I love me some detail shots.  Annie’s silver Vera Wang Lavender flats were a great combination of comfiness and bling.  Also take notice of the blue “rose” in her bouquet. This is actually her father’s handkerchief rolled up and inserted in the bouquet.  Annie’s sister/MOH,  Katie, was responsible for this clever idea.  The gorgeous flower arrangements were made by Karen at Flowers Market in case you’re wondering.

Here is Katie helping Annie with her pearl necklace. Almost time to put on her dress and the excitement in the room is building!Gorgeous, huh? I adored her Amsale gown.One of Annie’s older brothers gallantly escorted her down the aisle.Here is the whole wedding party….yep, there were a lot of them!Here are the girls looking sassy in their orange Jenny Yoo dresses from Garnish Boutique in Baltimore.Reception time at the BMA!  Check out the amazing sweets. The citrus-themed cupcakes and cookies are from M and M Catering in Linthicum Heights.The wedding party entrances were anything but dull.  They all did their own unique things.  This entrance in particular stood out most for me. They both threw handfuls of baby powder in the air like an explosion. I don’t think Neal’s sister meant to get quite so much powder on herself though!  [Edit:  Okay, I now know that this was a Lebron James chalk throwing reference. Please excuse my non-sportiness.]The newly married couple makes their entrance below.  They’re really shy as you can probably tell. ;  )A little disbelief and laughter during the toasts:Two amazing mom hugs:I love how this one turned out.  We were crunched for portrait time after the ceremony, so I set up a light/umbrella right near the reception and literally dragged Annie and Neal away for a few more shots together.

Congratulations Annie and Neal!  I’ll post a slideshow soon, so check back.

I like when newborn babies sleep so that I can pose them all curled up, but James was pretty much wide awake the whole time I was there.  It was no problem though….just look at those baby blues!  I wouldn’t want to miss out on those.

Here are some details of his perfect nursery.  The “d” is the first letter of his last name, in case you’re wondering.

He really didn’t cry much.  A little cuddling and being fed was all he needed.This one melts me.  I love his smushed little face and you can see the tension in his forehead as he fights against sleep.Yep, we stripped him down and put him in a drawer.  Gotta love it.I think this is my favorite.  Father and son.Check out the gorgeous new family!

James is so adorable and is of course the center of attention as you can see below.  He has such alert, inquisitive looking eyes for just being a little over 3 weeks old. Congrats to Matt and Alyson!

Nicholas spent a good chunk of time sitting on his great-grandpa’s riding mower.  I think Jen is trying to convince him to come eat something but he was not giving up his throne.

Here is Nicholas’s “GiGi” dipping his toes in the baby pool. A very brief moment of shyness as new guests arrived before he was off running again…I caught some of the adults looking a bit drained by the heat.  I was one of them! Cake time!  This looks like some sort of ritual or like they’re trying to hide the cake, but really they’re just trying to keep the candle from blowing out while everyone is singing. Check out the killer Mickey Mouse cake that Jen made! This was a cute moment while opening gifts.  I watched as Nicholas opened the card and turned it around so that it was right-side-up.  I don’t imagine he could read it, but he certainly knew which way was up. This lawn mower from his parents was definitely Nicholas’s favorite gift of the day.  Now he can follow daddy around as all little boys should. Just one little tantrum before I left for the day.  Every birthday boy deserves at least one, right? He still had plenty of hugs and kisses for mommy.

See the post below for a few comparison shots of Nicholas through the years.

I love mirror shots, so here are two of my faves.  Megan isn’t what I would call a girly-girl, so seeing her all glammed up was a treat.

Megan’s little sister / maid-of-honor:
I love ring shots with my new macro lens!
She is just glowing coming down the aisle with her dad:
Brian is looking at the priest like an actor on stage waiting for someone to feed him his next line.We stopped at Sherwood Gardens for wedding party portraits after the ceremony.  It was super-hot, but we found some shade and got hit with an occasional cool blast from a sprinkler.I loved the pink and green color scheme.This photo cracked me up.  The guys are all in their own little worlds.

Here is Megan with her bridesmaid, Rachel.  I shot Rachel’s wedding almost exactly five years ago after Megan referred her my way. Megan was my roommate at the time and I was just getting my business off the ground.  Rachel and her hubby have a baby girl now who I can’t wait to meet!We had to at least get a few shots by the harbor before heading up to the reception.  I think Megan is laughing about all the random strangers yelling “congratulations” nearby.

I love, love, love this portrait of the newly married couple.  They look so sweet! Paparazzi?  No, family and friends!Everyone enjoyed the view from the roof of the Science Center.

Megan is rocking out this dancing shot.  This was done in-camera…no big Photoshop tricks here. This image is just bizarre.  That’s why I love it. The cake with a blue crab couple on top.  What a wonderful wedding!

I’ll post a slideshow soon with more images.  I have a lot more favorites that I couldn’t fit in one little ‘ol blog post.

Aren’t they adorable?

Kate and Andrew were both naturals in front of the camera.  I think having each other is what makes it easy for them. We found this cute little table with flowers on it while wandering the streets.  The sun made them glow! Shooting into the sun can create some fun flare effects.  It also blinds me, but I’m willing to take one for the team.More from these two in August!

Anyway….back to Jenn and Mike. They are such a sweet couple and had to pull through a tough experience right before their wedding.  Jenn was in a car accident the day before and her visit to the emergency room kept her and Mike away from their own wedding rehearsal. Despite being very stiff and sore the next day, the show had to go on and Jenn was able to walk down the aisle looking incredibly beautiful with a sparkle in her eyes.  They were both glowing and so obviously happy to become husband and wife.

I got to hang out with the guys getting ready before the ceremony while Helen was with the girls.  Here is Mike holding his grandfather’s pocket watch before tucking it into the pocket of his own vest.

These guys are ready to take on the day. I cheated and cropped this out of a group shot I took, but I just had to draw your full attention to the adorable tough-guy faces on this father-son pair, Mike’s brother and nephew. This one just made me smile…the guys having a talk with the priest before the ceremony.  It’s like a coach talking to his players, yet a bit more chill.

Beautiful bride, Jenn and her maid-of-honor enjoying a funny moment:
The family of the groom observing the joyous occasion….I love that little smile. While Helen did the hard part of arranging and shooting the formal portraits, I had my long lens on and watched for these little moments.  It is so nice to be the 2nd shooter sometimes and blend into the background.I just had to include this one.  Some of the groomsmen were passing around their new silver flasks after the ceremony which made for some fun photos.
Jenn’s dress was incredible and you can’t go wrong with red roses.
Their first dance! I got to try out my new macro lens on this cute cake-topper.  Love this one!Congrats to the happy couple!

Here she is playing peek-a-boo with me using the bathroom door.  Every time she’d open the door, I’d snap a pic!

I know it hasn’t even been very long, but B already has a new baby brother!   Here he is at just two months old. He was such a trooper…didn’t complain one bit when I stripped him down for this photo. Check out those baby blues!

See, he prefers nakedness over an argyle sweater vest!

B gettin’ serious….and very, very close to me.  I think maybe she could see herself reflected in the lens.

I’ll let little ones look at the photos I take on the LCD to get them excited to be photographed, but sometimes that can backfire and all they want to do is play with my camera!  B is actually the one clicking the shutter in this photo. I aimed at the mirrored closet door to get a shot of us together.I thought this was so cute.  You can see an old photo I took of B on the computer behind her. Same serious look.

Getting a photo of the brother and sister together wasn’t really coming together as 2 year-olds aren’t too keen on being told what to do. I did get B lying down next to her brother outside for a few seconds though.

I love the light here as I was following B around the backyard.  She was on the move constantly and a very busy little girl.

Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms, grandmoms, and mom-like mentors out there!  I had a very nice lunch with my own Mom today and appreciate every moment I have with her.  I love you, mom!

We met up at Savage Mill this past weekend. The weather was beyond perfect the whole weekend.  I had this fun portrait session on Saturday and then a relaxing Easter on Sunday with my family. Springtime is officially here thankfully.

I love this shot of the trio walking and took a similar shot when J was 16 months old.

Yay, everybody is looking!  Mr. Energy is not quite ready to sit still for a photo, but I was able to catch this by playing peek-a-boo from behind a tree.

This is when Julian spotted a tractor across the street which is one of the many words he can say very clearly. Tractor!  Shoe!  Mommy!  No!

Here is the always-lovely Julia showing off her 5-month belly and sassy green espadrilles (shoes!).I tried to convince Julian to get in the photo with his mommy, but instead he chose to imitate her pose on the other side of the bridge.  Too cute.

I got a lot of shots like this.  Julian would run right to me as I squatted on the ground. It felt like he was going to mow me down, but he knew better than to do that!I love their expressions here.  So happy and silly!

Carlos always likes to get a shot of me with Julian so I entrusted him with my camera and heavy 70-200 lens for this.  The black bag hanging off my belt in the back is the case for that lens…that should give you an idea of how big it is.

Okay, I challenge any parents of toddlers to identify what song Julian is acting out here.  Hint: It’s from a popular kid’s TV show and involves a chair.

Daddy loves that song, too.  Sorta.

Julian is a dancin’ fool….Carlos can play a song from his iPhone and J just lights up and starts gettin’ down.

There will be more to come from this family on my blog….guaranteed!