It was such an honor to photograph the wedding of Melissa and Dennis, my last wedding of 2012 (yay!!!….but sad at the same time).  They are just geniunely nice people.  And so were all their family and friends….I mean seriously, they were the most cooperative and easy to work with people ever.  You’ll see in just a minute that Melissa and Dennis wanted a group picture at the church of everyone in attendance.  When I found that out I wanted to crawl into a hole and hide and hope that they just magically forgot and decided to move on to the reception.  No such luck….I had to be a big girl and use the microphone and direct everyone.  Which using a microphone is bad enough because nobody likes the sound of their own voice, especially me.  But in the end everyone was quiet and took direction like it was their job….so great success!!  I’m going to tell myself that it was because everyone thought I was really good at my job and wanted to help me out and be nice to me and not that they just wanted to get to the reception where the beverages and dancing were.    😉

Anyway, like I was saying, geniunely nice people.  And even though I had never met Melissa or Dennis before the wedding day (I had spoken on the phone with Melissa and she laughed at some of my jokes so I was feeling okay about the whole experience), it didn’t matter…..we hit it off!  But I think even The Grinch could hit it off with Melissa and Dennis (did you like my horrible attempt at adding in a Christmas reference?).  We started off with a really sweet first look at Concord Point Lighthouse in beautiful Havre de Grace, MD and continued there on a pier with what have become some of my absolute FAVORITE portraits.  I couldn’t have asked for a more beautiful sky or perfect sunlight on that pier.

Small and sweet bridal party.  Maid of Honor and Best Man is all you really need  🙂

Love these next three….

The sunlight was shining at the perfect angle to show all the great detail of the wood pilings and still let me get the beautiful blue sky.

These next two I want to frame and hang on my own wall and they’re not even of me.

These four were cracking each other up.  Made my job easy!

We then moved on to the United Methodist Church down the street so they could get married!

A few little dress adjustments while waiting.  That gave me a chance to grab a few of the detail shots I typically would get before the ceremony.

Big groups shots!  I felt so accomplished after these.

Then we headed down the street a little further for party time at La Banque de Fleuve.  I loved this place.  It was originally a First National Bank back when it was built in 1904, but has since been converted into a very elegant event space.

This was such a cool idea!!!  I admittedly kept going back to the map throughout the night to see more of the places that people flagged.

A little warning:  A TON of dancing pictures are to follow.  This wedding was full of awesomeness in the dancing department.  It helped develop my new-found love of breaking out the extreme wide-angle lens when the dance floor is packed and just putting myself right up in the action.  The distortion makes for such fun shots.

A little “Gangnam Style” video elevator scene homage  🙂

The map, favors, cake, and guest book were all set up in the old bank’s safe.  So cool!!  I loved how everybody was peeking through the doorway watching them eat their cupcakes.

Please excuse the fact that I’m posting a bajillion pictures of this guy.  I can’t help it.

The wide angle shots I’m loving…

Secret:  This photo was a mistake.  A happy mistake.  I meant to focus on Melissa’s face.  I was off.  But instead I grabbed this shot where the focus is on their clasped hands close to my camera and I’m so happy I screwed up because I love it.

Some of the flags by the end of the night.

This was the second to last shot I took that night.  I know it’s not some amazing photo but I love the love that’s in it.  Melissa and Dennis’s parents are giving them hugs and you can see Melissa’s new father-in-law coming in to give her a hug.  I just smile at the look on his face and how happy he looks to now have Melissa as his daughter.  So sweet.