Love Happens At Weddings

Ahhh - wedding receptions.

I have to be honest, I have a love/hate relationship with wedding receptions.

I hate them because they can end up being boring and hard to photograph.

But I love them because they have the potential of being the exclamation point on the day.

And at M&L's wedding - it was definitely the icing on the cake.

Okay - now it's story time !!

Once upon a time, on May 31, 2OO8 - there was a wedding :

haha and it just happened to be this wedding :D

Paul & Naomi got married, and the reception took place. And the moment where the DJ called the bridal party to the floor to dance - is the moment where Derrick & I met. Cluelessly slow-dancing, God worked His stuff and brought 2 lives together.

Love just seems to happen at weddings. The bride & groom are obviously crazy over each other - and somehow everyone else seems to catch the fever and fall wayy in love. And that's what made this reception so awesome - because love is an easy thing to capture - and love was gushing from this place.

Husband/Wife love ...

Family love ...

Grandma/Grandson love ...

And even Julia/PJ love ... :D

Ahhh, who doesn't love weddings ?

Oh yeah ! And remember these two ?? They were my very first "solo" wedding couple :D

Yeahh, they're still in love too :D

M&L WEDDING sneak peak !! :D

I'm SO excited to finally reveal some of M&L's wedding photos !!

*insert virtual squeal here* :D

I must say, I had a BLAST at their wedding !! They are totally laid back and easy-going people, and even when the whole morning turned from one disaster into another - they never lost sight of one thing : that this was the day that they were finally marrying their best friend. It was so exciting to see this couple who has been engaged for SO long finally tie the knot and now be husband and wife :D

But before I say anything else, this is just a sneak preview of their day - a full post will be coming soon !! And I'll save all my other words for then !

Yeah - who doesn't love when the little people in the bridal party fall asleep during the ceremony ? :D

cookies anyone ?

OHHH - have I ever mentioned that I LOVE to bake ??

yeahhh - well I do :D

I love to bake yummy things :D

Like - oatmeal creme pies !!

And - I guess it's a good thing that I don't really have that much time during my week ( .. thank you work !) to bake .. or else Derrick & I would end up weighing 5OO lbs :D

E&E Wedding (Gaithersburg, MD)

Because I'm DYiNG to show off some of M&L's wedding photos, I figured I better keep going in order and post some of E&E's wedding first :D The hard part was - trying to decide which photos to post !!

Kristen & I started the day off by splitting up and shooting the bride & groom getting ready.

Doesn't he look SO James Bond - like ? :D

LOVE LOVE LOVE little notes from brides to grooms before weddings !!

The ceremony site was GORGEOUS. I think I drooled a little bit when I first saw it.

The bridal party was FUN - and just like at my wedding - Kristen worked her magic & made everyone look super fantastic. I was so blessed to work with her and learned SO much about working with people (and specifically bridal parties) !!

The bride & groom were amazing. Soo in love. As Kristen & I walked around doing some portraits, they told us their story : how they met, how they fell in love, and how their wedding day came to be. They told their story like they had rehearsed it - they complemented each other perfectly. It was beautiful.

The bridal party was fun - remember? And they planned such a cool entrance to the party ! Everyone was surprised and it definitely was an awesome way to kick off a great night !

Gotta love toasts by the little brother :D

And first dance moments :D They were soo happy - can't you tell ?

Details ..

The cake was BEAUTIFUL ! So delicate !!

Somehow, Kristen got E&E to leave their awesome party behind for a few minutes to soak up the GLORiOUS sunshine -

Thank you, Kristen, for an AMAZiNG day !! I loved every second of it and learned a TON ! You're amazing :D