Cathy and Jon’s wedding brought us to Baltimore, Maryland although it didn’t seem so much like Baltimore at times.   When the couple met each other for the first time that day it felt more like an exotic place, somewhere Europe-y, somewhere like Rome…

Their ceremony and reception was held in the George Peabody Library in the Peabody Conservatory, a.k.a. the Cathedral of Books.  Breath taking, I couldn’t figure out why it seemed so familiar until a rerun of Ghostbusters on cable later that week.  Given that we reference the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man on the daily in this household now that our 3 year old is walking out the door in a size 5 winter jacket, I’m surprised I didn’t remember the scene sooner.  Unfortunately a Google search just informed me that I am dead wrong about the movie location but I just can’t bring myself to take back the reference.

There were so many things that made this wedding stand out.  Gorgeous couple, location and flowers, of course, but we were especially touched by the way that Cathy and Jon wove threads of their Chinese and Jewish heritage into a truly unique wedding ceremony.

Then there was Rocky.  We never got the back story but this squirrel can party like its 1999:

Is “amazeballs” an appropriate word to use to describe a wedding?  Check out the slideshow and decide for yourself.  And if you would like to receive an email when the full gallery is available for viewing, click here.  Until then, amazeballs has my vote.

Posted by Mel @ 9:09 pm, in Weddings | No comments | Permalink

“This is what I like about shooting weddings,” said Sam with the car keys jingling in his hand.  The gear was heavy on our backs and the night air was filled with sparkler smoke and the sound of summer crickets still pulsing strong into the first official night of Fall .  Anyone walking alongside us would have had no idea what he was talking about.  The end of the night?  Is that what you like?  (Well, to be honest, yes, we do.)  But having been been married for over ten years and after shooting together for even longer than that, I knew that he was actually referring to this:

If you read this blog, you already know that I am a giant art nerd.  I was the grad student who couldn’t wait to talk about Roland Barthes’ Camera Lucida.  I ate Susan Sontag for breakfast and moved on to Andy Grundberg for lunch.  I absorbed anything that critics had to say about the medium of photography because they all, essentially, believed the same thing.  That photograph you are looking at?  It ain’t real.  Its every bit as imaginary and contrived as a painting.  Its power lies in the fact that you believe it is real and you believe its real because its creation is grounded in something tangible but it is not, I repeat, it is not. Real.

Well, ladies and gentlemen, fans and critics, rest assured that we didn’t make all this up.  It was no trick of the lens.  I mean we’re good and all but we’re not that good.  There is no faking this kind of happiness.  You can’t eek it out of the best models, actors, photographers, cameras or any combination thereof.   The celebration was very, very real.  People who don’t normally like to dance danced for Chrissake.  Really!  Sarah and Chuck are the real deal and that’s what Sam was talking about in the parking lot.

Hello there, Art School.  Just so you know, I stand corrected.

Back to the deets, Sarah and Chuck were married at the lovely Mill at Fine Creek which, if you haven’t been out there lately, has taken on some new renovations and sweet details.  The Mill has long been a favorite of ours, aside from the loveliness of the ruins and the creek, the professionalism and hospitality you will find throughout the very talented staff there is beyond compare.  So is the food, I have no idea how they do it time and again at such a level of delicious perfection but these guys are so good that they will serve scallops in a buffet.  Scallops, people.  One of the most difficult of foods to cook perfectly in the first place, much less serve to a large volume of people.  And that, in a scallop shell, is the Mill at Fine Creek.

Here’s a slideshow with our favs.  Sarah and Chuck, congratulations and thank you for being so fun and easy going, you had us smiling all day right along with you.  That’s what we like about shooting weddings.

Posted by Mel @ 3:14 pm, in Weddings | No comments | Permalink

I’m used to joking that my favorite part of shooting weddings is the cake.  Don’t get me wrong, I like cake.  A lot.  But if that were really true I would have been bummed about this wedding where a gelato stand stood in for the cake.  Don’t get me wrong, I like gelato too.  A lot.  Sweets aside, what I enjoy the most are the couples we meet along the way, the families we bump into again and again, the way they become part of our lives and the way our understanding of what marriage is about deepens with every job.  Its a privilege really, and it its what makes it worth leaving our house to go to work on a Saturday.  Because you never know who is going to become part of the other 6 days of our week as the years go by.

Jessica and Chris are friends of dear friends and they couldn’t be kinder, more giving people.  One very unique attribute, aside from the fact that Chris can play the organ and I don’t personally know too many organists, is that their engagement officially ended in the same place it began: First Baptist Church in the historic Fan district.  Chris proposed to Jessica on this bench right outside the sanctuary where they were married.  Returning to that bench as official newlyweds was a nice photo op:

Some weddings are about a wedding.  This wedding was about a marriage and it was a pleasure to witness and to shoot.  And for the record, I wasn’t sure how I was going to feel about that gelato stand but consider me converted, I’m OK with the cakeless wedding afterall.  Even if feeding each other involves a little brain freeze!  Congratulations, Jessica and Chris!

Here’s a slideshow of our favs and click here to be notified when the gallery is available for viewing.

Posted by Mel @ 4:01 pm, in Weddings | No comments | Permalink

Its been one heck of a summer so far here in Virginia.  Crazy storms, crazy outages, crazy heat.  Its been the kind of summer that might drive a bride-to-be, well, crazy.  But then there’s Maggie… whose smile wouldn’t be undone by the storms that passed through (3 to be exact) or by anything else for that matter.  She ran through the rain into the side door of the church holding her dress above her head and grinning from ear to ear.  ”This is so much fun!”, she said over and over as her mother, sisters and closest friends prepared her for the big reveal with equal, giddy zeal.  The getting ready segment might have been my favorite part of the day.

There was so much tradition behind the wedding Maggie and Steve planned.  They were married in the same church where she and her siblings had been baptized and some married.  The reception was held in a tent on the side of the house she grew up in.  Favors of homemade strawberry jelly, the berries handpicked, were made lovingly for guests by her mother.  Maggie wore her sister’s veil down the aisle.

Given how many of these photos are taken outside, you might never know how much it rained.  Or maybe its all the smiles that keep the weather hidden like a good secret.  It was the perfect, down-home summer wedding regardless.  Check out the slideshow here to see what I mean and if you would like to be notified by email when all the photos are ready for viewing, click here.  A hearty congratulations to Maggie and Steve!

Posted by Mel @ 8:25 pm, in Weddings | No comments | Permalink