After an engagement session, many of my clients opt for a custom designed guest sign-in album, as opposed to having their friends and family signing their name on a line in the tradition guest sign-in books. I design each 8×8 leather bound flush mount album, and they’re customized to each couples engagement session.  The extra negative white space in the design layouts leaves ample amount of room for not only guests to sign their names, but to leave little notes and well wishes.  The lay flat binding, thick foam core like pages, and creamy smooth leather add class and grace to a sign-in album, while being a perfect keepsake for the couple from their wedding day.

Here are a couple of the layouts of the guest sign-in album from Asal and Nick’s wedding.

And the finished product.

It’s starting to change seasons again here in DC, ahem SUPPOSED TO BE, because I’m not going to get into the hundred degree weather we are having here on August 31st. But regardless of the weather, the stores sure have switched, and really, that’s all that matters. My Megan Beth Fall 2010 Style post is all about golds and neutral earthy tones, all of which I swoon over.

1. Ariel braid & chains necklace from Banana Republic
2. Leather moto jacket from J.Crew
3. Bronson suede platform booties from J.Crew
4. Chilled Ripples Shell from Anthropologie
5. Chole Chair from Crate and Barrel
6. Interlocking Icon medium shoulder bag from Gucci
7. Chelsi Sandal from Calvin Klein
8. Feather necklace from Etsy
9. Flutter Chandelier from Anthropologie
10.Flower cocktail ring from Kenneth Jay Lane.

Nicole and Mike were married in Annapolis, Maryland with an amazing reception at the Westin in downtown Annapolis.  More coming soon.

She walked into the elevator with a pile of laundry in her hands, still radiating heat from the drier.  Casually said hello to the twenty something young Latino boy who was already riding. He was wearing a Chipotle shirt, and she decided to strike up a little conversation with him and practice her Spanish, Usted trabaja en chipotle? You work at Chipotle? Si, he nodded. That’s cool, I eat there almost everyday. He wasn’t impressed. Or didn’t understand. She pushed the fourth floor, and up the elevator went. Ding. She excused herself mucho gusto, buenas noches. He smiled and she walked off the elevator. As she glanced back towards the elevator, there it was. The elevator doors were closing and she wasn’t sure what to do. Walk away, or go back. She reached her hand out and stopped the elevator door right before it was about to close, as the young man stood confused. Her face beet red. She stepped back into the corner of the elevator, one foot reaching back to the door so it wouldn’t close and I PICKED UP MY DRAWERS which had unbeknownst to me, fallen out of my hands and landed right NEXT TO HIS FOOT. I kept my head down as I backed out of the elevator trying to redeem a sliver of the dignity that had just all been taken away. The door began to close again, as he continued to ride, and I mumbled under my breath, well that’s only the most embarrassing thing ever. He was laughing as the doors closed. He apparently understood that.

Feel free to leave your embarrassing stories in the comment section, you know, just to get it off your chest, or to make me feel better about myself.  Happy Friday!

It rained monsooned that morning, all the more luck, of course. All of her best friends surrounded her in the little cottage outside the The Oaks, running around trying to get ready as she sat peacefully on the ottoman and got her makeup done. A bridesmaid in the corner carried an envelope and handed it to another bridesmaid.  She cracked open the bulky cream envelope and pulled out the folded piece of stationary, and a sea shell on a pink polka-dot grosgrain ribbon. In cursive, written from Katie’s childhood teacher was a little note: This is something your mother helped you put together.  One day you brought it to school as a gift for me.  I even wore it the day of the service for your mother!  All these years I have treasured it, but now think it should come back to you. The whole room had read the note, and tears started to well up in everyone’s eyes.  After all these years, a little piece of her late mother was there, there to share the beautiful day, when Katie would marry her best friend Mike.  As Katie’s grandmother came in and saw her for the first time, she beamed from ear to ear.  Katie looked at her grandmother and said that her mom was obviously up there looking down on her that day, but had a funny way of making sure she had enough luck on her big day.  And luck she had, as she stood up with Mike, and solidified their love for each other.

Katie and Mike, thank you for letting me into your lives, and letting me document your love.  Your love is loyal, blissful, and enduring; the kind of love that only comes along when you marry your best friend.  Your warm hearts and generosity towards others is clearly apparent by the number of friends and family that love and support you.  Thank you for welcoming me into that circle, for you guys are truly special.  All my love, Megan Beth

The Oaks Waterfront Inn in St. Michael’s Maryland is a gorgeous venue for a wedding, rain or shine.

Katie’s florist, Intrigue Design and Decor outdid themselves with both Katie’s, and the bridesmaids bouquets.

Katie’s gorgeous dress was by Judd Waddell from Hitched salon in DC.

Meghan, one of my former brides who has just started her own bridal makeup business, rocked it out again with Katie’s gorgeous makeup.

Katie looked stunning in both of her hair pieces for the day.  A long veil for the ceremony, and a sassy little birdcage veil for after.

Mike looking so sophisticated in his navy blue Hugo Boss suit.

I adore this image of Katie’s dad giving her away, such a special moment.

I adore every single thing about the image on the right.  You guys look like models, like, seriously.

Beautiful details and table designs by Intrigue Design.

A dance off?  No one out does the bride on her wedding day.

Comments are welcomed, and encouraged!

Vacation. I dreaded it. I was juggling so many balls in the air, leaving for a week would surely make them all come crashing down. You know, until I got there and didn’t want to leave. The beach, the sunsets, the rolling storms, and THE CRABS. I sat on the beach until I was crispy, let my hair air dry in the warm summer beachy breeze, shared laughs until the late evening hours, and ate Fritos for dinner because I WAS ON VACATION. It was such a peaceful and relaxing week surrounded by the entire side of my dad’s family. It cleared my head, and recharged my body, you see, I’m not very good at taking a break, taking time for myself, MY SANITY PEOPLE. On the outside my job may seem very glamorous, but I can assure you, that although I love it, it requires an infinite number of hours of hard work. Where’s the off button on this thing?! And as I sit here, editing until the wee hours of the morning as the rest of this city sleeps peacefully, I take a break and look through the photographs from our vacation for the hundredth time. Promising to do it again soon, and promising myself to try to be present in my life.

I’m working on a short movie from our vacation, you know, when I get a free moment, but for now here are a couple of my favorite photographs from that week. And check back tomorrow for one of many weddings I have yet to blog, Katie and Mike’s wedding at the Oaks in St. Michaels, Maryland.

And now, time to answer some readers Frequently Asked Questions.

How do you find time to edit all of your wedding images in post processing, I’m super overwhelmed?
Well to be honest, I do spend a lot of time in front of the computer, because I am a perfectionist, but with that being said, I do not edit every single image in Photoshop. After I upload/import my cards to Lightroom I begin the editing process with culling the images by flagging the keepers. Then I sort by ‘flagged’ images and adjust the temperature, tint, exposure, recovery, blacks, contrast, and sharpening on every photo. This is my basic edit, and all images a client receives get this treatment. Then after I’ve exported the images, I only pull certain images through Photoshop for my fine tuning/artistic editing, which includes masking out scars or blemishes, smoothing/retouching faces, actions, and dodge/burn certain areas if needed. I don’t use a lot of actions on my images, because I like them to look as natural as possible, but the few I do use are Totally Rad Actions or Kutota Photoshop Actions, both used at very low opacity. Images that get this special treatment are all of the images that go on my blog, slideshows, and any image that a client receives in prints, canvases, or in their albums.

How do you get your images to look so sharp straight out of the camera, mine are always gray and flat?
The colors produced straight out of the camera with digital cameras are, by default, much more gray and flat than film cameras. By changing the contrast in Lightroom or with an S-curve in Photoshop the image gets a major color boost. And all of my images receive an extra sharpening in Lightroom, or in Photoshop with the Kutota Sharpen for Web action. But, the first step to making your images better starts with you and your camera. You need to perfect your images in your camera first because you cannot make a bad image good in Photoshop, you can only make a good image better. This only comes with learning your camera inside and out, learning light and different lighting situations, and practice, practice, practice. Here are some examples of my work before I have edited them with the camera settings I used. The ones on the left are straight out of the camera, and on the right, after I have edited them.

Hopefully this helps inquiring minds, and if you have a question that you’d like to see answered on my next FAQ, feel free to email me at megan@meganbeth.com. Happy Tuesday!

Jill and Devin are so adorably sweet and truly define marrying your best friend. Jill beams when they are together and there’s no shortage of laughter. And if laughter is any indication of a healthy marriage, then they are going to have a long and fruitful marriage for sure. I’m so excited for their wedding, and honored that they chose me to photograph their amazing wedding at the Strong Mansion in September.

They divorced when I was seven-ish.  I thought it was the end of the world.  And to me, it really was.  We were ‘broken,’  I was broken.  And then slowly but surely we had to put our family back together piece by piece.  Albeit, apart pieces, because of course, there was a Mom’s, and Dad’s.  Separate toothbrushes, two beds, different vacations, even different bedtimes, and Dad’s was a little more lenient on the latter.  But, things would never go back to the way they were, this was the new normal.  And as I grew up, and became accustomed to my new normal, something funny happened.  The arguments of past years became more few and far between and my parents began speaking words to each other, and not yelling them.  There were casual hellos, and friendly conversations, family dinner nights on Sundays, holidays, and now vacations.

BULLSHIT! Amanda insisted, while studying each others’ poker face.  She had a bad habit of always calling Mom out, which unfortunately lead to her acquiring a huge stack of playing cards.  And Dad’s was definitely the hardest to decipher; truth or lie?  And as I sat around that coffee table, in our beach house in Florida, I didn’t want it to end because it meant much more to me then just that game of cards.  It was my family together.  My whole, broken and put back together, still divorced, amazing family, and I wouldn’t have had it any other way.  Because you see, no matter how confusing and broken you may feel, in the end, it always works out.

We struggled to push the glass door open and carefully made our way onto the back balcony in the pitch black night.  Our eyes had yet to adjust, grandpa, you out here? I hit my foot on the white lounge chair.  Yea I’m here, yoookaay he said, in his always chipper voice.  We felt around and seated ourselves across the lounge chair next to him.  Slowly our eyes revealed the starry night shining out over the waves crashing in the gulf, and our young ninety-four year old grandfather sipping on his mojito.  Brian, Amanda and I sat there in the warm summers night as we listened to his stories about what it was like when he was growing up, the civil war era, working for Dupont, and how he swept my grandmother, the beautiful Alice Hill, off her feet and away from the guy she was going with, during that very first car ride.

He has lead a full happy life, and through his recent travels in the last few years to Ireland, Alaska, and Hawaii, it had lead him to this point.  This night.  This balcony.  Sitting with three of his grandchildren, sharing stories of years past.  I couldn’t help but want to hear more stories, but in true Grandpa fashion his straw had reached dry ice at the bottom of his cup.  He had finished his drink, and needed another one, of course.  We walked off the balcony, leaving the stars and waves behind, but not the moments.  Those moments, on that balcony, they stayed with us.