SHANNON & KEVIN | 10.20.23
THE SAGAMORE RESORT
Congratulations to my sweet sweet beautiful angel friends Shannon and Kevin who tied the knot on the most perfect beautiful gorgeous day at the Sagamore on Friday, October 20th 2023!!!
I had been anxiously awaiting this day ever since these two booked me over a year before the big day… From the second I read their inquiry I knew we were going to be the dream team working together… and then the second I hopped on that first video call to get to know them I was like oh OK these are going to be my besties for life. Friends forever, dream clients, permanent fixtures.
From their engagement shoot, to “just for fun” shoot in Congress park, to getting drinks in Lake George village, to eating apps at 550 waterfront, to texting each other from the Taylor Swift show, to our in-studio reveal and double date at Forno Bistro… It’s been a ride I absolutely do not want to get off. This wedding day was a day filled with so much love, laughter, good vibes, happy tears, Taylor Swift, a random celebrity encounter, and the BEST PEOPLE.
The weather was PERFECT, the details were impeccably planned, and the pure love Shannon and Kevin have for eachother and the palpable excitement they had for their day was just an absolute joy to witness.
Shannon had wanted to be a Sagamore bride since she was just a little kiddo, and I’m SO GLAD her lake George dreams all came true 🤍 as said by Shannon herself:
"I was 8 years old when I went to Lake George for the first time, summer 2002. One rainy day, my parents took me on The Mohican for The Islands of the Narrows Cruise. (If you’re not familiar, this is a 2.5 hour cruise and it’s beautiful and majestic but again, I’m 8 and it’s raining and this is a 2.5 hour cruise)…
That was when I saw The Sagamore for the first time (swipe to see that picture, probably taken by my dad) A huge white building, perched on its own island. I remember being mesmerized by it. For years after that, we went to Lake George every summer and I’d only ever seen The Sagamore from the water.
After bringing Kevin to Lake George only 3 weeks into our relationship, he fell in love with Lake George too. It went from being my favorite place, to our favorite place. The place we celebrated every anniversary, and where we got engaged.
From the time I was little, I knew that was where I wanted to get married - on Lake George of course but more specifically, The Sagamore. I dreamed of being a Sagamore Bride for almost as long as I can remember.
One week ago, my 20+ year old dream came true. I married the absolute man of my dreams at the venue of my dreams."
Talk about full circle, the power of manifesting, and granting wishes to your inner child! This is a story that floored me, and I love that we had the chance to photograph S+K waving at that very boat from the top deck of The Sagamore in all of their wedding attire. Pure serendipity.
SO, we started the day off with Shannon to photograph her getting ready with our QUEEN Gwen from Blush518, as well as all of S+K's perfectly curated fall-tastic wedding details. Dyan left to document Kevin and Savannah (their perfect pup) getting ready. Once Kevin was done smooching Savannah and putting on his tie, we set off for the first look right on the water. After a beautiful, touching, emotional reveal wherein everybody (myself included) cried, we started getting ALL. THE. PORTRAITS. The Morgan docked during our portraits, and out came none other than Ruth Johnson Colvin, founder of Literacy Volunteers of America (now ProLiteracy Worldwide) and recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2006. She came over to our couple and wished them well - what a fun and unexpected meeting!
After that, we meandered around the property, caught sight of The Mohican cruising by, and took all of our family formals. The ceremony was a Sagamore classic -- Shannon and Kevin walked down that stunning aisle that descends down the veranda terrace stairs (talk about an entrance), and we watched as a storm rolled by JUST missing the ceremony area and making some beautiful cloud formations and lighting over the lake - the perfect backdrop. After that, cocktail hour & sunset pictures led us into a reception full of dancing (courtesy of this amazingly fun crowd + Tony from Platinum Entertainment's jams), every Taylor Swift banger, beautiful heartfelt speeches from S+K and the dads, and some parting dramatic night shots in the drizzle.
Shannon and Kevin, I hope that you know that people like you are why I do what I do. Getting to know you and work with you and become friends with you has been such an honor and such a highlight of my career because I love you so much and I’m so glad that I get to know you forever now. Thank you SO much for finding me and choosing me to document this sacred time for you, and for letting me into your lives and your hearts. Please know, that you will probably be getting texts from me about whatever our Lord and Savior Taylor Swift is up to / cat pictures / random thoughts for the rest of your life, and I think you wouldn't have it any other way. In fact, I'm positive you'll do the same to me. 🤍
My god, what a day. What an event! What a year planning for this beautiful wedding with such kind, open-hearted, loving souls. The type of people who are just freakin' made for eachother in the best way - a kind of love that feels like a privilege to witness. When you're in the presence of The Hoffmans, you are in the presence of soulmates. Everybody knows it, and every adoring family member and friend around them glows a little brighter to have witnessed it. It gives me chills. Shannon & Kevin -- I love you endlessly. I love your love. Congratulations on tying the knot, and cheers to an eternity of happiness!!!
XO HANNAH
Amazing vendors on this event:
Venue | @thesagamoreresort
Photography | @hannahlux.photography
Videography | @milestonemediafilms
DJ I @platinumentdj
Florist | @bloomsweddings
Dress | @idoidonj @elyseebridaldesign
Hair & Makeup | @blush518
Lashes | @lashed_by_taylor
Tux | @tuxego
Rings | @kevinsfinejewelry
HLP team:
Lead: Hannah
Second: Dyan
Assistant: Autumn
SHANNON & KEVIN'S GORGEOUS 5-STAR REVIEW:
"5 stars will NEVER be enough
There are truly no words to describe the impact that Hannah and her team had on not only our our special day, but the entire year leading up to it as well, but I’m going to do my best to try.
We found and hired Hannah in September 2022 for our October 2023 wedding. At this point in our wedding planning process, I had booked the venue of my dreams and knew I wanted it captured by the best photographer we could find. I found Hannah’s website, could not stop reading her words and knew that she was the photographer that we NEEDED to capture our day. Talking to her felt like reconnecting with a long lost friend. We immediately booked our engagement shoot for the following month in Lake George. My now husband is very shy but Hannah was able to immediately make him feel comfortable in front of the camera. Having never done anything like that before, I was so nervous after the shoot about what we would look like in them. Hannah delivered sneak peaks so quickly and they brought us to tears - she captured our love so beautifully. And we had the best time with her while shooting! Leading up to our wedding day, Hannah was very communicative and helped tremendously with our timeline. And when I say helped, I mean she put together a super detailed timeline of when we’d do each of the photos we wanted and was sure to incorporate everything we wanted while still pitching new ideas and suggestions. Wedding photography was one of the most important things to us however we wanted the photos to be about the day as opposed to the day being about the photos. The night before my wedding when we got some bad news, Hannah immediately answered the phone and provided reassurance, positivity and love. The package we chose with HLP included Hannah as our lead shooter, a second shooter and an assistant on our wedding day. When the three of them entered my bridal suite, they were an instant calming presence which continued throughout the entire day. Dyan, our second shooter was a total rockstar! She made my husband and I feel instantly comfortable, and was more than willing to do getting ready photos of him with our dog - and was very good with her which pet parents will understand says more than anything else I could possibly say. Autumn, our assistant is one of the sweetest, most attentive people I have ever met. When it started to drizzle during family photos before the ceremony, Autumn made sure I made it to coverage. Then, when I got beer spilled on me before the ceremony, Autumn rushed me to the bathroom and got it right out of my dress and no one even knew. I truly don’t know how the day would have gone without these three and I’m so grateful I didn’t have to find out. The story isn’t over yet…in less than 72 hours after our wedding, Hannah delivered almost 100 sneak peaks of our day, all of which were breathtaking and left me speechless and in tears of joy. Hannah has a unique way of understanding what her clients want in their photos as well as their experience and then exceeding all possible expectations. Hannah is obviously very talented and even saying that sounds like a huge understatement. But on top of her talent, Hannah is caring, passionate, attentive, detail organized, creative, and the list goes on. There are many great photographers but there isn’t a better person than Hannah. If you want someone who cares about you and your wedding as much as you do, hire Hannah immediately. We cannot recommend her enough."
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