Connor Studios Blog

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

Michael Connor — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 15:42:37 +0000

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.

Our Crazy Kids

Michael Connor — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 16:54:30 +0000

Thought I would take a minute out of wedding-editing and post some photos and video that make me laugh.

Our son Jack (6 months) has the craziest hair and is ALWAYS smiling! When I got him out of bed this morning, he looked so sweet.I try to take Grace to MyGym on Fridays and lately we have been the only people so we have had the run of the place. I shot this video last Friday and have probably watched it 100 times since then. If you are in a bad mood, this will cure it. It just reminds me of how special childhood is when everything is so simple and happy.

Jumping For Joy with Jimmy Buffett from Connor Studios on Vimeo.

The photo and video are all from my iPhone.

Kim + Beran | Wedding Photographs | Whitehall Manor, Bluemont, Virginia

Michael Connor — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 15:36:54 +0000

My favorite memory of Kim and Beran’s wedding was how excited she was while waiting to walk down the aisle. Excited is kind of an understatement! She actually apologized to me in case I thought she was being corny. What!?!

Watching her excitement was just awesome! There are a times we see brides getting ready to go down the aisle and all they can think about is the one detail that wasn’t perfect or a bridesmaid that said the wrong thing… Those are the times where they need to take a Kim pill so they can remind themselves about what they should be feeling at that moment.

It was a warm day. Ok, saying it was a warm day is kind of like saying Kim was ambivalent about walking down the aisle. It was a hot day! Thankfully Whitehall is in the midst of huge shade trees.

The ceremony was beautiful. Kim and Beran laughed a lot which always makes for a great ceremony. Kim’s niece and nephew were the Flower Girl and Ring Bearer and were so cute. The Ring Bearer should turn pro in ring bearing!

Whitehall is a great place to walk around for portraits. I absolutely love the old barns there. We were trying to make sure the portraits were different from the last time we were there and they turned out beautifully! And departing in a 1952 Bentley is a pretty classy way to make an exit!

All in all, it was well worth a little sweat on the brow!

Michele + Tom | Engagement | Eastern Market, Washington, DC

Michael Connor — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 16:32:46 +0000

Michele and Tom agreed to meet me at Eastern Market for a 7am engagement session. Morning sessions always turn out great because you have a lot of room to work with nobody in your photographs. I loved their clothing choices. Michele’s dress was almost a perfect match with our logo (somehow, I’m not sure that’s what was on her mind though!) and the sunflowers in the farmer’s market. Both were such great sports.

We had Eastern Market all to ourselves on a Saturday morning. I can’t remember that ever happening! One of my all time favorite photographs is this one inside the empty hall. Can’t wait for next April!

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

Michael Connor — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 21:08:15 +0000

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:

Sonya + Vivek’s Wedding Featured in The Washington Post’s “On Love Section”

Michael Connor — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 21:08:44 +0000

We are finishing up the editing from 2 days of photographing Sonya and Vivek’s wedding with 3 photographers. The photographs will be up this week and they are crazy-insane!!

The Washington Post just featured their wedding in yesterday’s On Love section. I knew a lot about how they met but it was a great read. Click here for the story.

Liz + Matt | Wedding Photographs | Lansdowne Resort, Leesburg, VA

Michael Connor — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 21:42:01 +0000

Liz and Matt had a beautiful day for a wedding (a HOT day for a wedding but it was beautiful!). It was our first time out to the Lansdowne Resort in Leesburg, Va. and it is such a great location! There were parts of the ceremony that brought tears but it was hard to tell with poor Matt and the rest of the guys who got the side in full sunshine with their black tuxedos. Of course the girls in their dresses got the full shade — sometimes life isn’t fair for us guys!!

It was Memorial Day weekend so everyone was in the mood to have a great time and party all night long. The dance floor never emptied out. We had an absolute blast!

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

Michael Connor — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 21:02:48 +0000

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!

Dianna + Luke’s Wedding Featured In The Washington Post

Michael Connor — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 01:29:21 +0000

Just saw that they featured my bride and groom from a few weeks ago in Sunday’s On Love section in The Washington Post.

Next Sunday’s On Love centerpiece will be on the HUGE wedding we photographed Friday and Saturday. Can’t wait to post those photos.

We (I Mean Meg + James) Made The Cover

Michael Connor — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 02:45:24 +0000

We just got a copy of The River Plantation’s new catalog they are giving out to all their brides and grooms over the next year or so and were thrilled that our photo of Meg and James made the cover. Of course, there are a bunch more pics inside.

For anyone looking at a place on the Eastern Shore, The River Plantation is absolutely beautiful with tons of room to roam. Take a look at some of our favorite pics from Meg and James’ wedding last Fall by clicking here.