Washington DC Wedding Favorites - Part II

Today, we continue our favorite shots from 2014!  Seriously, how much did you enjoy our last post? Some AMAZING images, right?  Let's continue, than, shall we?  :-)

Most Touching Image

This is Lauren and her Dad, Tim "Mr. Incredible" Christensen.  We didn't meet him until the morning of the wedding, but we have never met a Father of the Bride who was more involved with making sure every single detail of his daughter's day was absolutely perfect.  When Chris was shooting the groomsmen getting ready, he was studying what looked like a play book, but it was the choreography to this dance with his daughter.  He wanted to make sure he remembered it, so that it was perfect. We could tell from the moment we met him that he was a great man!  We were beyond honored to capture these amazing moments and saddened beyond belief when we learned he passed away shortly after Lauren Bryce's wedding from a sudden heart attack at work.  We have heard people say that wedding photography is a silly expense when everyone has a camera or an iPhone.  Or to just have people take photos and post them to Facebook and that's "good enough".  As sad as we were, we felt so blessed to be the ones who were able to show these images to Lauren and her family and know that these images and the look on Tim's face as he danced with his daughter will live on forever in their heirloom album and the images on her wall.  

Most Beautiful Offbeat Wedding Dress

Robin  Maddy definitely had the most off beat wedding of our year and we loved every second of it! She had such an amazingly perfect vintage look, from her tea length wedding dress to her custom made glasses she made made to fit the theme and color of their day!  When you make a living shooting weddings, it's so refreshing to see something off the beaten path!

Funniest Moment

Sometimes you just have to break the little bit of awkwardness when you start to take photos and Carla was the best!  This is an outtake from their wedding (didn't quite make the cover of their album but totally should have!), where she wanted to break the ice a little bit and just make a funny face to loosen up.  What a fun couple they were!

Best Groom Reaction

We don't even have to explain this one.  Just look at it!  Look at his face!  Daniel was so much fun! And even though, we THINK, he was goofing around when this picture was taken, he really was completely out of breath with how Gorgeous Leah looked in her dress from Ellie's Bridal.  We always encourage our couples to have a First Look and this is one of the reasons why.  Would you see this reaction if here were at the front of the alter?  NOT A CHANCE!

Favorite Ring Shots

Brandy is the MASTER of the ring shot!  When she tells you she's taking your rings on a field trip, this is what she's doing!  Your ring is the STAR of your accessories and she always makes sure you have an amazing image to share with your girlfriends for years to come!  Rings and shoes?  HELLO, GORGEOUS! 

Favorite Shoe Shot

Everyone who knows us or has been to our home or our studio knows that we are huge Disney fans (it's all over our home), and if you ask Brandy, she'll tell you, "A Good Pair of Shoes can change your life".  So when the dress is on, makeup and hair are done, earrings are in, and garter is up and you finally put on the perfect shoe, you have a complete look!  Don't overlook your shoes because you think it will just be hidden under the dress (unless you wear Chuck Taylors, we are totally ok with you wearing colorful Chuck Taylors!).  Your shoes are an important part of your look and we will not overlook them either!

Best Stolen Moments

Being a wedding photographer is like conducting a good Jazz Band.  You direct, keep tempo, and make sure everyone is on the same page, but every so often your band just gets in an awesome groove and you just have to put your hands down and let them jam!  Some of our most romantic moments we capture have NOTHING to do with us, once we get our couples in a groove we just let them interact and catch these amazing stolen moments without any direction from us what-so-ever!

Best Twirl

If you were to bring Brandy with you to shop for your wedding dress (which if your maid of honor or mom can't make it with you and you honestly asked her she would TOTALLY go with you!), before she would let you make that final decision there would be one final test... "The Twirl Test".  If you have an amazing dress and it doesn't twirl the right way, it just isn't perfect enough.  So be sure to twirl during your dress shopping trips!  Marissa had an amazing mermaid style dress and an incredible heart felt first dance with her new husband Marco full of spins and twirls.  We happened to catch her dress at just the right moment to see this amazing twirl!  *swoon*  Good choice in wedding dress, Marissa!

The People's Choice Award (Fan Favorite)

We looked through the past year of sneak peeks that we posted to our social media pages, like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, and found the image that had the most likes.  Leah's amazing dip photo was the winner with 42 Facebook Likes!  Want to see your image here next year?  When we post your sneak peek, be sure to tag all of your family and friends and share as much as you can!  

That wraps up our 2014 favorites.  We cannot wait to see what 2015 has in store!  These are some incredible moments that we cannot wait to top in 2015.

XOXO, 

Chris and Brandy

Washington DC Wedding Favorites - Part I

We are absolutely LOVING engagement season and meeting so many new couples who are starting the greatest journey of their lives!  Congratulations to all our 2015 and 2016 couples and everyone who might be reading this that haven't contacted us yet but recently got engaged!  With as excited as we are, for this upcoming wedding season, we are still having withdrawals for our incredible year last year.  We decided it was time to go through and pick a few of our favorite moments, images, and wedding details from 2014 wedding season.  Every image we take has a story that goes with it, here are just a few of them!

Favorite View/Background

This category is a tie between Marissa & Marco's Wedding at the George Washington Masonic Memorial and Ashley & Greg's wedding.  You could also call this category "Yay, we actually got fluffy white clouds!"  The sky is so much better when we have clouds.  Not full of ugly grey clouds, but those big fluffy white clouds!  When the sky has NO clouds and is completely clear, it tends to give really harsh light and ends up just looking white and blown out in photos, so there's nothing better than these clouds.  Plus, when you add such an iconic building such as the Memorial in Alexandria (which is designed to mimic the Lighthouse in Alexandria, Egypt) or a beautiful country setting with a field of tall grass, it just doesn't get any better than that!

Favorite Cake

We saw some amazing cakes with some even more amazing cake toppers, but the thought that went into Allyson & Jonathan's cake (by Cake Panache)... well... it takes the cake!  (wow, that was a REALLY bad pun and completely unintended)  To really appreciate it you have to know that she is a biochemist who is working on her PhD... in her 20's... during her wedding planning!  Now let's describe this cake a little bit. What most people see is pillars that surround the entire cake, someone who was into chemistry or biology would notice it's one of the most beautiful shapes in science... the double helix!  Even greater than that is the top tier.  Most couples have a monogram or something of that nature adorning the top tier of their wedding cake.  That just simply wasn't enough for Allyson.  If you look closely you'll see something that looks like a chemical diagram.  Well, that's exactly what it is!  But not just any chemical diagram; it's the chemical diagram for Oxytocin, which has been called "The Love Chemical".  It's one of the chemicals in our brain that deals with attachment.  This is just the perfect cake for Allyson & Jonathan and we loved being able to photograph it!

Funniest Father/Daughter Dance

This gem comes from Allyson & Jonathan's wedding as well!  Funny father daughter dances became, kind of, a viral internet phenomenon during this time and when Allyson's wedding came along, her and her father (A retired Air Force Colonel) definitely delivered!  It was a montage of several songs of varying speeds and styles and they did everything from the Waltz to Disco.  The guests loved every second of it with cheering, laughter, and thunderous applause!  This is a moment that Allyson and her father will remember for the rest of their lives, and this style of dance is definitely a trend we hope continues into 2015 and beyond!  The bar has been set, ladies!

Favorite Dip

This category is another tie between Carla & Matthew's Wedding and Mallory & Ron's Wedding! Carla's dip kiss was taken underneath the Woodrow Wilson Bridge in Alexandria while Mallory's dip kiss was taken in the middle of main street outside the George Washington Hotel in small town Winchester, VA.  Both are absolutely breathtaking! 

Favorite Dress Shot

Fashion & David had one of the most memorable locations we've ever shot at in Maryland. Beaches, boats, sunsets, and flowers were key elements to every image and when we took Fashion's dress on a field trip we fell in love with this Pergola that was full of amazing colorful flowers!  It just looked like the perfect spot to hang a wedding dress.  Ladies, PLEASE allow us to take your dress on a field trip!  We promise, you will NOT be disappointed!  

Favorite Bridesmaids Dresses

We love the color of Mallory's bridesmaids dresses and love when a bride understands that sometimes a single dress just is not going to look the same on every single bridesmaid, so it's good to mix it up a little bit. They flowed well, moved well, and were amazing to photograph.  There were super fun girls to work with, too!

Favorite Exit

We are totally suckers for a good sparkler exit!  They never cease to deliver amazing images to end the night, and when we told Ashley & Greg to stop half way and give us one last kiss, man did they deliver! Wow! 

Favorite Flowers

These are the bouquets from Mallory's wedding and a boutonniere from Emma's wedding.  Mallory's flowers were from our favorite preferred vendor florist, Love Flowers Shenandoah (seriously, she's AMAZING to work with).  They are amazing and their attention to detail and friendly service are unmatched!  We love that they label their bouquet vases with little chalkboard labels.  Emma and Michael were teachers from the Mississippi Delta, so cotton seemed like the perfect added touch to their flowers.  In its raw form, it really is a beautiful little bloom.

Favorite Food

We shoot weddings all year long and have had a lot of chicken and beef wellington over the years (as well as cold turkey sandwiches), but when we saw Maddy & Robin had a Nacho bar in their buffet, we sang to the heavens with delight!  What's better to have at an amazing wedding than some real, feel good, comfort food!  It was oh so yummy!!  

Most Magical

Allyson & Jonathan were down for anything we threw at them that night, so when we said, "Hey, do you wanna go have some fun experimenting with the sparklers?".  We didn't realize that saying "experiment" to a Biochemistry PhD student was pretty much the "magic word"!  It only took a few shots before we had our cameras dialed in to the exact amount of long exposure that it would take to get some of the most amazingly magical sparkler images we've ever taken!  We just started jumping up and down with excitement, and had to show Allyson & Jonathan the image on the back of our camera right away because they were just too awesome!  This image now graces the cover of their heirloom album!  Seriously ladies, want amazing photos? Make sure we have the time to capture them!  

With that, we will end this post.  If you didn't see your wedding in this set, don't fret!  There's a part two!  Everything from favorite ring shot, to fan favorite will be covered.    We hope you've enjoyed our little trip down memory lane!

XOXO

Chris and Brandy