The questions that Shawn and I ask during meetings with our couples aren't overly technical. We try to keep meetings with us as natural as possible. Occasionally, the meetings can feel like a blind double date, just because we really want to get to know who both of you are. When Shawn and I have a sense of what your relationship is based on, then we are able to give you a better idea of who we are. I know I have stressed this a million times, but we enjoy being friends with our couples. Last week, we sent our September and October couples their wedding day questionnaires. I've covered that topic in the past, but to recap: it's our online document that covers everything. It's extensive, and I would say it takes more than a few hours to complete. But much like our first meeting, it allows us to get to know the couple that we will be photographing. Yesterday, I got the sweetest email from one of the brides, Sara, saying how they had finished the questionnaire (like champs) and how excited her and Charlie were to see us again. From the initial meeting we had with them, Shawn and I really wanted to connect on a level that wasn't just "you're my wedding vendor". We wanted Sara and Charlie to feel happy that they chose us. The questions covered in their consultation were extremely important, and go hand-in-hand with the topics we cover in the...

In this blog post, I want to explain our unique focus as wedding photographers, and how it positively affects our business. Before diving in, let me explain some background. I've been searching for my place in the photography world since 2011 when I created my business. At first, it was incredibly easy to pick the path I wanted to follow: couples, engagements, and weddings. I've always felt more comfortable in smaller groups, even when I was a kid. The connection that I was able to build with a couple was always much more natural. The journey of finding my place became a little more difficult when it came to perfecting my editing style. But after some consideration and basing it on my personality, I decided to focus on more bright and colorful images. In November, I attended the Creative at Heart conference. One of the speakers, Shay Cochrane, figuratively slapped a bunch of us in the face with "finding your niche." The entire conference was abuzz with ideas of what made their work different and what set them apart from the masses. I felt the tiniest amount of imposture syndrome, because I had no clue what made my business awesome. It wasn't until I read Shawn's blog post a few weeks ago that I realized our niche was staring us in the face the entire time. Our Niche The benefit of our husband and wife team is getting to show balance during the wedding day. It's not...

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...

I've been so crazy busy with my June weddings and gearing up for gorgeous engagement sessions that I completely have been neglecting an amazing, fantastic, out of this world trip to NYC that me and my best friend, Brad, and I took in June! Let me set the stage for you: I had just gotten back from my May trip to New York and was settling in back to home life when I get a text from Brad asking me how the city was. I started filling him in on all of the new experiences I got to try (subway system and taxis). At some point in our text stream, Brad sent "I wish we could go adventure in the city together." While reading his message, I shrugged and replied "Let's do it!" Once a discussion of dates happened, I immediately got on megabus.com and booked us two tickets for a day trip on June 16th. Saying that we were excited is a total understatement. Brad and I had this "New York City life" dream since we visited the big apple 10 years ago for my 17th birthday. This impromptu day trip was going to be the best part of our year. We arrived in the city at 10:00am, which gave us 12 hours to walk around, hail cabs, and - most importantly - eat lots of different food. Our first stop was Cafeteria, a super modern and trendy restaurant in Chelsea. Even...

When it comes to wedding planning, it's no secret that most of it is geared towards the bride. The broad generalization (whether it's true or not) is that the female is the Creative, who has been planning the wedding since she was little, and is the most capable person. Everything involved with the wedding is making these childhood dreams come true, and the guy is just a lucky participant in this occasion. In fact, it seems to be a rule of the universe that most conversations about wedding planning include a passive comment like "It's her day, after all!" It might be the gentleman passing the responsibility of choice to his future wife, or it might be used by an in-law or friend to override an unpopular decision, but Britney and I cringe whenever we hear this phrase. It gets to be rather demoralizing for a male and helps feed this notion of "her day." Just in the process of our own wedding, I've had these circumstances occur: Filling out a form for a wedding expo which asked explicitly for "Bride's Name" but not mine. Getting a call from a vendor asking to speak to Britney even though I gave my name and number on the contact list. Having my name spelled completely wrong on a form with a potential vendor (they spelled Britney's name correctly). Being generally ignored in conversation while vendors make direct eye contact with Britney. Britney and I worked hard...