Dark and Spooky Hurricane Sandy Trash The Dress!

As I'm sure many of you know, I'm a bit of a weather nut.  Yup, since early last week when there were early projections of Hurricane Sandy hitting the mid-atlantic and northeast, I've been glued to all things weather related and reporting as diligently as possible!  Of course, this all by hobby, but whenever I can combine my love for extreme weather with my love for photography, my brain kind of implodes with excitement.  I wasn't sure if it would be possible, but somehow the rain and clouds aligned for me to photograph a Hurricane Sandy (well, at that point, Superstorm Sandy) trash the dress session! I had so many people volunteer to model for me, which I didn't expect and was so grateful for!  Ultimately, I decided it'd be a good idea to find someone who lived in the NOVA area not too far from me and in a spot where most power lines were underground (just in case we were dealing with really high winds). So when I saw that Laura Ritchie of Events in the City was interested, I immediately perked up.  She lives in Leesburg (not far from me at all) and I knew that most power lines there were underground.  We discussed a few location ideas, but ultimately decided on Ida Lee Park, where I could shoot out in the open and get a lot of cool sky shots.  I also decided that I wanted all dark details, whether that be a dark satin sash we use with the dress, or a dark umbrella.  I wanted everything to be dark, storm and spooky looking.

Our original shoot date was scheduled for Monday, which ended up being the worst storm day in terms of high winds and rain.  Luckily, we were able to reschedule and shoot yesterday (Tuesday), when the winds had died down significantly and we were really just dealing with some light rain and dark clouds.  It was perfect!  Laura arrived in her wedding dress along with Christie, another awesome Events in the City chick, who was there to assist with coffee, and coat and light stand holding.  Laura also brought along a really awesome dark and spooky bouquet made by Holly Heider Chapple that we were delighted to use in the shoot!  Laura was the perfect model and was incredibly optimistic the whole time, even though it was crazy cold and rainy.  I have so many favorites from the shoot, but below are my top 14.  The last shot is probably my absolute favorite from the shoot, but I'd love to hear what yours is!

Sooooooo many thanks go to Laura, Christie and Holly for helping me out with this!  I can't thank you enough!  It really made my day (heck, my week!) and I appreciate it.  And to all you other readers, I hope you have a Happy Halloween!  Eat lots of candyyyyyyyyyyy!  :D  Thanks for looking!

Love,

Lisa

Deanna and Joe's Whitehall Manor Wedding!

It wasn't so long ago that I spent a stormy afternoon photographing the wedding of one of my couples, Deanna and Joe!  They were married at Whitehall Manor in Bluemont, Virginia, and although we were supposed to have steamy 100 degree weather, luckily some storms came through that cooled everything off and brought some much needed rain.  Personally, I was really excited about the rain (I'm one of those people that loves storms), so for me it was a dream come true to have some overcast clouds and cooler weather to in. Deanna and Joe were both completely calm about the rain that came in before their ceremony.  You'll see in a photograph that Deanna was talking through a door, and that's because she was confirming with Joe that they were a "go" for their outdoor ceremony, as it looked like we would get a break in the rain.  Once Deanna was in her dress, I couldn't resist getting some photos of her naturally looking out the window to see if the rain was subsiding.  The light was so perfect!  When the ceremony finally commenced, everything went perfectly.  Sure, there it sprinkled a bit and there was thunder in the distance, but Deanna and Joe were beaming with excitement during the whole ceremony, and it really showed in the photos!  After the ceremony we had to dodge some rain, but did manage to get some outdoor photos done before the reception!

The reception was indoors and I think everyone completely relaxed once we were all inside!  Without the threat of rain, everyone managed to let loose, laugh and just party!  One of my favorite images from the night is from Deanna and Joe's sparkler send-off, which was a little crazy!  Because it had been stormy all day, at certain times there was a decent amount of wind.  Welp, when it was time for Deanna and Joe to leave there was a lot of wind, and let's just say that sparklers and wind create a lot of smoke and a lot of flying sparks everywhere (and boy did those sparks hurt!).  However, it certainly made for an interesting photo!  :)

Many thanks to Deanna and Joe for allowing me to photograph their special day!  I hope you enjoy the photos!

Thanks for looking!

Love,

Lisa

Erin and Jason's Lansdowne Resort Wedding

A few weeks ago I posted some sneak peeks from Erin and Jason's wedding at the Lansdowne Resort, and I'm back to post more!  Erin and Jason were such a fantastic couple to work with.  Erin has one of the most expressive faces I've experienced in a bride.  You seriously can see happiness written all over her in some of these shots and it's just breathtaking! The entire wedding party got ready at Lansdowne Resort, and then we headed off to St. Mary of Sorrow's Church in Fairfax.  The ceremony was beautiful, and I really loved some of the expressions Erin and Jason made during the ceremony.  After the ceremony we were whisked away by limo back to Lansdowne where we had lots of time for photographs, which simply made my day!  We were able to get tons of different looks with Erin and Jason, not to mention some really creative shots with them and the whole wedding party by the pool tables in Stonewalls Tavern.  Didn't the wedding party do a fantastic job modeling?  I think so!  After portraits, we headed down to the ballroom for an amazing reception filled with lots of love, tears and laughter.  I even got to sit next to the father-of-the-bride at dinner, which is quite a rarity (and honor I might add...Tom, you were high-larious!).  And of course, we finished the night off with some rainy portraits outside!

I really hope you enjoy the photos below!  Erin and Jason, I couldn't have been more honored to photograph your wedding and I hope you have a wonderful marriage together!  :)  And many thanks to Asha, my second shooter, for all of her help throughout the day!

Thanks for looking!

Love,

Lisa

Erin and Jason's Lansdowne Resort Wedding - Sneak Peek!

I had such a blast this past weekend and Erin and Jason's wedding!  I couldn't say enough great things about this couple! I knew today that I had a couple of photos that I just absolutely adored when I took them, so those are the photos making the immediate sneak peek!  The first is of Erin in the limo on the way to the church.  I just loved the natural lighting and the general glow she had about her.  She looks stunning!  The second shot is one that myself and my second shooter, Asha, set up when some anticipated rain came through that night.  I knew I wanted to do something with the couple and an umbrella, and it worked out perfectly because it started pouring when we were taking these photos!  Luckily we were all fine, be it a bit more wet then when we first started the shot! Stay tuned for more from their wedding soon!  Enjoy!

Thanks for looking!

Love,

Lisa