2017 was such a great year for me! I had my good share of amazing weddings in Virginia. Loved each and every one of them and I am looking forward to all the ones I will document in 2018.

One of the highlights of the year was shooting a Destination Wedding in Florence, Italy.

Traveling has always been my passion, since I was little. I remember going to Italy with my parents. My mother always made sure that we had a blast throughout the journey. So I started collecting books from my travels. I would buy one at every airport, sign it and date it. So every time I was looking forward to it.

Choosing the people that will help make your day special isn’t easy at all. You go through websites and look at thousands of Pinterest boards and you see all these beautiful images, but until it’s actually your turn to really choose you don’t realize that behind all those captures there are real people, that work hard. Creatives that help you bring your vision together.Virginia Wedding Photographer

I had the pleasure of spending a day with Caitlin from Cara Cait Creative, in her home, where she makes all the magic happen and while I was documenting her work, I got to know her a little better. 

Caitlin’s story, in her own voice:

I’m in my office wrapped up in a blanket, drinking my cappuccino and it’s mid April! I am definitely ready for warmer weather, for traveling trips and for toes in sandy beaches. 
So for today I will try to warm your hearts with this romantic sunset engagement session on the Virginia Blue Ridge Mountains.

How they met: Gunner and Ashley met when he returned to Michigan after completing medical school in Australia. Their school year is a bit different from ours and he had several months off before he was supposed to start his residency.

Chris and Rachel met in high school. Rachel was a Junior soccer athlete, Chris was a Senior basketball athlete. Rachel & Chris’s sister were good friends.One Myspace click later, they started talking constantly. A few weeks later Chris picked her up from a school function to take her home. On their way, Chris turned down the music and asked, “if I asked you to be my girlfriend, what would you say?” Charming. High school sweethearts we became.

Carley & Chris’s story starts way before they were aware of it. Her brother and his cousin became close friends in middle school and they would often drop hints to them about the other.
It isn’t until August 2016, when Carley reaches out to Chris asking him to meet for coffee for some career advice that they start getting closer. Towards the end of the conversation things get a little more personal, but Chris goes back to St. Thomas. 

Brooklyn & Bryan met at Radford College through a mutual friend and actually didn’t like each other when they first met. They hung out together a few times, then went separate ways for about a year, until he decided to contact her again which ignited communication between the two for a few months.

Stephanie & will were such an amazing couple to work with!
When we met we connected immediately and the engagement session was obviously a success!

I met with Nicole & Mark in a coffee shop and I knew from the beginning that we were a perfect match.

How they met: Mark and Nicole first met in 10th grade Health class at Cave Spring High. She sat near him and he had said she had nice handwriting but they did not start dating until their senior of high school where they went to prom together.

Emory and Sara had been going to school together since 6th grade. They had maybe talked a few times here and there but never really got to know each other. Her junior year of high school she started talked to this girl, who happened to be best friends with Emory since they were in preschool. During the second semester of Junior year, this girl started inviting friends over to watch movies every weekend, but they were so shy they wouldn’t even talk to each other. After a few months of awkward movie nights, she gets a notification that said “Your friend Emory Russell is on snapchat” with a button to add him as a friend. Shy Sara was totally out of character and added him AND snapchatted him and Emory responded to her snapchat almost immediately and they started talking back and forth, until finally one day he asked her to be his girlfriend.

They both knew they wanted to spend the rest of their lives together and had been talking about it, so Emory went ring shopping alone at first and got nervous that he would pick the wrong ring and brought her along the second time. They picked the same ring.

After a long day of driving and working that started at 4am, one night  she was falling asleep on the couch. Emory told her that they had to go to the chapel to get a hymnal book for his mom because she was playing the organ Sunday morning and needed to pick out songs to play. She agreed to go with him and thought nothing of it. They arrived at the chapel and the closet with the hymnals was locked, so they checked to see if the library had any hymnals. Emory started stalling at this point and she told him that they should just go back to the house because they had failed their mission. Emory told her to check the closet door one more time “because it sticks”, so she checked the door (it was still locked) and turned around and Emory was down on one knee. It was such a sweet moment with the two of them in the chapel with the cross behind us. “It represents what our relationship is and what we strive for it to be in the future” said Sara.

“A homegrown, coffee-infused love story.” EAT, DRINK AND BE WILLIAM’S.

That is the title of the movie featuring Annie & Travis’s story. Annie & Travis’s wedding day was unique for sure! They included so many cool ideas, I don’t even know where to start from!