Rachel and Dane have an incredible amount of personal style and they're not afraid to share it with the world. I think I'm allowed to call this a gamer wedding - they rolled for advantage in saying their vows, after all. They live in Lynchburg but have friends and family from all over, so it was quite the meeting of worlds down there in Virginia (does NOVA realllly count as Virginia? Probably not.) Rachel and Dane:
We started the day at
Fusion salon, which is an incredibly cool place. It was fun playing with the art and funky colors everywhere. Also, seems to me that if you work at a funky salon, there's mad pressure to have weird hair. I wonder if that's a burden or not.
Then we scooted across town to
Tresca on 8th, the ridiculously atmospheric historic ballroom right in downtown Lynchburg. We don't really have places like this in DC, so it was pretty neat. The upstairs was very rustic and charming.
They had one of the sweetest first looks ever.
After formal family pictures, we scooted around just one block of downtown Lynchburg. Fortunately, we were in a great industrial / old / pretty / graffitied area.
You may remember this mural from their
engagement session.
They
made this backdrop.
Snidow Chapel actually has some natural light going on, a boon for wedding photographers.
They rolled for advantage in saying their vows. And I have no idea, honestly, what the post-apocalyptic reading was about (and maybe I don't remember things very well when I'm trying to take photos so it could have been totally not post-apocalyptic) but it was quite a diversion from the usual wedding readings!
We took a spin around Lynchburg College after the ceremony to soak up some of the fall colors (which are late this year!).
Apparently Tresca on 8th doesn't always have these sparkly lights up. I think they were a great addition.
This image and the one up top were taken within seconds of each other. Yay for my key light not firing.
Check out Dane's engagement ring - the top and bottom rings rotate and the gears move! It's one of the coolest pieces of jewelry I've ever seen.
We broke to head outside and light wish lanterns. I'd never photographed that before (though I have seen it on Pinterest, of course). They're neat.
A special shout-out to Liz, who came to help me with this wedding.
Congratulations, you guys!
Rachel and Dane's vendor team:
Ceremony venue:
Snidow Chapel
Reception venue:
Tresca on 8th
Caterer:
Avenue Foods
Florist:
Leo Wood
DJ: Dave,
Official Entertainment
Cake:
Coffey Cakes
Hair & Makeup:
Fusion salon
Rachel's beautiful dress: Justin Alexander from
Sealed with a Kiss Bridal in Charlottesville, Va.
Dane's dashing suit: Jos. A. Bank
Photobooth:
Grinnin' Booth
Lighting:
Castle Event Lighting
Centerpieces & paper goods: DIY
Etsy finds:
Custom atlas and cake topper:
WTFCharms
Companion cube card box:
PayPahChasa
Companion cube ring tray:
Silver Ivy Designs
We started the day at a pair of townhouses their families had rented in Washington, DC. Caitlin's family was staying in a former convent - it was such a cool place.
Toldja.
Then we hopped over to St. Matthews.
I really didn't even know cathedrals like this existed in DC. This is the cathedral where Red Mass is celebrated each year.
Caitlin and Trevor hired a tour-the-sites trolley to take the wedding party around to the various portrait locations. The lady driving was really funny, giving everybody the full historical breakdown of everywhere we went.
Wanting to add some spice to their portraits, we hit up the National Portrait Gallery and American Art Museum to get in some funky modern art stuff.
Thankfully the government had reopened just a few days before, so the Lincoln was fully available for wedding pictures.
Then we took the trolley across the river to Top of the Town for some amazing views, and a raucous party.
Honestly, the floor-to-ceiling windows are really tricky to work with, but they can be used to some pretty cool effect, too.
Their centerpieces included binoculars for spying on tourists at the monuments (or maybe just taking in the view closer...), so I played with that a bit. Here I'm focusing on the monuments through the binoculars. I think it mostly worked, but it's also something of a selfie.
Many thanks, as always, to my tireless assistant Julia, who shows no sign of annoyance when I give her "assignments" like "go stand outside and take landscape photos so I can stitch them into a panorama." Pretty sweet view, right?
Congratulations, you guys!
Caitlin and Trevor's vendor team:
Ceremony venue: 
We started the day at the 
I love me some birdcage veil.
I don't get too fussy with first looks normally, but when you've got a beautiful staircase like this, it begs to have some bride reactions on it.
Ever resourceful / trespassy, we hopped across the street to this semi-abandoned former bank. It's for lease, in case anyone wants to rent an enormous columned marble building in downtown Baltimore.
Then it was a quick scoot in the car to the 
The image on the left is in this amazing, huge industrial parking garage next to the gallery.
Go time.
Congratulations, you guys!
Layla & Shameka's vendor team:
Ceremony & reception venue: