So happy to share more love from Nole over at the United With Love blog today! She loved seeing Alisa & Brian’s wedding featured on our blog and wanted to highlight it as well. We were of course happy to oblige. Go check it out today!
We’re delighted to announce this morning that Abbie & Jeremy’s Summer wedding (here are all the fab details) made it into the “pages” of Style Me Pretty’s Little Black Book blog today! Thanks to Abby and her team for highlighting this fun wedding, and we hope you all enjoy it!
Rock on! Thanks to all our fabulous brides who voted! This was such a wonderful surprise to receive this week, and we realize we’re in exceptional company.
We hope you’re all enjoying a wonderful Monday and, if you happen to be in the mid-Atlantic region today, that you’re staying warm. Brrrr!
If you find yourself at a local bookstore though, between cups of hot chocolate we recommend you pick up a copy of the latest Bride’s magazine for Washington, DC. In it you’ll find a sincerely sweet couple, Jenny and Andrew. Their early Fall wedding, full of beautiful light, warm love and sweet DIY details, was featured in the current issue, and we couldn’t be more thrilled for them. Enjoy!
Congratulations, j&a!!
xoxo,
…a&b
Martha & Steve’s wedding, designed by none other than the fabulous Pam Barefoot, now features a photo from their cocktail setup in The Knot’s new tome, the Ultimate Wedding Lookbook. Buy it in quality bookstores now (get a signed copy here). There’s some great design ideas in there, and we’re delighted to have been contributors to the effort. Thanks, Carley, for featuring our work!
Our contribution, the photo on the left side of the spread…
Here’s what to look for on bookshelves (if you’re a bricks and mortar kind of person). Enjoy!
We’re delighted this morning to share with you a gorgeous wedding stationary blog, Oh So Beautiful Paper. Saima Says Design designed Nikki & Josh’s stationary products for their wedding and we’re excited to see them highlighted them on Nole’s blog today. Go check it out here. Thanks, Nole!
We’re so delighted today to share with you that our wonderful friend, Janie of the Bride’s Cafe, fresh from her trip to NYC for a fun evening with Colin Cowie, has featured Jennifer & Greg’s engagement session on her blog today. We can think of no better reason to head over to the cafe with a hot cup of your beverage of choice on this chilly Friday.
Thank you, Janie, for featuring this super fun couple’s e-shoot, and we hope you all have a fantastic weekend!
Happy Monday, everyone, and welcome back. We trust you’re not all too stuffed from turkey and all the trimmings and you’re making a dent in the left0vers. Friends who went out for dinner that day seem to be on to something.
Anyway, we’re so happy to see Sarah & Ori’s wedding featured on the Charlottesville Weddings blog today! Thanks to Danielle for highlighting this fun and eclectic couple along with the incredibly creative details from Jennifer Carroll Designs. Go check it out.
We were happy to be asked recently to write an article for latest issue of the Wedding Planner magazine for clients considering whether to see each other privately before their ceremony. Of course we were delighted to help, and the magazine was recently published online and in print. Headed up by Lynn Easton, Editor & Creative Director and Edward Allen, Publisher, it’s full of delightful eye candy, real Virginia weddings and of course, wonderful advice. If you don’t happen to have it where you live, here is the article. Thanks to happy couple, Karen & Michael for having a great first sight, too! See more from their first site in Part 1 of their blog post! Enjoy, and have a great weekend, everyone!
by Anne & Bill Holland, Holland Photo Arts
Modern weddings sometimes hew to tradition, yet more couples are finding their own paths that work best for them and their guests. The bottom line is there is no one right or wrong answer to this–only the way which you feel most comfortable. That said, let’s lay out some advantages and disadvantages to seeing each other prior to your ceremony.
Advantages
There are two primary advantages to what we call First Sight. The first is that you get to, often in the presence of your photographer, enjoy a few private moments alone with your soon-to-be-spouse. As the bulk of your wedding day is often dictated by a pre-ordained schedule, this period may be the only opportunity the two of you really have alone to reflect on the commitment you’re each about to make. Many clients have reported the alleviating of undue nervousness because they saw their partner first as well.
The second primary advantage to a First Sight is you now have the opportunity to do some of your portraits with the two of you, your wedding party, and perhaps even your family members prior to the ceremony. The upside to all this? You can now attend most, if not all, of your cocktail hour, mingling with your guests. This may also negate or minimize the need to visit each table during dinner (which has the added benefit of giving you and your new spouse the opportunity to actually eat your delicious meal without rushing through it).
Disadvantages
Your parents, or even your partner, may have strong feelings about this. Just like in any relationship, the planning of your wedding will involve some compromise, and it is up to the two of you in what you compromise and how strongly you each feel about your position. A little give and take is a good thing here.
Some partners may feel that seeing each other prior to the ceremony can lose some of the emotional charge of proceeding down the aisle and seeing each other then. Again, if feelings are strong on this point, it may be best to leave well enough alone. But in our personal experience as well as the experience of the vast majority of our clients, this feeling remains strong throughout. Why?
With First Sight it’s a completely different feeling–it’s just the two of you–and you have the freedom to act and speak freely with each other. Whereas with the start of your ceremony, your partner is waiting for you with everyone watching, music playing, and the feeling of imminent marriage. Speaking from Bill’s personal experience, it is a completely different feeling. I never once felt a sense of loss in seeing Anne before our own celebration, and our clients have reported similar feelings.
Final Thoughts
While most of our clients who see each other do so privately, some couples will opt to have their families and/or their wedding party present to celebrate with them. This is, of course, your individual choice. In the end, your schedule as well as religious customs may also play a role in deciding to see each other. The key is to speak with your partner about his or her feelings, as well as your wedding planner and photographer to discuss logistics and what you can expect. But in the end, regardless of your choice, you’ll be married. Congratulations!
xoxo,
…a&b
We’re so grateful to our dear friend Claire Goodman for including Abbie & Jeremy’s colorful summer wedding in her blog, the Charlottesville Wedding Blog, today! It looks fantastic–go check it out and let her know how much you enjoyed it.
Semi-annually our two (yes, we get two!) local arts weeklies put together a wedding issue, filled with local tips and tricks, profiles, features, and other compelling stories. We were lucky enough with The Hook this past issue to have not only two weddings but a short feature interview with us and a few other area photographers. Congrats to Ali & Ken, as well as Caitlin & Adair, for having their weddings chosen for inclusion in the issue, and thanks to the issue editor Stephanie Marie Garcia for choosing us!
By the way, the shot of the two of us above is actually by the uber-talented duo Katrina & Andrew of Sedona Bride.
One of the many reasons we love Weddings Unveiled magazine is because the editor is a photographer and a talented graphic artist to boot. So when you read the magazine, you know you’re going to see some fine photography laid out in an enjoyable- and easy-to-read format. We were delighted to recently learn that the good folks on the editorial staff wanted to highlight Caitlin & Adair’s beautiful wedding (designed by the ever-fabulous Pam Barefoot) in the pages of their current issue. Since it’s on newsstands now, go get yourself a copy today. It’s a fantastic read and solid resource and you won’t want to put down.
Ok, so how much do we adore Janie of The Bride’s Cafe? (Holding up arms spread wide) Thiiiiiis much! She happened upon Erin & Bryan’s fantastic wedding on our blog and loved the thought of featuring it on her own, especially given Erin’s hand-made, custom bridesmaid’s jewelry. It’s been a few months since you saw anything of their wedding here, so go and reminisce a little about some Springtime wedding love. Go on, enjoy it!
We’re delighted to announce this morning we were invited by the good folks at Junebug Weddings (whose fabulous blog you really should be following), to be a member of their Best Photographers list. These people have a good eye (well, obviously, 😉 ) as photographers and decorators in their own right. Do check out What Junebug Loves for creative and fun ideas for your own wedding. And of course you’ll be seeing some of our clients’ weddings on their blog in no time at all. Stay tuned.
We’re just thrilled that Maneli and Tim, whose Springtime wedding we documented, and which was expertly planned by the fabulous Elizabeth Duncan of Pineapple Productions, was highlighted in Style Me Pretty’s blog today. Congrats to Elizabeth on the press! Go check it out for yourself and see some of Elizabeth’s amazing handiwork.
