Just like that, another wedding season is in the books! Arturo and I felt proud of ourselves when we made it through 2020, but little did we know what 2021 had in store. 2020 was the year of wedding postponements and heartache for thousands upon thousands of couples across the country who had to re-plan their events. For many wedding vendors, this meant 2021 was like having two wedding seasons in one! Arturo and I fell into this category, and though it was certainly a doozy, we did it! Just under 30 weddings plus engagement sessions for our equally eager 2022 couples made for our busiest year in the history of Shaina Lee Photography.

2020 was evenly scheduled from January to November, but with the postponed weddings our summer and fall wedding seasons of this year became a jam-packed 4 months of weddings. From July through October alone, we had 21 weddings, with the remaining others being in April, May, and November. This meant we had multiple double- and triple-header wedding weekends during those intense 16 weeks. However, we also created some of our all-time favorite portfolio images during that time! Thankfully, our first 5 or 6 weddings of 2021 were intimate weddings and elopements, which helped us to ease into the busy year ahead. It wasn’t until the end of May that we saw a larger wedding celebration again for the first time since February 2020.

Before our first July wedding, Arturo and I planned a quick and impromptu trip to visit my sister and her boyfriend in the Pacific Northwest, where they live with their sweet pup and two adorable cats in Washington. My sister was a fantastic tour guide, which was especially wonderful since Arturo hadn’t been there in years! We explored Portland, Oregon, enjoyed a day trip to the coast, and marveled at how incredible the views were. Months prior, my sister had mentioned that because her dog, Eve, was getting older, and she did have a sister and brother-in-law who are professional photographers, she’d been dreaming of having a portrait session with her furry little babe. With a bit of location scouting, and finding a local florist to create a floral collar for Evie, Arturo and I photographed my sister, her boyfriend, and everyone’s favorite dog in the Columbia River Gorge!

We came back home and made it through July and early August. The second half of August arrived with back-to-back double- and triple-header wedding weekends, leaving us with 5 weddings in 9 days! In the last weekend of August, we were booked with 3 weddings; we’d be in Poughkeepsie, New York on Friday, North Stonington, Connecticut on Saturday, and York, Maine on Sunday. That Saturday was our longest wedding to date (a 12+ hour day!), but also one of our favorites. After we said our goodbyes to our bride and groom that evening, Arturo and I hopped in the car to head to the hotel room we’d booked in Massachusetts for that night, which would only leave us with a 90-minute drive to our wedding in Maine the following morning.

About an hour after leaving the wedding in Connecticut we’d just photographed, our car broke down just over the Massachusetts state line in the middle of nowhere. We were on a dark highway, luckily not too far from an exit. Thankfully the car cooperated enough to get us to a nearby gas station where we called roadside assistance through our car insurance. At this point, it was right around midnight, and being that we were stranded in a small little town, there wasn’t a Lyft or Uber to be found. Arturo Googled nearby taxi and car services, put his phone on speaker, and began going down the list to see who might be available to pick us up and bring us to the nearest hotel we could find (which was about 35 minutes away in Rhode Island). After calling 3 or 4 different companies, someone at a 24-hour car service finally picked up! We explained our situation and the gentleman on the other end of the line told us all he had available was a limo, and the cost would be $400. Arturo politely declined, thanked the man, and hung up. Immediately I asked him, “What are you doing?! He’s literally our only option for a ride at this point! I don’t care how much it costs, call him back!” Arturo chuckled, then realized how serious I was, and quickly dialed the phone number again.

About 45 minutes later, the driver arrived in a white stretch limo. He helped us load our suitcases and several camera bags into the trunk, and we were off to the hotel! By the time we arrived in our room, it was about 2am. As I charged up our camera batteries for the following day, Arturo found the nearest rental car facility and made a reservation for a car online. We fell into bed, slept for 2 or 3 hours, and were up bright and early the next morning. Luckily we were just outside of Providence, Rhode Island, so Arturo was able to get an Uber to go pick up the rental. He swung back to the hotel, we loaded up the car, checked out, and headed up to Maine. We made it to our final wedding of the weekend with time to spare and were able to serve our couple without a single hiccup that day. Our bride and groom had no idea what we’d been through the night before until they saw my post about it on Instagram the following afternoon— whew! Between the amount of time we spent on the road and car trouble, that 3-day stretch was hands down the hardest in our photography careers, but also one of the most rewarding!

Our summer wedding season ended, and our fall wedding season began! This was the first year we had more summer weddings than autumn ones, but only by 2 or 3. Arturo and I will always have a soft spot in our hearts for fall weddings, because we were married in October 2014. We were surprised how late the peak of fall foliage came around southern New England this year, but it certainly didn’t disappoint! Our last wedding of 2021 took place on a cold and blustery day the Saturday after Thanksgiving at Rolling Hills Country Club in Wilton, Connecticut. It was a treat to end our season in my hometown!

This year we photographed weddings at some of our favorite wedding venues while also discovering new ones to fall in love with! Arturo and I had 6 weddings at the Inn at Longshore in Westport, Connecticut (we love their event team!) and explored the grounds of Jonathan Edwards Winery in North Stonington, Connecticut with a wonderful bride and groom (we can’t wait to go back!). We also photographed more coastal weddings than ever before, and worked at country clubs and historical estates (some of our favorite types of wedding venues!). After a wild year, I’m excited to be sharing some of our top moments and portrait locations of 2021!

Brittny & Walter’s Coastal Winter Engagement Session | Compo Beach in Westport, Connecticut

Lauren & Josh’s Intimate Airbnb Elopement | Griswold, Connecticut

Brittney and Ray’s Intimate Spring Wedding | Hartford City Hall in Hartford, Connecticut

Lauren & Sean’s Spring Coastal Wedding | The Inn at Longshore in Westport, Connecticut

Brenna & Jake’s Colorful Spring Wedding | The Glastonbury Boathouse in Glastonbury, Connecticut

Liz & Paddy’s Elegant Hudson Valley Wedding | FEAST at Round Hill in Washingtonville, New York

Cirsten & David’s Spring Engagement Session | Waveny House in New Canaan, Connecticut

Lauren & Nick’s Downtown Engagement Session | Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut

Taylor & Marcus’s Tented Home Wedding | Fenwick Historic District in Old Saybrook, Connecticut

Sam & Evie’s Summer Portrait Session in the Pacific Northwest | Columbia River Gorge in Oregon

Jordan & Andy’s Summer Wedding | Interlaken Inn in Lakeville, Connecticut

Christine & Brett's Elegant Summer Ballroom Wedding | The Riverview in Simsbury, Connecticut

Chelsea & Jeremy’s Summer Ballroom Wedding | La Bella Vista in Waterbury, Connecticut

Nicole & Kyle’s Summer Coastal Engagement Session | The Inn at Longshore in Westport, Connecticut

Kate & Dan’s Summer Coastal Engagement Session | Southport Harbor in Fairfield, Connecticut

Alyssa & Todd’s Elegant Coastal Wedding | The Inn at Longshore in Westport, Connecticut

Carley & Shawn's Summer Wedding | The Briarcliff Manor in the Hudson Valley, New York

Rhiannon & Mike’s Coastal Engagement Session | Kosciuszko Park in Stamford, Connecticut

Jocelyn & Chris’s Coastal Wedding | The Inn at Longshore in Westport, Connecticut

Michelle & John’s Black Tie Ballroom Wedding | Whitby Castle in Rye, New York

Caroline & Peter’s Hudson Valley Wedding | The Grandview in Poughkeepsie, New York

Ashley & Jim’s Elegant and Colorful Summer Wedding | Jonathan Edwards Winery in North Stonington, Connecticut

Christine & Sal’s Intimate Coastal New England Wedding | York Harbor Inn in York, Maine

Brittany & Zach’s Fall Engagement Session | Waveny House in New Canaan, Connecticut

Megan & Dave's Historic Estate Wedding | Branford House in Groton, Connecticut

Wydnne & Joe’s Elegant Coastal Wedding | Greentree Country Club in New Rochelle, New York

Jen & Matt’s Ballroom Wedding | Greenwich, Connecticut

Lauren & Nick’s Elegant Ballroom Wedding | The Ryland Inn in Whitehouse Station, New Jersey

Meghan & CJ’s Autumn Engagement Session | Eolia Mansion at Harkness Park in Waterford, Connecticut

Ashley & Elliot's Colorful Fall Estate Wedding | Gallaher Mansion at Cranbury Park in Norwalk, Connecticut

Jenny & James’s Downtown Engagement Session | Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut

Dorit & Sam’s Coastal New England Wedding | The Inn at Longshore in Westport, Connecticut

Kate & Jeff’s Tented Coastal Wedding | Guilford Yacht Club in Guilford, Connecticut

Brittany & Kyle’s Fall Engagement Session | Waveny Park in New Canaan, Connecticut

Brittany & Joe's Intimate Fall Wedding | Candlelight Farms Inn in New Milford, Connecticut

Lindsay & Kyle’s Styled Picnic Engagement Session | Cranbury Park in Norwalk, Connecticut

Parvin & Brett’s Fall Engagement Session | Southport Harbor in Fairfield, Connecticut

Lindsay & Jack’s Colorful Fall Engagement Session | Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut

Leah & Bobby’s Timeless Black Tie Wedding | Rolling Hills Country Club in Wilton, Connecticut

Katie & Nick’s Fall Engagement Session | Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut

Sam & Steve’s Winter Engagement Session | Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut

2021 was a historic year for Shaina Lee Photography, and we’re endlessly thankful for our clients and fellow vendors who we had the opportunity to work with this season. Cheers to a beautiful 2022!

ABOUT THE PHOTOGRAPHERS

Shaina Lee Photography is a husband and wife photography team serving Connecticut, New York, Hawaii and beyond. We specialize in timeless, elegant, and romantic weddings while celebrating all couples in love.

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