Thursday Toast Time! A Toast To Ashley Concolino from APictureLife Photography

Ashley has the unique gift of immediately connecting with people. She is the girl at the party that has you laughing over spilled champagne, the first one in your speed dial for a carefree girl’s day out, the type of person you instantly want to trust with your deepest secrets.

The connection she makes with her brides is unmistakable, and is expressed in her stunning photography – the look of sheer joy on the bride’s face when she walks down the aisle, the groom’s speechlessness, the poignancy of a tear-filled mother, Uncle Ned’s antics on the dance floor of the reception.

Her attention to detail stems from her passion for family, love and life, and capturing the celebration of these things on a couple’s big day. This passion got Ashley hooked on weddings.

“Besides being a girl, we all love love … I’m taking photos [the couple] is going to share with their grandkids and their great-grandkids. To know you’ve captured something like that … to be the person that made history for that family, who made it real‚ÄîI love that part of it,” Ashley said. “I like knowing that feeling, that I’ve captured family.”

And that’s the thing, when Ashley photographs a wedding she becomes a part of your family. She can’t pick a favorite wedding she’s photographed because she’s fully invested in the unique details of all of them – the one where the groom is “really sweet to his bride and takes care of her”, the one where the family gets a little too tipsy at the reception and is “hilarious,” or the one where a mother who has been in a wheelchair for 20 years makes it to her daughter’s wedding in Tahoe.

“I’m totally in that moment every wedding I shoot,” Ashley said. “Half the time I catch myself crying at the first dance. In real life I’m not a crier, so to be wrapped up in someone’s wedding I’ve only met a few times … it’s odd, but I totally enjoy it.”

Which is why when she shoots a wedding, she becomes intertwined with the entire process. She not only is the primary photographer, but the primary developer.

“No one else looks at the pictures besides me. I go through every single one … I spent the whole day with you. I know your personality. I know if you will love a picture or not. If someone else is looking at your picture they might not know why you’re laughing, but I know. I take pride in that,” Ashley said.

Ashley’s brides meet with her at least three times before the big day. They go over pictures they enjoy, photography they like, and their idea of what types of photos they should do, whether it’s organized stills with perfect lighting and background or snapshots captured candidly – “we figure out what works for them.”

This is also the time when Ashley forges a unique bond with her clients.

“I connect with my brides either because they have a twin sister or they love Costa Rica or we’re the same age. I try to connect on that level so that on the day of their wedding, it’s simple to get them to laugh or have a good time,” she said.

As if all of these extraordinary qualities don’t have you dialing her number right now, Ashley offers one last thing to make your engagement, wedding, and honeymoon completely intertwined‚Äîa secret, mini boudoir photo session before you put your wedding dress on, as the perfect steamy surprise for your groom after the honeymoon.

“It’s fun to take a hot little photo here and there,” Ashley laughs.

We couldn’t agree more.