Details » Connor Studios Blog

Jill + Todd | Wedding Photographs | Chesapeake Bay Beach Club, Stevensville, Md.

Friday, August 13, 2010 at 11:42am

When the Saturday one week before Jill and Todd’s wedding registered over 100 degrees, I was a bit worried about the next weekend’s outdoor wedding. Luckily, Jill and/or Todd have it in good with some higher power and they got an 83 degree day with low humidity at the end of July. Near D.C.!

The day started off at the Loews Annapolis Hotel where they got ready and then everyone headed over the Chesapeake Bay to the Chesapeake Bay Beach Club for the ceremony and reception. It’s hard to go wrong at the Chesapeake Bay Beach Club. It’s so beautiful, so easy to get to and so relaxing for weddings.

The bridesmaids were a lot of fun and wore awesome green dresses and yellow wedge shoes that were so summery. Todd spared his guys having to bake in black suits in the sun and everyone wore light colored suits from J.Crew which looked great on the beach. I absolutely loved Jill’s dress – very simple and gorgeous and it even had pockets! Of course, the ring bearer kind of stole the show. He was so cute and had such a good time.

A tip to brides: If you want to use green and yellow as your wedding colors, look at how Jill used it. Bold greens and yellows are absolutely beautiful! ”Generally” stay away from pale yellows and greens as they tend to wash out your skin.

The ceremony was beautiful on the Bay and the Reception was held in the Beach House. Sunsets are always beautiful out there. We just finished up sunset portraits on the beach and they were able to make it inside and have their first dance as the sun made its final hoorah.

The dance floor started off a little slow but once everyone got warmed up, it never emptied. They even pushed it into extra innings at the end of the night with an encore set and then the guys sang “You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling” a la Top Gun to Jill at the end of the night before they left to a sparkler sendoff.

Posted in Ceremony, Details, Portrait, Preparation, Reception, Wedding | Tags: chesapeake bay, chesapeake bay beach club, connor studios, erin janes, great expectations flowers, green dress, inka browne, jangling reinharts, jill, jill and todd, michael connor, michael feehley, outdoor wedding, todd, wedding photography, wedding photojournalism

Sonya + Vivek | Wedding Photographs | Willard Hotel + Mellon Auditorium, Washington, DC

Thursday, July 8, 2010 at 5:08pm

The hardest part of writing about Sonya and Vivek’s wedding is just trying to do it justice. It was very much like a normal wedding if by normal you mean 600 guests, the Willard, the Mellon Auditorium, a 10-foot wedding cake, 2 dance troupes and a horse. You know, normal! :-)

You should check out the story that The Washington Post did on the wedding. The wedding was unbelievable! I have been to shows in Las Vegas that weren’t half as beautiful or entertaining.

We were asked to cover the rehearsal dinner on Friday and then started with them at 7am on Saturday until 1am on Sunday. It was a long two (three??) days but it was certainly never boring! The colors, the grandeur, the guests and our awesome bride and groom made for such a beautiful weekend.

Sonya and Vivek were both so much fun to work with. Vivek was always doing something to make us, himself or others laugh — like his three takes at a first look (made me laugh!). When we first met, Sonya was so concerned about the photography and how she would look. I couldn’t believe it — look at her – she is gorgeous and was constantly smiling!! In the end, I think it was just an unforgettable evening for both of them, their guests and our team of photographers.

Like I said, I am at a loss for words to describe the wedding so let me describe it in the best way I know how:

For even more, check out the slideshow:

Posted in Ceremony, Details, Engagement, Preparation, Reception, Slide Show, Uncategorized, Wedding | Tags: andrew harnik, blythe swift, Ceremony, connor studios, events by design, gmu bhangra, hindu wedding, indian wedding, jonathan newton, mellon auditorium, nivanjoli, prabha bhambri, rhythmology, ridgewells, sonya and vivek, sonya chawla, vinnu kudva, vivek patil, wedding photojournalism, willard hotel

Rita + Magnus | Wedding Photographs | St. Mary’s and Hotel Monaco, Alexandria, VA

Wednesday, June 16, 2010 at 5:02pm

I love it when bridesmaids from former weddings ask me to photograph their wedding! Not only do they like the photographs, but hopefully they thought we were pretty fun to be around. Plus, it’s always nice to see former brides and grooms.

When Rita contacted us last year, we were definitely excited to photograph her wedding. When I found out she was marrying a Swede, I was even happier! I’m always happy to speak the language when I can.

Their wedding was absolutely beautiful. The ceremony started off with the best entrance of a Flower Girl EVER. When mom let her go at the back and she saw dad with the coloring book at the front, she just sprinted down the aisle. Don’t get me wrong — she did not run. Run is definitely the wrong word! Sprinted is the perfect word. It was so awesome and I just laid down on the shutter at 9 frames/second. The only thing I was scared about was that because it’s a pretty dark church, we were shooting at slower shutter speeds — usually not a problem during a ceremony because there are no little Usain Bolt’s in white dresses breaking world records down the aisle! The picture turned out amazing and showed all the energy. I guess running into church is way better on your wedding day than someone running out!

Rita looked beautiful in her dress and had the coolest green shoes! After the ceremony, we were taking some formal photos in the church and a couple of the children spoke mostly Swedish so I just switched over to Swedish which caught some of the people by surprise. Someone asked how I knew Swedish and I just casually replied that I learned it for the wedding which got a laugh. I’m glad that wasn’t the case because I would have been lost speaking Hindi at last week’s wedding!

After the formals, we cruised down King St. in Alexandria, VA looking for fun spots for photographs. Memorial Day Weekend + Hot Weather + Rolling Thunder + Old Town = BUSY! We got a fun photograph of the wedding party with all the motorcycles in town for Rolling Thunder. When the wedding party ducked out of the heat for ice cream, one of the motorcyclists bought the bride and groom ice cream.

The reception at the Hotel Monaco (Alexandria) was beautiful and very laid-back. It think it was a mixture of Rita and Magnus, their guests, the weather and the holiday weekend but everyone just seemed to be having such a relaxed time!

Thanks (and Tack Så Mycket) to Rita and Magnus and all their guests for such a fun night!

Posted in Details, Portrait, Preparation, Reception, Wedding | Tags: alexandria, andrew harnik, black tie band, buzz cupcakes, chris wells, connor studios, hotel monaco, petal's edge floral design, photographs, photography, rita and magnus, st. mary's catholic church, stephanie hulbert, virginia, Wedding, wedding photojournalism, wedding planning worldwide

Amy + Aleck | Wedding Photographs | Whitehall Manor, Bluemont, Va.

Thursday, May 27, 2010 at 5:43pm

In 9 years of weddings, Amy and Aleck’s wedding holds a huge honor in our book. It was the first outdoor wedding we ever photographed without sweating an ounce! The weekend before was hot, hot, hot but Amy and Aleck’s day was cool and sunny with a breeze. I’m not sure the ladies were as comfortable as me but I LOVED it! In the end, it was an absolutely gorgeous day and that’s really all that matters.

The wedding and reception were held at Whitehall Manor in Bluemont, Va. and was a blend of traditional and Chinese ceremonies. Because it was held on Mother’s Day, all the moms were given a special treat which was nice.

It was a very emotional wedding which we love. For some reason, every bride and groom that cries always apologizes to us afterward. Your wedding day is emotional — IT’S OK!!

I really loved their officiant, Bill Cochran. He pulled Andrew and me aside before the wedding and wanted to tell us his “rules” for photography. Let’s just say that after the church lady we dealt with the day before, we just about lost it. Then he said something that made my day. ”You take beautiful pictures and I’ll get them married!” Simple and well put.

He did his job and I think we did ours…

Posted in Ceremony, Details, Preparation, Reception, Wedding | Tags: amy and aleck, andrew harnik, bill cochran, chinese wedding, connor studios, michael connor, outdoor ceremony, Portrait, suzanne arteaga, timeless event, wedding photography, whitehall manor

Alison + Mike | Wedding Photographs | St. John’s Episcopal Church + Harman Center for the Arts

Thursday, May 20, 2010 at 1:26pm

Alison and Mike picked two of the most beautiful places for their wedding and their reception. We started off with the ceremony at St. John’s Episcopal Church in McLean, Va. which holds a distinction as being one of the few churches in the world with beautiful light. The reception was held at the Shakespeare Theatre’s Harman Center for the Arts in downtown DC. On beautiful days (which it certainly was), both places have such beautiful light!

Alison and Mike are both chefs. Mike even brewed the beer for the reception and created labels with their engagement photos. That was a new one for us but was so cool because it was another part of their wedding they could personalize and make unique.

Posted in Ceremony, Details, Reception, Wedding | Tags: alison and mike, andrew harnik, connor studios, dc, harman center for the arts, mclean, michael connor, photographs, shakespeare theatre, st. john's episcopal church, va, washington, Wedding

Beth + Luke | Wedding Photographs | King Family Vineyards, Crozet, VA

Monday, May 17, 2010 at 11:34am

Get ready for an eye-gasm!

Everything from the weather to the people to the place was INSANELY BEAUTIFUL at Beth and Luke’s wedding! When people asked me the next week how the wedding went, I “jokingly” told them that we could have dropped our camera and accidentally taken a portfolio picture.

The day was warm – actually HOT but I don’t think anyone complained too much. We started out getting ready in Charlottesville near the University of Virginia campus (where Beth and Luke met during school) and then moved to the campus to do portraits before heading out to King Family Vineyards for the rest of the evening.

Beth was stunning. I love the photographs of her seeing Luke for the first time on the steps of the Rotunda at UVA.

Beth and Luke both liked to keep things light and goof around during the portraits which made for some great pictures whether it was the fashion show on the green carpet runway in the vineyards, or Luke “behind bars” (Luke is a police officer so it was only natural). One of the funniest (almost tragic) moments was when Beth was letting one of the horses in the stables smell her bouquet and it almost ate them (that’s what Beth looks so surprised about in the sequence of photographs).

The ceremony was on the grounds at King Family Vineyards with the mountains in the background. Beth’s dad made the altar that they were married under.

The rest of the night was plenty of wine and plenty of dancing — meaning a great time. The first dance photographs are some of our favorites we have ever made. Beth’s dress looked perfect and I love the dip at the end.

With me all day was Andrew Harnik who did an unbelievable job. In the end, we averaged 11 frames per minute for 13 hours (you can do the math!).