I met Jenna and Michael the first time through Jenna’s sister Ashley when I did Ashley and Anthony’s wedding photography at Clifton Inn, Charlottesville, Virginia.
Jenna actually met Michael because of Ashley and Anthony’s relationship. Jenna used to live and work in New Jersey. Then about two years ago she went home to be with her family in Delaware for Christmas. She was then introduced to Anthony’s cousin, Michael. Michael asked her on a date, and their relationship grew each passing day.
Finally, in March 2011, Michael proposed, and Jenna said “Yes”. 
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I met Kelly and Chris the first time through Kelly’s sister-in-law, Lisa, who asked me to do their family portrait session at Annapolis. Even though I didn’t get a chance to spend a lot of time with Kelly and Chris during the photography session, from my first impression I could immediately tell that they were a fun and playful couple.
Kelly and Chris met the first time at college. They were just friends back then. After they graduated, they each went their own separate ways but still kept in touch using MySpace (remember MySpace? 
). Their relationship grew stronger and eventually got together in 2008. They finally got engaged in May 2011 at Hilton Head, South Carolina.
Since Washington College was the place where they met the first time, they wanted to do their engagement photo session there and also at Chestertown, Maryland, where they usually hang out.
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I’ve been getting a lot of engagement photo session of a couple with their dogs lately, and also a couple who are football fans and wanted to use their favorite team’s Jersey. As you will see here, Jennifer is a big fan of the Baltimore Ravens. On the other hand, Mike is a big fan of the Buffalo Bills since he is originally from New York.
So how did they meet? Well Mike met Jenn the first time through his co-worker who was also Jenn’s roommate. After their first meeting, they felt the connection and had been in contact ever since. After dating for about 2.5 years, Jenn and Mike got engaged one week after her sister’s wedding. It was at Alicia and Bobby’s wedding at Rock Hall, MD the first time I met Jennifer and Mike.
Jennifer and Mike wanted to do the pre-wedding photo session in the evening, starting after sunset. It was a challenge for me because I had to use off-camera flashes to provide the light that I wanted, instead of using just the available light.
Here are some of my favorites from that evening.
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Mike is a book writer and Kimmy is a dolphin trainer. Yes, that dolphin, the mammal that swims in the ocean. Kimmy works at the National Aquarium in Baltimore.
I was surprised when Kimmy recognized the dolphin in the profile picture I used on my Facebook. It’s actually a picture of my son looking at a dolphin behind the glass. Kimmy told me the dolphin’s name was Maya. Wow, I’m really impressed! They all looked the same to me. Haha! Well, apparently not. She told me that each dolphin have their own characteristics. Until today, I am still impressed that Kimmy recognized the dolphin on that small picture.
Anyway, let’s go back to Mike and Kimmy’s story.
Kimmy and Mike met at Washington College. It was love at first sight for Mike when he saw Kimmy for the first time. It left a lasting impression for Mike. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case for Kimmy.
One day, Mike’s friend told him that Kimmy was in this play and he was still looking for few more students for the cast. Mike was interested. It would be a chance for him to get close to Kimmy.
Mike’s persistence finally paid off. On New Year’s Eve of Kimmy’s junior year, which was about two years from the first meeting, they officially began their relationship.
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I met Jessica and Chad through Junelyn and Brad. If you’re curious who Junelyn and Brad are, check out their engagement session at Kent Island and their wedding at 2941 Restaurant at Falls Church, VA. You can see that Chad was one of the groomsmen at Junelyn and Brad’s wedding. Chad and Brad are buddies because they are both in the same music band.
In fact, Chad met Jessica through this very same band, Silent Film, because her brother was the vocalist. Chad actually joined the band later when they were looking for a new guitarist. When Jessica showed up to evaluate this new guy, Chad instantly became attracted to her. Chad thought that she’s hot! After Chad showed his talent, Jessica thought that the guy got skills and that he’s hot! So it was a mutual love at first sight for both!
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Elaine and Mike started their relationship back in college. They were just friends before, and weren’t really together until 6 years later when they dated the first time. After two years, Elaine and Mike finally decided to take their relationship to the next level. They finally became engaged in 2010.
Elaine and Mike have to travel a lot for their work. They had booked me about a year ago from overseas. It was just recently that they returned to Washington DC and had a chance to do the engagement photo session.
They choose the National Zoo to do their pre-wedding pictures because the love going to the zoo! In fact, for their first anniversary of their first date, they went to the best zoo in the country, which was the New Orleans Zoo. If they’re in the country, they went to zoo in other cites whenever they got a chance. Elaine particularly loved pandas, and Mike’s favorite animal would be the elephants.
Of course they have their own animal that lived with them, their pet dog, Digby.
Here are some more of my favorite images from the engagement session.
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I sure had fun photographing the family. They love each other as you can see here. They were all so nice and so helpful, always offering what they could do to help me. I felt like I had so many assistants that day.
What a lovely family.
The family photography session was supposed to be done in August, but due to bad weather, the session had to be rescheduled twice! It sure was worth the wait though. We had gorgeous weather because it was not hot.
Later in the day, we saw that a storm cloud was coming our way. However, for some reason it just passed away without trickling a single drop of water. Then later on after the photo session, we realized that it had rained elsewhere even in other parts of Edgewater, Maryland, but not where we were. I heard that it rained so hard that people at the Annapolis Mall movie theater could hear the pouring rain hitting the roof! We felt so blessed!
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One night, Danielle and Trevor separately went to a bar in Washington DC with their own groups to meet few mutual friends. Their eyes then met, and the rest is history. Yes, it was love at first sight, and they have been together ever since that night.
Danielle and Trevor usually hang out at Bay Cafe in Baltimore. We originally wanted to do the pre-wedding session there. Unfortunately, it was raining all day and it would not give a lot of spot options if we were to do the photo session around Bay Cafe. Trevor was also stationed in another state, and that day was the only day that he could come to Maryland in between his busy schedule. So we figured that we would just do the engagement session at Tremont Plaza Hotel and Grand Historic Venue, since they will do the wedding there. Tremont Grand have these marvelous rooms inside and at least it’s still in Baltimore, the city where they like to hang out together.
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Chelsea and Michael have known each other for a long time. Michael have been best friend with Chelsea’s brother since they were little. The bond between the two became stronger, so they dated and finally decided to take it to the next level.
Michael proposed Chelsea at this place on Kent Island. It was a cold and drizzly day, but it didn’t stopped Michael from what he had planned. In the end it’s all worth it, because Chelsea said, “Yes”.
It always warms my heart to know a love relationship that started from a friendship.
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Morgan and Jay met each other through work. They are both golf instructors, travel a lot, and would meet in California and Florida every season. However, Morgan’s hometown is in Maryland, and Jay is in New York. Obviously, they would have to travel a lot to meet each other if they’re not in California or Florida together. They use the train a lot to travel between the two places. This is why they wanted to do their engagement photo session at Penn Station, Baltimore. This historic building is an important part of their relationship.
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