Nancianne & Jim, Part 3

This is my third time photographing Jim and Nancianne, after doing engagement photos, their wedding, and now what is known in the parlance as a "trash the dress" session. You've probably seen a pretty wide-ranging gamut of ideas that are considered tasteful ways to exact revenge on one's wedding dress, that which brought no shortage of stress, financial and otherwise, in addition to making a bride look as beautiful as she ever will. We decided to approach it as an extension of the wedding day photos, except that we weren't pressed for time and it was OK if the dress got a little dirty. Nancianne suggested the venue for this particular portrait session, Aspen Dale Winery, about an hour outside DC in northern Virginia. What an incredible place it turned out to be. The weather was perfect, if a tad chilly, and with an infinite number of options for pictures, they were open for anything - including a creepy old abandoned house that produced my favorite photo from the shoot (the last one below). Future wedding clients: if you like the idea of wedding portraits but hate the idea of taking time out of your wedding day to do them, I would strongly urge you to consider a session like this after the fact.

Rupa & Emre

Rupa and Emre appeared on this blog once before, when I photographed their engagement pictures in New York over the summer. The big day finally arrived a few weeks ago, and what a big day it was! These two probably thought through more of the wedding day details than any couple I've worked with before, and managed to put their own personal touch on almost every single aspect of the day. It was an Indian wedding, which comes with a number of religious and cultural traditions by which they were able to abide, but with a modern twist, ensuring they and their guests had fun above all else. It's a testament to their organizational skill (and that of Ani, their day-of coordinator) that dinner was served at precisely 7pm, following the schedule to the minute but not in a forced way, a solid five hours after festivities had begun. Kudos go out as well to DJ Lucky for keeping the dance floor absolutely packed the entire night. Oh, and did I mention that Rupa and Emre managed to surprise their guests (and even their families) by having the incomparable Ballou High School Marching Band bust in and play at the reception? Or the photo booth complete with ridiculous props? (This is now an add-on option to all my packages.) Nicely done guys! What a blast.

Rob & Kristen

This was a slightly unusual wedding for several reasons. The first is that Rob is my wife's younger brother. I've photographed weddings for friends before, but not for family. I was not originally intended to be the photographer - sometimes it's nice to be a guest - but when Hurricane Irene threatened to rain (and blow) out their beach wedding on its long-scheduled date (which it certainly would have done), the date was quickly shifted from Saturday to Friday and, with their original photographer being unable to accommodate the new day, I became the de facto documentarian. It was a small and quick ceremony in Yorktown, Virginia, but beautiful and extremely heart-felt. As everyone scrambled to get out of town before the storm hit, I drove the opposite direction and rode it out, on assignment, in Virginia Beach. From weddings to hurricanes in the span of 12 hours - something tells me that's not even the last time that will happen in my career.

Molly & Nico

I had the pleasure of making the trip up to New Jersey to photograph Molly and Nico's wedding, which took place in the back yard of Molly's parents' house. I always like it when a wedding takes place in a familiar environment like this - sure, everyone to some extent personalizes their wedding venue, but there's no place like home. Nico's family is Colombian, but it was Molly's Indian heritage that ruled the day, with a traditional ceremony complete with a pundit chanting in Sanskrit. Intermittent rain meant the mandap (the ceremonial altar on which the wedding ceremony takes place) and all the guests had to squeeze under a tent, but Molly was radiant and it was really touching to see the extent to which Nico committed himself to his new family's traditions. Nico will get his chance to put his own twist on their wedding: the two of them will celebrate again with a ceremony in Colombia in the spring.