Posts in Couples
Couples Session in the Sand Dunes of Rhode Island
21-02-04_MollyStyledShoot_0050.JPG

So for those of you who don’t know, there’s this fun new app called Clubhouse. Its like live chat rooms, but just audio. So think of it as dropping into a live podcast and listening. The best part is you could also raise your hand and contribute to the discussion if you’re up for it!

So far, I’ve met a bunch of other photographers and videographers in the app. I’ve met so many incredible people and it just so happened that on Monday I hopped into a call and stayed up until 2am talking to some local folks. 3 days later, we planned to meet up and they showed me this INCREDIBLE location that was just 15 min away from our new home. I was blown away that I’ve been photographing in Rhode Island for so damn long and I NEVER heard of this spot.

Let’s just say it’s now my favorite and I cannot wait to take a bride & groom here this summer.

PS. THANK YOU to all of my incredible friends that I met. These are REAL, down to earth, chill, loving and caring people, all who’s only been in business for a few years and they are KILLING IT. Check them out below.

Abigail Renee Photography | Molly Mia Photography | Rachel Marie Photos | Justin Malphrus Photo

Molly & Michael | Beavertail State Park Engagement Session

Boy am I excited to share these with you.

We’ve been to Beavertail before and almost all the time, I hope and pray before the session that the couple is adventurous enough to know what I’m about to ask them to do. Beavertail isn’t just any run off the mill type of park, it’s rocky, wavy, and pretty dangerous at times but boy, the results are incredible. Molly & Michael braved the BRISK winds after a rainy weekend and we’re not only adventurous but they were EXCITED and up for the challenge. They even braved it down a STEEP cliff into a little beach cove where we got some pretty incredible photographs. If these two are just as much on their wedding day as they were for our Lovebird Session, I am SO excited to photograph their big day.

Meet: Molly & Michael


Allie & Dan | Narragansett RI Elopement

When we get contacted to photograph an elopement, we get so excited. It combines all the things we love about a wedding in a more intimate setting with just a handful of the couple’s closest family and friends. While we’ve only done a couple of these, they’re turning out to be some of our favorites to photograph.

Allie & Dan’s love story is remarkable. They met while in León, Nicaragua in early 2014. . Allie was staying on a friend’s couch in a house where Dan sometimes used the refrigerator (it’s a long story). Soon after meeting, they began finding any opportunity to see each other. Both spending their days volunteering, they passed weekends traveling on hot, crowded buses to meet up at the beach, climb volcanoes, cycle on dirt roads, and talk for hours over tostones con queso.

Three short months after meeting, they parted ways in Nicaragua, not sure of what the future held but certain they would remain in one another’s lives. While Allie finished university in Boston and Dan pursued his qualifications in rock climbing in England, little by little they met each other’s worlds through visits with family and loved ones. It wasn’t all tearful Skype calls, though of those there were some — they continued to find adventures wherever life took them, whether to the southwest coast of England, Boston’s culture-clashing Freedom Trail, or the highest peak in the rainforests of Rwanda. 

After two years of long distance, they found that new and more long-term opportunities in Nicaragua were calling them back to the place where they first met. Dan set to work starting a sustainable adventure tour company and photography business, and Allie worked for a cooperative loan fund.

But most importantly, they were able to start a life and build a community together. Over those two years they welcomed family and friends to visit our home in León, and made so many more. They decided to spend the rest of our lives together after taking a look into their future and agreeing that they couldn’t imagine it any other way but learning and growing by each others’ sides. 

Allie & Dan tied the knot at a local park in Narragansett, RI. Although it was POURING out, they braved the weather and made it such an incredibly fun time. Nothing stopped these two. They ditched the umbrellas and even took a dip in the pool. We are SO HONORED to have captured their love story and this next chapter in their lives.

Meet: Allie & Dan

Loryn & Ricky | Engagement Photography

When an old friend of mine Lindsay, contacted me about gifting a Lovebird session to her sister who recently got engaged, I was so excited. I photographed Lindsay back early in my "photography career" when we were both in high school. She was one of my first ever senior portraits. Till this day it's still on her Facebook (which is so fun for me to look back on). If Loryn is anything like her sister, she'd be so fun to photograph and boy did we have a great time! 

Loryn & Ricky live up in Deerfield, MA. A place that holds a special spot in my heart since I went to school next to Deerfield. The Berkshires and western MA are an absolute perfect backdrop for any occasion, especially an engagement session. We took photos with their amazing pup, then braved Mt. Sugarloaf,  and then ended the session the same way we end every session in the summer, with ice cream (I know, right?!). We had a blast together and I'm so happy with how these turned out. Clearly Loryn & Ricky are absolutely in love. I hope you all enjoy this little sneak peak into their session together. 

 

 

We're Engaged!

After almost a year of planning, I can finally say that Jenn & I are engaged.

For some of our couples, friends and family you know that this has been a long time coming. Jenn and I have known each other from high school and have been dating for the past 5 years. 3 of those years were long distance as Jenn was finishing up her biology degree in Texas. After graduating, she moved up to Rhode Island and made the commitment to live with me. Just after Jenn and I started dating I felt like I knew this woman my entire life. She helped me through some tough times, she encouraged me when I needed it most and she’s always been there for me…even when we weren’t dating. Right away I knew she was the one. I just had to wait for the right time.

May 3, 2018

Ryan_Jenn (18).jpg

After about 6 months of planning our trip to Barcelona & Paris, I thought it was the perfect opportunity to propose. Who can say they’ve gotten engaged in Paris before? After hearing dozens of engagement stories I had to be unique, and not overly clique. Jenn and I both love to travel and I couldn’t have thought of a better place to propose than Europe. We’ve both always wanted to go but never had the chance to. This was our chance, and this was my chance to propose. Paris was the original plan but it didn’t end up working out.

We started our trip in Barcelona, we spent 1 week in that beautiful city and then we headed off to Paris for a week. Originally I wanted to propose in Paris. It was more romantic, beautiful and just surreal to be there in person after seeing hundreds of movies of the Eiffel Tower. It was the perfect place. However me being me, I wanted our proposal photographed. Its a moment that I want to always remember, and I want images to bring me back to that day and that trip. After searching around I soon realized that Paris photographers are some of the most expensive photographers in the world. Don’t get me wrong – being a photographer myself I would’ve spent anything to hire the right person and to ensure that moment was photographed. But I would have to trust this person, I would have to have followed them for awhile, known their work, know who they are and so much more if I was going to spend over $2000 on a 2 hour engagement shoot (yeah, I’m not joking). Plus – we were on vacation, and we wanted to do a lot (Disneyland was where we spent most of our money haha) so I didn’t want to spend a ton being on vacation. I was fine with spending what I normally charge, if not a little over. So I brought in my team of photographer friends to help me out.

Ryan_Jenn (58)-Edit.jpg

A lot of people actually expected Paris. Jenn’s co-workers said it would happen, my family said it would happen there, and some clients even emailed me and said “I KNEW IT!” So Paris was expected. Which got me thinking “What if I did Barcelona?” Barcelona was the start of our trip and more importantly, the first place we’d ever be traveling to for vacation together. It was memorable, and unexpected. That’s when I found our amazing engagement photographer, Lena.

Ryan_Jenn (57).jpg

Lena and I started speaking at the beginning of March, just after I bought the ring and hid it in the house! After months of planning, changing where I would actually propose, what we would wear, how we would make it a surprise and and much more we finally decided on Sitges, Spain on May 3 (the second day we were going to be in Spain). Lena planned to meet us at the train station (without Jenn knowing I knew her) and follow us around Sitges where I would find a street and drop down on one knee and propose. I got to admit, I was a little worried. We were heading to a place I was unfamiliar with, with a photographer I found through Instagram, in a country we both don’t speak the language of. The plan seemed destined to have some hiccups. Surprisingly – it went off perfectly. We got on the train, Lena followed us around, and when I dropped to one knee Lena captured it all. The next 2-3 hours we were walking the streets of Sitges hand in hand, and more in love than I ever felt before. It’s actually hard to explain and I don’t think I could even if I tried. We felt like we were the only two people in this small little beach town. It was absolutely perfect.

Ryan_Jenn (9).jpg

Being on the opposite side of choosing an engagement photographer gave me a LOT of perspective. I never realized how crucial it was to answer someone within the same day, to showcase a full wedding or a full engagement session, and to be able to connect with them not only in a photographer-to-photographer way but also hopefully to become best friends. It’s everything I already do in my business but just going through that experience has already opened my eyes to how important it is and how crucial it is to every couple’s decision. But now the real planning begins.

You might be wondering “whats their wedding going to look like? They’re wedding photographers and have been to so many!” and you’re right. We’ve been to over 20 weddings together and I’ve been to over 100 maybe as a photographer. So we definitely have a good idea of what we want and what we don’t want. All in all throughout the years we’ve seen a lot of couples have giant weddings, at beautiful venues, with beautiful photographs but for us having the closest family and friends we both know is more important to us than having this “picture perfect” wedding. However, I can guarantee whoever we hire for our wedding photographers they’re going to have the best time because I’m pretty sure it’ll be picture perfect.

We’re both excited to start planning and to join our 2019 couples in that adventure. I hope you love some more photos of our engagement session posted below. If you haven’t already give Lena some love on Instagram because she was amazing. Cheers to a successful engagement, and to a beautiful wedding to come!

Meet: Ryan & Jenn

 

Jessica & Nick | Boston, MA Engagement Session

Whenever a couple tells me they're from Boston and want to do their engagement photos in their favorite neighborhood, I get super excited. For one, I love Boston. It was actually going to be my home before I decided to switch and go to school for photography instead of music. Two, Boston's neighborhoods are so photogenic. I'm telling you, you can probably photography anywhere in the city and it could come out incredible. 

That being said, Jessica & Nick took it one step further and took photos at their favorite restaurant and place where they got engaged - Coppa. Special thanks to the restaurant owner, Ryan for allowing us to photograph during a busy dinner service! After photographing there we headed out to the streets of the South End and Boston Common/Back Bay and has so much fun. I'm in love with this session and couldn't make up my mind if I loved the artsy look or the more traditional look, so instead of deciding I went with both! 

Jenn and I later ended our night back at Coppa for dinner ourselves and their food was incredible. My mouth is currently watering thinking about it! We can't wait to head back to Boston for our next adventure! 

Meet: Jessica & Nick

Kaylah & Josh | Engagement Session in Lincoln, RI

Whenever a couple tells me they're adventurous, I jump at the opportunity to do something fun for their photos. One thing I mention to them all the time is that these photos should feel like them. It shouldn't be posed and fake. If you don't go to the beach, why are we going to take your photos on the beach? If you're not city people why would we go downtown and take your engagement session photos there? I encourage couple's to always choose a spot or a location that means something to them, or at least gives them an opportunity to do something they love. 

Josh & Kaylah love to hike and be outdoors. We spoke about doing a session at their favorite hiking spot in New Hampshire but then decided we could probably get that same look and feel someplace closer. I think we hit it right on the nail. Lincoln Woods provided the perfect backdrop to what is now some of my favorite Lovebird Session photos. I hope you enjoy this little sneak peek into their love story. 

Aubrey & Luke | Engagement session in Newport, RI

Sometimes when I speak to couples over the phone for the first time, they spend some time chatting about our conversation and services with their family & friends. Understandably since choosing a wedding photographer isn't an easy decision. However for Aubrey & Luke as soon as they saw my site, they knew they wanted to book me. After a few emails we even planned their engagement session for the week they booked! This never happens! 

Aubrey & Luke we're so excited for their lovebird session and I can totally see why! These two were so in love and adorable - even at 5am! We braved the time and woke up super early to head out to Newport, RI and capture their story with early morning walks on the beach, wine at 6am, and of course breakfast ;) 

I had such a great time and I can't wait to see Aubrey & Luke again. Here's just a snippet of their lovebird session! Enjoy!

With love,
Ryan

Justine & Jeffrey | Wannamoisett Country Club Wedding

This past month I had the pleasure to photograph these two. After many dinners together and lots of good laughs, it was finally time to capture the next chapter in their story together. I had such a blast. These two seriously know how to throw an amazing party. Their bridal party and family made it extra fun too. I hope you all enjoy a sneak preview into Justine & Jeffrey's wedding!  I can't wait to show you more but for now...

Meet: Justine & Jeffrey

Shoutout to all the vendors to made the day a dream come true:

Photography: Ryan DeVoll Photography
Venue: Wannamoisett Country Club
Band: Nancy Paolino and the Black Tie Band
Hair & Makeup: BLovely Beauty Studio
Florist: Enchanted Florist

Want to know when Justine & Jeffrey's full gallery is released? Click here to sign up and receive a discount on all prints and albums!

RI Lovebird Session | Kim & Shiloh

Kim and Shiloh are some of my best friends. Being photographer's themselves, we can get together and talk business and not bore one another (seriously, it's a thing). Just last week, I called Kim up and asked her if she'd be up to do a session with Shiloh. I wanted to try some new things, and I also just wanted to repay her since she recently photographed Jenn and I. 

It was a beautiful winter day. I think the weather hit 70 at one point? So we couldn't complain about it being cold. We trucked it down to Lincoln Woods, found a nice little spot away from everyone and they seriously killed it. I love this session so much and I hope you do too!

Molly & Brian | Colt State Park Engagement Session

I love when couple's are down for anything. When they don't care if it's cold out, windy, snowing or raining and they're just down for the adventure. To be honest, those are the photos that us photographers rarely get the chance to take. We never get to go out during a blizzard, we never get to go out when it's raining, and we never get to go to these crazy locations that wouldn't make sense. It's always the same old same old. So when Molly contacted me and told me she wanted to do a Lovebird Session in January by the water, I was so pumped. Since Molly & Brian are from NJ, Jenn and I scoped out a location that fit these two and Colt State Park in Bristol, where Molly & Brian will soon be in a few months to be married, seemed like the perfect spot.

Their session turned out perfect! Sure, it was cloudy, a bit cold and windy but we braved the elements and seriously rocked it! I'm in love with the way these two showed pure emotion, love, and happiness during their time with me. I'm also in love with the way these turned out. It's a bit new to us but I'm loving the style that we were able to pull off.

Enjoy!
Ryan

Kimberly + Ian | The Breakers Newport, RI Engagement Session

I've known Kimberly for awhile now...As a matter of fact, I've known her ever since I can remember going over my aunt's house for the holidays. Kimberly is my uncle's niece! When she told me she was planning a destination wedding and she didn't want anybody besides me to take her wedding photos, I was so surprised. 

Normally I would decline the opportunity to photograph any family & friends. First and foremost because they're close to my heart and I'd like to spend the day with them without my camera, enjoying the moments to the fullest. However, I couldn't pass up the opportunity when Kim told me that I was her only choice. And, who could pass up a destination wedding? I would have been invited anyway, and what a better way to spend a few days then with a few close family members on a tropical island?

That being said - we're not in March, yet. With the wedding approaching fast, Kimberly & Ian wanted some photos of themselves and their two little sweethearts to capture this time together. We had a blast at The Breakers Mansion in Newport, RI and even ended the night with an amazing dinner in Newport. You honestly can't go wrong there. 

I can't wait to celebrate the day with you two! 

With love,
Ryan

Special thanks to my assistant for the day Kristen Phillips. 

16-05-07_KimberlyIan_0652.jpg
Alexandra + John | Kinney Bungalow, Narragansett RI Wedding

Planning a wedding is hard work. It takes a lot of time, effort, patience, and love. But planning a wedding when you live about 300 miles away, is even harder. Alex & John both live in Pennsylvania. Even though they would have loved to stay close to their home and celebrate, they wanted all of their family and friends to be with them to celebrate. If you're thinking that an out of state wedding won't work, take a look at how their day went. It was a fricken ball to photograph.

These two were fun, so laid back and perfectly in love. Each of their family & friends we're just as fun...One bridesmaid really KILLED IT on the dance floor and started a dance battle (pictured below, she was also at one point was found bowing down to the bride. I found it pretty hilarious) Seriously though, you all rocked! 

I had such a blast meeting you two and capturing your day and I can't wait to talk to you both again. Right now, you should be enjoying some type of alcoholic beverage on the beach in Punta Cana. You two deserve it. 

With love,
Ryan

PS. Special thanks to all the amazing vendors for the day!
Venue: Kinney Bungalow
Florist: Flowerthyme
DJ: Music Mixers Entertainment

16-05-28_AlexJohnCostello_2159.jpg
work work work work work

work work work work work

Want to see Alex & John's full gallery? Click here to be notified when they are ready!

RI Maternity Photographer: Louie, Tanna & Liam

I first met Tanna & Louie a year ago where they contacted me to capture their 1 year anniversary. We had a blast at Lincoln State Woods on a beautiful March day.  A year later, Tanna contacted me again with some big news. I remember I got a text from her saying "RYAN. GUESS WHAT!" And at first, I thought maybe she wanted to get her second anniversary photographed, but her news was much more exciting than that. She had a baby boy on the way, and it was time to capture the next chapter of their story together. 

Liam can't have better parents than these two. They are two of the most loving, kind, clients I know and Liam is blessed to call them Mommy & Daddy. With just two weeks to go, it'll be any day now that they welcome him to this world. 

I am so blessed to be a photographer and capture moments like these on camera. Photos that Tanna, Louie and Liam will look back on when he's 20, and say "wow, look how big your belly was mom!" My job is seriously awesome. 

Ashley & Patrick Part I - Providence, RI Engagement Session

Last month we had some crazy freezing temperatures. One day it was beautiful out, the next day is was below zero. Luckily, we all survived the brave weather and made it to March. 

Ashley & Patrick, a 2016 couple of mine who are celebrating their big day this upcoming New Year's Eve had this amazing engagement session idea that they wanted to recreate. One part of the session would be shot in the summer and one in the winter. Patrick would lead Ashley to a spot to propose to her in the summer and then magically it would transform into winter. I loved the idea! After playing around with a few different ideas, we chose to photograph the winter part first. We had to be careful in choosing a date. We wanted snow to be on the ground, and we honestly hopped it would snow during the session but instead we endured below zero degree weather! It was super fun though. We had to be quick so we didn't freeze our tushes off and we had to somehow keep warm, especially when you're in a dress. Luckily, we all went to a local spot afterwards for some dinner. 

I had a blast Ashley & Patrick, I can't wait for part two! 

With love,
Ryan

02-14-16_AshleyPatrick_0117.jpg



Ashley & Wale | MA Engagement Session

Well, I don't know about you but I honestly can't believe it's Christmas next week! The sun in shinning in the studio, it's about 55 degrees outside and the ground isn't filled with that fluffy white stuff we call snow. A few weeks ago I got together with Ashley & Wale to photograph them for their Lovebird Session! At first, we thought we'd do an indoor session since it was getting a bit chilly out, but then they were convinced that an outdoor session was the way to go! The weather didn't agree with them though. After rescheduling thanks to rain, we ended up having the session on a GORGEOUS fall day. 

Although they were a bit nervous about getting their pictures taken, they seriously had nothing to worry about. These two were definitely models in their past lives - they rocked their session and walked away with some seriously stunning fall photographs. Who says you can make winter/fall session look good? All you need is two beautiful people in love and no matter what you do, the photos will come out stunning. 


Michelle & Nick | MA Engagement Photographer

Michelle and I met awhile back when we worked together. When she told me she got engaged, I immediately jumped at the opportunity to be her wedding photographer and she said, "Obviously!"  Over the past few months I've gotten to know her awesome fiancé, Nick. These two are so much fun and I honestly had a blast on their Lovebird session. Working with friends, turned clients is just so easy! Nick contacted me right after he saw some of the sneak peeks and wanted to surprise Michelle with a large print for their house. We made it happen and got a print to him the next day. According to Michelle, "I balled tears for hours! That is one of the best photographs of us ever taken!" 

Michelle & Nick, I can't wait for your wedding. Love you two!