Every now and then someone at a wedding will say to us, “So, it must be so great to only have to work summer weekends. What do you do all winter? Vacation somewhere?” I wish! Oh, how I wish!

I admit, things have been pretty quite on the blog front. And, yes, our cameras have been put on the proverbial shelf…temporarily. But, we are still very busy with all things Bello.

Every winter, I say to Andy, “Honey, I’m feeling really good! I think this will be the year we catch up.” I tell him with enthusiasm that I hope sounds convincing that this will be the year we get a business plan on paper, finalize our logo, and get an organization system that works for both of us.

Yet, somehow the winter months, as long as they sometimes feel, seem to go by at a surprising clip and as is often the case….vacation eludes us.

It would probably surprise many to know that our summers are typically filled with 80-hour weeks, spent photographing weddings, e-sessions and family portraits on the weekends, followed by endless editing on the weekdays to get our images looking picture perfect. It’s probably more surprising to learn that in the winter, our schedules lax to 40- to 50-hour weeks, with most of our time spent on album design and production, filling print orders and trying to find time to put together new sample albums, all the while holding to the hope that we’ll squeeze out more time for the behind the scenes stuff that always gets pushed to the back burner.

So, when we got a call from Desiree Spinner to do a photo shoot on Monday, it was like opening the winter windows and letting in some fresh air.

Desiree is the Cape’s newest wedding planner and owner/operator of Desiree Spinner Events in Osterville. She contacted us about coming down to the Chatham Bars Inn to photograph some table set ups for her new website, which she plans to launch this spring.

I LOVE photographing wedding details….not quite as much as I love photographing people and the love they share, but there is such wonderful art & architecture to be found in the details…and well, who doesn’t enjoy being around pretty things? Especially in February, when the landscape around us is dead, sleeping or covered in snow.

We haven’t really picked up our cameras in couple of months, so getting to be creative behind the lens again was a welcome break from album design and the recharge my batteries desperately needed. So, I have to thank you Desiree…for bringing flowers to my February!

Thank you too for trusting us to add the visuals to what will no doubt be a fabulous website. We are honored that you chose us and excited to work with you again! You’ve got a great eye for details, a killer sense of style and a sweet, laid-back personality that I’m sure will put your brides at ease. It was so fun getting to know you a little and see you doing your thing! Andy & I are both super excited to watch you & your new business take off! Wishing you much success! Christine & Andy xo

Above is a photo from our session with Desiree and a happy glimpse at things to come in our 2010 wedding season. We’ll be posting more photos from our session with Desiree Spinner Events tomorrow…stay tuned.

One of our favorite Cape wedding reception spots is the picturesque Willowbend Country Club in Mashpee. So, when we were asked by the management to do some photos for their website & brochure, we were honored and also excited at the prospect of doing something a little different for us.

We met the club’s very sweet and very talented head chef, Chef Paul Cunningham, who whipped up some of his new signature dishes for us to photograph….staring at these tantalizing tastebud treats made concentrating difficult. We were also there to capture members enjoying an evening at the club’s Grill Room. It was a fun change of pace for us and we even got to sample some of the delights from the kitchen. Next month, we’ll be doing some photographs for the club’s real estate division and fitness center.

We’d like to extend a big thank you to Randy VanTassel, Banquet Manager at Willowbend, and Catering Manager Ann Marcotte for making this happen. And, our thanks wouldn’t be complete without a big thank you to Chef Paul for filling our bellies so joyously!

Here’s a few of our favorite shots:

Chef Paul

Signature dishes….be warned…if you’re at all hungry, you may want to skip past these; they could put you over the edge!

Club members enjoying dinner in the Grill Room:

Willowbend at night:

Last summer, at the ridiculously fun Willowbend wedding of Molly & Guy, we had the pleasure of working alongside Hyannis-based make up artist Vanessa Lees. Vanessa recently asked us to take some headshots for her to use on her new website and in some marketing materials. While weddings are really more of our thing, we’re happy to help fellow wedding vendors, particularly ones as nice as Vanessa.

The session took place at Salon By Design, where Vanessa works both as a make up artist and esthetician. We had a great morning together and got some fabulous shots. During our time together, we came up with some ideas for a cool 5″ x 5″ tri-fold card/brochure, which is a product we also offer our wedding clients as unique Save-The-Date, Thank You and/or holiday cards. This was the first commercial product we have done and the results are pretty cool so we thought we’d share them:

That’s Vanessa’s face on the front of the card. Open it up and you see the pink page on the right, and the “Making Dreams Come True” page on the inside of the front cover. Open it up all the way and you now see a photo of Vanessa with her bio and contact info and all her pricing info is in the center spread…pretty cool, right?

And here are Vanessa’s favorite photos from our session together, both of which were used in the brochure.

Thank you Vanessa for being such a fun model!!