Audrey + TJ |Williamsburg Wedding Photographers

Everything about Audrey and TJ’s wedding was too pretty not to share right away! Will write more later but for now, enjoy the beautiful details.

Quick shoutouts:  Coordinating and Design by Janel Bailey Keen of Vivid Expressions, amazing location at Williamsburg Winery, insanely GREAT food from East Beach Catering, the always fun Cedric of Big Dreams Entertainment Inc., beautiful cake from Gourmet Bake Shoppe, makeup by Candice, and getaway car from James River Transportation

 

0001_IMG_0697 0002_IMG_0442 0003_IMG_8357 0004_IMG_0383 0005_IMG_0345 0007_IMG_0362 0009_IMG_8360 0012_IMG_0424 0013_IMG_0430 0017_IMG_8220 0019_IMG_0320 0021_IMG_8307 0022_IMG_0349 0023_IMG_8248 0024_IMG_0347 0026_IMG_8338 0029_IMG_0601

0030_IMG_0720

Jared + Liz | Virginia Beach Backyard Wedding Photography

Liz + Jared’s beautiful, intimate wedding came to us by accident…literally.   We already had a wedding on the books for that day, but our friend Rich-Joseph Facun (one of our fave photojournalists) called us two days prior because he had broken BOTH of his arms – pretty much the worst non-fatal accident a photographer could have the week of a wedding.   He heard we were already booked, but thanks to the insistence of his awesome wife, Jasmine, he called us anyway.   Anyone who has worked w/ DCPG knows we roll deep and this time having 3 shooters came in handy (again, literally) because we were able to spare Lester for a few hours without missing a beat at Kris and Christian’s wedding the same day.

I originally intended to post more images but I was too excited to share these.  Lester is known for his intricate lighting setups, so it was a nice change and surprise to see so many au naturel, ethereal, sun-drenched images. It was a perfect sunset wedding on the water.   Congratulations to Liz, Jared and their adorable kids Quinn and Staylor!

- Cies

(I may add more images from the “reception” later; stay tuned!)

IMG_4916-Edit IMG_4934-Edit IMG_4936-Edit IMG_4949-Edit IMG_4961-Edit IMG_4966-Edit IMG_5021-Edit IMG_5079-Edit IMG_5082-Edit IMG_5094-Edit-Edit IMG_5106-Edit-Edit IMG_5153-Edit-Edit IMG_5161-Edit IMG_5164-Edit-Edit IMG_5177-Edit-Edit IMG_5182-Edit IMG_5191-Edit-Edit IMG_5261-Edit-Edit IMG_5280-Edit-Edit IMG_5303-Edit-Edit IMG_5483-Edit-Edit

Want to hire DCPG? Contact us!

Photography by Lester dela Cruz, thanks for rolling solo!

 

 

Chrissy + Scott | Virginia Beach Wedding Photographers

It’s no secret that we heart quirky, personal weddings; Chrissy and Scott’s was definitely no exception.   In a sea of Pinterest, mason jars and cotton fields, Chrissy and Scott’s black and white Día de los Muertos-inspired wedding was refreshing and a visual pleasure to photograph. Hand painted tattoo-style lettering on the girls shoes, black feathers, glittery pumpkins, skulls on beer coozies; so many amazing details!

Their wedding weekend was actually pretty eventful for DCPG as well! Mendell went to the ER two days prior to the wedding thinking it was just a gallbladder attack and he’d be in and out, but he ended up being admitted to the surgical floor for a serious bile duct obstruction.  By the time the wedding rolled around, I was running off of very little sleep, and dealing with having to charge batteries, organize and clean lenses in a hospital room then having to leave him to go shoot the wedding.  Big shoutouts to the 5th floor nursing staff at Sentara Princess Anne hospital for taking amazing care of him (and me!) for the 4 days we were there and to the friends and family who kept him company when I couldn’t. (P.S. It’s his birthday today; wish him a Happy Birthday on our Facebook!)

Luckily, Lester and I have teamed up on weddings before as a duo – one of the best advantages of the DCPG squad is that there are so many of us, it creates a nice built-in backup system.  Adding to our good fortune was a wonderful team of vendors, beautiful weather and a schedule that ran very smoothly. We couldn’t have asked for more! A few highlights/shoutouts to keep in mind as you look through the photos:

  • I’ve already mentioned it, but the details and decor! Amazing.
  • Their recessional song was “Here Comes Your Man” – it’s not often you get to hear the Pixies at church! They had really great music the entire wedding.
  • Chrissy’s vintage chic look.  Loved her lace dress offset by the black feathers/ribbon.   She also had the dream team on hair and makeup; Kechelle Hadley on hair and Sarah Rillon painting her face.  Beautiful, talented ladies!
  • Local music staple Jesse Chong singing and playing guitar during cocktail hour and some of dinner.  He has such a great voice and it was nice and relaxing to listen to while, as a bonus, being a welcome change from Kenny G instrumentals that normally dominate dinner music.
  • Gorgeous lighting by the always on point Blue Steel.  Loved how the dark purple lighting provided a rich background to show off all the black and white details.
  • Met/worked with Jeremy Mitchell Cinema (and Nick) for the first time; very nice and funny dudes and I can’t wait to see the final film.
  • Malissa Murphy and the CMT Events team holding it down; thank you again Malissa for helping coordinate/wrangle during the aftershoot!
  • All the groomsmen making speeches during the toast, but my absolute favorite was the guy who sang the “Queen to Be” song from “Coming to America”.  It was glorious and I’m honestly baffled as to why this doesn’t happen more often at weddings.
  • Older white-haired gentleman who was GETTIN’ it during the Wobble.  I took photos but they did not do him justice; that guy had moves for days. Days, I tell you!
  • The parents of the couple surprising them with a vintage Rolls Royce as their getaway car.  Baller time.
  • And of course, a beautiful, fun and madly in love couple who honored us by choosing DCPG as their wedding photographer.  While Chrissy and Scott grew up here, they currently reside in Seattle so to do your wedding planning over the interwebs from 3,000 miles away shows a lot of trust.   We are so thankful to have clients like them.

 

00000001a00020003

00040005000600070008000900100011001200130014001500160017001800190020002100220023002400250026002700280030003100320033003400350036

Vendors:

Flowers | Trellis & Bloom
Tuxedos | Maya Couture
Bridal Dress | La Belle Elaine (Seattle, WA)
DJ | John Rabulan “DJ John Rab”
Graphic Design | Yeri Yun Designs (Seattle, WA)
Hair | Kechelle Hadley and April Manganti
Make-up | Sarah Rillon
Live music | Jesse Chong
Venue Lighting |  Blue Steel
Wedding Film | Jeremy Mitchell Cinema
Event Coordination | Malissa Murphy with CMT Events
Photography | Lester & Ciesther dela Cruz with DCPG Photography + Design

Thank you for making it through this long blog post :)

- Ciesther

NEWS | Movin’ on up!

…to the 3rd floor!

Before I get to the good news,  I have to go back to the beginning.  A year and a half ago, we moved into downtown Norfolk as an early adopter of a  co-working space called the 757 Creative Space.  It was serendipitous at the time, as I was sick of meeting clients in coffee shops, but we lacked the funds and manpower for a full time retail storefront.  Someone on Facebook (of course) mentioned the Creative Space and lo and behold, the very day I researched it, they happened to have an open house going on.

IMG_3808

Not more than 30 minutes into the tour, we were sold.   I was honestly sold before we even got there, but Lester and Mendell luckily loved it as much as I did.   Before we left, we picked out our office:

IMG_3877

And planted our flag:

IMG_3824

Then returned the following day to sign papers!

IMG_3880

Word!

IMG_3886_bw

We were the 2nd company to sign up for an office and it’s been amazing to see the space fill up with so many different businesses, people and ever changing local artwork on the walls.    I love working here at the Creative Space and in Norfolk in general, but our office was getting tight (if you’ve ever had a meeting with us, you know the pain of having to move our chairs around haha) and with the unstable Hampton Roads weather, I found myself longing for something a little bigger that we could use as a small indoor studio space.  I told Sarah we were thinking about moving after our term was over and, God bless her, she sprang into action right away.  She and Clint started looking for spaces to expand the Creative Space into, with extra attention paid to spaces big enough to accomodate our studio wishes.  They were looking to expand anyway, but their sheer effort to accommodate us, plus their awesomeness/helpfulness in general is something we will forever be grateful for.   Sarah and Clint (and Harper) rule!

They had a false start with a potential space elsewhere in downtown but it fell through due to overpricing and a next door tenant optioning the two rooms that were the basis of all of us even liking that space.   LUCKILY, it turned out that our upstairs neighbor at 259 Granby was going virtual and vacating the 3rd floor.   So super long story short, I am stoked to say that we’re movin’ on up to the 3rd floor and taking over the large front office that overlooks Granby.  It’s almost 3 times the size of our tiny office, it has huge windows, tall ceilings and exposed brick, and best of all, we are still part of the 757 Creative Space.  Sarah and Clint have great plans for the rest of the 3rd floor and I can’t wait to see how it all develops.

Please excuse my crappy cell phone photos, we’ll post better ones once we’re all moved in and decorated:

 

 

But wait, there’s more!!

It’s magazine season and you’ll find DCPG in not one, but TWO local bridal mags:  Premier Bride and Vow.   For Premier Bride, we were contacted by the publisher to shoot an editorial spread for a cotton-candy wedding styled session.  The concept was based on an inspiration board created by Apryl Roberts of Memorable Events by Apryl.    Lester, Mendell and I teamed up and tackled parts of the shoot both separately and together – one of the great advantages to hiring us is the fact that we’re not just a team, but a team of 3 principal shooters, no assistant or second string shooters.  Anyway, right when everything was set up, it started raining.   The large magnolia tree we were shooting under acted as a huge umbrella and we actually stayed dry and the photos came together beautifully!  Here are the tearsheets from our spread, titled “Love is Sweet”:

Hampton Roads 2012-2 ISSUU-90 Hampton Roads 2012-2 ISSUU-91 Hampton Roads 2012-2 ISSUU-92 Hampton Roads 2012-2 ISSUU-93

Credits again with links!

Everyone was so great to work with; we all threw this together in a week and it turned out amazing! :)

We also had a half page advertisement (we loved the strategic area our ad was placed, thanks Christy!).   She gave us a bag full of magazines, so please stop by the 757 Creative Space sometime and pick one up!

Ad

Our photography made some cameo appearances in the latest issue of Vow as well!  The Sheraton Virginia Beach used Kam + Ren‘s hilarious jumping shot in not one but two advertising areas.  They also used one of our detail shots in their main ad as well:

We’ve got some other good things on the horizon as well, but I’ll save those for later.  Thank you for bearing with this long winded post and we’ll get back to posting wedding and baby photos soon :)

- Cies

 

Kam + Ren Sneak Peek | Virginia Beach Wedding Photographers

I’ve been dying to post these photos.  I tried really hard to wait until I’ve edited 50+ or so photos for a nice, long blog post but my impatience is getting the best of me, so here’s a sneak peek of Kamillah and Renald’s wedding.  I’ll save all my flowery descriptions for the “real” blog post and just post some of my favorites from the day! Such an amazing, FUN wedding :)

IMG_2061-Edit IMG_6096-Edit guysready IMG_2217 IMG_2183-Edit IMG_6505 IMG_6584 lighting IMG_6717-Edit IMG_6740 IMG_9783 cake IMG_6973-Edit garter IMG_7269

 

These are the talented vendors for this wedding:

Photography  | Mendell, Lester & Ciesther of DCPG
Photobooth | Rina & Zern of DCPG
Coordinator | MorLina Events
Cake | Cake Delights
Make-up Artist | Kim Nguyen
Hairstylists | Kechelle Hadley, Lendelyn Deomania Lopez & Rex Ritarita
Event Rentals | Waterford Event Rentals
Church | Holy Spirit Catholic Church w/ Father Tim
Reception Venue | Sheraton Oceanfront
Limo | Exotic Style Limousines
Flowers | Norfolk Florist
Video | Digital Dreammakers
Venue Lighting | Blue Steel Lighting
DJ/Emcee | Emer Lunasin

Longer blog post coming soon…

Melissa + Chris | Norfolk Engagement Photographers

When Melissa and Chris came in for their initial consultation, they said they were planning on having a Rat Pack/vintage-themed wedding and then went on to talk about how they’d be willing to do a “First Look” session; when the bride is revealed to the groom BEFORE the wedding and we capture the moment.   Between their wedding plans and them being such a sweet couple,  I was sold on taking them on as clients.  Luckily, they liked us too and we’re shooting their wedding this summer :)

Our first attempt at an engagement shoot was a bust; it ended up raining that day and so we canceled last minute.  I honestly HATE doing that to people, but I didn’t want them to be disappointed by a sub-par, last-minute indoor location.  Since we weren’t bound by any deadlines or time constraints and the fact that I really wanted them to have a nice setting, we put it off for another week.   The day of their make-up session, there were thankfully no clouds in the sky;  it was drenched in gorgeous sunset light.

We decided to stick around the Pagoda on Tazwell; it was walking distance from our Granby Street office plus that area is a great combination of gardens, water and cute brownstones.  Here are a few photos from our session!

IMG_0367

IMG_0334

IMG_0463

Album Design | Janelle + Gerard | Virginia Beach Wedding Photographers

We always forget to feature albums, so today here’s a throwback to a very sweet, fun wedding we did a few years back:

0001-Edit

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

0002

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

 

0003

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

0004

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

0005

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

0006

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

0007

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

0008

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

0009

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

0010

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

0011

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

0012

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

0013

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

0014

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

0015

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

0016

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

0017

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

0018

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

0019

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

0020

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

0021

Kamillah + Renald Part One | Virginia Beach Engagement Photographer

Ren proposed to Kam inside the lovely waterside restaurant, Steinhilbers, so they chose that as the site for their engagement portraits.  It was a supremely awful day, weather-wise, which nixed the outdoor portrait ideas we had.  However, the restaurant was pretty, Steiny’s staff was gracious and Kam and Ren are such a fun, happy couple to photograph.   More photos and more on their love story will be in a future post after we do the outdoor part of their shoot (engagement shoot 2: electric boogaloo), but for now here is a quick sneak peek of their restaurant engagement portraits:

 

IMG_8706-Edit

kamren1 kamren2 kamren3

 

 

Ellen + Brian Eloped! | Williamsburg Wedding Photographer

What’s a charming couple to do 2 days before their big move from Virginia Beach to San Antonio, TX? Get married of course! The day before was an immaculate 70 degrees. The day after, their outdoor wedding was a chilly 50 degrees, but their love for each other was enough to warm all the family and friends. They said their vows on a bridge behind Zable Stadium at the campus of William & Marry. Nothing can replace the intimacy of a short, simple and sweet wedding like Ellen and Brian’s. We would like to congratulate them and wish them the best of luck down in Texas.

dcpg blog ellen brian2

dcpg blog ellen brian3

dcpg blog ellen brian4

dcpg blog ellen brian5

Here’s a shot of a random med-student taking a shot for the family. This was totally unplanned.

dcpg blog ellen brian6

dcpg blog ellen brian7

dcpg blog ellen brian8 dcpg blog ellen brian9

dcpg blog ellen brian10

dcpg blog ellen brian11

dcpg blog ellen brian13

dcpg blog ellen brian12

Did Brian really fireman Ellen down the bridge?

dcpg blog ellen brian14

dcpg blog ellen brian15

Her sassy turquoise shoes and the impromptu bouquet

dcpg blog ellen brian16

Ashley + Jason | Raleigh NC Wedding Photography

church

IMG_2370-2

insidechurch

IMG_2286-2

IMG_2347-Edit-2

gettingready

IMG_2462-2

aisle1

vow

kiss

IMG_9040-2

IMG_8995-2

IMG_9025-2

portrait1