We have a handful of venues that are our favorites, and Mt. Washington Mill Dye House is one of those places. Every single wedding that takes place at the Dye House is always perfection! I don't know what is about this magical location, but it just brings out the beauty in everything. Coupling that with Leni and Danny's fully realized vision by Celebrations, LLC, the day was elevated more.  There are not enough adjectives in the world to describe our feelings over witnessing Leni and Danny's day. Start to finish, it was full of love, romance, and family. The sense of togetherness was not only present within Leni and Danny's relationship, but also throughout their family and friends. They created a day that was so connected, and welcoming. Honestly, the second we walked into the bridal suite, we didn't just feel like photographers, we felt like friends.  Leni and Danny have this aura around them that is so inviting. They are completely lovely, and when they get to giggling together it's THE sweetest thing. It's gonna sound real creepy, but I adore watching them interact with each other. They are always showing their affection for one another, either in a light back touch, or holding hands. Even the way they look at each other shows the spark of their connection. It's a romance for the ages, and I feel so lucky to see! It only makes sense that the romance had a fairytale wedding day to match. Mt...

I have been waiting for Fall to show itself since the beginning of September. Now I realize that it was waiting for Emily and Mario's wedding to make it's grand entrance. Pulling up to Chanteclaire Farm in Friendsville, Maryland was like something out of a movie. Rolling clouds, rod iron gate, and a tree lined gravel road put us in a dreamland right away.  There were more than a few times that Shawn and I BOTH teared up during Emily and Mario's day. The first was when Mario read Emily's card. Her words to her soon-to-be husband were sweet and personal (and they didn't end up picking the same card, which Emily had low-key worried about :P). The second moment that got us was the first look between Emily and her dad. These few minutes ALWAYS get me, especially when dad let's his tears flow. Lastly, the part of the day that got me real good was when we were pulling away from Chanteclaire Farm. Reflecting on the day and the great energy from everyone made me feel so happy for Emily and Mario, I couldn't help but let a few tears fall! These two made this day incredibly sentimental and full of love. Yes, love generally does appear in a wedding day. But what Emily and Mario brought wasn't just love for each other, it was love for every single individual that a part of their day. They have a way of making every person they come in...

I cannot believe how quickly 2016 has flown by, and that we are already at this point again. It feels like yesterday that we were doing our engagement favorites of 2015. How is it possible that we have already experienced another twelve months, and are merely a week and a half away from the New Year?! This year has brought so many wonderful couples into our lives. Getting to be a part of their wedding planning process has been really fantastic. As the year winds down, I love reminiscing about all of their sessions. Every engagement shoot gives us a glimpse into who our couples are and allows us to make fun memories with them. This year, though, I feel as if we have personally been able to open up, as well. We've been sharing more of who we are in order to connect to our couples on an even deeper level during their sessions. I don't think it's any secret that engagements are my absolute favorite aspect of wedding planning. They allow the couple to sit back and just be together. Sure, there is a little posing involved, but it always feels natural and comfortable. We want every engagement shoot to feel exciting, even to the most resistant partner. When we get emails or comments saying how nervous a couple was before their session, but became confident due to our encouragement and enthusiasm, it makes us feel so good. Our entire goal is for the couple to know ...

Guests liven up a wedding like no other. From emotions during the ceremony to wobble skills during the reception, guests add an extra layer of fun to any day. However, before the wedding, it can be a little daunting coordinating for all the attendees. There's addresses to gather, families to figure out, and seating charts to map to maximize everyone's enjoyment. I know from my own experiences that it can be exhausting, but the thing that worked for Shawn and me when taking them all on: set a cap on guests and hold strong to that number. For our wedding, Shawn and I decided that we would do a couple of things in order to keep our list manageable. Our first decision was to not invite children except for the two in the bridal party (my niece and nephew). The second thing we decided early on was to keep our family invites to parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and first cousins. Shawn has a huge family, and while we didn't want to exclude anyone, we had to think of costs and what wedding size we could manage. The last thing we did was to put the number of seats that were being held in their honor on our guests RSVP cards. We kept this to just two seats for each of our guests, and they were super respectful of our request. I've heard horror stories of people crossing out these numbers and writing in their own, but luckily, our...

I am just about speechless over Megan and Dave's Sunday engagement session. We started the evening at Patapsco Valley State Park, and those of you that follow along know it's my favorite place. There was some comedic mishaps with finding each other in the part of the park without a signal, but when we finally all got together, it was amazing! Megan and Dave are seriously the cutest couple, and they just so happen to be the parents of the most adorable little Frenchie named Izzy. I love when couples involve their furbabies in their sessions, because it brings a whole new personality to the shoot. Izzy definitely brought a lot of extra fun and laughs to the park. By some crazy chance, we had the entire Cascade Falls trail to ourselves, which was shocking considering Sunday was the first sunny day in weeks! After a quick wardrobe change and a short drive, we arrived at Ellicott City (another favorite) where these two took modeling to a different level. Megan and Dave are absolutely stellar. We were shooting well after the sun had already set, since I was pretty obsessed with their adorableness! The best part about these two was their excitement over their photos. They came ready with props, wonderful ideas, and ready for whatever we got into. It was simply fantastic. Ahhh! I adore them! Shawn and I cannot wait to photograph their wedding next April at the Anchor Inn. It is for sure going to be the...

Weddings today are a lot different from what they were 30 years ago. There is less of a hold on tradition and more focus on relaxed fun. Certainly, I'm not saying that people didn't have fun at their weddings in a pre-Pinterest time, but we cannot deny that there has been a shift in what couples are doing for during and before their nuptials. There are engagement sessions, first looks and styled elopements. Things that my parents never thought of doing are now staples in the wedding planning process. Bridal sessions are a major event that I feel is on the rise in popularity. A few years ago, these shoots mainly involved just the bride, but I'm seeing more and more couples do these together, and it's pretty awesome. For those who aren't familiar, if an engagement shoot and a first look decided to have a child, a bridal session would be the final product. They are a lot like an engagement shoot in choosing a location that isn't your wedding venue, but the bride gets to be in her gown and the groom is in his suit. Usually these sessions are done right around when your hair and make-up trial happens, since you can take advantage of being all fancied up with the cosmetic style you'll have on the big day. A lot of the time, family likes to attend, which is great because there are a lot more hands on deck and they get to be more...

This Saturday is Jessica and Frank's big day! I have been excitedly waiting for their day to come, and now it is almost here! I know if I'm getting giddy, then the soon-to-be newlyweds must be on a totally different level of eagerness, haha. Way back in August, Shawn and I traveled out to Rocks State Park to photograph these two sweetheart's engagement photos. This park is seriously so beautiful. I just fell in love with the waterfall and all of the greenery in the surrounding area. We've shot here once before, and it is just incredible with all of the different looks it offers. I was even more excited to get to know Jess and Frank a little better, because one of my favorite things about engagement sessions is bonding with the couple. Seeing that they brought their adorable pup, Mufasa, with them made adoring these two even easier :P. Shawn and I cannot wait for their wedding on Saturday. It's going to be such a wonderful day, especially now that Spring seems to be here to stay!   ______________________________________________________________________________ ...

I'm so incredibly happy to say that Sarah and Kevin's wedding is just a few short days away! I remember meeting up with them in September at Federal Hill Park for their engagement photos and chatting about how much time they had for planning. It felt like the months would take forever to pass at that point, but here we are, just a handful of days away! On Friday these two will be exchanging vows and celebrating with family and friends at the beautiful La Fontaine Bleue. Shawn and I are ecstatic to witness and photograph their day. Going through their engagement session for this little highlight reel brought back all of the giddy feelings I had while photographing them. These two are just the absolute sweetest, and the fact that you can see the love they have for each other is just amazing. I adore them so incredibly much. <3     ...

The more days with perfect weather we have, the more and more I'm itching to get outside for some of this years engagement sessions. I am so excited for all of the couples that Shawn and I get to photograph, and all this sunshine is making it hard to wait for next month when everything fully kicks into gear. I wanted to do tonight's blog on how Shawn and I prepare for engagement sessions after a few months of not being behind the camera regularly. For future brides and grooms who are reading this: you are not the only ones who get nervous before photos. I'm not going to lie, it can be difficult getting back into the groove, and when I feel an ounce of jitters I become a tongue tied mess, haha. However, after doing this for awhile, I've been able to come up with a process that has knocked out a lot of pre-session butterflies. My steps help me, and whether you are a couple preparing for your own engagement photos or a photographer gearing up for a crazy awesome season, I hope these will be useful! My first step toward calming nerves is always getting to know the clients. Shawn and I meet with our couples, we send them welcome gifts, and I try to be in almost constant communication leading up to the session. The main motivation behind doing all of that is for everyone to feel very comfortable with each other...

Hi everyone. Shawn again, and I'm here to present some news that interests me on more than a few levels. As a computer scientist with a special interest in the technology that makes sites like Facebook and Google tick, I've been watching the discussion about the major changes to Instagram. For those not in the know, Instagram is changing the way the news feed is sorted. Previously, your Instagram feed was reverse chronological ordering, with the most recent posts showing up at the top. The new ordering is going to use a mix of machine learning and magic (okay, mostly machine learning) to tailor your feed to how it thinks you would appreciate the content. Some people are scared this means the death of small businesses, enough to form an online petition to request a reversal of the decision. As a co-owner of a small business, I understand how there can be a strong fear of these changes that might make an already difficult job even harder. This is actually going to have an effect on getting content published, which is one of the hardest things as a small business. And it's scary enough trusting another company, let alone some mysterious algorithm. I'm here to tell you that everything is probably going to be okay, whether you are a purveyor of images or a casual Instagram user. Engagement and Instagram The excellent Instagram post scheduling site Latergramme has a blog post discussing the changes. It's worth a read, regardless...

Weddings are almost always viewed as the beginning of a beautiful life with your partner. It's exciting and special, and most of the time our imaginations build a spectacular day full of sparkle. But our imagination rarely takes into account the stress leading up to the day or the cost of that dream wedding. Both stress and money together can lead to a lot of heartbreak throughout the planning process if you aren't well equipped. Tonight's blog is about strategies to remaining sane when you are in the thick of planning. A few of our brides touched on this topic, and I found it fascinating how each couple dealt with things differently. From organizing finances to just remaining calm, the advice in this installment is very unique to the couple that wrote it. I must say, though, one of the common factors across the board is that at the end of the day you are marrying your perfect person. Even if the cake gets dented, or there is an accident which backs up traffic and delays your wedding, you still get to say "I do" and start your new beginning.   April & Corey "Really consider your dream wedding plans. It's so easy to feel pressured to find things that fit your theme, but really think about it because halfway through the planning process that probably won't matter to you anymore. Really all that matters is marrying the person you love."  ...

When you think of wedding of traditional wedding day photos, what images come to mind? For most people, they imagine portraits of the bride and groom in a beautiful setting, wrapped up in each others arms, or the groom's reaction when he sees his bride walking down the aisle. These huge moments that deliver the feelings of the day are definitely ones that I adore, but what about all the items and features that shape the look and theme of the wedding? When a bride wears the same necklace that her mom wore to her own wedding, it represents a really great bond between two women. While the object may be small, the meaning and sentimental value is huge, and really help make a wedding special and unique for the couple. It's surprising how the smallest bits of the planning process can help deliver the biggest impact. The first thing that Shawn and I do when we arrive at a wedding is gather all of the little mementos and accessories for detail photos. Those pieces need to have their moment to shine, because without them, the day would be missing that amazing sparkle. To all my couples, I recommend organizing your personal detail items into one place by creating "getting ready bags". Taking all the important and unique items that need to be photographed and placing them together in a bag means that when the photographer arrives, they can grab the bag and get started with the shots. It...

As Shawn pointed out in his post on Monday, when he arrived back home from Arizona, he shared with me an itsy bitsy cold. I am a very dramatic sick person, so I was pretty much out of commission for a day or two. While sprawled out on the couch and binge watching Modern Family, I started to think about all the venues I've had the opportunity to shoot and all of the ones I have only been dreaming to photograph at. I've heard previously that when you want to make something happen, you should put it out in the world because it may manifest itself into reality. After awhile I started to really believe in that and started to be a little more genuine to myself. I was truly surprised in the effect that it had on my life and the positivity that it brought. So, naturally, I have started trying to work the magic into Britney Clause Photography. When Shawn joined me in 2015, he started to experience these beautiful places and adventures with me. After he came aboard, I really started to expand my view on what, where, and who I wanted to photograph. The "where" got me especially excited because I know there are an extraordinary amount of amazing venues in Maryland alone. So when I opened up my mind to all of the possibilities - oh man - that made me start to imagine big things for the future. I have a ton...

I have a feeling this year is going to be a big traveling year for Shawn and me. Between conferences for Shawn and me just tagging along for the room service, I just know we are going to be able to experience some really, really beautiful places together. Our first trip of the new year was to Providence, Rhode Island. Shawn had a research meeting up at Brown, and when he asked me if I would want to go with him and make a weekend of it, I jumped at the chance. I love whenever we get to escape and spend time in a new city together. Since neither of us had ever been to Providence, it sounded like a great time to go and explore. When we arrived we found out that winter in Providence wasn't the greatest tourist time, which kind of makes sense because of the cold, but it was still super creepy to be in an empty city. Seriously, we ate at a restaurant for a couple hours and were the only patrons. I imagine that our presence was pretty exciting to our waitress (and the bartender), haha! Shawn had his meeting on Friday, so while he was gone I stayed in the hotel room and worked on developing a new venture that I am really excited for. Currently, it's still in the development stages and I'm searching for designers for logos, so I'm staying very hush about it for now (sorry :P)! That night we...