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Nicole + Brian’s downtown DC wedding – St. Francis Hall

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Before I begin my last blog post of 2011, I just want to take a moment and reflect on what an amazing year it’s been. Thank you to all my wonderful brides and grooms for being such great people, so fun to work with and for planning fabulous events that created lovely photographs. I’ve learned so much from the variety of weddings I’ve shot this year and while it’s artistically fulfilling for me to improve as a photographer, more importantly it means better photos for my couples. I’m really looking forward to 2012 and the wonderful couples I’ll be working with and those who just got engaged and haven’t hired me yet!J

Nicole and Brian were my grand finale for 2011. As anyone living in Washington knows, December can be 65 degrees and sunny or 20 degrees and snowing. We hit it at about the halfway point. It was a beautiful sunny day but deceptively cold due to a lot of wind. I’m especially grateful for Nicole and Brian for being such troopers for a couple reasons. First, they arranged their day to factor in the lack of light in mid-December and we did their first look and all their before photos at their very cool reception site—St. Francis Monastery in NE DC. This is one of the city’s hidden gems! The grounds are amazing and the archways that run around the perimeter of the churchyard are about as good as it gets for photos. Nicole gets a special shout out for taking off her wrap and standing outside for a few minutes in her sleeveless gown. Good thing Brian was standing nearby to warm her up! I loved all the creative touches for the wedding, particularly the paper flowers. I knew Nicole was planning on no live blooms, but I wasn’t sure what to expect. I had a vision of the tissue paper flowers I created when I was a kid. But the bouquets and bouts and centerpieces were beyond cool! Another touch that I know was special to Nicole was their cake toppers. They were a surprise for Brian and they were an exact replica of the couple, down to the paper flower bout on Brian! They were adorable. Their whole day was warm and fun and low key…just want you want on a cold winter day!

 

The vendors making their day:

Event coordinator  Hong-Nhu Mai (she created the flowers as well!)

Church: Universalist National Memorial Church, NW DC

Reception Site: St. Francis Hall, St. Francis Monastery, NE DC

Caterer: Main Event Caterers

Hair: Essam at Fringe Hair Studio

Makeup:  Azi Niroo, Cristophe Salon

Band/DJ Chris Laich Music Services

Cake. Olivia Doherty

Photography: Deb Lindsey and Michael Connor

 

Happy New Year to all and we’ll be blogging again in 2012!!

Amy + Jude’s wedding – July 17, 2010

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I’m not sure I’ve seen a more nervous groom than Jude. We were the first ones at the church for his wedding to Amy. I’m glad he had the rings to twirl on his fingers to keep him occupied. I’m also glad that they decided to see each other before the ceremony. In a change from my usual first look, Amy snuck up on Jude as he waited outside the church. Once he saw Amy, he just beamed. And any trace of nervousness was gone. Their ceremony at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington was flooded with light and as their friend conducted the ceremony, it was made much more personal by retelling the story of Amy and Jude’s courtship through the social groups at the church. And the significance of the little bears that Jude carried with him during the ceremony. Amy and Jude were very committed to having a green wedding. The flowers were delivered that morning from a local farm and I loved the flower seeds as guests for the gifts. Another whimsical touch was the crayons and paper for everyone (not just the kids) to draw and make notes for the couple. And the colors of purple and yellow made the room pop.