Anna + Ryan: A Rockywold Deephaven Camp Wedding

If there were ever a wedding day that I have photographed in 18 years (hundreds of weddings) that has embodied all that is love, it was this wedding day. Even as I write this post, I feel overwhelmed by the need to fully and accurately portray the feeling of this day, but ultimately I will let the song and my photos do that for me.

“May friends and family surround you

May their love and laughter ground you

As you’re whirlin’ round and round to this song.”

Anna and Ryan met 4 years ago in Denver, on Tinder, through which many of my happy couples have met in the last few years! Ryan is from Iowa, Anna from New Hampshire, and now they are living this beautiful life together in Colorado – isn’t that incredible?! I marvel at the ways people wind their way through life and come together through all different avenues; just as the waters from Canada make their way through New Hampshire and find a home in Squam Lake, so has their love traveled over mountains and through river beds to come together. These two, and their families, have a passion for music and singing and dance, and they each and all laughed, sang and danced their way through the entire day, celebrated at Rockywold Deephaven Camps with the ceremony performed at Church Island. Anna is one whose laughter makes your own laughter spout from you – and you don’t even know why! It contagious! Ryan’s steady smile is the baseline of her laughter, his eyes telling quietly of his admiration for her. They laughed and smiled and cried happy tears literally the entire day: from Anna and her twin brother and two sisters as they dressed for the day, dancing around the cabin with their nieces, to riding around the lake with their arms in the air, filling their lungs with New Hampshire air, to the ceremony where even the birch leaves danced around them on the breeze, carrying their vows to the heavens, to the reception where Anna’s father, a master musician, poured the love of he and his wife over his children, their spouses and all their guests. It was a sight to behold, and her father’s voice one you will want to listen to over and over – and maybe even play at your own wedding, for your own first dance.

Take a minute to watch this slideshow, set to the tune of Dave Lockwood’s song, “Steady On.” Then go to iTunes or Spotify et al and stream it, download it, whatever, and listen to it (click HERE to do so). Then listen to again and really hear it. Then tell all your friends! You can also buy his albums direct from his website: http://www.davidlockwoodmusic.com/

Then scroll through and see all the best photos from their incredible day!

And did I mention, I’ve known Anna since she was a newborn? And that her father and my father used to sit in the faculty lounge at Holderness School after dinner and talk poetry and music, sports and religion, tell great jokes and share stories of their children and students…for hours?? I have more memories of this family than I could possibly put into a blog post. Lockwood family, you have my heart!