Best of 2013 // Wedding Moments

Photojournalism. It's a word that gets thrown around so much these days, and many people have a hard time really explaining what it is, or even why they like it. Couples come in to our office all the time saying, "Oh, we love your work, it's just so…." and they can't figure out that next word. Sometimes it's "natural." Other times it's "real." Every now and then it's "good." But at the end of the day, it's our ability to tell a story as it happens that people are really drawn to. It's the moments, the little details, the interactions between family members, and the tear in a groom's eye as his bride walks down the aisle that really matter most. We absolutely LOVE our portrait time on a wedding day (which you'll see in part three of our Best of series), but the little moments are what really make each wedding unique, and what really make each memory special.

Enjoy some of our favorite moments from 2013.

Best of 2013 // Engagements

2013 was a huge year for us. It may sound cliché, but you could probably define our year with one word: Travel. Geographically it was our biggest year yet. We had trips to Colorado to see our friends and do some snowboarding, a trip to Las Vegas for our annual photographer convention, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Hawaii and Mexico to shoot some gorgeous weddings, and an epic trip to Alaska for an engagement session. This job has literally taken us all over North America, and we've seen places that we never imagined we'd see. We're so thankful, and humbled that people would choose to send us to such beautiful places to take photos. With a new year upon us, it's always fun to look back at some of our favorite photos from the previous year. We've spent a few days going back through all of our work, hunting out our favorite images, but also remembering the love and celebration that we've witnessed, and seeing another year of incredible growth as artists. We had such a hard time narrowing down our favorites, so we've decided to do three posts to recap the year.

This is post one of three, our favorite images from engagement sessions last year. Stay tuned over the next few days for more to come.

Megan + Paul // Just For Fun.

We're pretty excited about the session (so much so that we blogged it out of order). This isn't an engagement session, per se. Let's go back probably six months… Mindy and I were sitting in Dorothy Lane Market (a fancy local grocery store with an awesome dining area and great food), minding our own business. Sort of… we noticed this couple down at the other end of the cafe. They were über stylish, they looked like they were in love, and they looked like they were saying goodbye. We watched as they embraced, and watched him leave, hop in his car, and take off. She sat there, silent, pretending to read. Maybe even crying a little bit. We joked about how we figured they were from out of town. People don't dress that well to go to the grocery here in Ohio. As we cleaned up our lunch and headed out to our car, we had a mini conversation about something our friend Andria Lindquist talked about earlier that week. She talked about her own boldness and how she will approach random people and ask them to take their photos. We said, "man, we should totally just ask them if they'll model for us…" as we started the car and began to drive away. At that point Mindy stopped me, and said, "Wait. Screw it, I'm going in there and asking. Do we have a business card?" To which I responded they way I usually do when I get that question. "Umm… not on us. But we have this napkin and a pen."

I waited in the car while Mindy gathered up the courage to walk in and talk to Megan. She told her about how we noticed them for their fashion sense, and then saw a little bit of their story unfold in front of us as they said goodbye. She asked Megan a little bit about their relationship, and if they would be interested in spending some time in front of our cameras, because we felt like they might be a good fit. Turns out they were engaged, but also graduate students working through a long distance relationship. And we were right, although Megan grew up here in Dayton, she is originally from England, and Paul is from Nashville. "That explains a lot," we thought.

Megan was actually surprisingly warm to the idea of doing photos with us, but with all of their traveling and studying, it was a crapshoot at best. Mindy thanked her, handed her the napkin (apologized for how unprofessional we are when it comes to business cards), and we went on our way. It felt good to step up and ask, even if we'd never hear from them again. We had done something new, something we had never done before.

Fast forward a number of months. At this point we had nearly forgotten about the whole thing. Obviously we would never hear from them, so we moved on. Then we got a surprise Facebook message from Megan, asking if we were still up for it. They were going to be in town visiting family, and her and Paul were interested in having their photos taken. Wow! It worked? We were able to coordinate a day that worked, we got the absolute perfect evening, and this is what happened.

Devon + John // Dayton Masonic Center Wedding // Dayton, Ohio

We've been enjoying traveling quite a bit lately, but there's something special about shooting in your own city. Dayton has a lot of history, but the city's been through the wringer. It's great to spend time exploring different parts of the city and see how a revitalization is happening, slowly but surely. Below, you'll see a crazy bright blue wall. The day before we were downtown and that wall was white. And now it's been painted further and looks different again. As a photographer there's a little bit of a proud moment when you see something like that happen and realize that no one will ever be able to take that photo again (even us). Devon + John's wedding was amazing. We had nice soft overcast skies for a big part of the day, and then the sun broke out and gave us some incredible light. We had a couple that was ridiculously in love with each other, and we so thrilled to have their family and friends around them. We had a great venue and ample time for photos. Couldn't have asked for better.

Reception: Dayton Masonic Center

Salon: Square One

Ceremony: St. Joseph

DJ: Chris Hatke

Casie + Darrell // Top Of The Market Wedding // Dayton, OH

When it comes to personal style, I wouldn't say that I have expensive taste, but I do have a very specific taste. I'm picky about what I wear and how it fits. I'll be the first to admit that my sense of style may not be just like yours, and yours probably won't be just like mine. We don't have to agree, but I respect people who actually care. When we found out that Casie was going to be wearing a pink Vera Wang dress, both of our eyes lit up. You see, I'm not really into women's fashion much, and I don't really care about big names. Heck, I don't even know most of the big names. But I like said, I love it when people have an opinion. I love it when you can tell that some thought went into making a decision. The way I worded it on the wedding day was, "you don't accidentally choose to wear a pink Vera Wang." Casie looked absolutely stunning in her gown, but what struck me most was the fact that she made a decision. A real decision to wear something that wasn't the status quo. And she absolutely nailed it.

That sense of taste, and attention to detail went into every part of her wedding. She designed the whole thing herself, and at the reception her mom even made a comment about how picky she was about even the typeface that was used on the programs and reception signage (and if you know much about my background in graphic design, you'll know I'm a huge typography buff). It goes without saying that Casie + Darrell's wedding was amazing. Enjoy.

Dress: Vera Wang

Ceremony: Grace United Methodist Church

Reception: Top Of The Market

Flowers: Sherwood Florist

Cupcakes: Elé Cake Company

Casie + Darrell // Lakeside Sunset Engagement // Dayton Ohio

The first engagement session of spring is always epic. We get all excited about the sun and the warmer weather, and it really inspires us to push ourselves creatively. Casie + Darrell were obviously inspired too. These guys are SO fun, and we're definitely looking forward to their wedding next weekend!