I have to admit, it didn’t look good on the evening of August 14th. Bands of thunderstorms were sweeping across the state, and they were moving toward the lake side wedding of Anna and Warren. Have a look at the weather radar from the day. The white arrow is pointing right where the wedding was supposed to be. Red, by the way is “heavy” rainfall.

With all of the guests filling every room in the house, waiting, the hour of the wedding came and passed. Rain still falling. But at half past 7:00, the clouds relented and the wedding of Anna and Warren began. They are my first couple to request all black and white wedding imagery. (I think they’ll like the color versions too…) Anyway, here are a few from their very special day.

Sorry, have to break in a second here. On their first date, before Warren knew that Anna does not like roses at all, he bought her a dozen of them. However he took out one rose before their date. Anna, being Anna, noticed that there were only eleven roses. Warren told her, “You only get the 12th rose if we get married.” This is the surprisingly romantic Warren holding the 12th rose that he presented to Anna later that night. (She LIKED that one!)

A few months back, I ran a little viewer’s choice contest called “The Baker’s Dozen.” I presented photos from a number of clients and asked for you to decide the winning photo. In the end, the mighty Madison was the victor!

The winning client received a free photo session along with a canvas print. It was a pleasure to meet again with the young Madison for her private session. It is always amazing to me to see the giant changes, made so plainly evident in photographs, as children grow up. Have a look at the contest winning photo, then take a look at these:

Rachael and Robert wanted to update their family photos since their wedding a couple years back. So we joined them and their two dogs, Annie and Charlie at the lovely USC Horseshoe for a family photo session. In spite of the August heat, and plenty of hungry mosquitoes everyone had a great time. And with a beautiful couple like this it would take a lot more than that to ruin the fun of the day.

Here are just a few from our time together.

BTW – This is Charlie and Annie.

My August couple is the completely stunning Anna and very handsome Warren. You’re not going to believe this, but they don’t much like having their photos taken. However, they met with us to have their engagement session done. It turned out that Madison and Anna attended a couple of schools together, and were even in the same Brownie troop! (Anna actually doesn’t know that… Until now..)

Truly, I cannot think of a better way to spend an afternoon. It was a warm and windy day that was made just a little bit hotter by this gorgeous couple!

Here’s just a few from their day. Really looking forward to August!

The only thing I love more than meeting couples like Summer and Bobby is spending time photographing them. There is always such a special quality to that time when the love shared by the couple is so obvious. That was the case when I first met them to talk about their September wedding (Summer can’t wait!— Me either!) and was equally so when we met last Sunday on a warm Spring day.

Just a few from our time together…

On the first day of May, in the light of mid-morning, at the lovely Wintergreen Woods, Sarah and Brad were married. There was just the slightest worry about rain. Even if the rain had come, it wouldn’t have dampened the joy of this day. The intimate gathering of friends and family simply could not have been any better. It’s one of the great pleasures of this job to be part of celebrations like this. A glowingly happy and beautiful bride, a distinguished and equally happy groom, and the love of all the families gave everything that special sense of “meant to be.”

And now, just a few images from a wonderful day.

In “27 Dresses” the main character reveals her favorite part of the wedding ceremony. Just as the bride enters, she looks at the groom to see his face when he sees his bride for the first time. I’ll be honest, I do to. This is why.

Sorry, have to interrupt again. I’ve seen a lot of dances at weddings. None surprised me more than this one. (Mother and Father of the Bride.) I almost stopped photographing just to watch. They moved together with a flowing grace and obvious passion that many would say is usually reserved to the younger crowd. It isn’t!

Sarah is my May 1st bride. The thing I don’t like about doing bridal portraits is that I can’t blog them until the wedding day! Oh well… It’s May 1st now!

So this is Sarah. Gorgeous, isn’t she? During her bridal portrait session her mom and mom-in-law-to-be were wondering if Sarah should be a Scarlett or a Melanie. Sassy or Southern Belle? Having come to know Sarah a bit from our first meeting, way back last June, there was just very little doubt in my mind. Smart and sassy all the way.

However, she wisely decided to have it both ways. She chose “Melanie” for her bridal photo in the paper and “Scarlett” for her bridal portrait.

Their wedding is coming soon, but now… A few from the day with this beautiful bride!

The Scarlett Sarah!

The “Melanie” Sarah.

Spring and Fall are my favorite times of year. You just can’t beat the colors or the nice cool temperatures. Having a cool couple to shoot during both those times is just icing. Steve and Jessica are one of my October weddings this year. And I assure you, they are VERY cool. (Especially Steve!)

We met downtown on a nice cool April Sunday, and spent some time at the Capitol, and then wondered down Main St. Where we found an interesting surprise. It was a fun day, with a great couple and three very happy dogs!

Oh.. Just a word on this little surprise we found. You could say that Steve is HUGE fan of CAT. While we were walking, he happened to see this GIANT generator made by CAT. As you can see, Jessica quite played along. (I told you they were cool!)

With the photo sessions of the awesome JoAnna, Korynn, and Bailey, (Bailey…? I don’t see any “Bailey” here… That’s right, you can only see her on the Senior’s Blog or on DLP Seniors.) we’re creating a branch of the photography business that will cater just to high school senior portraiture.

You’ve all seen typical high school yearbook photos. Same pose, same black wrap, (and in some cases… a feather boa?), same tux. It’s what has to be done in order to get uniform, consistent photos that will all line up in those little rows in the pages of the yearbook. Doesn’t do much to capture anything of the personality of the senior. Well that’s what DLP Seniors wants to change.

Our Senior Style sessions are far more like a fashion shoot than anything else. We don’t put limits on number of locations or on wardrobe changes. The pace is fast and geared to capture the best in our seniors at this very important time in their lives.

Pop over to DLP Seniors and see what happens when we get seniors out of the little boxes.

Irmo High Senior Korynn’s session just couldn’t have been any better. Perfect weather, great locations, and a young lady that I personally found inspiring. Athletic, intelligent, very classy, and just downright beautiful, shooting Korynn was an absolute pleasure. And the best thing about her (well for me anyway) is that she is one of my two Senior Reps at Irmo High School.

With out further verbiage, the very lovely Korynn.