Wedding Series: The Benefits of having an Unplugged Wedding

Hampton, VA, Historic Post Office Wedding

What is an unplugged wedding?

An unplugged wedding is where you ask your guests to turn off their phones, cameras, tablets, and other mobile devices during your ceremony. 

What are the benefits?

• There are many benefits to having an unplugged wedding. 

• When guests use their own cameras, there are many ways that this affects the photography that you’re actually paying for. Guests oftentimes are taking photos at the same time we are, and their flashes interfere with our cameras, leaving you blown out completely (and unsalvageable) or having weird shadows or lighting throughout the photos. 

• Guest cameras can leave a red or green dot from their focusing mechanisms. These will show up in our images. 

• If guests don’t turn off the noise on their cameras, they could be very loud when taking the photos. This can be very distracting to you and your guests. 

• Speaking of distracting – let’s talk about iPads and other tablets used to take photos. They are HUGE and are very distracting. If we are taking a wide photo of your ceremony, your eyes go straight to the tablet and completely ignore the beautiful couple exchanging vows. 

• Guests will often get in the aisle or stand in front of the professional photographers, blocking their shot. Sometimes, it’s too late for us to be able to get them to move, and we certainly don’t want to upset your guests by making them move. 

• During family formals, guests will often stand around photographers to get shots of their own, which can create harsh lighting if they use their flash. Even if they don’t use their flash, it causes the group to constantly be looking around, leaving wandering eyes. It’s hard for the photographer to get a good photo with everyone looking at the camera when there are multiple people taking photos around you. 

• Most importantly, if your guests are taking photos, they are not fully able to enjoy the moment. They are absent and distracted by their picture taking and posting. 

Tamika & Boochie, Historic Post Office Wedding

We highly recommend having your wedding unplugged, but respect your wishes if you choose not to. If you have any questions concerning this or how to unplug your wedding, feel free to contact us and we can chat.

Mike & Ty Engagement shoot

You know what we're afraid of? Hairy spiders, our local Chick-fil-A closing shop, and vampire movies. You know what we're NOT afraid of? PDA. In fact, we are all about it, especially when we're photographing a gorgeous and super in-love couple like Mike and Ty, who were constantly stealing kisses and wrapping themselves up in each other throughout our entire engagement session!

Working strictly off of good vibes and positive energy, Mike suggested our shoot start in the parking garage of Christopher Newport University. He said it reminded him of a music video in which he and Ty were the stars! We knew Mike and Ty are as extra as guacamole at Chipotle, so we had to do this different. To switch up the scene for theme, we stood back to witness how steamy things got in the elevator for them as we made our descent to the lush green grounds of the campus. We love that we didn’t have to prompt them at all to lean in and get close, either. Can’t you feel that passion and heat through your screen? YOWZA!

We asked these two about their love story, and Ty told us her sister hooked them up and believe it or not, they didn’t even like each other. To quote her more accurately, she said they “HATED each other’s guts”. Imagine the football jock picking on the quiet nerd…yep this was the unexpected start to their budding relationship. As for the proposal, Ty said, “Michael proposed to me at my college graduation cookout. My mom and him hid the ring inside of a box of ring pops and once I found it at the bottom of the box he popped the question..”

And can we talk about the ring? Get ready because Ty has been blinding us all week!

Congratulations on getting married soon, and we are looking forward to photographing your wedding, Mike and Ty. May you forever have a relationship filled with passion and love!

De'von & Miata: Hampton Historic Post Office Winter Wedding

People! We are so excited to share Miata and De’von’s wedding with you today, which could have seriously been featured (and very well may be in the future) in ANY bridal magazine across the world. These two have impeccable taste, to the point where we cannot even describe how perfect every single detail was. It’s a good thing we’re photographers, then, yeah? 

From the insanely gorgeous centerpieces and floral arrangements to the opulent venue and decor, there wasn’t a thing that wasn’t thought of and carefully planned. And when we saw Miata in her wedding dress, we all almost lost our breath! (We can’t even imagine how De’von must have felt seeing her walk down the aisle)! 

Devon Cook surprises long time girlfriend Miata Palmer with a proposal dinner. Shot by @signedcms & @sonny.forbes (instagram) Edited by @signedcms *** I do not own any music in this video ***

These two college sweethearts were so anxious to see each other throughout the day. They really thought the other would have an anxiety attack before the wedding even started! But with careful coaching from each of their animated bridal party members, they made it to the altar just fine. They choose not to see each other before the wedding so they could truly enjoy all the anticipation leading up to the “I dos”. They say it gave them an opportunity to show their family and friends their first reactions.

Here are a few more shots from their picture-perfect day: 

What a joy it was to photograph you on this special day, you two. We hope your years are full of happiness, light and just as much beauty! 

Vendors:

Cake: TastyLue Cakes

Make Up Artist: Evangelene Medley-Jenkins

DJ/Music: Izzy The DJ — Derrick Isabel 

Wedding Planner: Raise The Ruth Events

Dress: Maya Couture 

Caterer: Xavier McGee - Chef X

Florist & Decor: Graceful Designs Tanya Frazier

Wedding Venue: Historic Post Office

Wedding Photographers: Ronny & Reggie Smart SmartShot Photography

Wedding Cinematographer: Marcus Johnson & Ricky Viz Ink

Wedding Photo Booth: SmartShot Photo Booths

-Ronny and Reggie Smart

Mike & Dieana: Virginia Beach Winter Wedding

There’s something about a classic, formal wedding inside of a church that gets me every time. It just feels so pure and cinematic. We love the pews, the pulpit, the architecture, and – if we’re lucky – the beautiful Christmas trees that set the scene for this lovely joining of two souls. Mike and Dieana’s wedding took place at The Beach Church in Virginia Beach, VA, which was the perfect scene for their Winter Wonderland wedding.

These two met at Starbucks about 6 years ago. Mike proposed as soon as God told him to. He knew he had to do things the Lord’s way, and here we are looking at their wedding photographs! Isn’t that the sweetest story?

Even though these two hate the spotlight, they kept their focus on each other and made it through their beautiful wedding day. It really helped also that they decided on doing a first look. Dieana says, it really helped them enjoy their guests more because they got a lot of the photos out of the way early. When these two met eyes at the altar, a sense of calm rushed over them both. Mike was even spotted getting teary eyed as he waited patiently for his beautiful bride, Dieana. 

About their wedding day, Dieana said, “The emotions were greater than I imaged. To me, my wedding turned out perfect and the theme just as I imaged it. Thanks to Patricia Heath, my wedding planner..” How about that? 

You guys are going to rock this whole being married thing. Thanks for sharing your day with us! 

Vendors:

Wedding Planner: Patricia Heath

Dress: David’s Bridal

Caterer: Taqueria La Cabana

Florist: Norfolk Wholesale Floral

Wedding Photographers: Ronny & Reggie Smart SmartShot Photography

Wedding Photo Booth: SmartShot Photo Booths

-Ronny and Reggie Smart

Before you Graduate: Tips for planning your BFF session

Ideas for Planning for Your BFF Session

Senior year is a time when you make all of your last high school memories before graduation and enter your new life. As time goes by, life will get hectic and crazy and these memories will start to fade. Planning a BFF session will help preserve these memories forever and help create some new ones during this fun photo shoot! Below are some tips to help you come up with a plan for your session:

• Location

Choose a location that means something to you and your bestie. If you like to hang out at the local skate park or walk around the town square, these are places we could go for your session. We can also talk to your school about setting up there. If you are in drama club and want to recreate some memories in the theatre or have a special lunch table or a joint locker, etc., we want to incorporate these things as well. 

• Props

Now it’s time to think about props. Do you want to bring your sunglasses because you guys are obsessed with oversized shades? How about a copy of your favorite magazine so you can look through it and get all the latest celebrity gossip during our session – talk about multi-tasking! Are you planning on going to the same college after graduation? If so, you can bring some college swag to your session! You can bring your graduation caps/gowns if you’d like. We can even stop by and grab some props during your session – if you are coffee lovers, we can take some photos of you and your BFF at your favorite coffee shop, or we can stop for some ice cream cones for some super cute shots. Think about the things that you guys like to do together and bring items that will reflect it in the photos.

• Clothing

When it comes to clothing, you don’t want to be completely matchy-matchy (unless you are going to the twin BFF look). However, you don’t want to clash either. Choose a color palette that looks good on both of you and coordinate your outfits with colors from that scheme. Don’t forget to bring matching shoes and accessories.