This is an easy one, though not for the obvious reason. Though Susan Billheimer, Ben Allen and I share the same good taste in wedding venues, as evidenced by the fact that I was married at the same club back in 1997, this is an easy one for a far simpler fact: they look fantastic in all of their wedding pictures.

On November 8, 1997, Maya and I got married at the Friends' Meeting House in Dupont Circle. It's the one across from Restaurant Nora that you pass a million times but never get a chance to stop in. After the ceremony, we all boarded a trolley and drove a couple of blocks to the Washington Club, #15 Dupont Circle, yet another historic building we all drive by daily.

Built between 1900 and 1902, the Washington Club was originally the home of the owner of the Chicago Tribune. (If you went to the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University, that would be her.) It's also worth noting that the Medill/Patterson family commissioned McKim, Mead and White as their architect. They're best known, sadly, for a building that no longer exists, New York's Pennsylvania Station, without a doubt the most beautiful train station ever built in America. (If you're thinking of that ratty place that currently houses AMTRAK and the L.I.R.R., think again!)

It's hard to miss any building built by McKim, Mead and White, probably because the firm operated in one of the great, if not the greatest, eras of American construction. Let's face it--building like this just don't get made anymore.

And yet for all it's beauty, the Washington Club quietly sits tucked off Dupont Circle, hardly even a landmark to anyone sitting across the street. If you were to say to someone, meet me at the Dupont fountain, they'd understand completely. But the Washington Club, not 200 feet away? Not so much. Perhaps that's for the better; it remains a hidden secret in a city with few left.

We chose it for our wedding in 1997 for the same reasons, I'm sure, that Ben and Susan did. It is both regal on the outside and yet intimate once you step through the doors. One thing is certain, though: there are few ballrooms that photograph as beautifully as the one at the Washington Club. From the moment Susan and Ben took the dance floor, it was if we were all transported, like Owen Wilson in "Midnight in Paris," back to a grander time. Add to this mix the imposing and colossal Cathedral of St. Matthew, the most beautiful of all churches in Washington, and I'd say these guys know how to pick 'em.

Truth be told, it also helps when you have someone who looks like Susan (and Ben!) in your photographs. Whether stuffed like an accordion into her father's Mercedes convertible, or standing tall in front of a mirror, Susan beams in every picture she takes.

Like I said, easy.

To see a mini gallery of pictures from the wedding of Susan Billheimer and Ben Allen, click HERE.

Take care, Matt

In the twenty-six years I've been a professional photographer, a lot has changed.

Back when I started shooting for the Binghamton (N.Y.) Press and Sun-Bulletin, the only way one could transmit (not by email, mind you; that hadn't yet come about) a photograph from one location to another was via a clunky analog drum scanner, something only folks working with a wire service had access to. These were still the days of Smith-Corona typewriters, though those days were numbered, and the technology we've become so accustomed to now was still in its infancy. People still listened to "Thriller" on cassette or vinyl--the CD having just been launched--and personal computers were just entering the equation. It didn't matter much anyway, as the most fun you could have was playing Pong-like games over and over.

In 1985, assuming you were a newspaper photographer, you could do what few could: send a picture of a football game from New York to San Francisco. Think about that. Seems crazy, no? It took around eight minutes, unless of course you were sending a color photograph made up of three color separations. In that case it took half an hour. We'd sit and watch this drum spin like a watched pot, nervously hoping the needle would get to the end without a "hit," a line in the photo caused by someone knocking the table or walking too heavily. One hit and you'd start the whole thing over.

Two and half decades later, anyone, including my eight-year-old daughter, can send a photograph anywhere in the world with just a keystroke on an iPad. You think about the process about as much as you might think about electricity when you turn on a light.

But some things never change. This will come as a shock to no one, I'm guessing, but good photography--the actual moment captured in a photo rather than the piece of technology doing the capturing, never wavers. I always tell students that good pictures just hit you in your head (or your heart), and you don't need a degree in photography to figure anything out. You know them when you see them, whether you're looking at a haunting 1865 portrait of a young girl by Julia Margaret Cameron or Avedon's 1955 Dovima with the Elephants, the single image which launched fashion photography.

I get giddy when I look at pictures like those, and I get giddy when I look at a picture like the one that sits atop this blog, of Megan MacCutcheon kissing her husband Tim McAtee as their first dance came to a close. I've seen a lot of first dances--432, to be exact--and a lot of dips, but I'm not sure I've ever seen a full scoop like this one. And whether this was shot on film or shot on digital or even painted in water color, this moment would thrill the heck out of me. In one frame, it embodies everything I've ever wanted to do with my photography.

The same goes for the photo of Tim and Megan embracing after their vows, the picture of the Tim in the limo, and of the newly-wedded couple standing at the top of the stairs at Decatur House, those blue walls beaming. I still get that same feeling when I see pictures that hit me, even after 26 years, and I have no intention of stopping now.

To see a mini-gallery of photographs from the wedding of Megan MacCutcheon and Tim McAtee, click here.

Matt

You've probably passed Grace Church in Georgetown a hundred times without knowing it was ever there. Tucked at the very bottom of Wisconsin Avenue, you've driven by it on the way to the AMC movie theater, or perhaps a drink at Chadwick's, or while circling the block fifty times trying to park at Washington Harbour.

But if I said "the cute little church with the red door," well, then you'd know it immediately.

That's how I've always thought of Grace Church at least.

Back when I started shooting weddings in 1999, Grace Episcopal Church was one of the first churches I shot in. All I remember from that event was the great shape of that front door--a beautiful, pointy arch--and, of course, the color. And a few years ago, when I was teaching photography at a school in Georgetown, it was the kind folks at Grace who let us stage a mock wedding there on a Tuesday afternoon. Each student had sixty seconds to come into the church and look for a good spot to make a portrait. Truth be told, all I wanted was for one student to notice how cool the shape of the windows were. At least a few of them got it.

Well, on May 28th, I finally got my own chance. Shay Wester, the man with the coolest of cool names, married Sarah Brown in a beautiful service here. I wasn't sure when the church was built, so I just paid a visit to their website and found out that a small wooden chapel originally existed at the site in 1857. But the neat quote comes a paragraph later, from a February, 1895 Evening Star article: "It is the only church here in a really poor district and whenever its pastor is not in the pulpit or fulfilling his own immediate wants he is out among his people dispensing aid to the unfortunate.”

Ah, yes, the poor district of Georgetown, now home to the downtrodden Apple Store and Ralph Lauren Polo. Funny how things change, eh?

But seriously, Shay and Sarah are the perfect couple for a church as quaint as Grace Church. Last fall, when the colors were gorgeous, they asked if I could shoot an engagement picture in and around their Capitol Hill neighborhood. We ended up wandering the vegetable stalls at Eastern Market, searching more for good light than brussel sprouts, and I was impressed with their unfailing politeness, their intelligence and, most of all, how wonderfully soft-spoken each is. (Not to mention that I share a love of France with the Brown family.) In a world of shouters, Sarah and Shay are delighful throwbacks, just like Grace Church.

To see a mini gallery of pictures from the wedding of Shay Wester and Sarah Brown, click here.

Take care,

Matt

This is an easy one.

Last September, Chilli Amar, who many of you know better as the fun and chatty voice of traffic on 105.9 The Edge, asked me to photograph her wedding. If you've ever listened to Chilli on the radio or read her blog, you know that she is never at a loss for words. 

A conversation with her just days before the wedding went something like this:

"Matt, I'm getting ready at my aunt's house in McLean. The address is...wait a sec...can you hang on? I have to do this first. I'll be back in one minute. GUYS, NO INCIDENTS REPORTED ON I-95 SOUTHBOUND BUT A DISABLED TRUCK WILL BLOCK YOUR LEFT LANE GOING NORTH. ON I-270, WE'VE GOT ROADWORK GOING ON BEFORE YOU GET TO FATHER HURLEY BOULEVARD. TRY AND STAY TO THE LEFT. SLOW GOING AROUND THE BELTWAY BETWEEN CONNECTICUT AVE. AND GEORGIA AVE., A GUY CHANGING A FLAT TIRE. Okay, I'm back. So, I'm getting ready at my aunt's house in McLean."

Chilli is adorable, she's a great Caps fan (need I say more?), and she was as excited about her wedding as anyone I've ever seen. Don Carnevale plays hockey in the adult league at Kettler (where my daughter plays, need I say more?) and is a perfect complement to Chilli. But when we first spoke, I got a glimpse of the more serious side of Chilli and it was quite touching.

Her engagement was bittersweet, she told me in an early email, not because she wasn't head over heels in love with her fiance Don, which she clearly was, but because both Don and Chilli's mothers had passed away within a short time of each other.

"My mother was supposed to be here," Chilli wrote. "None of this makes sense without her. She was my compass. Without her love, laughter and support through all of this, I'm lost."

Chilli wanted pictures that were real, photographs that would capture the meaning in her wedding. She knew early on in the process what was important to her. (And here I must thank one of my favorite brides of all time, Laura Gonzalez, the advertising manager at the station, for putting us in contact.)

Well, I'm happy to report that Chilli and Don had a wonderfully joyous wedding last week, beginning at the beautiful St. Mary Armenian Church in Washington and culminating with a great reception at the Lansdowne Resort in Leesburg, Virginia. I'm certain that both Chilli and Don's mothers would have been very proud of their children, especially the moving "crowning" ceremony portion of the church service.)

And if Chilli was worrying that she would be lacking for love and support, she can now relax. (I know she's relaxing because I've been getting Facebook updates from Bora Bora every day.) Between all her aunts, there was enough laughter and support to fill an arena. I loved it when they all broke out into Armenian folk dancing. (I also loved when Chilli and her sister looked out the sunroof of their limo and saw the threatening clouds moving away. For me, that meant great light later in the day!)

In a day or two, Chilli will be back from the peace and quiet of the South Pacific and back on the air. And I'm sure she'll have plenty to say, as she always does. But the important stuff can be shared with only one other listener, and his name happens to be Don Carnevale.

TO SEE A MINI GALLERY OF IMAGES FROM THE WEDDING OF CHILLI AND DON, CLICK HERE.

Take care,

Matt

For a photographer, one of the great fringe benefits of weddings is that a couple who gets married always ends up having friends who get married  down the line. One wedding leads to another and before you know it, a neat little circle has been created.

A few years ago I had the pleasure of photographing the wedding of Lisa Butenhoff, someone who I got to know while doing photography for Food & Friends, a great organization that provides meals to people living with HIV/AIDS. Lisa has one of those infectious smiles and infectious personalities one never forgets and I could have bet we'd cross paths again. It was great to walk into a room in Charlottesville, with time having passed and children having been born, and see that Lisa was a bridesmaid.

I also had the pleasure, a few years back, of shooting what had to be the greatest beach wedding ever, the marriage of Lily Fu and Scott Claffee. (I say greatest, because this was not some prissy island wedding but rather a classic Jersey shore affair, complete with ancient Italian bakeries and Bon Jovi karaoke.) Since then, Lily, Scott and I have shared a great love of the Washington Capitals, with Lily even taking me to a playoff game last season when Scott was out of town. And so it was great to walk into a reception in Charlottesville and see my old friends, one of whom now works with the bride.

This is the way the circle works and I'm always grateful for it, because the wedding of Amanda Engstrom and Eric Eversole at Keswick Hall earlier this month was just absolutely beautiful. Beautiful weather, beautiful light, beautiful manor, beautiful couple. The Quadfecta, to a photographer.

I shot a great wedding at Keswick, ten miles or so outside Charlottesville, Virginia on New Years Eve and I was eager to see how the spring differed from the winter there. I wasn't disappointed. While the first event was twinkling with holiday lights, Amanda and Eric's wedding was bathed in gorgeous sunlight. You really can't lose at this place.

Speaking of light, I'm always worried family members are going to think I'm crazy when I find a nice spot for bridal party pictures. As I've written before, I tend to get a tad vocal with my sense of wonder. But if you saw the light we had in the garden out front, you'd scream too. Piercing backlight, beautiful flowers, and a fabulously beautiful bride. 

Earlier in the day, Amanda and her mom played parcheesi, a game that has special meaning for them and provided something of a theme for the gifts she gave her bridesmaids. Later, guests had cocktails around the infinity edge pool, a floral "A" and "E" floating on the surface. Amanda had told me that one of her favorite views was the one out the back of Keswick, with it's views of the Blue Ridge. I made sure the newlyweds had a chance to take a little walk in that direction; after all, you never want to get so caught up in the day's craziness that you don't have time for a nice evening stroll.

But at Keswick, you don't want to stroll too long and miss out on some of the best Southern cooking around. Little barbecue sandwiches, grits, fried pickles. My assistant Cliff came running up to me and said, "Have you seen the buffet?!? The best wedding food ever!" and he was right.

And when it came time to dance, these guys danced. And danced. Some weddings, the couple will do their bit and leave the dancing up to their guests. But not this night. Eric and Amanda were back out on the dance floor again and again. And late in the evening, just after I thought they couldn't possibly give me any more dancing photos, I shot a picture of Amanda whispering into her husband's ear. Just a simple act--not a kiss, not a hug, just a whisper-- but it's a photograph that instantly ranks among my all-time favorites. I know they will cherish it forever.

TO SEE A MINI GALLERY OF PICTURES FROM THE WEDDING OF AMANDA AND ERIC, CLICK HERE.

Best,

Matt