Wedding: Marie and Bill!

So.....I did it.  I photographed my first solo wedding :)

I have second shot (been the secondary photographer) at a few weddings, and, of course taken numerous photos on my own at friends' weddings.  This was my first experience of being THE photographer for a wedding---and what a great experience it was!

How I got hired....well it was as simple as one of my coworkers, Marie, knew that I did photography outside school and asked if I was interested in photographing her wedding.  Of course, I said yes--it was as simple as that! The wedding took place at Marie's sister's house, a little outside of Richmond VA the Sunday before Memorial Day.  We were in a race with the impending thunderstorm, as the ceremony was to take place outside on the front yard.  The rain, however, did nothing to dampen the high spirits a wedding day can bring!

Marie--the blushing Bride.  This photo and the next were the only moments of the day when we were alone together.  Marie is mother and a grandmother, so she is always surrounded by loving family.

I had a classic version of this same photo, where Marie was not smiling but simply looking pensive.  I opted to share the smiley photo here because it was so apparent that everyone at the wedding was so joyous at this union.

Bill- the handsome groom.  I was able to grab this shot as Marie walked out of the house and he saw her for the first time that day.

You may kiss the bride! :)

Newlyweds :)  So happy together.

There were many tears of happiness during the ceremony...it was beautiful.

This was their first dance......

.....which had to be relocated due to the rain finally starting!  At least it held off until after the ceremony was over.

Detail shots....this cake was actually ordered from a store in Waldorf MD, and had to be driven down to Richmond.  Impressive!

The rings :)

Drink cozies--I couldn't get a shot of the groom's cozie because he had already grabbed his drink by the time I got to this!  You can also see the drops of rain on the cozies--we were definitely walking through muddy puddles at times once the storm started.  We still had the reception under the tent while the rain poured down!  I loved that not one person said the rain ruined the day--everyone was just so happy for Marie and Bill-no matter the weather :)

Cake cutting--very exciting :P

This last photo was a lot of fun to execute!  I was asked to take a photo that had everyone at the wedding in it.  While this was a small wedding, I still had to poke my head out of a second story window with my camera and call out directions to all the wedding guests down below.  We did one with all smiles, one with everyone waving and this one with everybody pointing at the happy couple.

Again--such a beautiful day for Marie and Bill.  My congratulations to you both :)