Boston Harbor - The Valiant Yacht

A stunning wedding on a Charles Riverboat Company luxury yacht vessel.

Cormier Wedding - June 24, 2023

Tricia & Travis chose to have an intimate wedding in June on board the Charles Riverboat company's most luxurious vessel - The Valiant!

If you've been following along with our busy wedding season on Instagram (or even just noticed the pattern of weather Massachusetts has had this summer) you might recall A LOT of rain on Saturdays! 

Tricia & Travis chose the Boston Harborside Inn on State Street for getting ready. It was beautiful and a perfect location, however, the rooms were very small and dark. This bride and groom actually swapped rooms right before we arrived because the bride's room was originally TOO dark and small for photographs compared to the groom's. The only window in the room was a window that went to an interior hallway within the hotel. We made it work regardless! This I can't stress enough is a reason to ask your photographer if they are only a natural light photographer or if they are knowledgable in using flash and accessory lighting.

For photographers or enthusiasts- these photos would have been very dark and grainy & lacking in sharpness had I not used a flash. I prefer to use a Godox high-speed sync flash speedlight with 2000mAh Li-ion battery. You can find older models (last year's is a good amount of money less and just as good) depending on what camera brand you shoot with. I wasted years using cheaper flashes that took AA batteries that barely lasted 100 shots that I would keep recharging. I would carry around a giant bag of AA batteries and pray that they lasted through the night. With lithium ion batteries I can go an entire day on ONE but we each carry two with us and plug our first one in when we switch to the reception just in case. I plan to do a full gear blog for my Fuji system soon and what each of us carry.

​Travis was originally apprehensive to having photographers for the day. Being his second marriage his experience prior was that he spent too much of the day posing for pictures and feeling like he was constantly on camera instead of being able to enjoy the day. We promised we would be quick and easy going to get the shots done and let them enjoy their special day. 

This couple chose to do a first look so they could walk down to the yacht together and do some portraits beforehand. The Custom House on State street was the perfect location for this. Beautiful columns and a grand staircase to frame up the first look couldn't have been more ideal. We were watching the weather knowing some storms were predicted and the bride sent some groomsmen out to find some clear umbrellas!

Just as this couple met together on the staircase the sky let the water fall like glitter! We were able to step up into the columns for more portraits and stayed dry. The rain soon stopped in time to walk to the boat for more portraits. Amazingly the sun stayed out the rest of the day!

After Tricia & Travis had their first look they ducked into the hotel bar for some quick shots together!

When we arrived to the Boston Harbor Hotel (where the Charles Riverboat Company harbor boats dock) we were so excited to do portraits under the arch but when we arrived there was a Dîner en Blanc happening! All of the guests boarding a dinner cruise were dressed in all white, a theme that goes back to the 1980s in France. Thankfully this bride thought it was funny and didn't mind not being the only one in white!

As we arrived at the dock many guests were also starting to gather, we only had maybe 20 minutes to get all of the family portraits finished so that they could board the yacht. We strategically went past the boat to the backside of a building so we could get portraits done without guests saying hi to the couple! Shortly after we were able to board and the bridal party was able to use the downstairs bar as a waiting area before the ceremony upstairs. This yacht has two bars, one upstairs where the ceremony was and one downstairs where the cocktail hour was. After the ceremony the upstairs is flipped to a dining room with a dance floor. We were so impressed with how seamless their staff was able to pull off such a transformation and in such little time!

The ceremony was short and sweet! Tricia's sister was the officiant and as warned would happen many boats going by cheered and shouted during their ceremony! It was such a fun vibe all around!

Tricia & Travis had such a fun cocktail hour and dinner was absolutely delicious! As vendors we rarely have the chance to really sit down and enjoy a meal. We had the entire first floor lounge area to ourselves for dinner, we truly felt like we were on a special date ourselves and finished just in time for speeches to start upstairs! As soon as dinner was finished more tables were pushed aside to make room upstairs for the dance floor.

I love that even though they did a cupcake stand they still had a little cake to cut!
​The flowers on it were so cute!

The dance floor was surprisingly large enough for people to really get into dancing! Tricia & Travis also did a last dance to end the night, it was so romantic. You could see after all of the stress of the day that they were ready to just have so much fun with their friends and family. The boats dock promptly at 9pm so this lively crew was off to an after party after!

We are so thankful to the Cormier's for choosing us as their photographers! It was a phenomenal experience all day to be in such locations like the Boston Custom House, Rose Kennedy Greenway, Harborside Inn (originally a shipping warehouse), Boston Harbor Hotel (that arch)!! and Boston Harbor on the Valiant, the views were spectacular on and off of the yacht. We also had such a great experience working with the Charles Riverboat Company and would do it again a month later on a very different vessel - stay tuned for that blog post! I did do a little comparison on Instagram if you want to check that out. www.instagram.com/apreamedia 

Thanks for following along! If you know anyone looking for a photographer for weddings, family or events we'd love to work with them. Booking Spring 2024!

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