I don’t know about you but unless I’m on a beach where people bring me drinks and fresh towels, I hate the summer. I tend to not take very many (or any) summer weddings but when a couple like Taylor and Charissa comes along and wants me to be a part of their Northern Virginia lake wedding at Lake Holiday in the middle of August, I say yes, swampy back be damned. 

I’ve know Taylor’s family for about ten years, starting when I was a very new photographer and took his sister’s senior photos. A few years later, I took one of his brother’s senior photos, and for years after that saw his parents around our community and through mutual friends. I met Taylor about 6 years ago and like the very wise man he is, he chose a beautiful, brilliant Canadian woman named Charissa to be his bride. So really, there was absolutely no way I was going to say no to shooting this wedding!

We knew it was going to be hot, but we all obsessively watched the weather forecast the week leading up to their big day. When their wedding day arrived, the sky was full of clouds and even as Charissa boated up onto the beach to make her ceremony entrance (she is my personal hero), thunder rolled in the distance. But the weather held, the ceremony went off without a hitch, and we even got a bit of golden hour light to sneak out to the beach and enjoy during the reception. 

Charissa and Taylor, thank you for having me there on this most special of days. I cried four times, and then again when I was putting the slideshow together and I’m not sorry at all. I wish you all the joy, laughter, snacks, and funny faces your life together can hold, and I loves ya huge. 

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