Rachel and Ryan's McLean Virginia Wedding - Part Two!

Alrighty folks, get ready for some party photos! As promised from my Part I blog post, here are the photos from Rachel and Ryan's reception at the Springfield Golf and Country Club! The best part about this reception is that there was absolutely never a dull moment. Everyone was so high energy and so excited to be part of this special occasion, and it really shows in the photos! From the couple's first dance, to the dudes chillin' on the balcony with cigars, to Ryan breakin' it down in his own dance, the emotion was always high! I love that! I hope you feel like you were right there in the celebration with Ryan, Rachel, their family and friends. Enjoy!

Thanks for looking!

Love,

Lisa

Rachel and Ryan's McLean Virginia Wedding - Part One!

It's time for the first of two lengthy blog posts of Rachel and Ryan's wedding!  Hurray! I shot Rachel and Ryan's engagement session in DC back in the early spring (not too long after Snowpocolypse), and I had been anxiously awaiting their wedding ever since! Their ceremony was at McLean Presbyterian, a gorgeous church just inside McLean, VA.  It was the perfect setting, with lots of gorgeous brick and sophisticated white columns to work with in photos!  Everyone at the church was super helpful, and the whole event went so smoothly!  Rachel and Ryan of course looked amazing, and they worked so well with their wedding party to deliver some sassy and hilarious photos I requested!  These photos are mostly taken at the church, with some of the wedding party photos taken right before the reception, at Springfield Golf and Country Club.  However, Part II will include more of the par-tay photos at the reception where you get to see Ryan and his killer dance moves (along with everyone else at the wedding!).  So, stay tuned, and enjoy the photos below!

Thanks for looking!

Love,

Lisa

Rachel and Ryan's Sneak Peek...Literally!

It really doesn't matter what kind of photographer you are. You could shoot thousands and thousands of photos, but sometimes there are these gems that completely stand out above the others. That's what this photo was to me at Rachel and Ryan's wedding. I knew as I was taking it that it would be my favorite among all of the shots of theirs. Trust me, I've sifted through lots that are fantastic from their event (which you'll see later this week), but this one tops them all. Why? This shot was quite literally a sneak peek. Rachel and Ryan had just become husband and wife, and they were absorbing all of that in a nearby prayer room. I was finishing up shots of their wedding party recessing out of the church, and also prepping for the group shots to take after the ceremony. After a good five to ten minutes, I exited the sanctuary to go talk to Ryan and Rachel and let them know we were almost ready to begin the group shots. Just before I got to the door of the prayer room, I looked up to see Ryan and Rachel hugging. I grabbed my camera, and "Click!" I took a photo of Rachel and Ryan kissing through that one panel of glass in the door I was about to knock on. A-maz-ing. Now, I realize you can pose shots like this. I even have some photos right after this of them sitting and posing for me through that same panel of glass through the door. However, nothing beats the exhilaration of capturing a photo like that right when the moment happens. They had no idea I had taken that photo until afterward, and I just love that. You can't get a moment like that back. Sure, you can pose it, but then you know it's a pose. Knowing that this shot is candid makes it 100 times sweeter.

I hope you enjoyed this as much as I did! Thanks for looking!

Love,

Lisa

Rachel and Ryan's Washington, DC Engagement Portraits

Spring is here!  On the official first day of spring, I was fortunate enough to take some lovely engagement photos of Rachel and Ryan in downtown Washington, DC!  We seriously couldn't have asked for a better day.  I had originally scheduled to shoot Rachel and Ryan's engagements back in February, right when the blizzards decided to strike the greater DC area!  So, we really had to wait for the great-melt-of-2010 to take place and before we moved forward, and boy did we make the right decision!  I could not be happier with the images we came up with!  We made a circle around a park (with the weeping willows), up to the WWII Memorial (new and old), then up through the West Potomac Park to the Lincoln Memorial.  Below are my absolute favorites from the day, but there are obviously lots more!  Hope you enjoy the images as much as I do!

Thanks for looking!  Also, wanted to point out that the really cool rusty door (shot number two) was actually at the very bottom of the steps leading up to the Lincoln Memorial.  What an awesome, hidden gem, right?

Love,

Lisa