You may remember Jesse & Jonathan’s amazing wedding from a few posts ago, the event took place in Crozet, Virginia at King Family Vineyard.  The couple thought it would be fun to have some wedding photos taken around Richmond as well so they returned from their honeymoon to get all gussied up again for a local shoot.  Day After sessions are kind of like a Trash the Dress sessions but with the groom too.  Its ideal for couples who want relaxed, fun photos that we can’t get the day of the wedding due to geography, a setting sun, a tight itinerary or inclement weather.  And those aren’t the only good reasons to consider this option: you don’t have to worry about the dress, you don’t have guests waiting on you so there’s no rush, you’ve had time to reflect on the wedding experience, you can try out a different hairstyle or make up look and best of all, you get to wear the dress more than once.  Amen to that!

Jesse & Jonathan knew they wanted some photos taken in their neighborhood so we headed down to Forest Hill Park, just an acorn’s throw from the couple’s new house.  

We couldn’t resist hitting the park’s playground and getting some play time in there.  I think our favorite shot was this ultra-formal with the horsey:

Clearly a night in shining armor, its Jonathan to the rescue:

maybe…

Forest Hill bumps right up to the James River so we headed down to Reedy Creek to find some train tracks.  After all, what better way to represent the journey that has just begun than train tracks?  And what could be a more “Richmond” sight than train tracks?  And the answer is: train tracks with trains on them!  We were happy to find a few cars in rest and took full advantage. (This is what art school does to your brain, in case you were wondering).

Congratulations once again to Jesse and Jonathan on their marriage and wedding, we were glad to draw out the celebration a little bit.  Here’s a slideshow from the shoot and if you would like to visit their online gallery, click here.

Posted by Mel @ 7:51 pm, in Bridals, Portraits, Weddings | 2 Comments | Permalink

Just a few more shots to add to Christina and William’s wedding pics… We met up with Christina on the campus of Washington & Lee to take her bridal portraits back in September.   The campus architecture behind Christina seems more like a studio backdrop than a real location for many photos, resulting in some very classic bridal portraits. We love the one she enlarged for the wedding above and here are a few more favs from the session.  Enjoy!

Posted by Mel @ 4:53 am, in Bridals, Portraits | 1 comment | Permalink

While Southern tradition dictates a bridal portrait should be taken before the wedding, with Jessica’s crazy spring schedule and our equally crazy spring schedule we just plum ran out of time!  The more we thought about it, the more a post-wedding bridal session seemed like a cool idea: not a trash the dress session per se but an opportunity to have a little more fun on the shoot.  And maybe another chance to get all dolled up in the dress too, why not extend the fun from May into October?  Here’s a link to Jessica and Hudson’s wedding on May 24th of this year in case you would like to reminisce.

We met up with Jessica at River’s Bend Ranch near Luray, Virginia to take the shots.  Jessica brought along a parasol from the wedding day, her bouquet and an additional and awesome accessory: cowboy boots!  We had a great time walking around the grounds, hanging with horses and on country roads, playing on fences and Jessica even humored me with a tractor shot.  Jessica is the most adorable model, I’m glad we waited because I don’t think we could have had that much fun in the dress before the wedding.  And you can ask her just to make sure but from the looks of it, I believe the dress survived us!

Congrats once again to Jessica and Hudson, we hope you enjoy these photos as much as we enjoyed taking them.  If you would like to see the whole session, click here.  Thanks once again to the folks at River’s Bend Ranch for welcoming us to shoot there, we hear that they do weddings so if you’re looking for a great farm-esque event location, be sure to check them out!

Posted by Mel @ 11:24 pm, in Bridals, Portraits | 1 comment | Permalink

I flop back and forth between posting bridal portraits along with wedding photos or giving them their own post but these were so cool that we think its worth separating the two.

About a month ago we met up with Amy along with bridespeople Melissa, Sean and Chrissy at the gardens of Maymont to take Amy’s bridal portraits.  We had a perfect sunny day and worked as close as we could to sunset to exploit all that warm, dramatic light.  Amy was amazing to work with and completely unafraid to try out non-traditional shots.  We love these…

If you would like to see the whole session, click here.  Its still protected by an event key so contact Amy to check them out!

Posted by Mel @ 5:56 pm, in Bridals, Portraits | No comments | Permalink