Maryland is where it is at for Mary and Justin, who you might recognize from their engagement session in the fall. I had been looking forward to their wedding because of Mary's description of the MD theme. Everything from their cake colors to the design on Mary's nails reflected their love for Maryland. I loved seeing the tiny details and big picture come together for their wedding day. I never realized how much of a designer's dream the Maryland flag is - it can be transformed into so many different things that no one would ever think of! When I first arrived at Mary's house, I was surprised to see how calm she was! Nothing stressed her out, and even their cake topper disappearing only made Mary shrug and go "Oh well." I think her very zen-like appearance was due to her knowing she was marrying the man of her dreams and that a missing cake topper wasn't going to change that. In fifty years she isn't even going to remember the things that were missing, so she felt no need to stress. I was definitely envious of her calm nature! Another thing I was envious of? Mary and Justin's reception: it was totally awesome! After a beautiful ceremony and some hilarious portraits of the bridal party, it was off to a reception that is now on my "Top Five Favorite Receptions" list. Mary and Justin made their grand entrance by breaking through a banner with their...

Fall was still hanging on in the beginning of December! For Ashley and Justin's session, we went out to Savage Mill. I had never had a shoot out there, and when we arrived, I was amazed at all of the fun and cute places. It is seriously a little bit of everything, all rolled into a dollop of a town. I had a plan to start by the bridge, just so they could get comfy with the camera. But they didn't need any warming up, and slipped into the model behavior right off the bat. I've been so lucky with my couples; they all seem to be well versed with posing :P! I actually have a lot of outtakes from this shoot since they were both adorable goof-balls with one another! When we finished with the Mill part, we started wandering around the little river area that went under the bridge. It is a very cool area, and a lot of my favorite shots came from this stretch of river. There were no distractions of cars or people. Just Ashley and Justin being close and lovey :). It's easy to see the love that these two have for one another, and I'm really looking forward to sharing these images!   ______________________________________________________________________________ ...

On October 27th, I traveled to Historic London Town & Gardens in Edgewater, Maryland for Sue and Joel's beautiful wedding. I had been looking forward to their fall wedding ever since their summer engagement session in July. When you think of the ideal weather for a wedding, this day was it. It wasn't unbearably hot, it wasn't freezing, it was just flawless! Sue had her daughters and son involved with the wedding and I feel like they helped a great deal with keeping everything Sue envisioned for the day in smooth working order. The best part about the wedding was that Sue and Joel were going to be sailing off into the sunset at the conclusion of the evening and had Joel's sailboat waiting at the venue's pier. Unfortunately, they had a funny memory from their sailing moment, since the boat had become stuck in the sand due to the tide going out. They enlisted all of their friends and family to help, and even Sue got up on the side of the boat to try to rock the boat out of the sand. Though it wasn't what they had in mind, Sue and Joel were in good spirits about it all and ended up getting some good time together on the boat, with a bottle of champagne, as they waited for the tow boat to come. Sue and Joel, thank you so much for letting me share your special day. You both are fantastic! _________________________________________ _________________________________________ A few...

A few weeks ago I traveled up to Mount Airy for Jessica and Thomas's wedding! I was super excited and had been looking forward to it since the day I met with them way back in May (before I even knew if I passed their interview process :P). The day started at a salon on the main street of the town, where the girls were getting even more beautified than they were naturally. Jessica was mostly calm, except for occasionally showing her excitement with a huge smile and a laugh with her girls. I don't know how she got through the day without being stressed out at all! It certainly helped that the day ran incredibly smoothly, since both Jessica and Thomas had everything timed and organized perfectly. Before the ceremony, Jessica and Thomas did a first look that was accompanied by the wedding party and most of their family. It was and incredible build-up, with people were cheering and laughing and shouting when Jess was near, Thomas was turning around, when the big reveal finally happened. Just typing it makes me giddy all over again! During the ceremony, the sun created a gorgeous pink and orange sky, and there was plenty of laughter, as well as emotional readings from both the bride and groom's mothers. It was only the ceremony, and the day already felt like it couldn't get any better. But there was still the night-time photo session! After some wonderful buffet selections (quesadillas, meatballs, and 7...