Caroline and Conor married at Big Spring Farm, one of our all-time favorite venues, in August 2021. Theirs was a wedding that captured everything we love about photographing summer weddings in Virginia. 

 

VENDORS

Planning & styling: Bryce Carson @ ROBERTS & CO

Venue: Big Spring Farm

Florals: Gregory Britt Design

Hair & Makeup: Transformation Artistry

Cinema: Yeattes Productions

Gown: A Kristin Bridal  from Annalise Bridal 

Catering: The Local

Film: Kodak Portra 400, Portra 800, and Tri X 400

Film Lab: Richard Photo Lab

 

Sophie & Zach married at the Clifton Inn in beautiful Charlottesville, Virginia. In a season of uncertainty, they showed us the certainty of love, attachment, and commitment. 

 

Laura & Connor’s Pippin Hill wedding was featured recently in MAGNOLIA ROUGE MAGAZINE.

 

Article:  “HOW DID YOU MEET? Connor and I met on my favorite holiday weekend, 4 th of July. I was just finishing up school at the University of Georgia. One of my good high school friends was in summer training for the Navy not too far away in Columbus, GA. So I invited him up to Athens for the 4th . I told him to bring some friends along. He didn’t really know Connor but Connor was randomly in the same training squad as him. So along Connor came to Athens.

TELL US ABOUT YOUR PROPOSAL: Connor completely surprised me by proposing on a secluded beach in Hawaii. He had all the details and timing perfectly planned out including a photographer disguised as a beach-goer who captured it all.

TELL US ABOUT FINDING YOUR WEDDING DRESS: My mom, best friend and me took a trip to New York City. I tried on many dresses over two days and found the one at the last place we had an appointment. The dress was just perfect for me and we thought it would work well with the venue.

WHAT WAS THE INSPIRATION BEHIND YOUR WEDDING STYLE? I wanted something that was romantic and dreamy but yet still had a little edge and uniqueness to it.

WHY DID YOU CHOOSE THIS LOCATION? The views and setting are breathtaking. We also loved the option to have an outdoor ceremony and then move right inside for the reception. The setup of the facility made for the perfect wedding venue. It was also great that we could great ready on site. Not to mention I love wine so being at a winery was icing on the cake!

DESCRIBE YOUR WEDDING FLOWERS: I love, love flowers so I know I wanted a lot of luscious flowers! I also knew that I didn’t want them to look too traditional or structured. The florist did an amazing job making my bouquet huge and looking slightly “undo” giving it an organic sensual feeling. She used a lot of different types of flowers including orchids and
roses but all a light pink and creamy whites. And there were unique greenery hoops hung from the ceiling in the reception area to add a great vertical element to the space.

FAVOURITE DETAIL OF THE DAY: The outdoor views of the gorgeous hydrangeas lining the pathway down to the ceremony and the rolling mountains in the horizon & flowers all made for the most beautiful scene for our ceremony.

WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE OUT TO A COUPLE PLANNING THEIR WEDDING? Try to enjoy the process and take moments to step away from the planning process and see the big picture, so you don’t get too wrapped up in the small stuff. Remember the day is about you and your fiancé!

MOST MEMORABLE MOMENT? Dancing the night away with everyone! Our band was awesome and they had everyone out on the dance floor.

ANY OTHER DETAILS THAT HELP TELL THE STORY OF YOUR DAY?
TELL US A LITTLE ABOUT YOUR HONEYMOON: We had a marvelous honeymoon in Greece! Santorini was beautiful and so romantic!

IS THERE ANYTHING YOU WOULD CHANGE OR DO DIFFERENTLY? Nope!”

 

VENDOR CREDITS.

VENUE: Pippin Hill Farm and Vineyard

PLANNING & EVENT DESIGN: Stephanie Bradshaw

FLORALS: Steel Cut Flower Co.

PAPER GOODS: Stephanie Bradshaw

HAIR & MAKEUP: Amie Decker

CATERING: Pippin Hill Farm and Vineyard

 

Up on top of the world at Raven’s Roost with Elle & Charlie.
Photographed on Kodak Portra 120 film using a Contax 645 and a Fuji X-Pro 3.

 

For Olivia & Nick, both residents of the DC area, a cherry blossom engagement session was a must. They didn’t even flinch when we recommended meeting at sunrise to avoid some of the pedestrian traffic, although come sunrise this past April, there was hardly a cherry blossom tree in the Tidal Basin that wasn’t offering shade to some photographer or his or her subjects. Cherry blossom season in DC always doubles as a small photographer’s reunion. 

This begs the question – how to capture something unique?

Follow your instincts. Follow that good light. Be true to your client. Be true to your own artistic vision. Focus on what you see through your viewfinder, not at what you’ve seen other people post on social media. 

Olivia & Nick have organic chemistry and they are such a pleasure to work with; we’re beyond thrilled to be able to photograph their wedding soon. 

Photographed 100% on Kodak Portra 400 film using a Contax 645. Developed and scanned on Frontier scanners by our friends at Richard Photo Lab. 

Stacey & Brandon married at Palmetto Bluff in Bluffton, South Carolina, just a few minutes across the border from gorgeous Savannah, on a Thursday. Because they’re cool like that. I never thought a few weeks later we’d have reporters calling us asking us questions about the venue because of Justin & Hailey Bieber’s wedding there the same year. I couldn’t really help them – but I could tell them how amazing Stacey and Brandon were, and how wonderful it was photographing their wedding there. On a Thursday. Because they’re cool like that. 

Montage Palmetto Bluff
                     Pronovias – Hispalis from Marie Gabrielle Couture                                        Kelli Corn Weddings
 Minette Rushing- Custom Cakes, Inc.
 Dj Wade at OtherBrother Entertainment
 Bride’s Side Beauty
 Bella Belle Shoes

 

 

“Everything that is made beautiful and fair and lovely is made for the eye of the one who sees.” – Rumi

Let’s go back to before their engagement session:

Anna and David booked us to photograph their wedding before the world was halted by the 2020 COVID pandemic.

As we were rescheduling wedding after wedding, David reached out to us via phone. ‘Oh no, another wedding to reschedule,’ I thought, answering his call, wondering if we’d be approved eventually for a grant or loan to cover the losses we were incurring.

To paraphrase how that call went:

“Hi Michael, we just wanted to say we know you are dealing with a lot of people rescheduling, and although we need to reschedule, we want to do all we can to work out a payment plan that will keep you and Carina secure until we can celebrate in 2021.”

I was stunned. It was hard to keep it together on the phone. David confronted us with his selflessness, even as HE was going through rescheduling one of the most significant, important events of his life. It’s people like that make an impression, one that never leaves you. He’s rescheduling his wedding, and he was concerned about our well-being.

This pandemic has definitely brought out some of our better angels, and David and Anna’s beautiful, selfless hearts shone in their engagement photos. We met them on an afternoon in early October 2020, along with their mothers who had come along to set up the florals in a canoe. The setting sun just kissed this hilltop towards the end of their session, so we set them free from poses and they danced into the sunlight. It was glorious.

We are SO thankful to work with beautiful souls like theirs, and to work with the incredible planner & stylist Lisa Gaskarth of Eight Seven Events. Be well and treat each other with love, friends!

xoxo, Michael and Carina

Photographed on a Contax 645 with Fuji400h film and a Fuji X-Pro 3.

Film developed & scanned by our dear friends at Richard Photo Lab.