Alycia and Will!

"I don't quite know how to say
How I feel
Those three words are said too much
They're not enough"

Will and Alycia were married on Friday. The wedding was so lovely and so God-centered. I totally cried.
:)

Chavia, from Chaviagraphy! (the bride's sister!)





I really like this one :)



A nice "yummy" portrait :D

This feels very "Sarah, Plain and Tall" -ish to me. I don't know why, but I really like it!

Had to sneak this cutie in!

Oh, these last few moments...

How beautiful is that???


The bride's brothers are part of Zelos, an awesome band, and played songs during the ceremony. (The whole family is just talented, ok?) Definitley check out their stuff!

The happy party!

And a few of the husband and wiiiife!

It had just stopped raining when we went out to do pictures, so we ended up with some hazy, humid Maryland summer light :)

Cheryl and Matt

" I could hold you in my arms
I could hold on
forever "

Cheryl and Matt's wedding was very emotional. The wedding plans were all going along as normal, just days before the wedding - excitement was building and all the last minute details were being taken care of.
And then Cheryl got very, very, very sick. She was on medicine and antibiotics, enduring tests and laying in the hospital. Matt was right by her side the whole time - I can't tell you how many people raved to me about how delicatley and lovingly Matt cared for Cheryl. The night before the wedding Cheryl went home, and the day of the wedding (minutes before I arrived) she received a phone call from her doctors saying all tests were negative! Prasie God! But, man, how stressful!

The walk down the aisle was amazing. Magical.
Matt's reaction was practically perfect. He was so anxious waiting for her. Fumbling with his hands, wiggling his feet, playing with his collar. And then she came around the corner, and he gasped out loud and just beamed. He didn't take his eyes off of her once. It was adorable :)

And this just makes me smile :) That little dog is craaaazy!

And I also had to post this one of Cheryl and her son :D She was so proud of him, and they have a very sweet relationship!

Congratulations Matt and Cheryl! I hope you have a ridiculously relaxing honeymoon!

Joe and Bethhers!!!

" say it again for me
cause i love the way it feels
when you are telling me that i'm
the only one who blows your mind "

** special thanks to the amazing peter bang who shot with me!!! **

The now semi-famous "grocery store" couple, Joe and Beth, got married on Sunday night. They have become good friends and practically everyone I knew from church was anticipating this wedding. Word on the street was that it was going to be CRAZY fun.

The beginning of the day was very fun :)

Beth was a nervous/excited little thing, though. She was playing with her toes - and I thought it was very cute.

And she also sang her little heart out! That made me mighty happy! haha

I asked Beth to tell me "their" story while she was getting ready. Basically, they were great friends but he never really thought of her as anything else. Until, one Sunday (I quote) "He saw me singing on stage and thought 'What on earth am I doing without her???'"
Gaaah. My heart dripped like a melting ice-cream cone. SO sweet!



The grooms sisters, Naomi, was celebrating her birthday on Sunday, too! Happy Birthday, again, Ni! I like to tell people I have two "secrets" to getting weddings: my blog and Naomi. She has referred me to SO many people! Thanks, Princess :D

Ooooh la la

The final product! She was honestly breath-taking.

Ok, so, some boy stuff. Apparently, this little "Best Man" patch was Joe's favorite part of the entire wedding.

Looking sharp!

They all wanted to do a picture "prom" style. This is SO Joe's sense of humor. I was dyyyying!!!

Meanwhile, Beth was getting final touches done! It was impossible to catch her without this face:



I love this one:

Hello cute face!

Aw :) :) :) This almost makes me cry :) She was trying so hard to hold it all together!

There was lots of laughing during the vows, of course.

{Photographers: I was quite thrilled to get this lens flare. Not my favorite picture ever, but, um, the lens flare practically killed me with happiness!}

Yay! Kisses!
I would like to thank their pastor, Bob Kauflin, who remembered to step out of the picture so that it would look great! haha

This is another funny moment I just had to post. I started taking pictures and was like "Joe, you are scrunching down all weird!" The entire bridal party burst out laughing - they tricked me, and this is Joe's brother (who looks a lot like him, in my defense)

Time for the limo! This ride was a crazy ride of laughter, singing and all-around chaos

The super-elegant party

How fun are they? My job is the best.



Aw!







Oh, you two, I love how you love each other!

I have to stop picking pictures to post, but I really had to include this. They had a very, very touching video of Joe's older brother in Iraq, who couldn't be at the wedding. Makes me so grateful!

And, there are so many dancing pics (and the party was as awesome as it was hyped up to be!) but here are a few!




Hey hey! Look who made it into some songs! Beth told me I could only do her pictures If I promised to dance some :) Deal!
Thank you, Peter, for rocking the dance pictures!

This is one of my favorite all-time wedding pictures. Ever.
And I have no idea what happened to Joe! Did he fall? I really don't know.

Congratulations Joe and Beth!!!

" All summer long, we sang a song
And strolled on golden sand
Two sweethearts, and the summer wind "

On Friday afternoon I got to meet up with the lovely Thomas family in DC! They are from North Carolina (luckies!) and happened to be in my area and wanted to get some family pictures done!

They are so cute :) Just the picture perfect little family, I think.





They are some goooorgeous ladies in the Thomas family! Let me tell ya!




I was actually light-checking here, but when I got home and saw this one on the computer I instantly loved it! I love that its out of focus, I love their faces. I love the light. I think this is what my dreams are like in my head.

What is the point of doing pictures in DC if you don't have proof you were there?!?

Special thanks to Lyds for giving me the idea for this shot. She commented to me "Can't you just tell what they are each like by looking at their feet?" hahah And it's so true!

It was lovely meeting your family! I hope you have a safe trip home :D

My not-favorite

One of my least favorite parts of life is when my family is not around. This weekend they were all gone for a short trip to the beach... without me :(

Don't feel too bad, because I did have three jobs while they were gone, and a handful of them came home early to watch the Celtics. BUT, still, I don't like it when they are gone. My house is so empty and quiet. And I really don't know what to so with myself. I think I thrive on activity and noise.

One afternoon I just played singing-super-star in my room :) 
You at least have to watch the 35-45 second mark... It's phenomenal.


I shouldn't be left alone :)And I am very glad all these faces are back with me!

Why would you ever want to wake up to silence (albeit peace) when you could wake up to this?!?!

It's been a good day :)

I forgot.

The man made spaghetti sauce
In the kitchen he is boss
Kind of like a dance party
His red treat was spicy & hearty
Pretty much the best ever
I want to eat it forever
I ate a ton
Thank you, Preston :)

My friend Brienne's husband made some awesome spaghetti sauce back in February. I wrote this poem and never blogged about it, like I promised :(

Oh My :)

" I am walking on sunshine!
And don't it feel good!
Hey! "

It has been way too long since I have done a shoot with children. I didn't even realize how much I missed it until Monday morning.

Bright and early Riley (check out his flick here) and I met Ben, Clark, Rhett, Ashlyn and Joey. They looked like little J. Crew models! Aah! I was in heaven :)


OooOOooooh! Oh my... this little face!!!!

And this one!!! Oh MY gosh!

I just need to be warned when I am going to be with such precious-ness! I can just hardly stand it!



Oh, to be young and carefree..... :)

(I would like to welcome my first texture to the blog... round of applause please!)





This is one of my favorites. If you look from left to right: Clark's extra happy face, Rhett & Ashlyn holding hands, Little Joey with his hands clasped and the hand in the pocket for Mr. Mature Ben :) It's classic

Working the cammmera!









You guys were the best!

Tashy and Kyle!

I got an angel
She doesn't wear any wings....
She wears a smile
That makes you want to sing

Tashy needed Kyle's ipod while she was getting ready. Everyone was a little frazzled and a single hotel room was where 9 bridesmaids, mother of the bride and the bride were getting ready. It was very packed.
I went down the hall and grabbed the ipod.

"Please put on some Jack" Tashy asked.
I happily clickclicked the ipod to the "J's" promptly found "Jack Johnson" and then my little heart skipped a beat. 104 songs???? She has 104 Jack Johnson songs???
I knew that the day was going to be amazing right then and there :)



The grooms family is from Hawaii, and his mom did all the flowers and cake! She was amazing!
And the whole wedding had a very chill, island-y feel to it.
You know how I much I would hate a laid-back, beach wedding ;)

Looking niiiice!

I think pretty people flock together hahah The ladies looked just beautiful :D

There are no words.


Hello happy face!

But even such a calm, collected beauty can lose it moments before "the walk"
He cried :) :) :) :) eeeee! :) :)



This was adorable. When the pastor said "Tasheia, do you take this man to be your lawfully wedded husband" she yelled "I do!" before the pastor could finish :) hahah EVERYone burst out laughing and it was so perfect.
The pastor was like "Great, I am glad! Now, lets finish! To have and to hold" etc



Woohoo! They did it!

A fun group shot:

Oh, the pure bliss :)

Sometimes my sister will hear really, really sweet songs and say to me "Kristen! Can you believe that someday someone is going to feel that way about YOU! It's so crazy!"
That picture above makes me think that - "Man, that is the way every girl should feel someday"


HeLLO!


Ok, so, let me tell you... these Hawaiians can DANCE! Oh goodness, they were crazy!

First dance to "Angel" by Jack :)

Oh! And I thought the back of her dress was so elegant!

Congratulations you two! Your wedding was amazing!

Hadiya & Akeel

"I could stare at your face all night
Blinking is the enemy"
-bosc


This past weekend was the lovely wedding (actually, it was a vow-renewal.... they have been happily married for almost 5 years) of Hadiya and Akeel! Special thanks to Armin who assisted me. Be sure to check his blog for more pictures!

Some details



This is Hadiya's mothers dress! Just beautiful!





He is just too, too cute! AAaaah!

The amazing Brookside Gardens...





All the guests coming!



Look at his precious little nervous face :( Oh, its so cute.

Apparently I wasn't the only one who thought so!

Pure Bliss ;D

And a cute groom face...



Officially married - again :)

I really loved this one of the boys



They are very fun together!

I so appreciate how seriously Hadiya & Akeel take marriage, and that they still are very, very in love after enjoying marriage for almost 5 years! That is so wonderful!

Now, I must take a minute to highly recommend Samara of By Design Events. She is like a miracle worker! Her attention to detail, organization and just excellence in her job is outstanding! She and her team were flawless!



Ok, I LOVED this idea. Instead of numbering the tables, each table was "named" after special part of Hadiya and Akeel's relationship - a date, a story, a joke, a memory - it was very personal! And I loved hearing what each one meant!



Congratulations!

Favorite Tuesday!

This post is brought to you today byyyy: Facebook BumperStickers! Wooohooo!

Facebook has this really fun application where your friends can send you little "bumper stickers" for your page. It's honestly one of my favorite things on Facebook! haha

These are all the ones on my wall and I just laugh so, so hard when I get them. Almost all of these are inside jokes between me and my friends.

What does that have to do with my latest couple, Amanda & Paul?
Um, not really anything.
BUT, their shoot included a few of my favorite things, so I figured that they would be perfect to post on favorite Tuesday!

First of all, they got engaged on a swing set!
We had to go back to the very spot, of course.

Me: "Ok, so, do you remember which swing you were on?"
Amanda: "Ohhhh, um, I actually don't! Let me see..."
Paul: "It was the second one. On the left. She was right there"

I thought it was very sweet that Paul remembered it exactly :D

I couldn't pick between these, so they both made the blog


*Smooooch!*

Amanda is so so beautiful!

I can't wait to see her on wedding day!

Ok, these next three pictures are some of my favorite. There is such a "little-kid" feel to them. Just the two of them playing around in a school-yard. I think it captures them well and as Amanda said "I am basically five-years-old on my inside."





After the park and school, we drove to an amazing rose garden! Also a new favorite of mine. The place smelled fabulous and it was just gorgeous!

It's hard to really describe how hot it was that day. It was like the air of a bathroom when you get out of a hot shower. And then putting on a damp sweater, then going out in the sunshine! These two pictures "look" hot to me:




Last favorite part? Amanda wore a dress :D



Amanda and Paul - thank you for being so, so, so coorperative in the heat! (Even though you lied to me about being bad at modeling! haha) You guys were so sweet to me and I am just so happy that I get to shoot your wedding!

St. Mary's wedding!

"Don't ask me why I'm crying
'Cause when I start to crumble
You know how to keep me smiling"

Two weekends ago I was able to shoot with a very successful photographer in my area - Armin Defiesta. It rained and rained and rained and rained all day and about 15 minutes before ceremony time, it came to a complete halt. The sun came out and it ended up being a completely lovely evening!










I really do love this one :D

I love being able to second shoot and focus on lots of details!









"Huh?" haha He was such a cutie


Almost a wife!

Aw :D :D Happy groom :D :D





I love when the brides entire face smiles!

As much as I love the first kiss...

... I think its extra sweet when the give each other a big hug after :)

Yay! They did it!

I had a little incident with the battery and rain on the way in, so I couldn't shoot all night :( But that's alright - I am so glad that it wasn't mine wedding. And now I bring five batteries to all my events. Just in case :D

Thanks again to Armin for inviting me to shoot with him! Definitley check out his work!

The Story of Life :D

"Why don't we go
Talk about it
Somewhere only
We know"

Sooo, about a year ago I took senior pictures for Kate.

In the fall she wanted to surprise her boyfriend with pictures of them together, as a present. Hence the "boyfriend-girlfriend" shoot:

Now, they are engaged! So, of course, it was time for an engagement shoot :D

We had grand plans to drive all the way to beautiful, old, Georgetown, an adorably romantic little town that is the perfect place for couple to go on dates, or have engagement shoots :D
However, our area was bombarded with the worst storm I have ever seen here. All over the area "tornado warnings" were being issued. Clouds were spinning, rain was dumping and leaves were blowing all over the place.


As far as I was concerned, the shoot was off :D
Well, I got a text from Kate and she was asking to re-schedule. About a minute later she texted back and was like "Oh! The sun is coming out! I think we can still do this!" Not too be out-adventured by anyone, I told her we could definitely still do this.

But, I had no idea how bad the roads were. Her house is a little less than 20 minutes from mine, and the plan was to meet there. Wellllll, about 45 minutes later I was still on the road, trying to get there. It was a single file line of cars allllll the way to her house. All the lights were out on the road. Power lines were knocked over. Trees were lying everywhere. It was a mess. BUT, the engagement shoot must go on!
The rain stopped, and we were blessed with beautiful post-rain light! It ended up being just perfect! Since the roads were awful, we decided to just walk around her neighborhood and do the best we could there. I think it all turned out wonderfully!

And of course it helps that they are super, super cute together!







We had to play the face game, cause I love it haha

"Awkward"

"Excited"

"Annoyed"

"Little Kid"

"In Love"






If you know me at all, you know my deep love of swings. Plus, they look awesome in pictures!



"The only thing I see is you"

So pretty.... so, so pretty





He "won" the prize hahah





That's a right they were! These objects were MUCH close than they appear :D

We had to get that truck again!



And one last stop to Starbucks, a special place for them :D
(can you spy a photographer? hehe)

Congratulations Kate and Ryan! So excited for your future!

Val and Jimmy

I am not even going to give an excuse for my 8-day-blog-break. Let's just get right back to regular planned activities:

" When you smile that way
I know...
That's when I love you, when I need you...
That's when I know without a doubt
That I can't live without you"

Val and Jimmy! I have been truly looking forward to this wedding since the day Val called. She left the cutest little message on my phone and I just had to shoot her wedding. Had too. I was in love with her. The perkiest, squeekiest, cheer-leader-iest of girls there is.

I was so sad when I found out that her wedding was in North Carolina, on Sunday the 25th. I had Sarah's here on the 24th and I was sure that there was no way any bride would be comfortable with me flying into her state the day of the wedding.

But, Val is no ordinary bride :D We bought a ticket for 5:30 am, and by 7:45 wedding morning I was at her house! Praise God! No travel complications whatsoever. I might have been a little sleepy, but was quickly energized when I saw Val. And met her family!

Val is one of twelve (I believe - it might be eleven). They were also hosting a huge handful of bridesmaids and out-of-town guests. Children, adults, dresses, suitcases and sleeping bags were everywhere! I felt SO at home and was just like "Oh man, this is how a family should be." I loved it!

Shortly after arriving we headed off to the hair-dresser with the first "wave" of girls. This hair-dresses was straight out of a movie. Classic southern, country shop! The lady who ran the place recruited her sister and granddaughter to help with make 12 heads of girls "pretty." They talked about how the met their husbands, how the fell in love and one lady even said "We've been married for 30 years next Tuesday, and, my goodness, to this day when I look at that phone and see his name my heart skips a beat." AAaaaawww!!! I felt like I was in a real life chick-flick!

And then, Miss-soon-to-be-Mrs.-Head-over-heels-Valerie came in. It was just a love mess in that hair salon! Jimmy called her while she was having make-up done and I thought she was going to explode from happiness. She went in another room to talk to him, but I snuck a few shots of her. She was just magnificently happy talking to him. When I picture in my mind what "madly in love" is, she is what I picture.

As if life wasn't mushy and terribly cute enough for me, when Val returned home, we found her dad in the kitchen making hotdogs for an assortment of kids.
"Dear, you look beautiful"
Val grabbed a handful of goldfish "Oh thank you Daddy!"
"Valerie, I don't think we ever got to practice our dance together."
She offered to practice with him right there in the kitchen, amidst highchairs and potato chips :D
It was the sweetest :D

Part of the reason I didn't blog this week was because I couldn't pick which things to blog about! I would start going through pictures, then I would end up with 150 that fit into the story! I still try to do another post of these two, cause I love so many of the pictures, but here is a condensed version of the rest of the day.
(ps. Um, I really, really, really loved Val's dress. I felt like Cinderella just looking at it!)

Happy eyes!

Happy mouths!


I thought this was cute... he put his hat on her - it looked like a movie (the perfect end to a chick-flick perhaps?)

Ugh, it just drives me crazy when the grooms are so gloomy and un-smiley. Sheesh ;D



After this wedding, I think I figured something out about me. I love memories. I love "little moments." I love the stuff that "you just had to be there" to get. And wedding photography, unlike almost any other kind of photography, gets to capture that.
Each wedding is different, each wedding is romantic and amazing in its own way. Each wedding is someone's BIG day. The day of their dreams. And it will never happen again! And I get to capture it!

For example, the flower-toss went different at this wedding.. I passer-by caught the bouquet hahah SO funny!

And three cheers for embarrassing toasts! I loved their faces as Val's sister told a pretty awesome "dating" story with these two haha

Oh, Val and Jimmy, thank you for welcoming me into your life for such a big day! Jimmy, thank you for being Prince Charming to Val. She really adores you :D And Val, you make me so happy. I wish that every bride was as happy as you were on your wedding day!
Congratulations!

ps. This song by Phil Vassar called "When I Love You" yeah, its so, so cute and I think it was written for these two!