The ceremony was held outside of the beautiful Kluge church, underneath a canopy of trees and surrounded by the vineyard on three sides. It was the perfect backdrop for Alison & Jonathan’s fairytale wedding! As you will see in the fusion film it was a very tearful and touching ceremony, so afterwards everyone was ready to kickback and have some fun. The bridal party along with Alison & Jonathan kicked off the night in style as they busted out their best dance moves for the introductions.

I have to thank 20 South catering as once again they served up a delicious dinner with their trademark style. I always love working with them as not only is the food amazing, but the presentation is equally as spectacular. I always love the setup of the bar with their colorful lights, which often becomes the backdrop for my ring shots.

The toasts were heartfelt as each person shared a personal connection with Alison and Jonathan.  The best man told us a story about how they playfully kidnapped Jonathan for his bachelor party weekend and how all of their careful planning went haywire.  It was a little hard to take pictures as we were laughing almost as hard as Alison and Jonathan were!  The maid of honor brought more tears to the room as she painted a picture of why Alison and Jonathan are so special and how they touch the people around them.  We definitely felt that throughout the whole day!

At the end of the night everyone gathered outside the doors with sparklers to give the new couple an amazing send off. To complete the fairytale wedding Jonathan’s dad surprised them with a vintage Jaguar complete with a personal chauffeur!

As you will see, the energy throughout the day was amazing and provided for many awesome photos! I want to thank Alison & Jonathan again for letting us be a part of their wedding! We had such a great time and enjoyed meeting all of your family and friends!  We hope you enjoy the fusion film!

Each year one of my favorite parts of the festival is the Trees exhibit. If you are in Charlottesville definitely make sure you check out the dozens of nature photos hung throughout the canopy of trees lining the mall!

One of my favorite places for weddings in Charlottesville is The Clifton Inn as everyone there is very nice and accommodating, the food is the best in all of Virginia (maybe the universe), and in the spring it is absolutely gorgeous with flowers galore! Grier & Tad were married on April 18th, 2009 which was perfect timing as all of the blossoms were just starting to peak! Pat’s Floral Design did a beautiful job bringing in additional floral arrangements for the bouquets, garters, and tent decorations.

The ceremony was very unique as Dave Norris, the mayor of Charlottesville, officiated his first wedding along with officiant extraordinaire Claire Goodman who local brides might know from the Charlottesville Wedding Blog and Sacred Ground Ceremonies. It was a very touching and heartfelt ceremony that had many choking up and a few tears being shed. Later on that evening the party kicked off with the Kings of Swing rocking out! I don’t think I had seen a 12 piece band play at a wedding until then … it was very impressive! To add a nice little touch the tent (from Skyline Tent Company) was adorned with beautiful lanterns that really made for an awesome and unforgettable atmosphere. I definitely recommend them for all weddings and I think you will see why when you watch the video!

With that said I would like to wish congratulations to Grier & Tad, and I hope you enjoy the film!

This film was shot by Aaron Watson and Erin Manfredi on a Canon 5D Mark II and includes photography by Aaron Watson and Erin Manfredi. Editing was done by Ashley Chipman and Aaron Watson. 

… anyway, I thought I would share a few pictures from Jennifer and Jason’s engagement session which took place last weekend at the beautiful King Family Vineyards and Darden (UVA’s school of Business)! Jennifer and Jason met while attending Darden, and although they now live up in DC, Jennifer told me that they wanted to come back to Charlottesville for their engagement pictures. I think they made the right choice as I had the hardest time trying to choose my favorite pictures to show you as they were all so beautiful! Here are 5 of my favorites, some of which I had a little fun with in Photoshop!

First, I hope everyone has gotten a chance to see the new wedding photography website! I started working on it over 8 months ago and finally launched a few weeks ago with over 160 new wedding pictures (and many more to come)! I really love the new destination wedding section! Eventually the rest of my website will be getting a facelift, so be on the lookout for my new fashion/entertainment/sports section! 

The second big news is we are now offering Fusion Style Cinematography services! With our new cameras we now have the ability to shoot both amazing photos and amazing HD video, so I’ve been taking full advantage of it. Check out the teaser video I made from Eric and Lora’s wedding back in December on Vimeo! I’ll probably talk about this more in a coming post, but for now I’ll just say how awesome I think it is and I can’t wait to show off some more projects that I’ve been working on in this Fusion Style!

… and for the last big news (at least for today) … Annie & Robbie are getting married! They’re two of my good friends from college who are absolutely awesome people! Annie was actually one of the first three people I met after moving into the dorms at UVA! I loved hanging out with her as she always seemed very cheerful and happy. Robbie lived just one floor down from Annie, and after becoming friends with him later in the semester I found him to be very cheerful as well. Often you find couples that make each other happy, but what I love about Annie and Robbie is that they not only make each other happy but they also have an infectious way of making other people happy! So although I don’t get to see them as much anymore, when I do, I truly enjoy being around them!

Recently we had the chance to spend an afternoon having fun at Sugar Hollow and took some awesome engagement pictures! It was by far the longest engagement session I have ever done (6 hours!), but it felt like it flew by and thankfully the rain held off! Here are just a few of my favorites from last Friday! Also, I have to thank Annie & Robbie for being troopers by wading through the river and standing in frigid cold water for 20 – 30 minutes to get these pictures! Not many people would have done that! Enjoy!

This weekend I had the opportunity to go see the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey circus, which came to Charlottesville.  One of the things I love most about the circus is that everyone gets to be a kid again!  Whether you experience it when you are two feet tall or six feet tall, the whole experience is larger than life and awe inspiring.  For me, it was not only fun to see all of the acts, but also watch all of the families with little kids experiencing it for the first time.  This was actually the first time I had been to the circus since I was a kid, and I am so glad I brought my camera this time!

Enjoy!

This past weekend was hot! Like heat index of 106 degrees hot! Perfect weather for a nice tan, swimming in the pool, and Ingrid & Aaron’s wedding! You may remember Ingrid & Aaron from our recent engagement session in New York (if not check it out), a truly awesome couple who first met in Law School at the University of Virginia. So for their wedding they returned to Charlottesville and had the most gorgeous wedding at the Clifton Inn!