I'm sure I know lots of Canadian people, but I can't think of any, so we'll just go with Erin is the first person I've spent any significant amount of time with who is Canadian. And I must say, she and her family have convinced me that Canada breeds the nicest, most joyful, laid-back people on Earth. Not to be outdone, Patrick's family brought the awesome with a dance-crazy aunt and incredibly silly groomsmen. These two already rocked the
courthouse, but brought it all together last month for a big wedding at the
Crowne Plaza in Crystal City.
Big thanks to Tim for coming out to help me with this wedding.
I'm such a sucker for a big Washington, DC backdrop.
The Crowne Plaza is right in the heart of Crystal City - so we were a bit short on pretty green spaces, but had plenty of rockin' urban stuff to work with. And, if you can believe it, there were actual bikers trying to use our wedding portrait bike path.
These poor people. I had already subjected them to my parking garage obsession at their courthouse wedding.
But really, who can resist a good orange stripe?
The Crowne Plaza gets to use the beautiful courtyard between office buildings for outdoor wedding ceremonies. The light bounced all over the place and reflected off the windows in the buildings opposite the sun. It was a lovely setting.
Erin's dad officiated and he did one of the best jobs of any officiant I've ever heard.
Instead of doing the candle thing or the sand thing, Erin and Patrick decided to paint together. I wonder if that canvas is dry yet.
Erin!!
Yeah he's definitely not waving to anyone in particular.
Patrick's aunt danced *all night*.
So I've eaten a lot of wedding cake. And I don't even like cake - girl just needs a few extra calories sometimes. But this was the. best. wedding. cake. ever. Seriously.
Happy Tart Bakery is the freakin' bomb *and* they're a gluten-free bakery - ridiculous!
Sometimes when editing, I know what song they were dancing to at the time and it gets stuck in my head. Thanks guys, for the Time Warp. Oy.
Patrick's not a big dancer, really. Here he is literally being carried to the dance floor, from which he ran away.
But he came back later.
Congratulations, you guys!
Erin & Patrick's vendor team:
Ceremony & reception venue:
Crowne Plaza Washington National Airport, Crystal City, Arlington, VA
Catering: same
Cake:
Happy Tart Bakery
DJ: Jon Ryu, with
MyDeeJay
Erin's dress: David's Bridal
Hair & Makeup: Amy Rojas with
Stylist To Go
Frequent visitors to the site are probably tired of seeing this image, but it always makes me happy to make and deliver it. Such a great spot. (Yeah, I have one for you guys that doesn't have tourists in it - don't worry!)
Also, the National Gallery has taken away half of the pieces I normally shoot with... hopefully they're replacing it with something and you'll get to see some new compositions soon. In the meantime, the blank slate where they used to have that big horizontal blue and green piece makes for some beautiful negative space.
I had a fair amount of competition that day.
Congratulations you guys!
Miriam got ready upstairs in the kick-ass library.
It was raining, so we had to do all the portraits inside. Luckily, the Carnegie Institution for Science has some brilliant decor to work with.
I seriously love this library.
Miriam and RJ set up their ceremony in the rotunda at Carnegie, with guests on all sides of them and their attendants standing behind them. Wonderfully inclusive for guests and tricky for the photographer! Luckily I had my brilliant second shooter Julia there with me.
Pretty much taken at the exact same moment as above.
They included the Quaker element of allowing guests to stand up and speak if they feel moved. I love this as a wedding tradition.
I put Julia on the "safe" shots, so I could move around.
They hosted a brunch wedding, complete with drip-through coffee bar courtesy of 
RJ's mom absolutely dominated the photobooth.
Miriam and her dad sang a song instead of dancing. They're quite the musical family.
This might have been Whitney. Not sure. Let's just pretend it was Whitney. I was like "hell yes."
I do a macro ring shot at most weddings. I go up to my peeps and ask to take their rings. Often they look a little wary, but consent. Miriam told me to be really careful - because her ring is "over 300 years old". Whaaaat? Those little hands are on their own separate rings, and slide closed to cover the heart. How freakin' awesome is that?
Miriam's dad getting down. He's actually chopping wood in that third frame. Yessss.
My favorites.
My SEO-grabbing hidden title for this picture is "bride runs through a circle of high fives." We should all have a circle of high-fives at our weddings.
Congratulations guys!
Miriam & RJ's vendor team:
Coordinator: Meigh with