I ventured over the Bay Bridge to be apart of a very Maryland beachside wedding at the Chesapeake Bay Beach Club in Stevensville. The bayside wedding was complete with starfish, beautiful blue hues, crab cakes and boardwalk fries, no detail was left out! The clouds threatened us all day with rain but Kristen and Brian were able to have their gorgeous outside ceremony by the water and we eeked out all the pictures on the beach just before the showers started.

DETAILS
CEREMONY/RECEPTION: Chesapeake Bay Beach Club
PHOTOGRAPHY: Shelby Leigh Photography
VIDEOGRAPHY: Blue Sky Films

I feel like pulling a mommy dearest when I see ugly hangers on a beautiful gown! Thankfully Kristen got a custom one.

Perfect MOB and FOB gift

Keep calm and say I do.

Thanks to my second, Laurie for this one )

If you’re from Maryland, you know what this is

Man am I behind on blogging but I haven’t posted anything personal in a while so I thought this would be the perfect time to tell you about our trip to Disney World. Oh yes, we did it. And let me tell you it was AMAZING! Driving 14 hours to walk around for 8 hours a day in the Florida heat in a crowded amusement park doesnt sounds like fun to you? Well it was nothing like you debby downers think! I wouldn’t give this trip up for 100 relaxing beach vacations! We went in January, only because it was a Christmas gift, but now in hind sight it was the most genius idea for the whole trip. First, it wasn’t blazing hot. Second, the parks were only moderately crowded (I think our average wait time for rides was 0-10 minutes).

If you don’t have kids yet, let me just brief you on what might happen. You will get pregnant and from that day forward your entire life will revolve around them, the end. Nothing makes me happier then seeing my kids happy which is why Disney World was so awesome. Seeing their eyes light up at every character and their excitment to ride the next ride, laughing and carrying on without a care in the world. Sigh.

It was MY first time to Disney World too which is maybe why I also seemed to enjoy it as much as my kids. In fact, I’m plotting when our next trip will be. And I won’t mislead you, we may have taken a trip to Universal to go to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, that might have only been to fuel my inner Potter Mania.

On to the highlights…. And just a disclaimer, all these photos were taken with our travel point and shoot, I didn’t even bring my nice SLR cameras to Florida!

This is a “lost” session from last summer. I could of sworn I blogged this session, I even remember putting the photos together but as I was searching my own blog for the post to share with someone the location we went to, I couldn’t find it! Even now I’m thinking “Am I sure I didn’t blog it?”, how could I forget this downright beautiful couple on this amazing summer day in DC. Now, they are getting married on the eastern shore at The Oaks, in just 2 short months.

Does this look familiar to anyone? I’m going crazy.

Here’s a few shares from my first High School senior session in what seems like forever. I was thinking of having a marathon senior portrait day for 2013 seniors some time this summer and/or fall, what do you think?

Last month I had the pleasure of being the photographer for this intimate wedding. It was a simple, meaningful courthouse ceremony with only their immediate family, where the bride wore the most perfect navy and ivory dress with the sweetest yellow bouquet. After the ceremony they gave me plenty of time to get some portrait of the two of them around the Tidal Basin and Capitol and then inviting more guests to a detailed dinner reception at Charlier Palmer.

In continuation of my last post, here is baby “j’s” 1 year session that we photographed at the Air and Space Museum in Virginia. This is the last session in his Year in the Life of Baby plan, where we documented his first year of life. For the full effect, I’ll post 1 photo from each of his previous sessions before I continue with his 1 year session highlights!

I can’t believe I forgot to blog this session from last summer! Well I have to blog it now because I just finished “Baby J’s” one year old session, which is his last session with me on his Year in the Life of Baby plan. I photographed his mom when he was just in his belly and now he’s a walking, talking 1 year old. This was his 6 month session we photographed at the Hyatt Cambridge on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. I’ll post his 1 year session at the Air and Space Museum soon!

Brooke + Craig’s summer wedding is on United with Love today! This is a great local wedding blog, I am so glad they wrote about this wedding – it needed to be seen somewhere because all their details, which were put together by the bride and groom themselves, were so fantastic! You can check out Brooke and Craig’s wedding again here http://shelbyleigh.com/?p=409

and on United with Love here…

PART 1: http://www.unitedwithlove.com/2012/03/12/brooke-craigs-aqua-and-purple-handmade-maryland-wedding-part-1/

PART 2: http://www.unitedwithlove.com/2012/03/12/brooke-craigs-aqua-and-purple-handmade-wedding-part-2/

We started this intimate wedding day doing a “first look” before the ceremony. The location of choice was the Spanish Steps, just a little ways from where their wedding was taking place at the Hillyer Art Space. I was only hired to capture a couple hours of their day so we had to make the most of our time. I love being apart of all weddings, small and big, they are all meaningful!

see each other for the first time at their “first look”

green wedding shoes

romance on the spanish steps

a simple modern ceremony setup in the gallery

bottles wrapped in twine, a fun little DIY!

laughs

tears

Baby “N” was about two weeks old when I photographed her newborn photos. Strangely enough she was so very alert, she did not want us to take any sleepy time photos so we got lots of her wide eyed and beautiful, it wasnt till the very end did she drift off to sleep and I got to snap a few peaceful photos. As a part of my Year in the Life of Baby I still get to see her two more times (I already photographed her parents maternity session!). I love watching these babies grow!