Ryan + Michelle // Park Chateau NJ Wedding

The wedding of Ryan & Michelle at The Park Chateau was one I was looking to for a looooong time. I met Michelle through the Rising Tide Society and she is honestly one of the sweetest and nicest people I have ever met. She runs a thriving hair and makeup business and is not only a sweetheart, but a master at what she does! 

When she and Ryan got engaged all of us were SO excited that one of our own was about to plan her own wedding!! My great friend Jennifer Larson was on tap to shoot their wedding and when she asked me to 2nd shoot with her I was over the moon excited to not only come to their wedding but to be able to serve them on their most special day!

The entire week leading up to the wedding, the forecast called for rain. We were kind of all hoping it would be typical and change a few days closer but NOPE. Literally the app said 100% chance of rain from like 9am till 10pm. Seriously. 100%. And it was right. It literally rained and rained and rained all day, but that did not dampen anyone's spirits! Everyone had an amazing day and the venue was so stunningly gorgeous that it didn't even matter. So many awesome places to shoot inside as well! 

I hung out with Ryan and his brothers and let me tell you the three of them were hysterical. And when Ryan opened his gift from Michelle, I'm telling you, it was probably the best groom reaction to a gift that I have ever seen. She did give him a Rolex watch, so there's that, but seriously, he was blown away!! It was so awesome to document that!

The ceremony was lovely and the reception was awesome. So much love in one room together. It was a pleasure and an honor to play a part in their forever. Congratulations to Ryan and Michelle!! Check out Jennifer's blog post for the FULL story of the day! 

The Murray Family // Washington D.C.

I've known Katherine since college and I just love her. It's been so nice to stay connected with her over the years despite where life has taken us. We both ended up marrying Army men and even though she has three adorable daughters and lives in the DC area, I still feel like we are kindred folk. I love her sense of humor and the way she loves her family. She is an amazing woman and mother and I am proud to call her my friend! We've been trying to get together ever since I moved to the east coast. She and I were lucky enough to meet for breakfast when I went down to DC for the VIPINtensive in February and when Paul and I planned our trip down to DC for a few days I mentioned it to her because I totally wanted to see her again and meet her adorable family (whom I have only seen online!) She was so cute because she was like, wait...you are coming? I totally want to see you and can I hire you to do our photos? It just worked out perfectly. And the fact that she wanted to take them near and around the capitol building was amazing! What photographer doesn't want to shoot there?!

The day ended up being so much colder than anticipated. The day before was awesome and the day after was awesome (of course) but that day we had clouds and temps only in the 40's! Brrrr!!! It led to there being not a lot of crowds around, but we were all pretty much freezing the entire time. Despite the cold, I think we still got some great family memories for them and I am so glad we were able to get together! We headed out to dinner afterward to catch up and chat and all around it was just such a special day. Katherine...you are the best and I just love your family!