Melissa and John were married at the lovely
Museum London, which is in a whole other country: Canada! This was the first time I'd shot a wedding outside of the states and it was a fine experience. I had Tim Hortons and paid with weird plasticy money and can confirm that Canadians are bizarrely, delightfully friendly and polite. But before I did any of that, I photographed Melissa and John's wedding.
I met John a few years ago at a photo conference in Charlottesville, and turned out we lived just a few blocks from each other. He's since gone to live up in the Great White North. You'll note I've taken my soapbox of a website here to post embarrassing pictures of the people I knew at the wedding. Enjoy!
We started the day at
Hotel Metro in downtown London with some of Melissa's closest and one canine friend.
Meanwhile, Lisa my local second (thanks Lisa!) was with the gentlemen.
We scooted over to
Windermere on the Mount for the ceremony.
Special Canadian-only part: signing the registry!
Maybe because I know John and Melissa and a handful of other folks at the wedding, but there were lots of great street-style scenes to capture. I hope John will be pleased with them, as he happens to be a street photographer himself.
And look - he managed to marry a total babe.
Party time at
Museum London! Unfortunately they didn't let us do anything in the galleries, but I still enjoyed the big windows and the fact that I was shooting in Canada!
More "street" action.
Dude on the right here danced with every single lady at the wedding, including me. He insisted and for probably the first time ever at a wedding (because who doesn't want to cajole the photographer into dancing?) I couldn't say no. He's a really good dancer!
I don't think I've ever seen a teenager who actually liked her parents as much as this girl likes her parents. This family was so freakin' cute.
The aforementioned photos of people I know looking goofy. Hi Katy!
So many congratulations, my friends!
Melissa and John's vendor team:
Ceremony venue:
Windermere on the Mount
Reception venue:
Museum London
Getting-ready venue:
Hotel Metro
Catering:
North Moore
Hair & Makeup:
Selah Vie
We started the day at Hotel Monaco Alexandria - a perennial favorite for its cool art and funky fabrics and such. Always fun to shoot there.
I love this photo of all of Mara's ladies cracking up.
We stole a few minutes pre-ceremony to sneak down to the lobby and take some photos.
Then Mara soaked up some love from the street on the way to the Carlyle House.
Rich peeking in on the processional.
Their officiant did a great job. Whenever a plane went over, she would make everybody take a sigh, which inevitably resulted in big laughs.
Everyone Mara knows seems to be a solid foot taller than her.
These two make it look easy.
The Carlyle House is a really atmospheric place.
Old Town is such a great place to do portrait work. There are so many funky alleys and cobblestones and doorsteps.
I super-dig the spiderwebs on the door here - makes it look like they're off to a secret garden of looooooove.
Party time at the Athenaeum!
These two have so much fun together.
Mara notoriously hates pink, so her friends showed up in matching cardigans.
Artful cake.
Several hours into her reception, Mara finally sat down.
Congratulations guys!
Mara and Rich's vendor team:
Getting ready venue: Hotel Monaco Alexandria
Ceremony venue: Carlyle House
Reception venue: Athenaeum
Caterer: Main Event Caterers
Band: 3MTs
Florist: Wisteria Florist
Rentals: Sammy's Rentals
Cake: Fluffy Thoughts
Ceremony music: Classical Guitar Ceremonies (Chris Dunn)
Officiant: Debra Peevey
I met Corinne and her mother at the very first ceramics class I took. I thought it was so sweet they did a ceramics class together. Years later, she's living with her new husband in NYC. Life!
Let no one say this was a solemn occasion.
Corinne's dad's reaction to seeing her in the wedding dress was pretty great.
Thanks so much to Angel for coming out to photo this wedding with me. A handful of these images are hers.
Cocktail hour on the patio at the Hendry House. They couldn't have asked for a nicer day.
Corinne got the dance floor action started and it didn't let up all night.
Corinne's uncle (I think I got that right) is in a band called 
The coordinator told me these cookies came from 
Congratulations, you guys!
Corinne and Andy's vendor team:
Getting-ready, ceremony and reception venue: