Quaint Yorktown Bridal Portraits | Yorktown Wedding Photographer | Ellen

Quaint Yorktown Bridal Portraits | Yorktown Wedding Photographer | Ellen

I first met Ellen a few months ago during a gorgeous sunset destination engagement in Northern Virginia, and I was so glad she would be traveling down to Yorktown for bridal portraits just a few months later. We skipped the beach and walked all around the quaint downtown area near Yorktown Victory Monument, even finding beautiful robin's egg blue shutters to utilize, matching perfectly with the theme of her wedding day.

I have saved these for weeks waiting for their big day to arrive and now that Alex and Ellen are married, I can finally share them! All I have to say is that if you think Ellen looks stunning in these portraits (and oh does she ever!) just WAIT until you see their wedding blog go live on Thursday. Ellen is a classically gorgeous bride, beautiful from the inside out, and I was honored to celebrate with her all the way from engagement to the wedding day...

Bennetts Creek Park Anniversary Portraits | Suffolk Couples Photographer | Matt + Chandra

Bennetts Creek Park Anniversary Portraits | Suffolk Couples Photographer | Matt + Chandra

Matt and Chandra are not newlyweds - they have been married for over 5 years and lived through deployments, international travel, and moving around through their stints with the Coast Guard during this time. Even though they dated for two years they were only engaged for a few months when they realized they needed to either say I do or be separated for a long time! Chandra went dress shopping with her mom and started planning a wedding until it became clear that they wouldn't have enough time - so a courthouse wedding happened instead!

Five years later, Chandra finally wore her wedding dress for the very first time. Matt dressed in a navy blue suit and even though they had already said yes to each other, they finally got to live out in a small way the wedding they never had. Yet behind the smiles and the beautiful clothes is a couple who knows what marriage means and would choose forever with each other over and over again...

Our Downtown Norfolk Anniversary Session | Personal

Our Downtown Norfolk Anniversary Session | Personal

Nathan and I didn't date for a very long time before we got engaged - 11 months to be exact. Six months and one week after we were married. I have always thought of our relationship as short since several of our friends were together for many years before getting engaged and married, but then I realized that this August will mark 7 years of being together with Nathan.

Marriage changes you. Or you change and your marriage grows with it - I'm not sure. Either way it goes I can see more and more that love is a daily choice, and staying married is not something that just happens to anyone. As beautiful as our relationship looks (and is) on the outside, strong marriages are usually built through the fires of testing and trials, both inside the relationship and in our own personal lives.