Vendor Feature: Good Commons

If someone invited you to be whisked away to a weekend of meditation, reflection and delicious food, would you do it? I sure did! A couple weeks ago one of our fall brides, Erika Shannon, and Tesha Buss, founder of Good Commons, invited me down for a Recharge retreat weekend at Good Commons in Plymouth, Vermont.

Erika is a fitness guru based out of New York City and leads part of the retreat. Both she and Tesha are amazing people and, even though I could only make part of the weekend, I had such a blast! Erika is getting married at Good Commons this September.

Tesha, a former Broadway performer and choreographer, created Good Commons a few years ago with the intent of creating a space where people, especially New Yorkers, could 'get away' from city life. She discovered a dilapidated old general store in Plymouth in 2006, began to build what eventually became Good Commons, and didn't look back.

I just want to give a quick shout-out to some of the people who led the retreat - first, Matthew Wexler, chef and Good Commons co-partner, who cooked amazing food all weekend. Of note: freshly baked chocolate cupcakes, with a hint of chili spice, served in teacups with whipped cream. Little yum-gasms.

Other folks I met over the weekend: Healing practitioner Timothy Becker, chiropractor Dr. Jason Gordon, and life coach Stefanie Ziev, all New York-based.

Be sure to check out the Good Commons site for upcoming retreats, and of course, they also host weddings and events. Just up the road is a historical site, 'old' Plymouth, which I scouted on the way back and will make for some awesome formals shots.

Now, on to the photos! Thanks again to Tesha and Erika for allowing me to take part in the fun and relaxation.



Drool-worthy buttermilk chive biscuits, and Matthew's doggie Wilbur.




A retreat guest talking to life coach Stephanie.


Our lovely bride Erika leading a morning meditation and yoga class.


Wait, let's zoom in on that shiny engagement ring a little more...








Saturday evening, after dinner and a few glasses of wine, we had an energetic and free-flowing temple dance session with Erika.

Introducing Wild Magnolia and Willow Album Design

Recently we started working with a new album maker, Rebecca Shostak, who is based out in Santa Monica, California and founded Wild Magnolia Design last year. Becca is unique in that she only offers albums made of recycled and environmentally sustainable materials. Her books are gorgeous, handmade works of art and to top it off they have a very fair price tag. We've been searching for a long time for someone who fits all of these criteria and are delighted to have found Becca! Check out her work here and her unique philosophy here.

For the actual layout, we'll be using Britney Gardner of Willow Album Design. We love her clean, elegant designs and feel that they'll beautifully showcase our documentary shooting style.

Not only are Becca and Britney awesome at what they do, entrusting the album design process to them leaves us time to do what we do best: photographing and photo editing. We are delighted to have found these two wonderfully talented people and we will have a sample album to show off in the near future!

We just received our goodie box this week and wanted to show off some of the materials that Becca offers her clients: