It’s been a long, long-distance road for David & Heather. She’s an Irish belle who was living in Chicago at the time, he’s a North Dakota native who was a midshipman at the US Naval Academy when they met. Their entire relationship has been a whirlwind of plane tickets, long car rides and late night phone date, so when February 2nd arrived, they could both breathe a sigh of relief. The wait was over. They belong together- their character and personalities perfectly compatible, and the way he marveled at her on their wedding day would have brought anyone up short. A perfect fit.
David & Heather, thank you, from the depths of my heart, for loving with abandon, and for allowing me in to document it all. I love you both so much and it was such an absolute blessing to watch your family and friends rally around you in support. Enjoy your Caribbean cruise and have a frosty beverage for me!
Congratulations, Mr. & Mrs. Samson!
Details-
Ceremony: United States Naval Academy, Annapolis, MD
Reception: Chesapeake Bay Beach Club
Dress: Allure Bridal
Shoes: JCrew (striped heels) + TOMS (coral flats)
Key cufflinks: Tiffany’s
Bridesmaid dresses: Lilly Pulitzer
Brooch bouquet: Beauboutique
Bridesmaid bouquets + boutonnieres: 2hands Studio
Baker: Sweet Hearts Patisserie
Deejay: Jason Wallace of Absolute Entertainment
David & Heather- an elegant US Naval Academy wedding
February 6, 2013
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Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous, Abby!!! <3
WOW she is a stunning bride! This wedding is gorgeous, Abby! I have so many favorites I don’t even know where to begin. Most definitely one of my favorites of yours for sure! 🙂
First of all, Abby, these pictures are stunning!! I’m a wedding photographer in Dayton, OH and it always worries me a little when friends book other photographers because I want them to have the best images from such a memorable day, but you did Abbeigh and Jamie’s wedding as well and I’ve never worried about friends when they book you!
Second, Heather, you’re gorgeous! And your wedding looks flawless! I can’t believe all of the small details and I wish I could have been there! I guess Ben’s card he got fit just perfect with the keys and everything, huh? 😉 I wish the best for both of you and hope our USMC lifestyles cross paths again in the future! 🙂
Breathtaking. That’s all I could think as I scrolled through their portraits. SUCH beautiful work, Abby! And what a beautiful couple and wedding!
Abby this is LOVELY!! I love her bridal portraits and the ones outside of them with her cardigans on! So so so pretty!
I can’t get over how stunning this couple is. You really can feel the love! Gorgeous, gorgeous bride, love the colors, the details, and the feel of the images.
Great work!
How much did you love her ‘key’ decorations?? 🙂 The pictures are beautiful!
Love, love, love this one! Fantastic job, Abby!
Abby…from the moment Heather looked at your website, she knew she wanted you to be her wedding photographer. Your pictures are perfection!! You know exactly where to be for that perfect pose, and you look like you’re having so much fun while doing such as an incredible job. It was a joy to watch you work…
This is such a wonderful wedding Abby! So much elegance and great style! I really love the navy colors and Heather! your makeup is super great!!!
~ Saluti.
Abby!! This is absolutely BEAUTIFUL!!! Such soft, crisp and romantic images, loved every single one!! My favs are the ones outside with their coral sweaters, and awesome job with the detail shots too! Amazing my friend! <3
Oh. My. Goodness. This wedding is absolutely incredible!! Hands down my favorite wedding of yours! The lighting, colors – everything! Fantastic!!
What a gorgeous wedding and reception!
I LOVE the bridesmaid dresses!!
It all looks straight out of pinterest 😀
Oh my gosh! Such a gorgeous wedding! I really like the coral & navy together! You did a great job capturing it!
I love EVERYTHING about this post. I love your images, I LOVE the details, and the colors!!! Those colors are my two FAVORITE colors to pair together. Hoping to use them for branding someday if I ever get to that point.
Question: It appears that on some of your images (according to my monitor anyway) there are highlights that look blown (the images of the bride in front of the window–her neck and left arm). I often have blown highlights on parts of my models. To me these blown (or nearly blown) parts are not the important parts of the image and to keep the image bright like I like it, I cannot get away from these blown areas (maybe the edge of a face if side or back lit during sunset).
Everywhere I look though photographers are talking about how it is bad to have blown areas like this. I have even seen some people editing a photo from something I would more prefer to something darker to avoide these blown/nearly blown areas. I don’t even know if yours are blown or not. So I guess I am just curious if you allow there to be blown areas on your subjects or not, and any advice you may have for a novice. Sorry for the book of the comment! Thanks for taking the time to read it!
Hey Michelle! I think the answer to your question is probably a combination of a little bit of your monitor settings and Heather’s fair skin. There was one particular image where the whites were indeed blown out (the BW of her at the base of the stairs, looking up, right before the shots of her dress being zipped). That was a case of me failing to adjust my settings quickly enough while shooting and as a result, I overexposed the image to a point that I lost a lot of the detailing on her dress. It was an image I felt was really important though, so I kept it.
Generally, unless it’s a crucial photo, if I can’t recover the detail in overexposed areas in LightRoom, I scrap the image. That can sometimes be difficult with a bride with medium/tan skin and a pure white (vs. eggshell/ivory/etc) dress, but part of honing my skills involves learning to balance skin tones and whites on the histogram. If I overexpose a photo just a little too much, I can often fix it by slightly adjusting the exposure and/or “whites” and “highlights” sliders in LR. If it’s past saving though, like I said- I usually scrap it. It happens less and less as time goes on because I’m constantly checking my settings- I try my absolute best to get things right in-camera so that I don’t have to spend tons of time editing later. You might want to experiment with some sort of reflector, whether natural (like a bright sidewalk) or held by an assistant- that way you can brighten up the darker areas without losing the detail in your highlights :).
Sweety Wedding. The Bridal is stunning.
Everything is so wonderful.
Best wish for this couple.
I love all of these!! So beautiful!! And that one of the two little kids…him with his hands with his pockets is a-dor-a-ble. 🙂
Such a stunning bride and a beautiful wedding day! And you captured it so dreamily! I love it all, Abby!
this wedding is beautiful! i love all of her details and the keys go perfectly with your brand! so cool!!! beautiful, beautiful, BEAUTIFUL! 🙂
Abby – the most AMAZING STUNNING photographs of Heather and David – you captured every detail of a very special couple on a very special day…
Thank you SO MUCH…
These images are STUNNING!!! This wedding was absolutely gorgeous and your photos are simply breathtaking. That horizontal of her with her shoes peeking out…WOW!!! It should be on a billboard somewhere. Just beautiful.
You are an amazing photographer!! These pictures are gorgeous and Heather looks stunning. Love how the pics of our bouquets and boutonnieres came out!!! Beautiful job!
Jill
2hands Studios
Abby!!!! Holy moly!!!! Beautiful!!!! xo!