Engagement Session with Meg Runion

One of my good friends, a wedding photographer here in Charlottesville, called the other month and asked if she could use me and my Mr. as subjects for an engagement session. We were thrilled! I met Meg while working at a local preschool when she came to take pictures of the children for the school yearbook. The pictures were awesome! Meg was able to capture the little ones while they were playing on the playground and I couldn't stop staring at their cute little faces and the beautiful way that Meg captured their spirit.

Recently, Meg had been working with another photographer and decided it was time to start her own business. In her own words - "After 5 years I had so many dreams, thoughts, and ideas and decided to launch my own business to fit the more creative, personal, and customer service oriented business I was looking for and since founded Meg Runion Studios." Since leaving her previous business, she is in the process of rebuilding her portfolio and Mr. UVA and I were happy to help! :)

The photos are beautiful! It was such a fun day spending time with Meg and watching her work. She was so laid back and confident and you could see her mind working as she evaluated the light and the surroundings in order to get the best picture. She even brought her Grandmother's antique chair for us to use as a prop after hoisting it over fence at Ashlawn.
Meg is currently accepting wedding and family inquiries for 2010. So if you're still looking for a photographer, check out her blog (http://megrunionstudios.wordpress.com/) and get in touch!

Our Luuuvvv Session

It's rainy and cold and miserable outside, but I am happy! Why? Because I finished my paper (YAY!) and tomorrow is my last day of work before my long four day weekend (OH YEAH!).

So, I figured, since I am feeling quite amorous with life right now, I thought I would share the love and show you guys a few photos from our "Luv Session." Taken by the fantastic photographer and generally nice person Kate Headley during this past Cherry Blossom festival, these were so much fun to do...although the wind was not too forgiving on my hair. They still turned out great nonetheless. These are my two favorite shots from the day.

All photographs take by Kate Headley (check her out!)

I hope you all have a fantastic Thanksgiving, a great day or wonderful set of days off work, and that you share all the LUV you got to give!

National Harbor Engagement Pics

FI and I recently took our engagement pics, and we love them! FI's dad is an awesome photographer, and since the family was visiting with us for Thanksgiving, he did our photo shoot at the National Harbor. These are a couple of the pictures.

We are in love with our pics, and have posted them on our wedding website already. The National Harbor is a wonderfully scenic place, and great to take pics. They've got the fountain, and stream (drained now for the winter), the water, docks, and well-landscaped grounds. As we were on the dock, the former presidential yacht sailed up, and make a great backdrop to some of our pics. You may need to call ahead and make arrangements if you want to take pictures near the beautiful holiday displays inside the Gaylord Resort.

Engagement Session Follow Up

Photo Credit

First, I apologize for being MIA the last week. I've been working super late helping out with another event and then had a migraine this afternoon after helping out at 6AM this morning at the National Mall.

But, on to the more interesting stuff. Our engagement session! It was awesome. After much deliberation on the outfits (I went through 3 different tops, 3 different pairs of jeans, 2 different skirts, one dress, one dress, and a partridge and a pear tree). Think of all the permutations of outfits that produced. Thank you to all my friends for their advice and insight - and thank you to my beloved maid of honor - for her constant attention, support, and patience. . . all the way from London.

The weather: gorgeous (last Sunday). Fiance: A.MA.ZING. Seriously. He was so patient and such a good sport about everything. Rob told him to look at him, he looked and smiled. Rob told him to stand over there, he trotted and waited. Rob told him to pick me up, he heaved. Of course, I think he hid behind me during many of the pictures, using his affection for me as a convenient excuse to press his head against my ear, but I didn't mind.

Tips and takeaways for couples about to take their engagement pictures:

Do have an idea of what kind of mood and shots you want to take - close up, far away, walking away, silhouettes, portrait facing the camera vs. artsy.

Do dress up a little - it just makes it special. Rob told us "Dress like you're going on a second date with each other."

Do wear something that complements your skin tones and eyes. I was very hesitant to wear black because I'd been told that black doesn't always photograph well, but Rob said that because it was a great contrast to Mr. Sweetpea's white button-up shirt. Both of our hair is also very dark brown / black and, as Rob said, he was "able to get the light to shine through" and highlight our hair and frame us in an awesome way.

Do talk to each other while the photographer is shooting. We were able to ignore everyone and just be ourselves in our own little world. It was really neat, actually, because all these tourists were mingling and strolling around, and we were just us. In fact, Rob told us that during one of our sessions, this little old man could not stop taking pictures of us because he thought we were famous!

Do research your venue! We were stopped by the little ranger at least 2 times to make sure we were in the allowed areas and that we had our park permit. Seriously, it was annoying because we were just like everyone else with their cameras -- only we had a flash diffuser (whatever that silver disc was), a mini-ladder, and 2 bags of camera equipment.

Don't be inflexible. It got a little cold in the last hour, so I just threw on my jacket, ran around in between shots, and forgot about the rest. Just go with it. Also, there were many tourists, but hey, it's DC, right? Rob captured them in the background of the shots and the photos look very modern and urban aka Awesome.

Don't be late. We ran in to a bit of traffic on the way to the Memorial - typical DC. But we were ahead of schedule a little bit, so that still gave us plenty of sun light.

Don't ignore your photographer. Get to know him/her (especially if they're doing your wedding). This is a practice session, so find out who they are and develop your relationship with them. We found out Rob went to school in Ithaca - oh so close to Colgate!

I'm still trying to figure out a way to share them with you gals without just putting up the link, but Rob of Robert Holley Photography is AWESOME. I highly recommend him. I'm so excited he's doing our wedding!