This deal is only good for brides who haven’t contacted us about their weddings previously… but we’re softies around here.  If you’re ready to book now, give us a shout – we’ll make a few exceptions to the rules.  If you ask nicely

You can book your wedding for any open date on the calendar, but we have to receive your signed contract and paid retainer before the end of July.  Hurry!  July will be over before we know it!

We’ve had the same domain and email address for almost ten years now and this is the first time anything like this ever happened!  Blahhhh.

UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE

It’s fixed!  At least, I think it’s fixed…. but it looks like any email that we didn’t receive while our servers were pointed the wrong way, well, they just disappeared into the ether.  :(  So if you emailed us and never heard back, please try us again!  I promise we’re not ignoring you!

You know what?  It is!  Our normal portrait sessions are $400!  If you’ve been thinking about having professional portraits made, now’s the time to sign up!

The sessions are designed for families with kids, but can certainly be used by couples, singles, teens – no restrictions other than the 3-person limit!  (You can add more people for $15 each).

Click here to access the online store where you can reserve your session.  Once we receive your session fee, we’ll contact you with available times, and we’ll get you on the calendar!  Hurry!  These are gonna go fast!

I don’t know what the official “born on” date is for the business – I’m so bad at things like that!  It was definitely in the summer of 2002, and most likely during the month of July – so, since I didn’t write down the actual date, we’re celebrating our tenth anniversary throughout the month of July!

To launch this anniversary month, we’re running a few specials – a huge ($500) discount on wedding bookings all month long, half off our open-ended portrait sessions, and a free engagement signature book for every couple that books their 2012 or 2013 wedding this month.  Pretty big stuff, the largest sale we’ve ever run… but the tenth anniversary is a Pretty Big Deal!

Over the last ten years, I’ve seen wedding trends come and go, photography trends that made me cringe, industry shake-ups and scandals that thankfully never made it outside the Wedding Photographer Forum World… I’ve spoken at a conference, gotten mega-drunk with colleagues, second shot with my BFFs, traveled from Boston to Hawaii to Milwaukee to Florida to Washington state and back for weddings, made new friends, fell in love and got engaged, watched my little girl grow into a Big Girl, tore my achilles tendon in a freak tripod accident, grew my hair and chopped it all off at least four times, gained and lost the same thirty pounds, and maintained this business.  This life.  This job that I don’t think I could live without anymore.

Over the last ten years, I’ve documented over 300 couples committing their lives to one another.  And I remember every last one of them.  I remember the way they looked at one another, the way they botched their vows, the way they laughed and cried and expressed their joy.  I remember the nervous moms, the anxious dads, the jealous sisters, the lazy bridesmaids, the uber drunk groomsmen.  I remember the grandparents whose glorious faces were captured for the last time by my camera.  I remember venues and vendors and floral arrangements, cake collapses and embarrassing toasts and DJs that screwed up the first dance.  I remember every macarena and cha-cha slide, every Thriller rendition, every tossed fedora.  It’s amazing how much you remember through the magic of photographs, isn’t it?

I didn’t know my father growing up.  I’d seen him last when I was about four years old, and all I had left of him was the short stack of pictures mom kept for me in one of those old sticky photo albums with the cling overlay pages.  I don’t have any actual memories of my dad… but in my mind, I remember him perfectly.  I remember him because I have the pictures.  Just snapshots of Christmas and trips to Sea Life Park.  He with his lambchop sideburns, me with my curly blonde hair and awful polyester dresses.  I feel like I really remember my time with him.

I can’t think of a better way to describe how great my job is.  How much what we do means to the people we do it for.  How those moments we capture live on and on… cementing those memories, and even substituting in where real memories don’t exist.

As we start our eleventh year in business, I thought it would be nice to take a look back at the last ten years, just one image for each year we’ve been shooting professionally.  To the couples in these images… and to us… these are our memories.  These are the pictures that will eventually replace the actual memories in our minds, as new memories take their place.  These photos won’t fade the way our memories will.  I’d use this as a lead-in to encourage everyone out there to hire a professional photographer at least once in your lives to make those memories as beautiful and perfect as possible… but I’m really bad at self promotion

This has been an amazing month so far… shooting with my best friend, watching new and old friends commit their lives to one another, watching little Miss Bean hog the house phone for hours at a time (seriously… she’s eight!  I don’t think I commanded the house phone until I was at least twelve!), and just enjoying this time in our lives.  It’s been awesome… and busy.  I’ve barely had enough time/energy left to respond to emails lately!  Hopefully sometime a little later today we can take a break from the editing to post a few pictures from recent sessions, and maybe a couple of those blog feature links.  And then we’ll go from there .

So, I’m posting from my phone and I can’t show you any teaser images from those last few weddings or portrait sessions yet until I get back to my desk, but I *can* show you our new haircuts!  Mike and I both chopped off all our hairs!

My head is actually quite a bit larger than Mike’s, so I make him stand closer to the lens so I feel better about my giant head.  Yes, that is extremely vain of me.  Don’t care.

We’re fast approaching a crazy few months ahead… a bridal portrait tonight, my sister’s wedding next weekend (my baby sister is GETTING MARRIED!!!), five weddings and a few engagement sessions in May, more weddings and engagements in June… my head is spinning! I’ll try like crazy to keep the website up to date with the latest and greatest as time goes on… but if you’ve been reading my blog for any time now, you know I operate in fits and starts. It’s how I do everything, really. I binge.

In the last few months, I have been tickled to DEATH by all the wedding blogs that have picked up my work… but I never did find the time to brag about it on the site. So, over the next week, I’ll be catching up on those posts, and maybe if I find a spare hundred hours I’ll re-do my galleries. Baby steps, yo.

I’m gonna start off with a feature from one of my very favorite wedding blogs, Poptastic Bride. Cynthia at Poptastic has such incredible taste, and that blog is so full of great features, awesome finds, lots of fun and whimsical weddings and engagements… she really has an eye for personality-driven, unique details. Total eye candy over there, so if you haven’t subscribed to her feed yet, do it now. Right now.

One of the reasons Cynthia and Poptastic Bride are at the top of my list is the writing – she takes SUCH care to include every detail, to contact each bride directly and talk to them about their weddings, the interview process is involved and personal, and I feel this really creates a much more intimate and warm feeling to each post – the reader almost feels like they KNOW the bride and the photographer, they can almost see the wedding played out in their minds. She has featured two of my weddings this year, and both were given such personal, hands-on care, and were represented PERFECTLY in the features. It’s some of the best wedding blog writing I’ve seen, and I definitely plan to continue my friendship with Cynthia for years to come . She’s the shizz.

Martha and Neil were featured on Poptastic Bride on January 4, 2012:

Click through to see what I mean about Cynthia’s incredible writing, the exhaustive interviewing and quoting process, and how at the end of the story, you just KNOW Martha. Like, you KNOW that woman, down to her toes.

Thank you, Cynthia, for being such an awesome blogger, and for seeing something special in my work .

I’ll be back again real soon with more feature news!

I’ve spent the bulk of today going through 2011′s images, picking some out for a year-end slideshow, re-living the sessions and weddings and all the travel we did. It wasn’t the busiest year for weddings… 2012 is already shaping up to be a great deal busier than 2011. But what 2011 lacked in busy-ness, it more than made up for in just about every other way.

In 2011, we put 24,000 miles on the car, traveling to weddings in Missouri, Virginia, North Carolina, DC, and South Carolina. We stayed in seven different hotels, ate at countless fast food joints, and became really fast friends with the Gas Buddy app for iPhone. We cooked at home whenever we could, and we each gained at least ten pounds. Ellie started the second grade, turned eight years old, discovered Justin Bieber, and got her hair cut to above her shoulders. I chopped almost all my hair off. Mike grew a beard, hated it, and shaved it off. We all found out that we love scarves and thick, comfy socks. Mike and I ate some AMAZING food in some incredible restaurants, from Aubriana’s right here in Wilmington, to Kramerbooks in Dupont Circle, to Maggiano’s in Durham.

2011 wasn’t just fun and travel and calories. We lost Dino, watched some good friends move far away, and went the entire year without seeing my mom or my siblings. In “this isn’t bad, but it’s kind of weird” news, Ellie gained a stepmother and stepbrother in 2011, along with a hamster named Gibble. Mike started a new job, and I reunited with an old boss who has asked me to do some contract administrative work for him in my spare time next year.

In 2011, Mike and I got engaged. (Squeeeeeee!!!!!)

One of the most significant developments from 2011 was Mike picking up a camera at a session early in the year. He’d spent years pursuing photography as a hobby, but it honestly didn’t occur to me that he might want (or be able) to do it professionally. That is, until I downloaded his images. Holy crap, the man can shoot! And, better still, he LOVES it. I’ve spent the last decade rejecting second shooter after second shooter, for reasons ranging from “your work never rises above awful” to “I can’t babysit you while I’m working” to “you smell really, really, really bad”. A good second shooter is hard to come by; an excellent one (who smells good, doesn’t need babysitting, and actually knows what he’s doing with a camera) is damn near impossible. And I somehow stumbled upon the man that not only wants to marry me (squeeeeeee!!!!), but also happens to be an excellent second shooter.

So, in 2011 I quite naturally began the transition from Charo: Solo Shooter to Charo + Mike: Shooting Team. How lucky am I, to be able to work side by side with the man I love (and am marrying! Squeeeeee!!!!!)… pretty damn lucky. (Along with this change we’ll be launching our new website soon… but… one thing at a time for now!)

And, finally… the real point of all this rambling. The pictures. The pictures of the people who made everything possible for Mike and I this year. Our clients friends, who got married, had babies, celebrated anniversaries and family reunions and birthdays, and asked us to capture their joy. In the slideshow below are 165 images of incredible couples, families, friends, who trusted their memories to us. I don’t know how best to express my gratitude and my pride, other than to commemorate their beautiful faces just one last time this year.

Happy New Year. I love you all…

Mike,

You came into my life right when I needed you most (and right when I was most adamant that I wanted to go it alone). You showed me how to laugh without worrying that laughing makes my double chin more like a triple chin, or maybe even a quadruple. You taught me to allow myself to be adored, to be wanted, and to believe that I deserve it. You showed me that every part of me is lovable, even the parts I’ve always abhorred. You’ve been there for times that were amazing, and times that were best left forgotten. Times I was beautiful, and times I was decidedly not. We’ve been poor and rich together, sick and healthy, thin and fat, and always, always happy. From our ramen-and-jammies nights to our high-heeled-dinner out nights, it’s been nothing but joy… and a neverending gratitude for what we’ve both found in each other.

You’re my yin, my counterbalance, my solid ground. I’d be a fool to not say YES.

In case it isn’t clear… we’re getting married!!! After witnessing hundreds of couples commit the rest of their lives to one another, it’s our turn! I could not be happier. I could not be more excited.

Thank you, Mike. For loving me. For being the incredible person you are. And for making an honest woman out of me.

We tried for a self-engagement photo, but I’m terrible at pre-focusing with the self timer, so we got one so-so in focus shot, and two halfway decent but really blurry shots… and then we just took pictures of each other for good measure (and maybe for the bio page). Here we are… your future Mister and Missus B.

Just a quick look at what’s coming up from Miss Bean’s 8th Birthday Bash yesterday! Yes, she is eight years old already… it doesn’t make any sense to me, either.

Hang tight – I’ve got tons of pictures and stories to post today!

I woke up in a great mood this morning – and without being cajoled and bribed out of bed by Mike for our morning coffee and news ritual! It felt good – I’m refreshed, I’m happy, and I’m almost… ALMOST… feeling a Christmas vibe. Okay, don’t get me wrong – most everything about the season makes my blood boil. But then I think about little Miss Bean, who asked me a few weeks ago, “Mommy… do YOU believe in Santa Claus?” She still believes. Pretty sure this is her last Santa year. Remembering how magical Christmas was to me when I still believed in Santa… well, that helps me get over my insufferable disgust at the over-commercialization of it all, and just enjoy what it is to the Bean.

Miss Bean will turn 8 on Friday. EIGHT! How did that happen?!? She’s so tall, and wise, and goofy. For her, December is a HUGE month… her birthday is early enough in December to not screw up Christmas, AND Santa visits two houses for her on Christmas Eve. It’s a pretty big deal (and he’s WAY more organized than I could ever hope to be).

Ooooh, speaking of Santa – check out this wonderful blog entry that my friend Andrea Kelly shared on Facebook the other day! It’s such a great letter to a child who finally asks “Tell me the truth, ARE YOU SANTA?” I hope when that day comes – about a year from now, I’d guess – I am as eloquent and careful with my response. I also hope she asks me and not her dad, but that’s another post for another day

Before I head out into this bitter cold for shopping and errand-running, let me leave you with a song. This is one of the few Christmas songs I can tolerate (the others are U2′s cover of Baby Please Come Home, and oddly enough Mariah Carey’s All I Want For Christmas). Of COURSE this is a Pearl Jam cover of a Stevie Wonder song – what else would make my “best songs ever” list? Bonus: the lyrics are beautiful.

Someday at Christmas men won’t be boys
Playing with bombs like kids play with toys
One warm December our hearts will see
A world where we are free

Someday at Christmas there’ll be no wars
When we have learned what Christmas is for
When we have found what life’s really worth
There’ll be peace on earth

Someday all our dreams will come to be
Someday in a world where we can love free
Maybe not in time for you and me
But someday at Christmastime

Someday at Christmas we’ll see a land
With no hungry children, no empty hand
One happy morning people will share
A world where people care

Someday at Christmas there’ll be no tears
All of us are equal and live without fear
One shining moment, one cry away
For our world today

Someday all our dreams will come to be
Someday in a world where men are free
Maybe not in time for you and me
But someday at Christmastime

Someday at Christmas man will not fail
Hate will be gone and love will prevail
Someday a new world that we can all start
With hope in every heart

Someday at Christmas
Oh someday at Christmastime
Someday at Christmastime