CB Photography

Sarah & Ben Got Hitched

Jaron:

Sarah & Ben. VA Tech vs. UVA. But this rivalry is madly in love. Cassie and I rarely get to shoot together, but we covered this one as a team, and it was great! The wedding was held at a family home in Orange, and had what you could say is about the most unbelievable rural view you could ask for. Rolling green hills, historic homes, a beautiful pond... I could have given my camera to a monkey and gotten great shots. Luckily we're a hair more experienced than monkeys. Sometimes we work with people who we enjoy so much we could be friends with them, and this was one of those events. It was actually sad for us when the night ended. You can tell from the photos that everyone, without exception, had a great time - including us! Cheers to Sarah & Ben. I had a great time editing these photos, and remembering your wedding! On to the photos.

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Sidney & Thomas

Cassie:

Jaron and I really enjoyed working together with Sidney and Thomas. They both have such great families and everyone was so nice it made our job seem more like pleasure instead of work. I really love a guy in a kilt and was pleasantly surprised to find Thomas and some others were wearing them for the wedding. It made me wish I was back in Scotland. Sidney was a so easy going and wonderful- she just rolled with the punches. The reception was held at Veritas Vineyard & Winery, one of our favorite venues. Thanks to all who were there and made our job such a breeze! Cheers to Sidney and Thomas! You guys make a great couple!

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Carrie & Jason

Jaron:

Where do I start? I had so much fun at this wedding. First of all, Carrie chose her mother's back yard for the ceremony and reception site. I love it when I shoot a wedding at a family home. It's more intimate, more personal, more relaxed... it's more fun! And who doesn't like fun? Carrie found us all the way from Arizona, where she and Jason met. How does a boy from the midwest meet a girl from Virginia in Phoenix? They talked about it during the toasts, but I've forgotten. What I have not forgotten is how in love Carrie & Jason obviously are. Watching them look at each other, it was beyond obvious that they were a match just waiting to happen. So often, I would see a look on Jason's face that struck home. I could see in his face the same thing I feel when I look at my own beautiful bride. Good work, Jason! A personal note to Carrie & Jason: Thanks a million for letting me come out. In the short 4 hours I spent with you, I felt like part of the family. It was a joy documenting your wedding. I wish you decades of joy together! Okay, enough of my blabbering. On to the fun stuff. Here's some pics!

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Maeve & Travis... what a party!

I should say first of all that I thoroughly enjoyed working with Maeve, Travis, and their families. What an unbelievably nice bunch of people! I say working, but that's a loose term when I'm having fun. This crowd knew how to cut loose and have a great time. Some weddings, it's like pulling teeth getting people out on the dance floor. That was most definitely NOT the case here. The floor was packed, all night long, bobbing to a fantastic band. But a bit about the before-the-party-action. After the ceremony was over, we took a ride down to Old Town Alexandria. It's an incredible place to shoot. We had enough time to go to a couple different spots, and the wedding party was very patient while I made them walk a few blocks on a weekend down King Street. We ended up finding some really interesting buildings, and I got some shots that I really like. But what stood out to me the most about this wedding was how much FUN it was! Maeve, Travis... Thanks you so much for letting me be there with you both! It was great going back through all the photos during editing and remembering the wedding. Cheers! Here are some pics. :)

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Crazy Beautiful!

Jaron had the privilege of shooting the ever beautiful Sarah P. for both her bridal session and her wedding. She's the kind of bride that makes our job a breeze. You can't get a bad picture of her! We love, love, love the birdcage veil she wore in the bridal session. Classy sassy! Here's some of our favorite photos from the bridal session. We had a great time touring around Richmond's many photo opt spots. This is on our top ten list of favorite sessions. Stay tuned for the wedding photos we'll post at a later date. 

Xan & Allen

Cassie:

Here's one of the weddings from the past summer. I had such a great time at this wedding. I love love love Xan & Allen! Xan is so full of life, and it really comes across in the photos. She makes my job easy. The whole crowd at this wedding was awesome. It was one of those high energy parties with lots dancing and laughing. The party even continued after the reception ended. They twisted my arm <wink> and invited me to celebrate with them. It was great to put down the camera and enjoy the after-party party with them.

Xan and Allen, hugs to you both! Looking forward to hanging out with you in C-ville sometime!

Julie & Kevin

Jaron:

Man, this summer has been insanely busy. I've had the heaviest editing schedule ever. I finally broke down and got a second fast computer for editing so Cassie can help me out. And here's the result - a wedding almost entirely edited by Cassie. Let's all give her a hand, because she's really been giving me one lately. Thanks, honey. I'll do the dishes next.

So let's talk about Julie & Kevin. First off, Julie met us at a bridal show. Bridal Shows are a good resource, but they're a photography zoo. There were 40 photography booths at our last show alone. It's really nice when we book weddings from the shows, because it means we jumped out from dozens of other photographers. Julie said, "I seriously can't thank you enough, or the 50 pounds of crap I had to carry home from that damn bridal show just to savor the one postcard that did it all for me. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!! It is stunning!!" I think she summed up the bridal show experience pretty well. Girls, bring along an entourage (or drag in the fiance) to help you carry the loads of pamphlets, and bring a pen to mark ones that were interesting to you, because otherwise they'll get lost in the "50 pounds of crap." 

On to the wedding. Cassie & I shot this wedding together.  It's great shooting with Cassie. I'm seriously considering never double booking a weekend again so we can always work together. The wedding & reception were held at Canal Square in Georgetown. There's a nice open courtyard there, with a lot of great stone & brick texture and a really cool tree growing out of this urban setting. Plus, a balcony to grab some higher shots. Cassie hung out with the girls getting ready while I spent the preparation hours with Kevin & family. Besides really enjoying Julie & Kevin, and how fun and relaxed they all were, they gave us perhaps the most time for photos that anyone has given this entire year. We had over an hour of time to wander around Georgetown and the Canals, shooting everywhere. The result was fantastic. We got 3x as many bride & groom shots as we normally do, with a lot of new ideas. And what an awesome place to shoot. 

Thanks to Julie & Kevin for having us along for such a wonderful ride. We loved the intimate feel of your wedding, and were thrilled to be there with you both. Congratulations! We wish you a lifetime of joy together! And now, here's the slideshow! Play the Slideshow

Elaine & Michael

Jaron:
I still have quite a few weddings from last fall that I'm going to post. However, as we're not in the midst of wedding season, I'm going to start posting current ones as well.

Elaine & Mike got married about a week and a half ago. I just finished up their photos tonight, and I'm really happy with how they turned out. I shot their wedding with my good friend, Tim. This was another amazing wedding by the best planner Richmond has to offer, Colleen Cook.

I'm just going to get straight to the pics. Here are a few of my faves:

Elaine & Mike decided to do some of their portraits before the ceremony. I love it when couples choose this option, because the portraits are much less rushed. In order to have that "first meeting" moment, we had Mike wait in a corridor outside the church, while Elaine walked up behind him. This is the moment.

We were getting ready for the wedding party pics. Someone usually helps out with the dress, but it's rarely the groom. I thought it was pretty cool that Mike was helping arrange it.

Elaine had arranged for a vintage Bentley as a surprise for Mike. The car was amazing. This doesn't show it much, though. As nice looking as the car is, Elaine looks better. So we just smeared her all over the front of the car.

Hats off to the worlds most cooperative ring bearer. This kid ruled!

Ahh - now they get to climb into that sweet Bentley.

I can't remember the name of this place - it's on the James River. Mike used to be a white water guide here, so it was fun to go grab some stuff that had personal relevance for him. We got a lot of cool shots out here in a very short amount of time.

And a couple from the reception. I had no idea Mike was going to dip her. I was standing off to the side, and when he did it, I jumped out and held my camera up over my head, and got a "click and pray" shot. Amazingly, it focused on the right spot, and was framed right. You'd never know it was a no-look snap.

Tim got this shot, with the videographer's light behind them. I like it a lot - great halo effect. I may have to buy a video light to bring to weddings, so we can keep getting winners like this one.

Elaine & Mike, we had a great time at your wedding! Thanks a bazillion for picking us to document such a huge day in your lives. We hope you enjoy the photos as much as we enjoyed being there with you and your families.

Jen & Sam

Jaron:
Okay, back to posting some weddings. I have several weddings from last fall that I haven't posted, so here goes one.

Jen & Sam were married at the end of last September. Their wedding was quite different from most. It was held at the family home of Sam's family. The ceremony was behind the house, and the reception was held around the pool. It was a small affair of just close family and friends. What was so striking about this wedding was how similar it was to mine & Cassie's! We also had a small wedding of just family and close friends. We held our wedding at the home of a family friend, and had the reception around his pool. It was great fun to participate in this, and reminisce about my own wedding and the wonderful 10 years I've since spent with the most amazing woman on the planet, the best friend I've ever had. Here are some of my favorite photos - I'll post quick as my eyes are tearing up.

Jen looked gorgeous. She is so elegant and classic. After she got her dress on, I stepped in to get a few shots of her before she came down to see her dad.

Her dress was gorgeous, and the big window in the room gave opportunity for a nice dreamy shot of the dress from behind.

There weren't a lot of options for outdoor shots, as we were in a neighborhood - but we grabbed a few anyway. Here are a couple from the "Bride" session prior to the ceremony.

I do like this pose. It's sort of become one of our signature shots.

The entire wedding party lined up to come in. Sam and the boys lined up first, and then the girls lined up behind them. Sam had to face forward, because Jen was right behind him, and he hadn't seen her yet. This is a shot of the boys waiting to file into the ceremony.

And then came Jen & her Dad. Tissues, anyone?

I liked this shot of the pastor holding the rings. A bit of a departure from the standard "And now I'm slipping the ring on her finger" shot... although those are nice too.

They had very cool grapefruit martinis - Colleen, their amazing planner, grabbed one for Jen before they were all gone, while we were doing the bride/groom portraits.

Another cool thing they had was an old photo booth for their guests to use. The guests also used the photobooth shots in the sign-in guest book. Way cool! Jen & Sam jumped in, and I stuck my camera in there in front to get a couple of my own "Photo-boothy" shots of them. Here's my shots, along with their shot and their rings:

Here's what the party looked like at night. Colleen had used colored gels over the lights outside, which made for a really vibrant, multicolored atmosphere. Very cool.

And of course, the send-off. They had so much fun running through the sparklers, that they turned around and did it a few more times. I'm not sure which take this was... ha!

I had a wonderful time with Jen, Sam and their families. A huge thanks to them all for allowing me to be there with them, and giving me a chance to reflect on my own wonderful marriage. Thanks, guys!

Hillary & Kevin

Jaron:
After an incredibly crazy fall/winter wedding & editing season, where I spent my life staring at thousands of photos, I've had a very nice February. I've been able to focus on some parts of the business that get pushed aside when editing is the priority. However, I've been terribly delinquent about posting new blogs as of late. I've got a huge amount of sessions & weddings that we haven't posted for, so I'm going to start working my way through them so you guys can see what we've been up to lately.

The first is a wedding. Hillary & Kevin. Cassie & I shot this wedding together, which is always so much fun for us. I think this was technically a wedding that Cassie was the lead on. I love it when Cassie is the top dog at a job. She gets to worry about all the clutch shots, and I get to sit back and experiment and try new angles, new shots, new ideas.

Hillary & Kevin are a very cool couple. Super easy going, super fun. Their ceremony officiant didn't allow any photography whatsoever during the ceremony, but here are a few of the other shots: