Molly & Brian | Snowtober wedding at the National Press Club

2011 was kind of a nutty year for wedding weather! First we rocked the Saturday hurricane and then it for-real snowed in October (basically unheard of, for all you non-locals). The ingenious Cassidy DuHon had me out to second-shoot Molly and Brian's relaxed but snowy wedding at the National Press Club. Lucky for us, she loves snow and we all ran outside for just a minute while the white stuff fell all around. Rad. bride in the snow in washington, dc Brian and his guys were rocking these glasses all night and kept saying something about Tebow... sometimes I feel I'm missing an entire world of pop-culture references by ignoring sports. glasses at the national press club groom gets ready at the national press club in washington, dc groom ties his shoes on carpet groomsmen drinking at the national press club First look. first look between bride and groom in washington, dc bride and groom portraits at national press club bride laughing with her man

And then it started snowing!

2011 | a pretty awesome year

It's that time of year when photographers fluff up their blogs with "best of" posts and I'm not above that either! It's been a wild and crazy year and as I've mentioned, I'm grateful for my fabulous clients who trust me to give them the images they hope for and to stay out of the way (with camera at the ready) when they're trying to have a moment on their wedding day. I'm grateful to wedding photography community at large, which continues to impress me with its friendliness and lack of paranoia about competition, and to all the amazing photographers who have given me so many opportunities to learn and grow. And jeesh I could go on and on and on. It's been a really, really good year. And I've photographed some truly awesome people. Here are some of them. It was easy enough to go through my "session highlights" folder to pull some favorite client images from 2011 and I would have liked to include some personal work here as well, but I have all that far less efficiently sorted. Frankly, I have to pack for Italy. And so without any further ramblings, my "best of" 2011:

Christen & Josh | Strong Mansion wedding

Thought I didn't have any more weddings to post, did you? Thought it was all going to be engagement sessions forever? Nope, I've got a couple left in the pipeline! Today I bring you the ridiculously cute and quirky wedding of Christen and Josh, seconding for the amazeballs Tara Welch. I dug the hell out of Strong Mansion, which has really beautiful little garden nooks to take all manner of beautiful portraits (and have a ceremony, if you dig the ceremony-in-a-garden thing). And even though this wedding was several months ago, frequent visitors will notice a number of images from this wedding already grace my portfolio. So excited to finally share with you! wedding photographer Amber Wilkie reflections during church wedding This photo is one of my favorites in my portfolio - I just love the light falling in from behind this little boy, and how he's sneaking a peek during a solemn moment. boy praying during church wedding priest holds hand over couple during ceremony wedding ceremony in a church little girl in the pews at a wedding ceremony couple play with a globe during portraits bride and groom laughing strong mansion wedding portraits bride and groom at strong mansion bride and groom with balloons There were so many adorable details at this wedding. Christen and Josh are big travelers and made up an international dessert spread. They also put giant mylar balloons and gnomes all over the place. Gnomes! lemonade and iced tea at a wedding reception french bakery wedding inspiration little girl at a wedding reception grandmother talks to the bride little boy drinks from a straw guest takes a photo of a family sno cone machine at a wedding artistic wedding photography father daughter dance lily pads in black and white strong mansion at night chandelier at strong mansion tent dancing on crutches Congratulations guys! And thanks to you and Tara for having me out!