Florence, Italy Engagement Session – Casey and Alex

Engagement, Love, Stories Documented  //  11th June 2015

I will never forget the day Casey sent us an email to say she and Alex were planning a wedding in Italy! We were sitting at our kitchen table. I was busy tackling our email box and Casey’s email came in. Instead of planning a DC wedding like they had originally planned, they decided to follow their hearts and plan their dream wedding in Italy instead. My productivity officially ended at that moment! ;) Casey and I exchanged emails the rest of the day! and they were so full of !!!!!!! and ;) :) :) ;) ;) that I was just hoping she didn’t think I was crazy! ;)

Photographing a wedding in Italy has been a dream of ours for so so so long! We blogged about that dream way back in 2010! At the time that dream came into our hearts, we had absolutely no idea just how AMAZING it would be! Casey and Alex made our dreams even more magical than we ever could have imagined!

Looking back on Casey and Alex’s intimate wedding week in Italy, we honestly could not imagine it in any other way! We will be sharing their wedding photos super soon! (Honestly, we CANNOT WAIT!!! ;) They are some of our favorite photos we have ever captured!!!)

But first, their INCREDIBLE engagement session! We snuck away with Casey and Alex for a morning engagement session in Florence, Italy. With so many of their closest family and friends in town, Casey and Alex had been running around non-stop for a few days (ie. weeks ;) ) making sure everyone had the time of their lives! (Let’s be honest, they already had given everyone an excuse to travel to Italy and celebrate with them… they didn’t have to do anything else! ;) But, the sweet friends that they are and their southern hospitality roots, they were running around making sure everyone was taken care of!) It was such a treat to steal them away for a bit and give them some time to just be! To do what they love… explore a beautiful city, grab a sweet treat from their favorite Florence bakery, and soak each other in! ;)

Casey and Alex, you two make our hearts sing!!!!! Thank you for being fabulously YOU and making our dreams come true by giving us the opportunity to capture your love in ITALY! ;)

Schloss Vollrads – Germany Anniversary Session – Karen and Brendon

Love, Stories Documented  //  8th June 2015

Seeing your friends so happily in love, with smiles that radiate, is probably one of the best feelings ever! (Especially when you can say that you introduced them! ;) )!

We met up with Karen and Brendon during our travels in Europe! We just happened to be crossing through the Rhein region of Germany at the same time! How AMAZING is that?!? The idea of hanging out with these friends while enjoying some wineries in Germany is pretty much dreamy! ;) So, we made it happen!

We did a mini Anniversary session while exploring the Schloss Vollrads Castle and Winery together! And I am so glad we did because their smiles and happiness probably brought us just as much happiness as it did them! ;) Smiles on friends = really happy hearts all around! ;)

Karen and Brendon- love you guys! Thanks for sharing your happiness with us in Johannisberg, Germany! ;) XOXO!

Netherlands Engagement Session – Renee and Joost

Engagement, Love, Stories Documented  //  5th June 2015

Way back in 2013, we received the sweetest email from Renee! Renee was one of my first-year residents when I was an RA at Bucknell University during my senior year (which was quite a few years ago!)… so you can imagine how excited I was to hear from her! She had been following along on our blog (which makes our hearts so excited to hear!) and she sent us a note to say hi!!! It was such a delight to hear from her! However, the best part of her email was her life update…

…As for myself, I have also made a bit of leap in the past year. After graduating from Bucknell – I started working at Merck pharma in NJ and lived in Hoboken. Although I loved living in Hoboken and getting to know NYC, after about 2 years I decided I needed to try a new adventure. So, in January I transferred to our company’s site in the Netherlands. I now live in the relatively small city of Nijmegen near the German border of the Netherlands. And what is most AMAZING about the story is that in the process, I met a dutch colleague who has now become my amazing boyfriend! I truly believe that sometimes life requires big jumps to have great things happen – very much what your life motto says! 

Ahh! I have goosebumps just re-reading that!!! It makes my heart so happy to see Renee following her heart and seeing that beautiful smile on her face! I am so beyond proud of her! She is now engaged to that “dutch colleague,” Joost! ;) And we are so incredibly honored to be able to photograph this amazing time in their lives together!!!

We met up with Renee and Joost in their sweet city of Nijmegen in The Netherlands! What a special treat! Their hospitality was incredible and it was so much fun to explore with them! We felt right at home the entire time and absolutely LOVED hanging out with them!

Renee and Joost! Thank you so much for your AMAZING hospitality and for sharing Nijmegen with us! We had a blast and could not be more happy for you and your love! Thank you for following your hearts and being such a beautiful example of living out our favorite motto: “Life is an Adventure, make it AMAZING together!”

Galena Illinois Wedding – Cathy and Jeff

Engagement, Love, Stories Documented  //  27th May 2015

I have so much to say about Cathy and Jeff’s incredibly special wedding celebration that I really do not know where to start… except for the very beginning! Way back on October 29, 2013, we received an incredibly thoughtful email from Cathy and Jeff, introducing themselves, sharing the news that they were getting married, and asking us to be their wedding photographers! I remember that email so clearly! It was the kind of the email where both Ryan and I gathered around the computer with crazy excitement reading it and re-reading it! Their hearts exploded from the computer screen and we just knew they were definitely “our couple!”

Cathy and Jeff planned an intimate wedding in their sweet small town of Galena, IL. Their closest family and friends gathered to witness them exchange vows that brought love out of everyone! The day was GORGEOUS… complete with one of the heaviest rain showers that came and went in pretty much the exact time of the ceremony! The rain could have very easily made any bride cry… but Cathy and Jeff rolled with it… as we know they will in all of the adventures of their years to come together! They definitely know how to make every day the best day of their lives!

Can I just mention how incredibly honoring and humbling it is to be asked by two professional photographers to come to their hometown and photograph their wedding day?! Goodness! They could have asked any photographer… and they chose to ask us to document this AMAZING chapter in their beautiful love story. That is such an incredible gift to us and one that we will always hold close to our hearts! It was such an honor!

Cathy and Jeff… THANK YOU. Thank you for being such a beautiful example of love. Thank you for your AMAZING hospitality in the sweetest mid-west town of Galena! And Thank you for giving us an opportunity to witness and document your fun love! Congratulations to you and we wish you a lifetime of AMAZING adventures to come! XOXO!

Cathy and Jeff put together a sweet team of wedding professionals to help make their wedding day the Best Day Ever! Huge thanks to all of you! And extra HUGE thanks to Rodney… he came to my rescue when the clouds opened up and held my umbrella for me the whole time! We are so grateful!!! ;)

Day of Coordinators: Rodney Rodriguez and Brandi Arnesdorf | Hair Stylist: Maggie Richardson | Makeup Artist: Merle Norman Cosmetics  | Florist: Garden Party Florist  | Venue: Hawk Valley Retreat & Cottages | Officiant: Misty Emmons | Caterer: Victory Cafe Catering | Bakery: Wedding Day Bakery  | DJ: The After Party | Bridal Party’s Attire: I Do Bridal | Wedding Bands: James Martin Jewelers  | Photography: Liz and Ryan

Chesapeake Bay Beach Club Wedding – Andrea and Sean

Love, Stories Documented, Wedding  //  18th May 2015

Ahh! Andrea and Sean’s Chesapeake Bay Beach Club Wedding is one that we will certainly never forget! As we arrived to meet up with Andrea and the girls, we received a call from Erin, the coordinator at the Beach Club. She told us there was an accident on the Bay Bridge and it was closed west bound. Ohh goodness. You never know what traffic will be like on the bridge (the only way to get between Annapolis and the Eastern Shore!) when all lanes are open… but, an accident with one way closed is sure to cause traffic challenges in both directions. Erin was just giving us the heads up so that we could be ready for flexibility! ;) (So grateful for their courtesy in contacting everyone immediately!!!)

Gratefully, we were with Andrea and Sean at this point and we could just go about our schedule as planned! (YAY for schedules with cushion room so that we can be flexible when unexpected things like this happen!) We went about the schedule as planned and as soon as we were ready to start the ceremony, we received word that many of Andrea and Sean’s guests were still stuck in traffic… including the Cantor! Big changes had to be made to the schedule at this point! Everything was delayed. The cocktail hour was bumped up before the Ceremony… Andrea and Sean did a first look that they had originally not planned for… and just before the introductions at the reception, the remaining few guests who had been in traffic for over 4 hours had arrived! Wahooo!

What a crazy day! And one that required incredible flexibility from everyone involved! Andrea and Sean handled it all with so much poise! Andrea is the bride that emailed us the week before their wedding with the good news that we were able to push the formal events of the reception back 5 minutes so that we could get pictures at sunset. ;) They were so organized with a minute by minute, thoroughly thought out, schedule of their dream day (you all know how much we LOVE that!). But you can imagine how hard this was for Andrea’s (self-proclaimed) type-A ness! ;) ! Ultimately, Andrea and Sean’s detailed planning allowed all of us to be more flexible when the unexpected happened! We were not stressed going in… so why would we stress now?!? ;) Instead of stressing, we were able to go with the flow as the day was meant to be! Andrea and Sean’s wedding day did not necessarily go as the timeline had planned, but we are totally confident their wedding day was exactly how it was supposed to be… a celebration of marriage, full of so much love and so much joy!

Andrea and Sean… thank you for your AMAZING smiles that set the mood for everyone on your special day! Thank you for being flexible and going with it… even when that seemed like the hardest thing to do in the world! ;) (I feel like you can check off one of your first big lessons in marriage… be flexible, even when it seems like the hardest thing to do in the world. You’ve got that down! ;) ) Your wedding was incredibly special and we are so honored to have been able to capture it! We are wishing you a lifetime of so much love and so much joy! 

Thank you so much to all of the wedding professionals, who also can check flexibility off their list of traits to celebrate! ;)

Stationery & All things paper!: Courtney Doherty  (who also is one of Andrea’s beautiful bridesmaids) | Hair Stylist: Kristen Foster Hair | Makeup Artist: Kathy, Blend Makeup Artistry | Florist: Wicked Willow  | Ceremony & Reception Venue: Chesapeake Bay Beach Club | Officiant: Cantor Jan Morrison | Ceremony Music: Chesapeake Strings  | Bakery: Fiona’s Cakes | DJ: Bay Deejays | Videographer: In Motion Video  | Transportation: Towne Transport | Bride’s Attire: Love Couture Bridal | Groom & Groomsmen’s Attire: Men’s Warehouse  | Bridesmaid’s Attire: J.Crew  | Wedding Bands: Edward Arthur Jewelers