We are no longer booking weddings or portrait sessions at this time, thank you for your understanding.






Patapsco Female Institute

A Gorgeous Patapsco Female Institute Fall Wedding

Sara & Shawn

Oh, do I have a treat for you all today! I'm not just saying that because it's Halloween, either. On Saturday, Shawn and I photographed the most gorgeous wedding at the Patapsco Female Institute in Ellicott City. You may recognize this venue from the styled shoot Marlayna and I did in March. A truly stunning location with exposed beams, a grand staircase, and the most excellent stonework. After the styled shoot, I was dreaming of having a wedding at this spot. When Sara and Shawn contacted me about being their wedding photographer, I was over the moon with excitement. It means so much to me that we were able to go back to this spot and build new memories there. Building our relationship with Sara and Shawn has really been a wonderful experience. Chatting with them, we were able to learn how much they love Ellicott City and how important this venue is to them. From the proposal, which consisted of a hike through the city, to having romantic dinners in the historic location, getting to know them has been a highlight of our year. When the flood struck Main Street, one of the first things Sara and I bonded over was our immense need to help. It was incredible to talk with her and to share our stories of a place that means a lot to us. One of the things that I cherish during a wedding day is seeing the couple interact with their guests. Sara and Shawn's...

Serenity Blue & Cobalt Styled Shoot

Charm City Wed Feature!

I know that everyone is probably well aware by now that, back in March, Marlayna and I collaborated with a ton of amazing vendors on a styled shoot. I've been chronicling that journey in a few different blogs, and I absolutely love being able to share all that we learned. I think the most awesome thing about that day was that we did not just get one shoot out of it, but two, thanks to the generosity and hard working vendors that participated in the shoot. Due to their collective effort, our second shoot was featured on a local wedding inspiration blog called Charm City Wed on Monday! Check out the Charm City Wed feature here! We went into March 15th thinking that we were going to have one shoot and that was going to be it, but as the day evolved we realized how awesome our vendor team truly was. Everything during the day could be split into two different sessions from the stunning earrings by Rachel Mulherin, to the delectable food by Copper Kitchen. Items could be combined and separated in order to create two new worlds within a single day. We used the invitations that Pretty Peacock Paperie artfully crafted within the second shoot to add a different look to the rings from St. Johns Jewelers. Nature of Design, the fantastic florist, created two completely different fairytale-esque tablescapes that were so beautiful and unique. Bella Bridesmaids let us borrow six dresses that made each model take on...

4 Tips to Keep Costs Under Control

Tips & Tricks

We experienced first hand that spending money is inevitable when planning a wedding inspiration shoot. (Spending money for anything in life is pretty much a guarantee today, but that's a different discussion, haha.) At the beginning of the process for our Rose Quartz and Cobalt shoot, we didn't really think about the money that we would be investing in the session ourselves. When this styled shoot was just a small little baby, we only thought we would need flowers, a dress, and two models. But being the very high end thinkers and dreamers that we are, we noticed that this shoot was going to be much larger than having just three or four components. As Marlayna and I entered into the later stages of planning, we realized that in order to make this shoot match what was in our heads, we had to put forth some sort of monetary contribution. This included paying for the venue, gathering tablescape decor, and purchasing materials for our DIY activities. We certainly saved quite a bit of money by doing a lot of things on our own and gathering coupons for Target and Hobby Lobby. There is no shame in our coupon and final sales game, haha. We tried really hard to make sure we split the costs equally and that we weren't going ridiculously over budget for any one thing. We were thrifty in our purchases and definitely kept each other in check. And I never realized how awesome and beneficial...

Our Geode & Watercolor Styled Shoot

We've Been Featured!

Well, it's finally here! The Smitten Magazine issue featuring the Spring styled shoot by Marlayna and me is now live! We are so honored to have our names in such a beautiful collection of styles, recipes and photographs. It truly feels like a dream to have our work recognized, especially after the difficult process of getting it submitted. I still remember when we got the email from the editor of Smitten telling us that she loved the shoot and wanted to put it in Issue 15 of the magazine. Cue the tears and the giddy bouncing up and down in our chairs. Once we settled down we realized that we had to wait an entire month and a half until June for the magazine to come out, which seriously felt like an eternity. I don't know how we made it through, but here we are! Check out the Fresh Issue here! The most rewarding feeling was going to Smitten's site and seeing that beautiful cover image, and then flipping through the first few pages and seeing our faces (that sounds vain, but it was really friggin' cool). Seeing our images alongside so many other talented photographers and beautiful couples made all of the stress and worry completely worth it. This feature is not just for us, but for all of the amazing people that helped make our Pinterest inspiration board come to life. The florals from Nature of Design were beyond anything that we could have imagined. Janet and...

Exciting News About Our Styled Shoot

Smitten Feature

So I know I've been talking quite a lot recently about the styled shoot that Marlayna and I did, but that's because I'm really proud of everyone involved and what we were able to accomplish in such a short amount of time. I feel like most planned shoots don't happen within a month and a half (but I could be wrong, haha). We worked tremendously hard, and I fully intend on covering every topic that there is through this blog. I've already started a little bit of the conversation in my blog last week, which made me excited to share every happy, joyous, and heartbreaking moment that we had on this journey. One of the most amazing things happened yesterday: our first shoot - our little photo child - was accepted by Smitten Magazine. As embarrassing as it is to admit, Marlayna and I both cried when we got the email from Audrey, the editor-in-chief. Our entire goal for this shoot was showcasing everyone who dedicated time and their talent to it. After getting just a couple of rejections, we were feeling like failures in the publishing world. But then Smitten happened and our energy, emotions. and belief in love was completely restored! Can I just cuddle this exciting feeling for a little bit :P? Again, I'll cover ever single topic in the series on styled shoots, but just know that this acceptance did not come easy, and the joy of having our work recognized is really freakin' awesome. &...

Our First Styled Shoot

Teaser

Next to my wedding day and Pony's arrival, yesterday was literally the best day of my life. About a month and a half ago, me and photo-friend, Marlayna, decided to do a styled shoot together. The goal of a styled shoot is to provide a central spotlight on a lot of fantastic businesses by creating a mock event, which gives everyone excellent product photos and some good exposure after submission to some fantastic blogs. It was our first time planning our own shoot of this caliber, and we had little idea of where to start. So we Googled the heck out of previous styled shoots conducted by other photographers, and came up with an awesome game plan.  First, we needed a theme that is unique and interesting so our photo blog submissions would stand out. I think that was probably the easiest part of the whole process, because we pretty much just looked at our collective Pinterest dream boards and discovered we both love geometric shapes, geodes, and watercolors. Boom, theme was done. We set up our checklist and magical spreadsheet of what we needed and started reaching out to people. The hard work came in finding our venue, not spending our life savings in Home Goods, and figuring out the logistics for moving super heavy (and gorgeous!) furniture. The end result, though? Fan-freaking-tastic! It was better than any of our Pinterest boards, and the saying "go big or go home" has never been truer than our...