Has it really been so long since I posted?  We’ve been very busy shooting, the blog will catch up with us eventually…

Speaking of catching up, remember Lee and Marshall’s gorgeous wedding at Main Street Station?  Somehow Lee’s bridals got away from me so I’m going to back pedal a little because its totally worth it.

We got together to take these late last spring at the Country Club of Virginia where both Lee’s mother and sister had their wedding receptions.  In addition to the sentiments behind the choice, it was a good place for some interesting interior shots too… Lee being an art director for R Home and all.

Serendipity is a funny thing.  We had gone in thinking that we would use the heavily wallpapered walls and antique fixtures as backdrops, I had the shots fully sketched in my head before we even walked through the front door.  While waiting for Lee to get ready upstairs, we stumbled into a side room where we thought we might store some equipment, concerned that we were distracting attention from canasta games and luncheons going on around the club.  It was a rather plain board room with a very large, semi circular window made of fabric pleats.  Sam and I looked at Lee’s vintage inspired dress with the shift length and then at each other.  Scrap the stodgy Southern belle stuff.  We were going for Hollywood glam, art deco style in the board room!  We pulled the tables and chairs back, hid some unsightly plugs and heaters in shadows, and played with with this fun and completely unexpected backdrop.

There were several fun details to play with on this shoot, including Lee’s bright yellow shoes, birdcage veil and dress pockets:

While we had a good time exploring the interiors at CCV, the shot that turned out to be our collective favorite was taken on a bench right outside!  I can’t put my finger on it exactly but its a little sassy, confident and still pretty and Southern.  It hit all the bases…

Congrats once again to Lee and Marshall and thanks to Lee for letting us play…

Posted by Mel @ 5:27 pm, in Bridals, Weddings | No comments | Permalink

Jessica and Eric were married at the lovely Wyndham Virginia Crossings here in Richmond over the Labor Day weekend.  Just like we did for our own wedding, the role of ring bearer and flower girl was given to the couple’s four legged children, Sampson and Delilah.  For one thing, kids don’t exactly have a monopoly on cute.  Besides, pets are family members so its nice to bring them into the ceremony of the day.  We had a great time photographing these lovely goldens and their sloppy kisses.

Eric chose his father, Walter, to be his best man.  Which gave us some lovely visual opportunities…

I’ve been loving what I have seen of the color purple this season!  The smokey lilac colored cala lillies that made up the bridesmaids’ bouquets are among the prettiest lillies I have seen and the orchids in the table arrangements lent an unexpected splash of color.

Here’s a slideshow with our favorites from the day.  Congrats to Jessica and Eric and if you would like to see more, click here to receive an email notification when all the photos are ready…

Posted by Mel @ 5:12 pm, in Weddings | No comments | Permalink

“Welcome to my big, fat, Lebanese wedding”, moaned Jackie, exasperated and propped up in the limo on the way to the church.  I felt her pain: the thermometer was topping 100 degrees, the salon experience had been a major disappointment, getting into the dress proved logistically challenging, various family members coordinated posed photos with every step she took towards the front door and the noise level was over the top with so many people talking excitedly and no one really listening.  The look on Jackie’s face was definitely of the “Calgon, take me away” variety as that limo pulled away, late to the church, making Jackie crazy because she is never late.  ”See, this is why I’m never having a wedding, its too crazy”, chimed her sister Christina.

Fast forward to the reception.  The room is lit in purple hues with hundreds of votive candles hanging from the ceiling, dance music blares through the speakers and a lone drummer follows the couple as they dance their way into the crowd to make their first appearance as husband and wife.  I know that I can’t speak for Jackie but if these photos have a story to tell and if that story is true, I would have to conclude that all the craziness is well worth it.  Because by the looks of it, nothing beats being a Lebanese bride or groom…

And if you can’t actually be a Lebanese bride or groom, partying with one is the next best thing…

Jackie and Ramzi, congratulations and thank you for making us part of your big, fat, Lebanese wedding.  Family is the best kind of crazy there is!  Enjoy this slideshow with our favs from the day and if you would like to be notified by email when all the photos are ready for viewing, click here.  We can’t wait to share the rest of these, there just isn’t enough room here for all of it.  Fly high, you two!

Posted by Mel @ 8:27 pm, in Weddings | No comments | Permalink

I’m not sure if a wedding can get more “Richmond” than this one, from our transplant point of view anyway.  You could say that it starts with the names Lee and Marshall, names with a familiar ring here, steeped in local history and memorialized through monuments and city streets.  But to us its Lee and Marshall’s style, creativity, charisma and love of all things old and industrial that makes this wedding quintessential Richmond.  We were originally drawn to this city because of art and aesthetic but we stayed here because of the people we met.  Any groom that does the robot with his mom during the mother-son dance and any bride that encourages us take family portraits underneath a train trestle is, simply put, pretty dern cool.

Both the ceremony and reception took place at our favorite venue in the city, Main Street Station.  The trains that pass over, through and under the building delight guests young and old.  We love the dramatic architecture and, of course, a little trainspotting…

Bright yellow accents against silver and grey dresses and suits bounced beautifully with the concrete and streetlights directly outside.  And you gotta love the contrasting nail polish, these gals had it going on from head to toe, literally!  Again we had the pleasure of working with… take a wild guess… the amazing Windy.   It was no surprise that the day went off without a hitch…

It was fun to shoot for Lee, an art director for R Home Magazine , who encouraged us to play a little bit with the seating area where people wait for their train.  I promise to share her bridal portraits next week…

Afterwards we took a quick jaunt to the site of Lee and Marshall’s engagement in Church Hill.  We took photos on and around the bench where Marshall proposed to Lee with the grand city view before us.  How perfect that the crepe myrtles, such a prominent symbol of Richmond summers, were perfectly blooming right over the bench…

Here’s a slideshow of our favs from the day and if you would like to be notified when all the photos are ready for viewing, click here.

Posted by Mel @ 9:39 pm, in Weddings | 1 comment | Permalink