the blog

This session is super close to home for us, literally. But this couple is special to us because Danielle is the sister of one our our amazing 2017 brides, Meredith. Danielle and Shane live just minutes away from the waterfront in Columbia and felt it fitting to do their session there and capture a place where they already have existing memories. Let me just say, what a cool venue. We live 10 minutes from this place and it’s so sweet. There’s are gorgeous fountain, a pier that backs up to a lake, live concert area, and tons of restaurants. We spent our time with these guys getting to know them a little bit. We gave them a couple topics to talk about so that not only we could get to know them but they could get to know each other even better (you know, they are getting married so they obviously know each other super well!). We learned that Danielle and I both love our ballgame hotdogs lathered in either ketchup or chili cheese and chili. We learned that our men deck theirs out in everything. We also learned that they have two new kittens (man, we should have included them in the shoot!) and that if they had $10 to spend at Whole Foods, they’d clear out the Almond Croissants. They must be pretty good. 

We were really excited about sharing this company and their offerings because they do some pretty cool wedding party gifts. 

Many of our clients give gifts to their bridesmaids and groomsmen and Groovy Gifts sent one of them to us to take a look at. 

Internet, meet Christy and Josh! We met these guys because of a series of relationships and what a sweet wedding day they had and GORGEOUS weather. Some of our personal highlights of their day was Christy’s reveal in front of her dad, our time with them during their newlywed portrait time, watching her dad and her rock out during their father/daughter dance, her 90 year old grandma dancing, and a really sweet toast from her maid of honor. Oh and how awesome… Christy is wearing her mom’s veil! I love that!

Dear Patrick and Stephanie,

We don’t even know where to start with your wedding. For one, pretty sure Stephanie you have one my favorite wedding dress to date. Taking it out of those bags to hang up had us like “WHAT?!” and all day, watching you walk, it was like “dang, what a babe. Can’t believe she’s one of our brides.”

Your demeanor, your gentleness and your gracefulness came so naturally, it’s so evident in your photos. When your girls saw you, when your dad saw you, when your mom helped you get ready, it just embodied sweetness and beauty. You guys are a classic bride and groom.

Patrick, my Patrick said the same, but way more masculine haha. What a stud. Thanks for trusting us. Your encouragement throughout the day reminds us of why we do this, why we spend hours with strangers and why we personally get to know our brides and grooms. 

We left your venue 12 hours later thinking, yep, dream client. Not because of your jimmy choo shoes, even though they are killer, and not because of the vendors you picked (they were killer too) but because you wanted us there. You wanted us to do what we do best. We had a blast, we felt empowered, we felt like we could create, try new things and really let us rock and roll. Not literally even though we love to dance haha.

Did you know we have a secondary team led by our amazing assistant and photographer, Sarah! Yah, she’s legit and we totally trust her with our brides and grooms!! Here’s our love note to them!! 

Dear Chelsea and Phil, 

What a pair!! You guys literally can’t take a bad photo. This beautiful new venue is a diamond in the rough. What used to be a venue that went under called The Winery at Elk Manor is now called Bohemia River Overlook, a newly purchased and owned wedding venue by Rouge Catering!! We LOVE ROUGE!! This is one if the first weddings they’ve had since opening so we are so excited to have been here!! This venue has three options for weddings! We got to take Chelsea and Phil to all three locations for newlywed portraits since no other weddings were happening on the property!! 

When we were helping Katie and Daniel figure out a location for their engagement session, these guys had so many incredible ideas. They kept saying, we want something really unique. These guys opted for two locations which was so great, because 1) they have very different photos and feels at two locations and 2) we got to do something unique and something close to home for them.

Marlina and Jake met up with Sarah, who runs our secondary team, at Brookside Gardens this June. With all of the rain we had, the flowers were in full bloom and looked stunning! Of course, not as stunning as these two! These guys had a ton of fun and you can just tell that they love spending time together. These guys were rocking their session from the very beginning! Giggles, snuggles, and they even rocked a dip! They were so flexible and we were able to visit almost every single beautiful spot at the Gardens. I hope you enjoy your pictures! We cannot wait for your wedding next March! 

At a bridal show last year that I did solo, a girl and her mom walk up to me and I’m like “no way!!!” It had been YEARS since I had seen Tess, as we went to Bryn Mawr around the same time and graduated high school just a couple years apart. I hadn’t seen her since then. I met Ray that night and we were so excited when they reached out again about hiring us for their wedding. We were so pumped and honored!! 

We’ve never had a bride love her rainy day wedding as much as Tiffany did. And when we say rain, we Lena like down pour. At our final meeting with Tiffany, like most our brides, she said “I totally want rain picture.” Some don’t know what that actually entails until it actually happens. Rain in unavoidable but beautiful rain pictures are for the brave and free.

Let’s just say, William and Tiffany dominated their rain pictures. Like I mean danced in the rain at the end of the night, rung out her dress mid photos, and loved that her bouquet had rain drops all over it.

This wedding was so sweet and unique. William is Jewish and Tiffany is Chinese. Together they created a beautiful wedding woven with Chinese culture including a tea ceremony with their elders and gold flaked red gift envelopes, to a Chuppah and Ketubah signing honoring Jewish law. These guys even had an outfit change to honor both.

It downpoured under the tent during ceremony while friends read readings and the challah bread was broken. It kept raining while folks danced under the rain covered white tent. Sweet toasts were shared and tears resulted as parents and wedding party shared memories and secret admiration of the bride and groom.

If there’s two people that just go together, it’s Chelsea and Matthew. We met these guys at a Bridal Show when Chelsea told me that her photographer bailed. Her dad, little did I know, was watching us from afar and approached me and said “we want to hire you. I’ve been watching and we love how you deal with people.” They literally booked us that night. Little did we know what we were getting ourselves into. I’m gonna stop for a second and say, Off Beat is exactly who these people are. They aren’t into trends, they don’t care about fame. But what they do care about is those they love, their heirlooms, their music, and of course, their mopeds.