Two days after their engagement session we photographed the wedding of this beautiful couple. We had seen them on Thursday for their E-session, Friday for the rehearsal, and most of the day Saturday for the wedding, we were really beginning to feel like old friends!
A beautiful ceremony (at The Woodland Place in Vinton, VA) involving a ribbon binding the couple to the friends and family that were there, a sand ceremony, and the release of doves all worked together to create a very moving day!

Natalie’s sister Julia did a stunning job with her hair and makeup…

We took the (beautiful) ladies outside for a little bit

Then Natalie alone…

Matt and his crew had a turn outside…

What a handsome bunch eh?

During the ceremony the release of doves!

Outside again, this couple worked it like they were modeling for Vogue…

And at the end of the night, after lots of dancing and fun…

Natalie and Matt contacted us last summer to book us for their wedding this spring. We had a blast at the meeting talking about all sorts of things and generally having a ball over a cup of coffee.
As with any couple that books with us, we like to do an engagement session with them so that we can all get to know each other before the big day. This makes it all go a little smoother on the wedding day. As time went on last fall, the leaves fell off the trees, and the New River Valley took on a grey-ish tone. Natalie and Matt wanted to do their session at the War Memorial at Virginia Tech, but with more green, so we waited…
We waited for the green of spring to arrive and color the campus at Tech, a call to Natalie revealed that she now lived a few states away! “Well, let me know when you’ll be in town again” I said, and checked back frequently through the spring. As the wedding day approached I called Natalie to check on her schedule again and she remarked that she would not be back in town until the week before the wedding! As we do all of our shoots outdoors (well almost all) I worried about the weather and everyone’s schedule during that busy week! Well, we first scheduled Wednesday the 6th for the session, and the weather was dicey, BIG scattered thunderstorms all afternoon and evening, so we looked to Thursday for our salvation…
Thursday came with storms and rain and thunder and lightning… but it looked as though we might have a shot, a hole in the clouds, just maybe we could work with it…
After the drive to campus the sky was a beautiful blue (with some dark clouds screaming though), so we headed to the place that Matt had proposed to Natalie, on top of the chapel at the War Memorial…

We took some portraits of each of them individually (with his striking good looks I thought I had Sean Penn in front of my lens!)

Natalie has a quiet, natural beauty about her…

We found a beautiful niche (our specialty) in a stairwell nearby (complete with trashcan!)

And finished up where they had their first date at Cabo Fish Taco!

So, on Friday when we showed up for the rehearsal (as an added bonus we do this whenever possible to see how things will flow, talk to the officiant, and set a gameplan for the big day, think of it as advanced scouting) we delivered a set of prints for them to show off at the rehearsal and reception the following day!

A great couple to work with, as they come back though town we plan on doing a fashion bridal (aka: Trash the Dress) session!