2019 Wedding Highlights

So we thought we would go through all of 2019 wedding highlights and share our favorite moments from each one… ’cause we have a lot of them.

The thing is that we are sitting at home, sad that we’re not shooting weddings, because of the stinkin’ Coronavirus. And so we were just thinking back about all of those moments that we loved so much, from last year’s weddings and just thought we would share our 2019 wedding highlights with you.

Emma & Wes | Willow Oaks Country Club, Richmond, Virginia

So our first couple of last year was Emma and Wes. They got married and Willow Oaks Country Club here in Richmond, Virginia. It’s an absolutely gorgeous venue. I think that they must have just re-modeled it. It’s this cool historic space but then the inside it looks so cool. It’s all this really pretty blue, lots of white big, huge windows. But then the getting ready spaces are funky and cool and old looking.

It’s a great balance.

So their wedding was so fun, especially because one of their bridesmaids was a past bride of ours and we just absolutely them Jenny and Connor. So we got to see them and we loved that about their wedding. Emma and Wes fit right in with that just such a fun personality and it was just so cool to be able to have two brides at that same wedding. So we loved it, and while we were there, at Jenny’s wedding, we taught everyone how to do the cotton eyed joe dance. If you don’t know that dance, Michael would love to come teach it to you.

So anyways, Jenny just like totally put us actually might have been Connor. One of them put us totally on the spot, requested the DJ, play this song and just called us out to come and teach everybody Cotton Eyed Joe. But a bunch of people knew I did that wedding.

Emma & Wes | Nightingale Ice-cream Sandwiches

And then another thing that I loved from this wedding is they had, they introduced me to the nightingale, ice cream sandwiches. Oh yeah, which were amazing. There’s a small little boutique grocery shop near us and they sell nightingale sandwiches. They’re made here in Richmond and they are delicious. Emma apparently is obsessed with ice cream sandwiches.

And so, after dinner, they came around with these platters of ice cream sandwiches and you could grab one. Any time you can feed us extra, it is a good day.

So that was just a wonderful wedding loved Emma and Wes.

–  The full blog post from their wedding day –

The Creative Team

VENUE | Willow Oaks Country Club, Richmond, VA

CATERER | Willow Oaks Country Club

FLORIST| Terry Lautzenheiser

BAKERY | Mama K’s Southern Style Sweets and Treats

LATE NIGHT TREAT | Nightingale Ice Cream Sandwiches

DJ | DJ Paula Shrum

BRIDAL SALON | Bliss Bridal

DRESS | Sottero and Midgley

HAIR | Molly Hill

MAKEUP | Kaitlyn Curnow

SUITS | Men’s Wearhouse

Olivia & Daniel | The Inn at Willow Grove, Orange, VA – 2019 wedding highlights

Our second 2019 wedding highlights was with Olivia and Daniel at the Inn at Willow Grove. It is a great venue in Orange, Virginia. A beautiful spot, and it sits right on the side of a big hill side. We went after their ceremony right before sunset we took a golf cart up to this hill, crossed over some fence that I’m not sure if we were supposed to or not.

Olivia had this gorgeous dress. Probably the best part of that wedding day was Olivia’s dress. They’re actually on our homepage of our website and it’s like our big banner image. So just head there if you need to see it.

True, but also we’ll put pictures in this blog post.

But Olivia’s dress was just absolutely gorgeous and we wanted to be able to shoot it without this big dark fence that was at the top of this hillside and so we made Olivia just crawl around this fence.

She was just such a trooper. We got to the other side and got some of our favorite images from the day. Beautiful sunset images, and we just frankly, Olivia and Daniel gave us so much time on their wedding day to shoot.

But it was really fun to be able to just have a little bit of time right before the reception started with just beautiful light and the two of them and was right after they got married, and they were so cute. Their ceremony was adorable and it just made for a really sweet moment.

–  The full blog post from their wedding day –

see more of Olivia and Daniel (engagement session)

The Creative Team

VENUE | The Inn at Willow Grove

CATERER | The Inn at Willow Grove

FLORIST| Ginger and Blooms

BAKERY | The Inn at Willow Grove

DJ | Cam DiNunzio

CEREMONY MUSICIAN | Mark Holt

BRIDAL SALON | Tiffany’s Bridal  

HAIR + MAKEUP | Studio321

VIDEOGRAPHER | Michael Lemly

RENTALS | Gibson Rental’s

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Kelly & John | Hornsby House, Yorktown, VA – 2019 wedding highlights

Our third wedding, and one of our favorite 2019 wedding highlights, was actually on my birthday, May 12. yeah, seems like most years we do have one on my birthday.

So Kelly and John got married at the Hornsby House, where we had never shot before. It’s actually in Yorktown, real close to the beach.

Which is funny because we shoot in Yorktown, that a historic area, a lot, but had never been to this venue.

It’s a really cool venue.

Laura has actually known Kelly’s family for a long time.

Kelly’s step-dad is one of my favorite people in the world, Curt. I used to work at a church in Newport News, when I was going to college and he volunteered there, and so we built a really great relationship and so when we were still very new to this wedding photography thing he married Kelly’s mom, and we shot that wedding in Virginia Beach. Then later when Kelly was a senior, we shot her senior session, too in Virginia Beach, so it was just kind of like full circle, being able to go and shoot Kelly getting married after we had shot her parents, and her senior session.

–  The full blog post from their wedding day –

See more of Kelly & John (engagement session) 

The Creative Team

VENUE | The Hornsby House Inn

CATERER | Chef K

BAKERY | Incredible Edibles

BRIDAL SALON | Ava Clara

HAIR | Jaclyn Hayes – Unveil

MAKEUP | Kim Wadsworth

Yeidy & Robert | Amber Grove, Midlothian, Virginia

Our next 2019 wedding highlights was with Yeidy and Robert, and they got married at one of our favorite venues that we shoot on all the time. Amber Grove. We love Amber Grove.

Just outside of Brandermill in Chesterfield/Midlothian.

They had rented a really cool old vintage car for their wedding.

Which of course is gonna be Michael’s favorite part of any wedding.

It was an old Rolls Royce they rented, and they had someone drive them to their ceremony space, which was just really cool. And then they drove back to the venue. We got a lot of great pictures with it.

And the driver was so sweet, we kept making him adjust where the car was parked a little bit for pictures.

Again, any time you can have pictures with a vintage car, Michael is a happy camper. He loves shooting old cars, so that was really fun.

–  The full blog post from their wedding day –

The Creative Team

VENUE | Amber Grove

CATERER | Amber Grove

FLORIST| Flowerama

BAKERY | Pearl’s Bake Shoppe

DJ | Rodney Woody

HAIR | Maribel Hair Salon

MAKEUP | Kara Waggoner

VIDEOGRAPHER | Alex Wheeler

Sam & Terence | Lesner Inn, Cavalier Hotel, Virginia Beach, VA – 2019 wedding highlights

The next 2019 wedding highlights that we shot was Sam and Terence in Virginia Beach. They got married, they got married at the Lesner Inn. Well they had a Catholic ceremony at a church down there and then the reception was at the Lesner Inn. It is so cool right, on the water really neat cocktail space. They had all this Paisley and Jade vintage furniture brought in, beautiful dinner space.

The reception had an little outlook right on the water, you could go outside.

But they actually got ready at the Cavalier Hotel, which is amazing.

It is so cool.

It is gorgeous! And we were actually able to bring the drone for this wedding because they did have some down time between their ceremony and reception. So we got plenty of time with them, plenty of time with their bridal party, and one of the shots that we could get was with the drone.

Yeah, they had an extended period, between their Catholic ceremony and then the reception time, ’cause they wanted their reception to go later into the evening. And so they had a really long time for us to be able to take pictures, and they let us use so much of that for images and so yeah, Michael broke out the drone, loved it, we got some really cool pictures outside of the Cavalier… it was really fun.

–  The full blog post from their wedding day –

The Creative Team

GETTING READY VENUE | The Cavalier  Virginia Beach, VA

RECEPTION VENUE + CATERER | Lesner Inn Virginia Beach, VA

FLORIST| Gather Floral

BAKERY | Incredible Edibles Bakery

DJ | Astro Entertainment

BRIDAL SALON | Wedding Atelier New York

HAIR | Flawless On Site

MAKEUP | Blushtones

STATIONERY |  Shine Wedding Invitations

RINGS | Jangmi Jewelry

VINTAGE RENTALS | Paisley & Jade

Karli & Jon | John Marshall Ballrooms, Richmond, Virginia – 2019 wedding highlights

Our next of our 2019 wedding highlights was with Karli and Jon who were undoubtedly the most laid back and just chill couple we have never shot.

We adore these two, they were so great to work with! Every time that we needed to chat with them, we just went and grabbed a beer. They are such sweet people! And so their whole wedding day was just really calm… Just because they were so laid back, not really worried about anything, and so that made it a really fun day. But also it was super calm because we worked with one of our favorite vendors, Jenny Keen…

Who we literally just got an email from!

She is a wonderful planner and coordinator. If you ever need someone to help you organize your day, this is your girl. She is amazing.

And that’s another reason why the day was so laid back and relaxed, and why they were so laid back and relaxed is because she had this thing locked down.

Karli & Jon | Cookie Dessert Table

You did. And I wanna say also when we arrived, Jenny, was un-wrapping more cookies than I’ve ever seen in my entire life. Karli and Jon had all their family members, [I say all but I don’t really know who it was] A ton of people bake cookies to have this enormous display of cookies at their reception as their desert, and favor.

It was straight up amazing. That cookie table was longer than… If you have ever been to the John Marshall, They sometimes line that big table in the middle. Well, the cookie table was longer than that table.

Yeah, it was unbelievable, it was huge. Yeah, and delicious.

I walked by that table a couple of the times. So thank you, Karli and Jon for your laid back-ness, and your tasty treats!

–  The full blog post from their wedding day –

The Creative Team

COORDINATOR | Jenny Keen, Greenery + Grace

FLORALS | Flowers Make Scents

VENUE | The John Marshall Ballrooms

CATERER | Homemades by Suzanne

BAKERY | Pearls

Band/Entertainment | Bachelor Boys Band 

DRESS | Bobbie’s Bridal

HAIR & MAKEUP | BRIDEface

Crystal & Tasos | Kiln Creek, Newport News, VA

Our next 2019 wedding highlights couple was Crystal and Tasos who got married at Kiln Creek Golf Club. Another place we’ve been to a few times and it’s a great little spot that’s just off the highway, so it’s used to get to in Newport News.

It’s really beautiful. They have a great getting ready area and a really cool reception space that was recently redone too. So that was awesome, but their reception was so fun because Tasos comes from this very Greek family, and in the middle of the reception, all of a sudden, I hear this Greek music playing and I comeback into the dancing area and Michael is on the floor taking pictures of all of Tasos’ family doing this authentic Greek dance. And it was really fun…

I think it was his father that started it off. I think his brother did it too. Oh my gosh there’s a bunch of photos up… So, just take a look. It was amazing.

It was really cool!

–  The full blog post from their wedding day –

The Creative Team

VENUE | Kiln Creek Golf Club & Resort

FLORALS | Pollard’s Florist

BAKERY | Bella’s Custom Cakes

DJ | Surf & Sound Events  (Eric Gambardella)

DRESS | David’s Bridal

HAIR | Tangles Salon (Stylist Cari Mitchem)

MAKEUP | Sara Lou Bell

VIDEOGRAPHER | Christopher Risch Photography

Sarah & Ben | Colonial Heritage Golf Club, Williamsburg, Virginia – 2019 wedding highlights

Our next couple was Sarah, and Ben, who got married at Colonial Heritage in Williamsburg, another beautiful golf course… , and what was great about Sarah and Ben. Well, first of all, I know Ben’s family. I worked for a long time with his father, for his father, and we shot his sister’s wedding as well. They’re just the best people.

We’ve had so many good people this past year.

Yea, we’ve had a lot of good couples and Sarah and Ben, both their families are just very genuine and very… amazing people!

Sarah & Ben | Lunch

They took care of us. I was very pregnant for this wedding, and when we arrived, we usually arrive pretty early so we have time to walk around the venue, shoot details, and that kind of thing. So, we had arrived very early for this wedding, before lunch time, and as I was shooting details, one of the staff from there came out and said “Hey can I get you guys lunch?”

And I was like, “Oh no, it’s okay. I brought some snacks… whatever.” and he came back and he goes… “No, Ben is forcing me to… Have you order lunch, so you need to tell me what you wanna eat and we’re gonna bring it to you.”.

And so we got these two really nice meals! And then also, they gave us a space to sit down at the reception to be able to sit and have dinner. His whole family came and checked on me constantly throughout the night… I was very pregnant and I was very appreciated for my tummy and my feet. They are just such sweet people… So it was a great wedding!

–  The full blog post from their wedding day –

The Creative Team

VENUE | Colonial Heritage Club

BAKERY | Cakes to Remember 

FLORALS | family friend

DJ | Colonial DJs

DRESS | Truly Yours Bridal , dress by Allure Bridal

HAIR | Catherine Shackelford

MAKEUP | Bella Vita Artistry : Alana Manning

Kate & Eric | Amber Grove, Midlothian, VA – 2019 wedding highlights

Our next couple was Kate & Eric, and they got married at Amber Grove, so we went back there. And one of their biggest 2019 wedding highlights was their dog Remmy who they brought to their engagement session the year before as well… But such a well-behaved Lab and he was there while they were getting ready. And then he was also the actual ring bearer for their ceremony.

Okay, he says, actual with such intonation or whatever, because typically when you have an animal or even a small child, even an older child…

Even a medium child…

When you have somebody that maybe might not be as responsible as an adult, you give them a fake ring or they just hold an empty box, right?

No. The actual wedding rings were tied to this dog’s collar. Remmy actually bought the wedding rings down… the best man untied them from his collar to hand to Eric. It was so adorable! So we got some really cute pictures, with him, but it was so sweet. And then Kate and Eric also gave us a ton of time for portraits, which was really nice because they are such a beautiful couple, and it was just so sweet taking pictures of them. Honestly we didn’t even really talk to them that much while we were taking pictures…

Kate & Eric | Naturals

We didn’t have to tell them what to do. They’re just naturally…

Exactly. Yeah, they were so sweet with each other and just, so natural and beautiful with each other. So that was, it was just a fun day.

And they have a new dog now as well, a new puppy.

Yeah, they do! We also use them for a sample album this year, because their wedding was just, it was so perfect! It was such a good day!

It was. Our next couple has actually a few, like most of these have had a few…

We just can’t narrow it down people, I’m sorry.

–  The full blog post from their wedding day –

The Creative Team

COORDINATOR | Simply Charmed Weddings

FLORALS | Flora Worx

VENUE | Amber Grove Inn

BAKERY | Morsels RVA

DJ | Bunn DJ Company RVA

DRESS | Bridal Elegance RVA

GROOM | Men’s Warehouse

HAIR & MAKEUP | Cecily Morgan Hair 

Jasmin & JJ | Petersburg, VA

So the next of our 2019 wedding highlights was with Jasmin and JJ, who we were referred to by another 2o19 bride, Yeidy and Robert, who we just talked about. They got married down in Petersburg, VA, or their reception was in Petersburg in a place we hadn’t been to before.

Yea, it was a really beautiful space, kind of like a convention center type location next to an old train station, so that was a fun place to shoot, but the best part about their wedding… Well, there are two. The donut wall! There was a donut wall, so you can’t just not talk about the donut wall!

Can I say one more thing before we say the real thing?

Yes.

They also had great reception guests. Their dance floor was filled the entire reception, which I adore! They were not messing around. Those people were there to dance.

Jasmin & JJ | Lightsabers

You’ve gotta dance the whole time, and these people took that seriously, which was so fun! So, donut wall, crazy dance party… But, also JJ was obsessed with having a picture with lightsabers, as he is a huge Star Wars fan. So Jasmin planned a surprise exit. They walked out and their bridal party and friends all had lightsabers that they got to walk through! We ended up having a huge lightsaber party in the parking lot! It was such a cool way to end the evening!

–  The full blog post from their wedding day –

The Creative Team

VENUE | Old Towne Civics Center, Petersburg 

BAKERY | Publix

DRESS | Caryn’s bridal / Maggie sottero 

HAIR | Lisset Herbert

MAKEUP | Ayonna

VIDEO | Shooting goose productions 

Caitlin & Andrew | Historic Rosemont Manor, Berryville, VA – 2019 wedding highlights

Caitlin and Andrew got married at the Historic Rosemont Manor in Berryville, Norther Virginia. A beautiful location! They had just built a new reception space as well.

We shot at with so many redone or new places this year!

Yeah, their new reception sp.ace… It’s just stunning, it’s this beautiful, with windows around the whole thing…

It’s barn-esque, they have these Gorgeous chandeliers, and this cool fireplace and it’s just really well done.

Anyways, so their wedding was five days before Laura gave birth, so the most pregnant you could be still shooting a wedding.

Looking back, it probably was not the smartest choice. We did have a backup photographer that drove three hours, was further away than we are in Richmond. And, Heather, thank you so much! We brought Heather along… She second shot with us, in case I had to…

I don’t know what the plan would have been. Thank you Niles for not coming too early… When we arrived, Caitlin looked at me and she was like, “You’re here!” and I was like, “Of course, I am!” she was like, “I know, but I wasn’t sure. ’cause you’re so pregnant.”. But it was just a great day.

Caitlin & Andrew | Power Rangers

Yeah, and then Caitlin’s sister, Emily, who we actually get to shoot this year, on New Year’s Eve, which is gonna be awesome… She gave her toast, and…

She was the maid-of-honor, and she played a Power Rangers song because…

No, no, no, she referenced Power Rangers in her speech, and then the DJ took it upon himself to play the Power Rangers song, which was histerical! So funny! Everybody was loveing it! It was a really fun reception. I always love when there’s a ton of dancing. Michael and I are dancers, poor dancers, but we’re dancers, and so I always love it when a ton of people are on the dance floor the whole time. And that was definitely this reception. It was so fun.

it was…

–  The full blog post from their wedding day –

The Creative Team

VENUE | Rosemont Manor 

COORDINATOR | Anneka Bye 

FLORALS | Janda Florist 

CATERER |  Celebrations Catering

BAKERY |  homemade cookies

Band/Entertainment |  Repeatable DJ

DRESS | David’s Bridal

HAIR | Hair by Cori (Cori Campbell)

Kylie & Kenny | Historic Post Office – HPO – Norfolk, Virginia – 2019 wedding highlights

And then our last 2019 wedding highlights of the year was very special because it was so different. I was at home, Niles had been born just a few days before and so Michael into this wedding on his own, along with two other photographer friends who stepped in to help him. Our sweet couple Kylie & Kenny, they knew that I wouldn’t be there, but still wanted Michael to be able to be there to shoot and so we had set up for some other people to kind of step in for me.

So that was a really unique thing because we’ve never had any instance where we both couldn’t be there, and so that was very special. I was on my phone the whole day… My best friend, Caitlin had come over to keep me company and sane, as a brand new mom by myself, but then I just was glued to my phone just waiting for all the updates from this wedding. Luckily Michael kept texting me and shared with me just the beautiful day that it was.

Yeah, Kylie & Kenny got married at a Catholic Church in Virginia Beach, and then had their reception at the Historic Post Office, which is such a cool venue. We booked on Kenny in the middle of 2018, so we didn’t know at the time obviously that we were gonna have Niles when we did. But Laura was just so looking forward to shooting at the Historic Post Office ’cause it’s such a great little venue in Hampton. But, Kylie & Kenny are really the most genuine couple that you’d ever meet.

Kylie & Kenny | Historic Post Office Wine Bottles

They have hearts of gold. Yeah, so sweet to trust me and two other photographers they didn’t really know that well.

Yeah, Emily and Susan are fantastic, and we’re lucky they were able to step in. But Kylie & Kenny didn’t know them. They knew us from their engagement session and the process. And when we became pregnant we came to them with all their options, one of which was “Hey we’ll give you your money back and you can totally go and find another photographer.” And they just weren’t having it, which is so flattering. They just wanted us to be there in any capacity that we could, so me via text and Michael there was how it worked, out. It was just so amazing that just right after their wedding Kylie messaged me and talked about how wonderful Michael was while he was there and that she loved that we could still be a part of it even though I wasn’t really there.

Also at the reception, they were handing out bottles of wine to everyone that was leaving. So I did take a few of those as well, but yeah. They just had to beautiful wedding day, and we’re just so thankful for them.

People were throwing bottles of wine into Michael’s hands. You know it’s a good party when something that happens, right?

Yeah.

–  The full blog post from their wedding day –

The Creative Team

Second Shooters | Emily Gibby & Susan Fowler

Wedding Planner/Coordinator | Ashley Fussel, Soirees by Lauren

Florist | Fluttering Flowers

Caterer | Mission BBQ

Bakery | InCredible Edibles

DJ | DJ Barry McKay

Hair & Makeup | The Posh Pair

Anyways, those are 2019 wedding highlights. Honestly the sweetest group of people we’ve ever worked with. If you were at any of those weddings and you have a favorite moment, we’d love to hear because we are very into reminiscing right now as we stuck at home. But those are a few of our favorites! We hope you enjoyed it.