French’s Point Estate is thrilled to continue our series of blog posts spotlighting amazing Maine wedding vendors that help to make weddings at our waterfront wedding venue not only successful but truly the embodiment of the experience our clients strive to craft for their family and friends. This series will showcase some of the best providers from our vibrant, talented, dedicated wedding industry community we are so proud to be a part of here in Maine and New England. This group of professional wedding vendors understands and adheres to our guiding principles for the service we endeavor to provide our clients: Be Responsive, Be Kind, Provide Excellent Customer Service, Provide the Very Best Product/Service. Because of these wonderful people, the celebrations here are French’s Point Estate is the stuff of which dreams are made!
Nadra Photography is a woman-owned wedding photography business that has been telling love stories through beautiful, sentiment-provoking imagery for nearly two decades. Owner, Nadra Edgerley, and Principal Photographer, Leigh Doran, set out to create family heirlooms to be prized by their subjects and future generations who love them. A few years ago, I spent what I recall as one of the most emotionally draining days I have experienced as a mother to date (I had three of my four children at the time). We had scheduled a family photo session with Nadra Photography, and it turned out to be cold, gray and pouring rain. That day, my kiddos were in quite a mood from being pent up due to the rain, and I was tired, overwhelmed and not in the right mind to put our best foot forward. The kindness, patience and resolve Leigh and Nadra offered our family that day will never be forgotten. It was humbling and miraculous to see. In spite of the odds, they gave us beautiful images of my family that we cherish to this day.
In the ensuing years since we have had the pleasure of working with Leigh numerous times here at French’s Point. I have come to know and love Leigh for the care with which she serves her couples. The love she has of the amazing wedding vendor community, her obvious appreciation for people of all kinds, and her uncanny ability to capture poignant moments that will be cherished for years and generations to come make Leigh a terrific partner for French’s Point weddings. She is a calming force and a steady hand on an emotionally-charged day. Her big, beautiful heart is what allows her to capture these precious moments on film. I am so pleased to introduce you to my friend Leigh of Nadra Photography.
Nadra Photography was established by Nadra Edgerley in California in 1999. Nadra moved her business to Maine in 2006, and I became a principal wedding photographer with Nadra Photography in 2010.
Real. Authentic. Truthful. Classic. We believe your wedding photography should stand the test of time, and we focus on creating sentimental imagery that will become the family heirloom of the next generation.
For me, weddings are more than just the love between two people; they are the coming together and the joining of two families. I love being able not just to witness this, but also to feel it right in front of me. You can’t help but react to the tremendous love and support coming from the friends and family of the couple. You see it an extra-long embrace, or in a shared laugh, and you hear it in their words when their voice cracks as they toast and celebrate the couple. Love is a universal human emotion we can all relate to, and when I photograph a wedding, I see my own family and my own close relationships, and I am reminded of how special that day was for me when I got married. I love being able to re-live that and capture those moments for others.
That answer has changed through the years as I have lived more of life! Since I became a mom almost three years ago, it’s totally changed how I see the parents on wedding day. I now understand on a whole new level what this day also means for them, and consequently, my favorite moments are with the parents on the wedding day — the moment they see their daughter for the first time in her dress or their son for the first time in his suit or tux and they can’t hold back the tears, or when they clutch each others’ hands during the ceremony as they listen to their children exchange vows, and in the evening at the parents’ dances when they hold on just a little tighter. Being a Mom of boys, the mother-son dance especially gets me going! Can’t help but feel all of the emotion Mom is feeling as her once baby that she held in her arms, is now a fully grown man, holding her in his arms.
Yes. We believe it takes two photographers to adequately cover an average wedding — from getting ready at the beginning of the day, to the ceremony and cocktail hour and later at the reception, my assistant photographer is always getting alternate angles. I always tell my assistant to surprise me — show me something I didn’t see, and they always do!
For an average wedding of 100-150 guests and all of the formalities, we can cover that in 8-9 hours. For larger events, or if you want to explore traveling to different locations with the couple and/or wedding party for portraits, then more is required.
I have always loved Monhegan Island. It’s an adventure from the moment you start traveling there on the ferry or by boat. For someone like me who appreciates history, it is a rare opportunity to step back in time to another day and slow down the pace. Plus, it is a photographers’ sanctuary. You can’t help but be inspired and keep clicking the shutter when you see life in a new way.
Leigh Doran
Nadra Photography
9 Grapevine Lane
Scarborough, ME 04074
(207) 885-9300
www.nadraphotography.com
[email protected]