Honestly, we don’t really do a lot for Halloween. Unless you count stuff like this with our photographer friends at 2 in the morning:

5D Mark II, 35mm L lens at f16, SINGLE 30 second exposure, flash: 580EXII, manual, 1/32nd power on Meagan’s “body” and 1/128th power on Meagan’s “ghost” – no photoshop

 Oh… the stuff we Virginia wedding photographers do for fun…

But even that’s not the reason why we are so happy right around Halloween time…

It’s because all of the candy in the world can’t take the place of Thanksgiving.

We are NUTS about Thanksgiving. Living in Germany for 4 years, and almost always having to work on the 4th of July (a holiday our German friends couldn’t really identify with like we could) it was the one big American celebration we could still celebrate and invite a lot of friends.

So this month, we’re going to be doing something different. We’re not the only ones doing it – but we love the idea.

Blogging every for the entire month of November about something, or someone, we’re thankful for.

And what better way to start it off than like this:

We’re thankful for each other.

(c) Tara Liebeck Photography

We’re each other’s best friends, and we wouldn’t have it any other way.

xoxo, Michael and Carina Photography

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But sometimes not everything goes as planned…

What they originally expected was perhaps more traditional…

But what they experienced was something small, beautifully intimate and perfect.

This Middle Peninsula couple met us the morning of their wedding at Kingsmill Resort in Williamsburg. “I picked out this room just for the window light!” Alicia said. Too perfect, right? Alicia and her mother were up to their necks in flowers and flower stems… she had been up since 5am making bouquets with her mother.

Their ceremony was held at Lee Hall Plantation near Yorktown, Virginia. The ceremony was quiet. The breeze was the only thing you could hear, moving through the trees, other than the minister’s voice. We all heard them say “I do,” though.

Afterwards we met up in historic Yorktown on the riverfront, or “Riverwalk.” The clouds had moved off and we had some perfect late-evening sun for some glowing portraits on film.

Their intimate reception was held in the Riverwalk Restaurant.

Alicia and Josh, when you booked us last year it was the encouragement we needed to stay in the United States and stay the course, pursuing our photography dreams.

Thank you so much for inviting us to document your big day!!

Vendors:

Dress – Maggie Sottero “Jenna”

Venues – Lee Hall Mansion & Kingsmill Resort 

Reception – Riverwalk Restaurant 

Hair and Makeup – Robbie Miller Master Paul Mitchell Makeup and Hairstylist

Flowers – DIY purchased from Norfolk Wholesale Floral 

Officiant – Jim Gilley

Cake – Gourmet Bake Shoppe

Odds & Ends / Bridal Hanger – Wish Upon A Starfish  

Cake Topper – DIY

Invitations – DIY

Ryan and Elaine know what it means.

He’s a lawyer from Nevada.. She works helping burn victims in a hospital in Maryland…

Introduced by a mutual friend, they hit it off… but certainly didn’t get to see each other often…

We know the feeling…

We also know the feeling that they have when they do get to be together…

They truly appreciate their time with each other.

You can see it in the way he looks at her, at how she smiles when she looks at him.

So after photographing their engagement back in April, they married…

They were married on a hot July afternoon at the romantic getaway, the Tide’s Inn, hidden away in the picturesque village of Irvington, Virginia.

The sun was bright and a cool breeze was coming off of the water when they said “I do..”

And the party that followed, featuring entertainment from “Encore,” truly made it a night to remember.

Elaine & Ryan, thank you for giving us the opportunity to document your big day!

We wish you guys all the best as you start your new life together out west!

Click here to view the engagement

Film scans coming soon  

The end of a beautiful night… 

 special thanks to Will Hawkins for assisting us!

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Virginia | Richmond | Williamsburg | VA Beach | Yorktown | Hampton Roads | Engagement + Wedding Photographers | Michael and Carina Photography

Our story with James and Emily starts back when we first moved into our apartment in Yorktown, Virginia, which seems like forever ago but was really at the end of August 2012. 

We had spent virtually all of our money moving to America from Germany, AND we were trying to get our business up and running in Virginia, so we were trying to save every penny we could.

We needed a washer and a dryer and found a set on Craigslist for $60 together. The owner was kind enough to deliver them to our apartment and installed them too. We were feeling pretty good, having saved so much money, when the man plugged both machines in and let us know they were ready to go. We probably should have made sure that he had connected the drainage hose properly before running the washer for the first time… but we didn’t. And when he mentioned it was good to go, it wasn’t. Our first load of laundry ended with about 3 inches of water on our kitchen floor, spreading out into our living room. Having been here for about a week, we ended up throwing every piece of clothing, blankets and rags into the water trying to soak it up as quickly as possible. 

We had just gotten back from the store with armfuls of paper towels when Emily, our downstairs neighbor, knocked on the door.

We were crushed. What a first impression to make on our neighbors!

Very politely Emily asked if we had experienced any trouble with a leak as their ceiling was slowly but surely soaking through. We explained ourselves.

Emily was not upset and told us not to worry…

But we did worry…

And having no money to offer them for the damages…

That evening, we went downstairs and invited them to go on a couples photo session with us for free.

“Really? That would be perfect!” Emily said. “We just got engaged!”

–

Ever heard the saying, “The Lord works in mysterious ways?”

Had the incident with the washer not happened, we might not have gotten to work with Emily & James.

More importantly, we would have missed out on knowing some amazing people.

Since then, not only did Emily and James book us to photograph their special day, but they’ve been supportive friends and neighbors as well.

We got to spend New Year’s with them, we’ve watched their dog Cornbread, and they’ve taken care of our cats.

They even taught us how to find edible mushrooms in the middle of the woods in Newport News, of all places.

And finally, this past weekend, we got to document their special day.

–

James and Emily love nature. They love adventure and thinking outside of the box.

She’s a scientist from the Eastern Shore currently pursuing her doctorate. He’s a landscape artist who is nowhere more at home than in the woods that remind him of his home in West Virginia.

He asked her to marry him on a hike in the mountains where they went to school.

She said yes.

Their wedding took place near Emily’s home in Onley, Virginia.

Although our bridal portraits had to be rescheduled due to tens of thousands (quite literally, tens of thousands) of flies which awoke from the marsh as the sun was setting, we’ve already rescheduled a separate portrait session with James and Emily.

The four of us will get together again after they return from Mexico and we are lucky enough to take a few more photos of this gorgeous couple.

Emily and James, thank you for being so gracious when we ruined our floor and your ceiling!

Thank you for being the best neighbors we could ask for!

And thank you for inviting us to document your wedding! <3

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–

–

(gotta love those flies!!)

(right about here, amid much scratching and itching, we decided to schedule an additional portrait session! time to go party!)

Bridal portraits + film scans coming soon!

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She and her USAF-hubby Damian have been together for nine years and they’re still in SO-in-love.

Exactly how it should be.

They had only one problem:

After nine years, they STILL didn’t have any awesome lovey-dovey pictures to celebrate their marriage!

Enter Michael and Carina, and our trusty assistant Seth, to the rescue!

But seriously, it wasn’t that hard.

Damian proposed to her on a beach over 9 years ago… so what better place to celebrate the continuing success of their marriage with a photoshoot?

beautiful couple + beach + awesome bridge + beautiful sunset + awesome support & a great team = EPIC photos <3

Damian and Jasmine, thank you so much for your friendship, your kindness, and the inspirational way you love each other!

(film photos have been sent off to Indie Film Labs and are coming soon!)

(here Damian re-enacted his proposal by telling Jasmine about when he first knew he wanted to marry her – - – husbands, take note! a great idea to practice on more occasions than just photoshoots)

If you’d like to contact us with an inquiry for your wedding or couple session, send us a message at info@www.michaelandcarina.com, or call 757-401-2551. 

Virginia Wedding Photographers | Hampton Roads Wedding Photographers | Williamsburg Wedding Photographers

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Pilar and Jarad approached us in the last week of November with a request you don’t get every day. After 7 years of being together, loving each other, and traveling the world, they wanted to give their families (and themselves) a special Christmas present by eloping this weekend! We were especially honored because not only were we the photographers, as they told us the day of, we were two of only three other people (the third being the officiant, Ivory Morgan Burton of Storybook Events) who were in on their plans!

We met in beautiful, historic Williamsburg for the wedding which was held at an amphitheater on the College of William and Mary campus. The weather was perfect and we had the most gorgeous natural light you could hope for at an outdoor wedding. We captured Pilar and Jarad’s bridal portraits in and around Colonial Williamsburg.

Pilar, Jarad, thank you so much for making us a part of your very intimate ceremony. We hope as you share these photos with your friends and family, they can get a sense of just how beautiful your special day was.You guys are a fantastic couple! – Michael and Carina

Carina at work (this bride made it easy!)










technical info: we photographed this wedding using Canon 5D Mark IIs w/ 50mm, 16-35mm, and 100mm L lenses, and natural light only.