Category: weddings

Last weekend I joined the always fabulous Shelby to second-shoot with her at a wedding in DC. The funny thing was, we hardly saw each other all day! This wedding felt huge in size and location at both the church and the reception. And I’m not good at guessing how many people were in attendance, but it seemed like a lot. I started the day by taking a few pictures of the groom getting ready at the super posh Mandarin Oriental. (Shelby was with the girls in a room on a different floor.)

Chijoke opening a wedding gift from Eva.

Sporting Eva’s gift (the watch), and receiving plenty of help from the guys to adjust his vest.

Heading out to the ceremony in style.

I finally got to see the bride, moments before the ceremony. Eva looked like a goddess.

The uber-adorable flower girl, checking things out while waiting for her cue.

What did I tell you about the size of the church?! It’s huge! The ceremony was held at the Universalist National Memorial Church.

The ceremony was quite moving, and I think Eva was choked up almost the whole time…

But then broke into pure joy as they were announced husband and wife – I love the look on her face!

It started raining a bit right after the ceremony, but I think everyone was able to make it back to the Mandarin Oriental without getting soaked (at least I was). I headed over to the the cocktail hour and reception area while Shelby was with the bridal party doing portraits. The details at this reception completely blew me away. Everything was stunning and luxurious from the dramatic floral arrangements, lighting and table linens to the candy bar and favors.

The cake was classy and elegant, and one of my favorite touches was the monogrammed gobo light on the dance floor.

I wasn’t scheduled to stay for the reception, but Shelby has plenty of images on her blog from the rest of the event, and it looks like they had a totally amazing time. Congratulations and best wishes Chijoke and Eva, and thank you Shelby for having me along!

Mike and Denise’s wedding was probably one of the most unique weddings I’ve ever been to as a guest or a photographer and I totally love it when couples aren’t afraid to step outside of the box. Just from hearing about the schedule, I knew this one was going to be different. The event started on Friday, June 6, but the timeline was created so that the actual ceremony would take place Saturday at Midnight on 6.7.08 after cocktail hour, dinner and dancing! Sarah Hodzic and I arrived at the Glenview Mansion early in the evening to do some photos of everyone getting ready and some of the details, and I have to say that the details were spectacular.

I especially loved the flowers:


And her dress:


And this cake! The sign reads, “Why are there skeletons on the cake? It comes from Mexican wedding figures called Los Muertos, which is a traditional symbol of a couple being together forever even after death.” Do you recognize the figures? They’re from The Nightmare Before Christmas!

Dinner was served first, in their non-traditional timeline. After dinner, the cake was lovingly and politely cut and served:

And also after dinner, there was a huge, kid-tempting chocolate fountain. Here’s the “before:”


And this sequence is the “after:”

Someone almost didn’t make it to Midnight for the ceremony:

But everyone was re-energized by the time their heartfelt ceremony was held at the stroke of Midnight on the porch of the mansion.

Thank you Denise and Mike for sharing this amazing day with both Sarah and me. We had a great time capturing it!

I absolutely adore so many things about photographing weddings, but probably the best part of the job is being around a fun, sweet couple who is willing to share their joy with everyone around them. Alex and Margaret were one of those couples, and they made the event so wonderful to participate in. Not only were they so fun, but they are gorgeous! I second-shot once again for Sarah Hodzic, and she posted her amazing images and wrote a great story about the day on her blog so please do stop by and check it out.

And in the meantime, you can see a few of my favorite images from the event here, starting with the ceremony at St. George’s in Arlington. The day started out pretty much like a monsoon, but thankfully by the time the ceremony started the rain cleared up.

I love a good bubble send-off!

So adorable…

And then so stunning.

The reception was at a really fun location in Arlington called Top of the Town. It’s just like it sounds – it has an amazing panoramic view of DC. After this beautiful first dance (I loved the lighting!) the dance floor was packed all night long thanks to the fantastic band.

How awesome are both of these cakes?!

Congratulations and best wishes to Alex and Margaret! If rain on your wedding day really is good luck, you two are all set for an amazing marriage together!

A few weeks ago I joined Shelby in Ellicot City, MD for Jay and Mina’s wedding. As always, please hop on over to Shelby’s blog right away for the full story and her amazing coverage of their beautiful event, but here are a few of my own favorites.

Emory United Methodist Church:

Mina and her dad, just before the ceremony – her gorgeous smile radiating through her veil:


Guests received little containers of bubbles to blow as the bride and groom exited the church, and I caught these two diligently practicing their bubble-blowing techniques beforehand:

The beautiful bride, Mina:

A fun shot of the guys:

This wedding had some of THE cutest kids, as seen here:

And here! Check out those dance moves!

Congratulations and best wishes to Jay and Mina, and thank you to Shelby for having me along again. I had a really great time!

I just have time for a really quick blog post and I wanted to share some images of Steve and Jodie’s beautiful wedding that I second-photographed for Jesssica Del Vecchio last Saturday. Jess has tons of amazing photos on her blog, and you simply must stop by to get the full story and all of the details. She’s obviously an awesome photographer, but also a great storyteller!