We are so thrilled to be reaching a milestone with our current fanbase on our Facebook page and so thankful for all of your support!!!

So, we don’t do this often, but….

We’ve decided to do a giveaway!! Several in fact, with the grand prize being a couple session to take place here in Hampton Roads!!

Included in your shoot will be 45 minutes to 1 and half hours of session time on location, all film and film development costs, and all edited images and scans from your session in a downloadable gallery with one year of hosting. Pretty cool, eh?!

There are a few other neat gifts too for runners-up!

The contest will end shortly before Valentine’s Day so we can let you know as a Valentine’s Day present who wins.

Good luck and thank you so much for entering! <3

xoxo M & C

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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We’re such big fans of these two.

Asya and Brandon came all the way down from Philadelphia for their engagement session. They couldn’t have picked a more perfect time of year.

Brandon asked Asya, (who, in case you didn’t notice, has SUCH an amazingly beautiful name), to marry him on Christmas Day at her parents house in Newport News a year ago.
What better Christmas present than that, a present everyone can enjoy?

(By the way, even though we’re blogging their session  now, guess what day they received their photos? )

For their engagement session, we met up in Williamsburg and walked around the quaint little Christmas market set up in Market Square. A perfect spot for photos, without a doubt.

They live in Philadelphia but they’re getting married at Christopher Newport University next year.
We are just way too excited to photograph their wedding. There are going to be guests there from around the world (Asya has quite an international family).
It’s going to be lovely… but mainly because of their love for one another.

Asya and Brandon, see you guys soon! We can hardly wait for the big day!

Richard Photo Lab developed our film!
Virginia Wedding Photographers | Destination Wedding Photographers

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The past year has flown by. It was our first year of being full-time wedding photographers and we love it.

We love meeting all the sweet couples, hearing all their love stories and capturing their special days.

We are also big fans of engagement sessions.

It gives our couples a chance to feel  amaaazing in front of our cameras and it gives us all a chance to get to know each other without all the hustle and bustle of the big day.

We like to call them “double dates” – where we bring cameras.

We got to know so many new couples this year and got the chance to get to know them at an engagement session.

E-sessions are so important to us that we include them for FREE in any wedding collection you book with us.

It helps our clients get to know what to expect on their wedding day. Also, it’s a great excuse to have some casual, fun photos as a couple without any of the stress of the wedding day.

This is what we usually take on engagement sessions: 2 Contax 645 medium format cameras, some film, 2 Canon DSLRs and our MP3 Player to play some romantic music.

You know, a little something to set the mood.

We have started to shoot more and more film because we just love the romantic and pure quality of it (which is also why it is super important for couples to be there in time as we depend on light).

So after an engagement session, we send off the film to a film lab for development. We love the guys over at Richard Photo Lab in California and Indie Film Lab!

When we get the film scans back, all digital images (if we shot any on digital) will already be ready so we can turn over all the images asap

Usually the next day, we will share a blog post with our favorites from the shoot. Couples receive their photos in a PASS gallery, which is a lovely online gallery from which they can download all their images super fast and even share them with their friends and family – for free. We’re big fans of “shooting and sharing“!

That’s the technical stuff.

Here is what it is really all about: Your engagement photos are super important. They are different from your wedding photos because you are actually wearing what you would normally wear. You don’t have any stress about people running late, finding the venue, etc… you are just yourself. And that makes it so special.

When you are older… you will love to remember those moments.  It is about capturing your love. And that is what we get so excited about.

Looking back on the past year, we wanted to share some of our favorite pictures from 2013 engagement sessions with you. Not to show you how awesome we are, but to remember how awesome our clients are.

…I guess I got a bit emotional there xoxo, Carina

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Anna and David were originally supposed to have their engagement session a few months back. The weather was supposed to have been just right, with like a 30% chance of rain.

Sometimes that 30% wins out. 

They were on their way to meet us when it started pouring.

Needless to say, we had to cancel.

Anna was living in Florida at that time so we were just hoping we’d be able to reschedule…

A few months later, Anna moved to Norfolk, Virginia and we were meeting up again – this time with no rain – to shoot her engagement session!

David’s a sailor and Anna is a dedicated teacher.

At their mid-November engagement session in Newport News Park, we could tell Anna was still getting used to Virginia temperatures.

It was cloudy and cool – typical November in Hampton Roads. But it made for beautiful engagement photos – and perfect cuddling weather.

After their session we went out for a little double date… by the end of it, they’d decided…

… they’ve invited us to Florida to shoot their wedding next year!!!

Anna and David, thank you so much for your patience despite the bad weather and for inviting us to document your big day! We can hardly wait!!!

Technical info: we used Kodak Portra 400 film for this session, developed by Richard Photo Lab

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A mutual friend referred Kyle and Mackinsey to us a few weeks ago.

“You’ll love her smile,” Meagan told us.

She was right!

Mackinsey has the most gorgeous, natural smile… and she just can’t help but smile when she’s with Kyle.

These two are made for each other.

They’re getting married at Fairview Farm next October.

We met at the lovely rustic venue in Powhatan, VA for their esession, too.

(You can see more of the barn at Fairview Farm here!)

It was chilly, but the weather was lovely.

The bright sunlight gave us the perfect opportunity to do something we’ve been wanting to do for a long time.

An all film engagement session!!

And wow. We love the way their love story translated to film.

The apple picnic… our hike through the fields… exploring an old, run-down barn…

We had an amazing time.

We can hardly wait for their wedding next year!

Technical info: photographed on fuji400h & portra 400 film with Contax 645s; all of our film was developed by the geniuses at Richard Photo Lab

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Keith is originally from Michigan and Emily grew up in Roanoke. It was our first time in Roanoke. We saw the star on the mountain Emily had mentioned on the phone from far away. We did part of their engagement session under it. “Whenever I see it, I know I’m home,” Emily said.

They are law students close to graduation. They both sported their school colors, too. Keith even wore a custom-tailored suit of Michigan State green from a trip to China.

After finishing on top of  Mill Mountain we followed them to the Center in the Square. We captured them just walking down the street… being together… having fun.

We’re so excited to photograph your wedding next year, guys! We know it’s going to be amazing!!

Love that jacket!

Shot on Portra 400 film, developed by Richard Photo Lab

Virginia Wedding Photographers | Destination Wedding Photographers

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film: fuji400h / developed by Richard Photo Lab

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Ebony and Jesse are finally tying the knot!

Their still looking for their wedding venue but they decided to have their engagement session before.

You could see the love in his eyes as he held her.

How she smiled when he told her about when he first fell in love with her.

These high school sweethearts from Hampton are going to have a beautiful wedding.

film: portra 400

developed by Richard Photo Lab

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Hope this helps guys!

Please send your requests for Q & A Tuesdays to info@www.michaelandcarina.com or visit us on Facebook.

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They just got engaged in June… and they’re getting married this September… as in, correct you are, this month!!  

But, like us, they totally embraced the idea of still doing their engagement session before!

We loved the chance to get to know them a bit better.

And it was such a special day to celebrate…

Not only are they going to be married in just a few weeks…

Not only were we able to document their engagement…

But they also just purchased their first house!!

They were so happy and it just showed in every picture.

We met in Yorktown and showed them some of our favorite spots, where the light in the evening is just magical.

But they didn’t need any help posing… they were just naturals.

Even though Aaron is a little taller (okay, quite a bit taller) than Allie, they just knew exactly what to do to make their photos look gorgeous and natural.

Oh, and let’s just stop here and say:

We LOVE what they wore! 

Perfect photoshoot outfits!

We are so looking forward to your wedding, Allie and Aaron, and we are so happy that we could still book with you on such short notice – we’re the lucky ones!

Enjoy your engagement photos and we’ll be seeing you very soon!

We love it when we ask the guys to whisper “sweet nothings” in her ear, and he leans over and starts literally whispering “sweet nothing, sweet nothing, sweet nothing”… classic!

Don’t often end on a black and white photo but ahhh… just love this quiet moment between the two of them in b & w… just lovely <3

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