let me know that she was alright, that the baby was fine, that we could celebrate and rush over to hug an snuggle him.  But nope, no baby yet.

During the night I would periodically reach over Rich’s still boy and pick up the cell phone, just to check we had service, it was on, it was doing something other than sitting there on the floor silent.  He too, laid there awake, silence between us, afraid that something, anything, could go wrong in this final stage.  Finally, at about 2:30 a.m., I received a text from Nick.  It read that they were moving her finally to a room and she would be administered an epidural to help with the pain and to give her time to get some sleep.  Then silence until around 5:30 a.m. when they awoke to let me know that they had slept, thank God, and things were finally progressing.  Little did I know that an hour away in Rhode Island, the other grandma, Nancy, was walking the floors as well!   We were told to come now to the hospital, she was comfortable and that our new grandchild would definitely be born sometime that day before 7 p.m. on Sunday!

We showered quickly, all three of us, gobbled some bagels down, and rushed over to the hospital via a cab.  When we arrived, we found them doing good now that her pain had been alleviated.  It was now around 12 noon or so on a beautiful clear, crisp winter day.  You know the kind, the ones with the blue sky devoid of a single cloud.

We talked, we laughed, Nick got Mexican food, I tried to eat, all the while staring at her, laying in the bed, waiting for her to what, pop?

Periodic checks by the nurse kept us all abreast of what was happening with her body, her pain, her dilation.  I’d watch the many boxes all set forth spilling information on ticker tape.  Every once in a while a nurse would come in, hold the mass of folded paper and read the pyramids of ups and downs diligently and then re-fold it neatly, paper clip it, and stack the little package neatly upon the table, like some sort of gift.

At around 2 p.m., Rich begrudgingly rushed down to the cafeteria to fetch us some drinks, thinking now I will miss the whole shebang.

But nope, no baby yet.  The nurse came back in in his absence to tell us that it would be around 4 p.m. she predicted.  We waited and then down the hall, amongst the chatter, we could hear laughter and small shouts of happiness as the birth of another little one arrived into the world.  Then a 15 year old, 10 cm dilated arrived and all the commotion shifted in her direction as we could hear the rushing of feet down the hall beyond our curtain.

It was now 3:30 and our nurse returned and asked Tara if she felt the urge at long last to push to which she nodded yes.

A quick grabbing of our things, pocketbooks, soda, as we imagined we’d leave the room, was met with pleas from Tara to stay if we wanted to.  To be a witness to the birth of our new grandchild.  A secret longing to see my new grandchild enter this world pleaded at my heartstrings while I tugged at the sensibility of having her have this private moment to share with just her hubby.  Upon her urging, Ashlyn and I decided to stay, to take photos of his “entrance” into this world and be of what moral support we could be, while Rich, being the good dad, decided to wait on the other side of the curtain.

After 58 hours of labor and just a mere 10 minutes of pushing, fighting back tears that would not relent, our little grandson, Sebastien Miles, was born at 3:54 p.m. on Sunday afternoon.  He weighed in at 7 lbs. 10 oz. and was 20″ in length.  He was perfect in every way.  He came into this world screaming his head off and grabbing the dr.’s hand as if to say “hold on lady, nope, no baby yet!”

And then there he was, all pink, ten little fingers and ten little toes, sandy brown colored hair, dark blue eyes.

No one preparing you for how much this little soul would mean to these people who had gathered and waited so anxiously all day Friday, all day Saturday and half of Sunday.

And, as gorgeous as it had been that Friday night with the full moon all aglow, and the crisp blue sky of the earlier day, God gave us another  beautiful gift and put a gorgeous sunset right outside of our window!

So here he is…..part of a new little family with all those same desires and expectations set before him.  Will he be organized and sensitive like his mommy

or be a soccer player, nature lover and good husband like his daddy?

Will he be smart and breeze through school and be a protector to his other siblings in the future?  No one really knows………..but one thing is for sure, he is blessed with a loving home, a mommy and daddy who adore him and he has made an indelible mark on all of our hearts forever <3